Applications close: Monday 22 November
Projects may start: March 2011
Projects must end before 31 December 2011

The Australia Council’s Digital Culture initiative supports artistic projects exploring new concepts of liveness, connectivity and participation made possible with digital media. 

Artists in the digital era are expanding possibilities for our engagement with the arts and culture through emerging technologies. In digital spaces artists transform live experience and participation for audiences and users. Through new ways of collaborating across technology, artists are building and sharing creative knowledge and culture across broader networks.

We encourage proposals for innovative digital culture projects with:

• artists and audiences co-creating new forms of live experience
• experimentation across platforms and to engage diverse communities with creative practice
• inventive strategies for live collaboration, presentation and distribution of artwork.
  

The Australia Council invites proposals from artists who are experienced working with digital technology, who may work with visual, sound, performance, literary or interdisciplinary arts, artistic games or transmedia experiences. Applicants can be unknown, emerging or established makers, applying as an individual or a collective.

Your project timeline may include research and/or creative development, but must include a public presentation of new work in 2011. You can apply for up to $40,000 from the Digital Culture Fund. Securing co-funding and establishing partnerships to make your project viable would be an advantage.

This initiative is managed by the Inter-Arts office on behalf of the Australia Council as part of the Arts Digital Era strategy. Successful applications would be required to provide an interim and final evaluation report on project outcomes.

You can find out further information on the 2009 pilot Digital Culture Fund and the Arts content for the digital era strategy on the Arts Digital Era blog.

All applicants are encouraged to contact Inter-Arts staff to discuss proposals before applying. Phone (02) 9215 9116 or toll-free: 1800 226 912, or email inter-arts@australiacouncil.gov.au

The Digital Culture initiative is open to individuals and groups. To be eligible, you must meet the general eligibility requirements.

Selection criteria

Applications must demonstrate:

• artistic merit within current digital culture
• effective application of technical innovation in the creation and/or distribution process
• inventive approach to effectively engage audiences/users/co-creators with live experience through digital culture
• calibre of the artists and other professionals on the project team
• evidence that the proposal is viable, well planned and has appropriate support from project partners, venues and/or other sources.

Application

Please apply and submit all required support material online. If you have any queries contact Australia Council staff on (02) 9215 9000 or 1800 226 912.

All application and support material must be submitted online before the closing date, including:

1. Curriculum vitae – you must provide a summary of the CVs for each of the key artists/artsworkers in the application, up to two A4 pages total (.pdf)

2. Examples of previous work – you must submit up to 3 website addresses which illustrate your practice and proposal. This provides the Digital Culture Fund Assessment Panel with evidence of your past work, and should be accessible and relevant to your application for this initiative.

3. Confirmation letters - to demonstrate the planning and viability of your proposal you must submit appropriate documents (.pdf). This must include letters from:

• your collaborators confirming their participation in the project
• your  partner organisations in Australia or overseas
• the venue or site for the public presentation of your work.

• If your proposal involves community groups, you must provide letters of support confirming the community’s full understanding of the proposal and willingness to work with the nominated personnel.

• If your proposal involves representations of artistic/cultural practice or intended outcomes relating to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander artists or communities, you must provide letters from relevant communities or artists. You must show clear evidence of support and agreement for the activities undertaken, in line with the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts policy and its underpinning principles. In preparing your application, you may wish to consult the Indigenous protocol guides in song, performance, writing, media arts and visual arts.

4. Support letters (optional) – you may also provide support letters from peers in the field, organisations, communities or other people relevant to the project. You can submit up to three different support letters, each up to one A4 page (.pdf). These letters can include comments supporting the application or can more fully describe resources being provided by a third party.

Important information

Any additional material supplied outside these support material guidelines will not be considered in the assessment of your application. If you need assistance in determining the support material you are required to submit or when it must be submitted, please contact Australia Council staff.