Grant conditions
Grant agreements
If your application is successful, you will receive a letter offering you a grant. This letter contains an agreement with the conditions of your grant and represents the Australia Council’s contract with you. Payment of a grant will not be made until you have accepted the grant and the agreement has been signed by all the relevant parties.
You should not start a project that depends on a grant until an agreement has been signed by all relevant parties.
Standard grant conditions require you to, among other things:
- Seek prior approval for making a change to a funded project (for example, changes in the activity budget; changes to key creative personnel; or changes to start or end dates)
- Respond to requests for information about the project or grant
- Satisfactorily account for how the grant is spent (if you do not you will be required to return all monies for which you cannot satisfactorily account)
- Comply with all applicable laws
- Acknowledge the Australia Council’s support in all promotional material associated with the project; this includes use of the Australia Council’s logo and a standard text of acknowledgement available from www.australiacouncil.gov.au/logo
- Provide artistic and financial acquittal reports at the end of the project
- Return any unspent grant funds at the completion of your project or on notice from us to return such unspent funds.
Grant agreements must be signed by a legal entity - either a legally constituted organisation or an individual. For unincorporated groups, see the section on administered grants.
All grant recipients (or their administering body) must have an ABN unless their grant activities are GST-free.
Grant acquittal
Acquitting a grant means accurately reporting on the funded activities and the expenditure of Australia Council funding. Grant reports - providing artistic and financial information - are required on completion of your project.
Acquittal is a formal condition of funding. If you do not provide a satisfactory grant report at the times and in the manner detailed in your funding agreement the Australia Council will not make any further payments that may be due to you, and you will be ineligible to apply for further grants.
The Australia Council may ask you to pay back all or part of the funding provided to you. It may take action to recover any unspent or misspent funding as a debt due and payable.
Grant reports are used by the Australia Council to fulfil obligations of accountability to the Australian Government. They are also essential to the development work of the Australia Council. The reports help us evaluate the achievements of funded activities, monitor the effectiveness of grant categories and ensure our policy development is consistent with the experience of artists in the field.
No guarantee of ongoing funding
Except where specified, approval of any grant to an individual, group or organisation does not commit the Australia Council, its boards or committees to any future funding of that individual, group or organisation. Funding will be awarded to those who best meet the selection criteria within the amount of funds available.
Payment of artists
The Australia Council aims to ensure that artists employed as a result of a grant receive pay and conditions appropriate for their work and professional skills. Pay scales and conditions may be prescribed by legally binding industrial awards and agreements, such as those monitored by the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). In other cases, arts industry organisations such as the Australian Writers’ Guild, the Australian Society of Authors and the National Association for the Visual Arts have recommended appropriate industry standards. Where an industry standard clearly applies, applicants are expected to meet those rates of pay.
Administered grants
Groups/ensembles, unincorporated associations and other bodies with no legal status are required to nominate either a member of the group/ensemble or a legally constituted organisation to take legal and financial responsibility for the grant should one be given.
An administering body is responsible for providing a financial report once the project is completed. It is not responsible for the artistic direction or the artistic quality of the funded project.
Examples of legally constituted organisations are incorporated associations, incorporated Aboriginal associations and companies limited by guarantee.
Grant applicants must enter into a written agreement with their administering body, setting out the respective rights and responsibilities of both parties in relation to the grant’s administration and financial acquittal. The agreement should also contain a dispute resolution clause setting out procedures to be followed in the event of a disagreement between the parties.
An organisation may be the administering body for as many Australia Council grants as they see fit. Administering bodies may make grant applications in their own right, and the grants they administer on behalf of others do not count as part of the two applications that may be submitted in a given year.
Please note: Both the applicant and the administering body will be considered responsible for unsatisfactorily acquitted grants and neither will be eligible to lodge further applications until all grants have been satisfactorily acquitted.
Childcare costs
The Australia Council recognises that childcare needs may impede access to employment in the arts. Accordingly, childcare is a legitimate expense in an applicant’s budget.
Volunteer costs
Out-of-pocket expenses for volunteers in regional and remote areas, such as telephone calls or petrol for travel, are recognised as legitimate expenses and may be included in an applicant’s budget.
Costs for activities in regional locations
The Australia Council encourages applicants whose projects will take place in regional and remote locations to budget accurately and realistically, as it is recognised that costs may differ between regions and major cities.
Taxation and grants
Grants paid by the Australia Council may be considered part of your income in a financial year and may be subject to tax. You must determine your own taxation liabilities. We suggest you consult your financial adviser or contact the Australian Taxation Office on 13 28 66. If you are GST-registered when you receive an Australia Council grant, the Australia Council will pay the grant amount plus GST (where required). The budget given in your application should be exclusive of GST. If you are not GST registered, your budget should include GST as this is part of the cost of the project.