The Creative Futures Fund is investing $7.8 million in 2024 to support 20 large-scale, boundary-pushing creative projects across all Australian states and territories. Focused on telling distinctly Australian stories, the fund is a key initiative under the Australian Government’s National Cultural Policy, Revive. It aims to support the creation and sharing of compelling narratives while promoting innovative audience engagement both nationally and internationally.
As part of its mission, the fund encourages cross-sector partnerships, linking the arts with education, sport, science, tourism, agriculture, and fashion. These collaborations are intended to foster ambitious, multidimensional works that engage diverse communities and sectors.
The supported projects reflect a wide range of themes and formats. Strong Is the New Pretty, a play by Suzie Miller, explores Australia’s identity through the lens of women’s AFL and will be presented through a partnership between Brisbane Festival, Sydney Theatre Company, and Trish Wadley Productions. Tales of the Inner City, adapted from Shaun Tan’s work, will be staged as an urban art adventure during the Perth Festival.
Several projects focus on environmental and cultural storytelling. Hobartica will blend science, climate, and tourism to reimagine Hobart as the gateway to Antarctica, supported by CSIRO and the University of Tasmania. Songs and Stories of Iutruwita/Tasmania is the first major musical work in the palawa language, created in collaboration with palawa artist Dewayne Everettsmith and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
Other notable projects include The Pageant, a high-fashion runway celebration of older Australians, and When the World Was Soft, a puppetry-based retelling of Yindjibarndi creation stories by the Juluwarlu Group Aboriginal Corporation. Night Rise, presented by Fremantle Biennale, will activate dark sky tourism sites in Western Australia through immersive public art.
The fund’s inaugural round supported six major outdoor public space experiences, five First Nations-led initiatives, interactive family-oriented works, and new projects spanning music, theatre, visual arts, and community-driven storytelling. It offered two funding streams: Development, which backed 14 organizations in exploring ideas and testing potential; and Delivery, which provided six organizations with resources to execute impactful works and forge partnerships.
Additionally, through partnerships such as the Consortium of Australian State Theatres (CAST), the fund will support a three-day national gathering of commercial and subsidised theatre producers. This event aims to nurture new theatre development and foster broader cross-sector collaborations.
