Essential Information for all applicants
Who can apply
The Department invites applications from organisations including small businesses, Local Government authorities and legally constituted, not-for-profit organisations. Benefits to Western Australian artists and the Western Australian community must be identified where the applicant is from outside Western Australia.
Individuals and groups of individual artists who join together informally to undertake projects may also apply. Groups must be auspiced by an individual or organisation. Groups and individual applicants must be Western Australian residents.
National Membership Organisations
Applications will not be accepted from individuals related to activity stemming from their membership in a national organisation. Instead, organisations and managing bodies may apply for funds to support the participation by Western Australian members in any significant national activity.
Individuals in need of assistance should contact their national organisation.
Organisations already in receipt of recurrent funding from the Department
Including:
- Triennial or Multiyear funding via the Department, or
- Recurrent funding through any of DCA’s portfolio organisations
are eligible to apply for additional funding for international projects through the Distribution category.
They may also eligible to apply to other funding programs. Please contact your Project Officer for more details.
These organisations may be a partner in an application to other categories but they cannot be the applicant.
Perth International Arts Festival: Special Conditions
Applications for projects which are to be included as part of the Perth International Arts Festival (PIAF) may apply for up to $20,000 and must ensure they:
- Demonstrate a confirmed financial commitment from PIAF, (in-kind support is not sufficient), and
- Include a formal letter of invitation from PIAF.
How many times you can apply
In each funding round, you may submit one application only to each Panel.
In each funding round, you may apply to more than one Panel if you apply for different projects or for a very different component of a program of activities.
You may submit a maximum of three applications in any 12-month period (for any one panel). Please contact your Project Officer for more details.
Some applications are auspiced by another organisation on behalf of the applicant. In that instance, the auspicing body can submit more than one application if it is for more than one applicant. However, they can only submit one application per applicant.
Changes after submission
The Department will not accept any changes to your application, including support material, following the application closing date, with the following exceptions:
- You may submit a confirmation of fact relevant to essential eligibility or selection criteria that has already been referred to in your application. (eg. confirmation of an invitation to participate in an exhibition, festival, conference or trade fair). Approval from the relevant Project Officer must be obtained prior to submitting your application, and
- You must notify the Department (via the relevant Project Officer) if aspects of the proposed activity have changed due to circumstances beyond your control (eg. the withdrawal of key personnel or cancellation of a previously confirmed performance or exhibition).
Assessment
All applications to DCA's Grants Programs are peer-assessed by members of the relevant panel, with the exception of applications to Artflight and the Emerging Curators Program. Applications to these are assessed by the Department.
Peer panellists are practicing artists, arts workers, arts managers or individuals with relevant knowledge and experience, and are appointed by the Minister for Culture and the Arts for three years.
Panellists are selected for each assessment round on the basis that they are free from conflict of interest pertaining to the applications and have the relevant expertise to thoroughly assess the applications.
All panellists are required to observe a code of conduct of impartiality and confidentiality and undertake thorough assessment of each application. Assessment meetings are supervised by Department staff to ensure adherence to the code of conduct for peer assessment, however Department staff members are not involved in decision making.
The assessing Panel considers each application and how well it meets the relevant assessment criteria and priorities. With limited funding available, the Panel is often unable to support all applications that competitively address the assessment criteria.
Following the Panel assessment meeting, you will receive a letter of notification. Notification may take up to three months. You are also encouraged to seek further Panel feedback from the relevant Project Officer.
Remember, where possible, panellists like to be aware of your work prior to assessment. Please forward invitations or information about relevant events, programs or initiatives to the relevant Project Officer for circulation, preferably by email.
Start dates
You should not plan to start the activities for which you seek funding before the nominated start date. Further, you must not begin public promotion of your activity prior to this start date. Applicants intending to undertake marketing and promotion of their project should ensure they apply with adequate lead time.
If your project will be included in a company season or subscription brochure that will be publicly released before funding is secured, you must notify the Department in advance. The Department will require a written statement outlining the rationale for early promotion and an explanation of how the project will go ahead if the application for funding is unsuccessful.
Payment of grants
If your application is successful, you will receive two copies of the contract detailing the conditions and requirements that apply to the grant. One copy should be signed and returned to indicate your acceptance of the conditions. The second copy should be retained for your records.
The completed contract, invoice and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) authorisation form must be returned to the Department in order for the grant payment to proceed. All grant payments are processed through the State Government’s Office of Shared Services (OSS).
If you have questions about the progress of your payment, please contact OSS directly on 1300 345 677.
Complaints
It is a condition of submitting an application that you acknowledge acceptance of the system of Peer Panel assessment and the conditions of the relevant grants program. Therefore, complaints will only be considered where there is an alleged breach of the assessment process as outlined in the Department’s assessment guidelines.
If you believe that the proper assessment process has not been followed for your grant application, please discuss your concerns with the relevant Project Officer who will raise your concerns with appropriate Department staff.
If you consider that your complaint has not been adequately addressed following discussions with the Project Officer, please put your complaint in writing and send it to the Executive Director, Development and Strategy Directorate. You will receive an acknowledgement of your letter and a response to your complaint within 15 working days of the Department’s receipt of your complaint.
Acquittals
An acquittal is a truthful record of the project and how the grant money has been spent. The acquittal is necessary for audit purposes, provides useful statistical information for DCA and contributes to the knowledge that DCA staff have about the arts sector in general.
If you receive a DCA grant, you must complete an acquittal report within 13 weeks of the completion of the funded activity. If an acquittal has not been received within this time frame the acquittal will be considered to be overdue and the applicant will be ineligible for further funding until the acquittal is provided.
If your project changes in any significant way after you have received your grant, you must still submit an acquittal outlining how and why the project varied from the original proposal.
Auspicing
Where an application is made on behalf of others, the application should be made in the name of the auspice body and provide that body’s Australian Business Number (ABN) as well as GST details. The application must clearly identify who will actually be undertaking the project under the authority of the auspice body. A copy of the agreement between the auspice body and those undertaking a project must be included with the application. The auspice agreement should provide, as a minimum, the services and support to be provided by the auspice body to the project.
The Department will treat all applications by auspice bodies as if they were actually made by the organisation or person/s carrying out the activity. However, the funding contract and the obligations created therein will all remain with the auspice body.
An auspice agreement form is included with the application form.
Budget
The Grants Programs will not meet 100% of the cost of any arts activity, so it is important that you have other sources of income for your project, such as in-kind support, ticket sales or product sales.
In-kind support
In your budget include any costs that are contributed as in-kind services rather than a cash contribution.
These might be borrowed equipment, office space or volunteer labour, including your own. In the expenditure column, list all in-kind support as if you have to pay for it. Then in the income column, list all the in-kind support as income because these services have been donated to the project.
Further advice on compiling your budget is included in the notes to the application form.
Professional fees
DCA supports appropriate rates of pay for artists and administration staff involved in any application to the Grants Programs.
Please refer to the following organisations for information on industry standard payment rates:
- National Association for the Visual Arts
www.visualarts.net.au - Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance
www.alliance.org.au - The Australian Society of Authors
www.asauthors.org - The Australian Writers’ Guild
www.awg.com.au - Museums Australia
www.museumsaustralia.org.au
If these standards do not apply to your project, please describe how reasonable rates have been calculated
Taxation
Grants may be subject to taxation in accordance with the provisions of the Income Tax Assessment Act. Tax is the responsibility of the grant recipient. Please seek advice from the Australian Taxation Office or a qualified tax agent.
Intellectual property
You must pay particular attention to all aspects of intellectual property arising from your proposed project. Please outline the part(s) of the project that are:
- Your own original work
- Created in collaboration with others, and
- Created by someone else.
Ensure that everyone involved is correctly acknowledged, consulted with, and has given appropriate written permission for you to use or reproduce the work. In preparing your budget you may need to consider including costs for licence fees for the use of any images, music or other intellectual property created by other people. All applications must clearly describe and demonstrate appropriate arrangements for intellectual property in, or arising from, the project.
If your project involves collaboration with Indigenous communities, you must give careful consideration to cultural ownership and Indigenous protocols. DCA’s Indigenous Arts Project Officer can provide further advice.
For more information about copyright and intellectual property, refer to the Australian Copyright Council — (02) 9318 1788 or www.copyright.org.au; the Arts Law Centre of Australia: (02) 9356 2566; toll-free 1800 221 457; www.artslaw.com.au; or Creative Commons, www.creativecommons.org.au
Copyright, collaboration and cultural ownership
Applications that include collaboration with others such as young people, Culturally and Lingustically Diverse Communities and Indigenous peoples must appropriately consult with all relevant parties. It is your responsibility to ensure you do this thoroughly and in a manner suitable to those with whom you are collaborating.
In particular, those working with Indigenous people and communities must refer to the Indigenous protocols guides produced by the Australia Council’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board. These are available in the Department’s library (call Katherine Browne – Cooper on 9224 7376 or email katherine.brownecooper@dca.wa.gov.au) or download it from the Australia Council website: www.australiacouncil.gov.au/research/aboriginal_and_torres_strait_islander_arts
Working with children
For projects directly involving children, or where the applicant and/or key personnel in the project will be responsible for or supervising children, all applicants are required to comply with current legislative requirements related to working with children.
For more information on current legislative requirements refer to www.checkwwc.wa.gov.au or contact the Working with Children Screening Unit on (08) 6217 8100, toll-free 1800 883 979.
The Department reserves the right to require any applicant to provide relevant clearances as a precondition of funding.
For further information on any of the essential information for all applicants, please contact the Department of Culture and the Arts.
