Council received 73 applications across two project categories, with 24 projects awarded grant funding totaling $100,087. Of the 24 projects recommended for funding, 6 projects received the full amount requested and 18 projects received partial funding. 

The 2024/25 Arts & Creativity grants recipients were endorsed by Council at the meeting on Tuesday 15 October 2024.

Independent Creative Projects

I.C. Markus Dunworth & R. Siciliano

Eco film processing in industry waste with The Darkroom Social
A series of three subsidised community workshops, increasing access to creative education with a sustainability focus. Held in collaboration with local businesses, these workshops will have low-cost tickets and will teach students to repurpose hospitality waste for an eco-friendly alternative to photographic development processes.

Approved funding: $4,000

J.A. Nicholson & F.C. Verity

Art W*nk Podcast: platform subscription
Project support towards audience development and promotion for a weekly podcast produced on the Northern Beaches featuring local creatives and gallerists. 

FApproved funding: $978

Jackelyn Bickell

Create. Connect. Cultivate: Professional development seminars for emerging artists
Towards three professional development seminars with networking workshops for local emerging artists. Local established practitioners will provide expertise and insights across different focus topics, fostering connections through knowledge exchange.

Approved funding: $3,000

Jodie Katherine Dowd

Wayapa Wuurk: Practitioner training and workshops
Providing professional development for local Noongar weaver and curator Jodie Dowd, towards accredited study in Wayapa Wuurk (Indigenous cultural knowledges), and three free community Wayapa Wuurk workshops for 20 community members with yarning circles, and program evaluation.

Approved funding: $5,000

Joshua Paul Little

Ikigai Sessions: Video and performance recording project
Towards professional development for a local emerging musician to release a four-track EP, five-part YouTube series featuring local artists, businesses, and cultural centres, and 12 live music performances at venues on the Northern Beaches. 

Approved funding: $3,349

Katherine Alison Butcher

Common Threads: Collaborative exhibition with community workshops
A two-week inaugural exhibition featuring sustainable art using repurposed materials by six Northern Beaches artists. It includes a collaborative soft sculpture using weaving, sewing, beading, threading, dyeing, and painting. The event offers free interactive drop-in sessions with the artists, community 'create with us' activities, two ticketed weekend workshops, and a final showcase event.

Approved funding: $5,000

Li Sze Teo

Eastern ceramic techniques: Practitioner training, exhibition and community workshops
Towards supporting a local ceramicist to develop and share a new practice not readily available on the Northern Beaches. Project includes a Taiwanese Ceramics Exhibition, two public talks, and two subsidised Qinghua painting workshops for eight people. 

Approved funding: $4,000

Mai Oshima

Stained glass workshops
Annual program comprising 24 stained-glass workshops, including children’s school holiday workshops to promote hands-on creativity, relaxation, and community engagement. 

Approved funding: $4,000

Michael Booth

Manly bookshop theatre project
Nine public performances for 350+ audience of Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation performed in Desire Books & Records in Manly, presenting theatre in unique, non-traditional spaces, and providing professional development opportunities for local actors and crew. 

Approved funding: $3,000

Penelope Susan Blunsden

Everywhere and Nowhere: Solo exhibition
A two-week debut exhibition at Curl Curl Creative Space for a local emerging artist recently graduated from the National Art School, including exhibition launch and free guided tours with the artist. 

Approved funding: $3,500

Simon Maurice John Croker

Phantom Elegance: Film project
Supporting local creatives to produce a short film based on ghost stories of the Wakehurst Parkway from a queer perspective. The project includes production, music composition, set and costume design and two public screenings during the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras 2025 on the Northern Beaches and in Darlinghurst.  

Approved funding: $5,000

Siobhan Stollznow

Fibre Arts Festival
One-day festival at Curl Curl Creative Space to connect the knitting, crochet, and needlework communities of the Northern Beaches and Sydney. Includes market stalls, skills exchange, and in-person social networking for greater wellbeing. 

Approved funding: $2,000

Community and Creative Sector Projects

Amber Marie Boardman

Drawing marathon for high school visual arts students 
Towards a two-day drawing workshop marathon conducted by two established Northern Beaches artists for 20 high school visual arts students at Bushwick South Studios. The project includes program development, materials, mentorship, and a public exhibition of student work. 

Approved funding: $5,000

Anita Patricia Connell

Art therapy program for young people 
Towards an inclusive music education program for high school students and young people with disability on the Northern Beaches to co-create music over one school term, culminating in a three-day recording session to produce a professional recording for distribution. Led by music therapists, participants gain new skills and learn how to use music to enhance health. 

Approved funding: $5,340

Avalon Palm Beach Business Chamber Incorporated

Avalon Village Arts and Environmental Festival
A weekend-long festival with ticketed and free events featuring live music, multi-media, and slam-poetry performances; an exhibition of local artists at Avalon Surf Club; a program of events curated by First Nations Community; and creative and environmental workshops and talks. 

Approved funding: $5,000

Cerebral Palsy Alliance

Cerebral Palsy Alliance: Arts and creativity program
Towards the development of a new program to support local people with disability develop new skills and express themselves through creativity.  

Approved funding: $2,400

Hamazkaine Armenian Educational & Cultural Society Regional Committee

Armenian Prpoor Festival Australia 2025
A weekend festival at the Hamazkaine Arshak & Sophie Galstaun College (Ingleside) for 400+ people connecting Armenian and non-Armenian residents through music, dance, and food, sharing cultural practices fostering a sense of community belonging.  

Approved funding: $6,000

Lewis Edward Holt

Drawing marathon for high school visual arts students 
Towards a two-day drawing workshop marathon conducted by two established Northern Beaches artists for 20 high school visual arts students at Bushwick South Studios. The project includes program development, materials, mentorship, and a public exhibition of student work. 

Approved funding: $6,000

Manly Theatre Group Incorporated

Festival of Short Plays: Program development
Towards program development and rehearsal space hire for the Festival of Short Plays, supporting the creation of up to 15 short new plays written and performed by local creatives, free workshops, and skills development training. 

Approved funding: $2,000

Manly Writers' Festival Inc

Manly Writers' Festival 2025
A three-day ticketed literary festival for 2,000+ writers and readers showcasing emerging and established authors from the Northern Beaches and beyond. Curated program features up to 40 sessions including one-on-one conversations, workshops, and panel discussions in Manly. 

Approved funding: $5,000

Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce

Newport local music pilot program
A new program to support live music in Newport. Towards musician fees for two free live performances at two Newport venues over a four-month period. Connecting community and supporting local venues. 

Approved funding: $3,000

Romani Arts and Culture Collective Incorporated

Balkan-Brazilian cultural event
A one-day intercultural event for 300+ people, featuring 18 culturally diverse artists and 10 emerging jazz musicians to connect and represent multicultural communities living on the Northern Beaches. Towards the creation of new music, mentorship of young musicians, and artist performance fees. 

Approved funding: $6,000

The Balgowlah Bowling Club Ltd

Eastern Lounge: Live music program
A new, monthly live music program hosted at the Balgowlah Bowling Club, in partnership with the Eastern Lounge, to showcase Northern Beaches and local Sydney emerging and established musicians. Towards production and technicians for four events, featuring 12 acts for 450+ audience members.

Approved funding: $3,520

Venessa Crane

Me and My Shadows: Theatre production
Toward development of an intergenerational production of a new theatre work, based on Goethe’s Faust including six accessible public performances at Kamaroi School (Belrose). Production features a diverse cast and crew of 30 local creatives across all abilities. Towards multimedia production equipment, costume and prop materials, and documentation.

Approved funding: $8,000

Council received 84 applications across three project categories, with 27 projects awarded grant funding totalling $122,000. Of the 27 projects recommended for funding, 4 projects received the full amount requested and 23 projects received partial funding. 

The 2023/24 Arts & Creativity grants recipients were endorsed by Council at the meeting on Tuesday 24 October 2023.

Independent Creative Projects

Annabella Louise La Spina

The Poetics of Motion (Spit)
Production of an ‘etched video’ and prints celebrating and exploring ideas raised by the iconic Spit Bridge. A stop motion animation created with copper plate etchings, the video will immortalise the Spit Bridge as the artist reflects on the Spit itself and its standing as the ‘entry to the Northern Beaches’.

Approved funding: $3,000

Catharine Barrett Plummer

We Believe You Babcia 
A multimedia art installation about storytelling Polish grandmothers, intergenerational relationships, and the often-untraced creative lineage of familial storytelling. With sculpture, sound and augmented reality, the work will be exhibited at MAG&M in conjunction with Express Yourself and asks young artists to take stock of their own, perhaps unacknowledged familial creative lineage.

Approved funding: $5,000

Craig Wiles

The Art of Craig Wiles
An exhibition of mixed-media artworks sharing the lived experience of a trained local artist Craig Wiles, presenting a series of works exploring his lived experience of schizophrenia at Curl Curl Creative Space. 

Approved funding: $4,000

Emily Jane Lecky

Dancing On the Edge: A Vertical Dance Expedition
Post-production of a short documentary and dance film leading to a local premiere screening. The documentary follows an all-female expedition of Northern Beaches dancers as they traverse 200km through the Murchison River Gorge in Western Australia. The film then shifts into a cinematic portrayal of a breathtaking vertical dance work on the cliff walls that border the gorge.

Approved funding: $3,000

J.A. Nicholson & F.C. Verity

Art Wank Podcast
Equipment and marketing support for a prominent visual arts podcast to develop its content opportunities and expand its audience. The podcast focuses on the process and practice of contemporary art within the Northern Beaches community and beyond to learn more and demystify the art world.

Approved funding: $772

Katherine Edney

I Want to Lie in the Clouds with You 
Creation of a series of paintings responding to themes of love, comfort and loss. The artist will explore and express the subject of anxiety, reflecting on their own struggles with mental health, to connect with and bring comfort to viewers, especially women, who may be dealing with their own mental health struggles.

Approved funding: $3,748

Kristina Brook Wilson

Northern Beaches Songwriter's Live Performance Development 
Enable an emerging musician to produce new music and foster meaningful collaborations with fellow local artists. Through recording and releasing more music, and gaining skills in music production along the way, the artist will develop their practice and expand their audience. The artist will build their profile through increased live performances at Northern Beaches venues.

Approved funding: $3,000

Nicholas Andrew Price

Wax Rat
Post-production to complete and launch a short film set on the Northern Beaches, produced with local creatives and crew. Wax Rat is a drama about a young girl who discovers joy in surfing amidst the breakdown of her family. Written and co-directed by local author Kirsty Eagar, adapted from a scene in her award-winning novel, Raw Blue.

Approved funding: $5,000

Patrick O'Dwyer

Oceanic Organ
A mobile performance installation using a wave-powered musical pipe organ that combines sculpture with sound art and environmental activism. The work will be presented at the Ocean Festival hosted by the Manly Environment Centre and serves as an educational installation, teaching valuable lessons on rising sea levels and the power of renewable energy.

Approved funding: $3,800

Working Title Writers' Group

Women and Myth: An Illustrated Anthology
Local authors and an illustrator will collaborate to produce a published collection of short stories on ‘Women and Myth’. Exploring new and traditional myths, the project aims to reinvigorate public consciousness of the power of foundational myths, highlighting the often-forgotten feminine in the source material.

Approved funding: $1,950

Community and Creative Sector Projects

Alex Colley Hart

Photo: Synthesis 
An immersive multidisciplinary group exhibition exploring the fragile and multidimensional relationship between the environment, light, and contemporary artistic practice. Providing support for an emerging local curator, and artist fees for a diverse selection of prominent Australian-based artists working within the intersection of contemporary photography, video/sound installations, and sculpture.

Approved funding: $8,000

Amy Frances Gopperth

Sustainable Jewellery Workshops for Community and Mindfulness 
Development of a creative business to build a skilled jewellery-making community on the Northern Beaches through expanding and reimagining jewellery making workshops that focus on sustainability and connection. Key to this is the establishment of mobile jewellery workshops, able to be taught in flexible spaces with broader audiences. 

Approved funding: $3,000

Emma Sinclair

Manilla to Manly – Beach to Bush: Communities in Action
A public program for Creative Open 2024, inviting creative community action for climate action. Connecting beach to bush, artists from the rural Renewable Manilla festival will come to Manly for an exhibition and workshops. Activities include the development of a giant sun sculpture, solar lanterns, mending circles, and more.

Approved funding: $5,700

Felicity Jane Lenehan

Life Stories: Writing Workshops and Community anthology
Writing workshops provide community, education, and support for people who wish to write their life stories. Participants contribute to a published Anthology, focussing on heritage and place. The group will convene monthly at a Northern Beaches Library, developing their stories and learning techniques used by biographers and oral historians

Approved funding: $7,665

Gaimaragal Group Pty Ltd 

The Power of 8
8 First Nations women will participate in a multi-media art project whereby each participant adds to the artwork started by another sister. Over 8 weeks, 8 artworks will be developed, complimented by a shared journal capturing the artists’ life stories and art practices. The artworks and associated stories will be captured in a publication.

Approved funding: $8,454

Les Sculptures Incorporated

Les Sculptures Refusées 
Development and documentation support for a free and high-profile exhibition that re-imagines the Quarantine Station location and its cultural context and provides a major public art event in Manly. As an alternative selection to Sculpture by the Sea, it creates opportunities for artists to exhibit work and local audiences to engage with significant sculptural works.

Approved funding: $1,967

Linda Doreen Haigh

Pittwater Artists Trail
An alliance of 21 artists who collectively open their studios to the public twice a year, creating a trail for art lovers over 3 days. Artists share their work, allowing audiences from the Northern Beaches and beyond to personally engage with artists and their practice, and buy original artworks.

Approved funding: $2,289

Manly Theatre Group Incorporated

Manly Theatre: Group Education Program and Theatre Production 
Inter-disciplinary performing arts workshops and classes focused on acting, writing, directing, and producing theatre. Out of the workshops, the group will produce a full-length play written, produced, and performed by local creatives. The group provides an inclusive community and skill-building opportunity for theatre practitioners in the Northern Beaches.

Approved funding: $3,200

Melanie Hitchcock

Cultiv8: Creative Waves Workshops
Workshops using the art and meaning of Hip Hop culture to connect with some of the most disadvantaged young people in our community. Workshops will be delivered across four elements of Hip Hop culture - dance, DJ’ing, graffiti art, and lyric writing - providing a platform for mentorship and intergenerational sharing.

Approved funding: $4,900

Nicole Megan Buckland

Collage for Carers
Creative workshops for local carers to connect and visualise their personal stories with collage. Facilitated by Angie Cass, a collage artist and community educator, and Nicole Buckland, a collage artist, educator, and occupational therapist. Participants are encouraged to utilise creative expression as a means of self-care and community building.

Approved funding: $8,495

Northern Beaches Chorus Incorporated

Sing in the Season: Christmas Music Learning Program
Northern Beaches Chorus (NBC) women's choir is a community group focused on performance, fun and music education. NBC will run a Christmas music program in November, inviting local women to attend four weekly sessions at the Warringah Mall Community Rooms and learn to sing Christmas carols in four-part harmony.

FApproved funding: $1,760

Northern Beaches Readers Festival Incorporated

The Northern Beaches Readers Festival
A biennial, three-day celebration of popular Australian fiction. Attracting 1000+ ticket bookings in 2022, the 2024 edition will feature 17 curated author talks and panel sessions. With nearly a quarter of the sessions free, the festival aims to attract some of the biggest names in popular fiction, engaging even more local readers.

Approved funding: $5,000

Reid & Meagher Pty Limited

Northern Beaches Artists: Career and Collector Fast Track 
Two-part workshop for artists and collectors. For artists, how to break into the commercial gallery scene, promote themselves, and sell their work. For collectors, how to connect with artists and ways to think about artworks, including their value, and develop their collection.

Approved funding: $5,200

Scotland Island Residents Association Inn

Sydney's Three Underworld Queens: Tilly V Kate V Nellie
Development and performance of a new play based on three Sydney women of the early 1900s, Tilly Devine (Queen of Darlinghurst), Kate Leigh (Queen of Woolloomooloo), and Nellie Cameron (Queen of Darlinghurst). Unlike previous stories about these women, the work will explore their class backgrounds and the motivation for their activities.

Approved funding: $5,000

Streetwork Australia Limited

Changing Strokes: 
Empowering Young People through Creative Art
A creative mentorship program seeking to improve young people’s ability to re-engage in school and education whilst stabilising and/or improving their risk of youth crime and mental health concerns. It will see them engaged in a trusted one-on-one relationship-building environment through a tailored art program with counselling support.

Approved funding: $7,000

Tania Murphy

Hands in Clay
Ceramics workshops for teenagers and seniors focusing on mental health and art therapy practices. Based at North Head Arts Precinct, participants will create ceramic bird baths/reptile ponds for installation by local regeneration groups. Working with clay allows participants to disconnect from mental struggles and gain the freedom to express themselves.

Approved funding: $4,100

Creative Sector Innovation Projects

Evergreen Music Pty Ltd

Tea By the Brook: Live Music Series
A live music event series for artists and audiences to enjoy a vibrant and intimate experience. Collaborating with local businesses, and focusing on musical and cultural diversity, Evergreen aims to fill the venue gap in the Sydney music scene, while providing mentorships for local sound engineers.

Approved funding: $7,000

Council received 52 applications across three project categories, with 16 projects awarded grant funding totalling $84,441.40. Of the 16 applications recommended for funding, 15 projects received the full amount requested and 1 received partial funding.

The 2022/23 Arts & Creativity grant recipients were endorsed by Council at the meeting on Tuesday 18 October 2022.

Amber Marie Boardman

Community MFA Salon Series

Approved funding: $9,000

Michael Booth (Trading As 'The Sydney Actors Playhouse')

The Manly Bookshop Film Project

Funding amount: $5,000

Belinda Clare Castles

Walking Sydney: Writers in a changing city

Approved funding: $3,250

Susan Dureau

The Soundscape Project

Funding amount: $5,000

Sandra Garritano-Provencher

'Beyond the Sea' —A Jazz and Art Soirée

Approved funding: $5,000

J.A Nicholson & F.C Verity

Art W**k Podcast

Approved funding: $2,994

Lachlan Wren

Open Mics on the Northern Beaches

Approved funding: $5,000

Nancy Elizabeth Laver

Northern Beaches Soundscapes

Approved funding: $2,000

Makinnoize Media Pty Ltd (Trading as 'Plushtown Studios')

Bands over Brookvale

Approved funding: $10,000

Manly Theatre Group Incorporated

Acting and Scriptwriting Workshops

Approved funding: $2,202.40

Frances Morgan

The Listening Station

Approved funding: $10,000

Emily Therese O'connell (Trading as 'Anywhere Else Films')

On the Side (Short Film)

Approved funding: $5,000

Jayne Papalia

Community open studio project

Approved funding: $8,245

Zena Rose Miranda Merrifield Shapter

Northern Beaches Writer’s Competition

Approved funding: $2,450

Katie Stafford

Woodworking for Women

Approved funding: $5,000

Sydney Chamber Music Festival Incorporated

Sydney Chamber Music Festival presents Revival

Approved funding: $4,300