Funding boosts access to arts and culture in Western Australian regions

More than $700,000 in funding will help Western Australian regional communities access and participate in arts and cultural activities.

15 projects/events will share in $714,704 in grants from the 2024-25 round of the Arts Activities in Regional Communities program, an initiative delivered as part of the Regional Arts and Cultural Investment Program.

Cultural storytelling, hip-hop song creation, a readers and writers festival, and a country music muster are just some of the activities regional Western Australians will soon be able to participate in and experience through the arts funding.

Administered by the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSC), the Arts Activities in Regional Communities program supports participation and access to arts and cultural activities in regional WA.

Supported activities will run throughout 2025 and 2026 across a total of 33 towns and cities in all regions of WA.

The recipients of the 2024-25 Arts Activities in Regional Communities program are:

• Arts Margaret River Inc - $26,085 for the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival, running from 2 to 4 May 2025;

• Big hART Inc - $57,500 for the Sister-in-Law Dreaming: Pilbara and Kimberley Women in Cultural and Artistic Exchange, running from April 2025 to April 2026;

• Bunbury Fringe Inc - $49,033 for the 2025 Bunbury Fringe Festival, running in January 2025;

• Camera Story Ltd - $60,000 for The Next Step: New Stories, New Technologies, New Artists;

• Charmaine Green - $57,967 for Yamaji Silence Listening;

• Country Music Club of Boyup Brook - $58,000 for the 2026 Boyup Brook Country Music Muster, running from 13 to 15 February 2026;

• Dawn Elena Pascoe - $21,706 for Stilt Dancing in the South West;

• Denmark Arts Council Inc - $52,077 for Brave New Works #31, running in April 2025;

• GalleriesWest Inc - $60,000 for the WA Regional Arts Triennial #3;

• Marrugeku Inc - $60,000 for the Cut The Sky Installation Project, running in August and September 2025;

• Nadia Priolo - $50,844 for Shifting Ground - A New Dance Project for Young Artists in the Mid West, running from May to July 2025;

• Shire of York - $55,200 for The Waugal Rising - A Ballardong First Interpretation Along the Gogular Bilya/Avon River in York;

• The Literature Centre Inc - $33,032 for The Sound of Picture Books Performances and Community Workshops, running from 16 to 28 October 2025;

• Town of Port Hedland - $40,000 for the South Hedland Public Art Project, running in May 2025; and

• West Australian Youth Jazz Orchestra - $33,260 for 5 Steps Forward: Empowering Narrogin Youth Through Music Making, running throughout 2025.

For more information on the Arts Activities in Regional Communities program

Image top. Credit: Bunbury Fringe Festival; Image below: Credit: West Australian Youth Jazz Orchestra