Indigenous Scholarships
The American-Australian Arts Fund provides support of up to US $10,000 to emerging Native American, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander artists to study or undertake artistic development in each other’s countries respectively. The American Australian Association awards more than 15 arts scholarships and grants per year and has overall awarded more than 500 grants, totaling over $1 million, to talented emerging artists since establishing the scholarship program in 2002.
The following scholarship and grant opportunities are specifically available to emerging Native American, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander artists under the American Australian Arts Fund. These scholarships and grants support artists in the fields of theatre, film, television, dance, music, visual arts, craft, design, literature, photography and fashion.
- Indigenous Arts Grant (AUS to USA only): Will support one Aboriginal Australian or Torres Strait Islander undertaking or planning to undertake artistic development in any art field, in the United States. This scholarship will provide up to US $10,000 of support which may be used toward travel, tuition, living expenses and any other associated artistic development costs.
- Arts Fund (AUS to USA and USA to AUS): Will support Aboriginal Australian, Torres Strait Islander, Native American, Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian artists undertaking or planning to undertake artistic development in any art field, in the country of the other. These grants will provide up to US $5,000 of support which may be used toward travel, tuition, living expenses and any other associated artistic development costs.
Submission Period
Australia to USA: Open for application in both rounds.
USA to Australia: Open for application in both rounds.
Eligibility Requirements
To be eligible to apply to the Indigenous Arts Scholarships in the Australia to USA direction, applicants must:
- Be an Australian citizen or permanent resident (dual citizens are not eligible);
- Be a recognized member of an Indigenous Australian or Torres Strait Islander community;
- Be undertaking or planning to undertake artistic development in the United States;
- Have a formal offer into the course/project in the United States;
- No more than 75% through your course/project if already in the United States.
To be eligible to apply to the Indigenous Arts Scholarships in the USA to Australia direction, applicants must:
- Be an American citizen or permanent resident (dual citizens are not eligible);
- Be a recognized member of a Native American, Alaskan Native or Native Hawaiian community;
- Be undertaking or planning to undertake artistic development in Australia;
- Have a formal offer into the course/project in Australia;
- No more than 75% through your course/project if already in Australia.
Application links to apply online will be made available on this page when each application round is open (as per the dates listed above). Once you have started your application you can save, leave and go back any time before submitting by the due date. Please ensure to save your application each time you exit the browser in case of unforeseen technical difficulties. You will be notified of the results of your application roughly eight weeks after the deadline, at which successful applicants will receive further instruction.
The following documents will be required when applying to the Indigenous Arts Scholarships in either direction. All documents that are not images/video should be saved and uploaded as a PDF:
- High resolution colored headshot with a plain white background (minimum 1MB/300 DPI);
- Video presentation (1-2 minutes) introducing yourself and your artistic development in the country of the other;
- Passport biographic page;
- Confirmation of Identity from Indigenous community;
- Academic transcripts from your previous Graduate and/or Undergraduate study (if applicable);
- 1-page resume;
- Detailed budget outlining expenses and income throughout the time spent abroad that you are applying to support – please download and use the Arts Scholarships Budget Template as a guide. Also available to download in the application portal;
- Please note: Applicants are required to request 3x Letter of Recommendation requests (at least one should be from an Indigenous elder). Referee’s will have until 1 week after the portal officially closes, to submit their Letters. We encourage applicants to submit their referee requests from the portal, as soon as they start their application, to allow the referee’s ample time to complete the request.
An example of the application form can be downloaded here:
For further information please visit the American Australian Association scholarships FAQs page.
Please read our Frequently Asked Questions prior to starting an application.
Inquiries
To make inquiries about these scholarships please contact our Education Program Manager at [email protected] | +1 212 338 6860 x 205.