Program guidelines
The Creative Organisations Four Year program is the new name for the Arts Organisations Investment Program (AOIP). It is a competitive program that supports longstanding small-to-medium arts, cultural and creative organisations in Western Australia essential to the ecosystem for sustained impact.
The Program aims to build strong Western Australian arts, cultural and creative sector organisations that support the vibrancy of the State.
It invests in a portfolio of small to medium organisations that:
The 2027 Creative Organisations Four Year Program provides successful organisations four years of funding commencing on either:
The funding round opens 9am Monday 22 June 2026.
Applications must be submitted through the Online Grants portal by 4pm, Thursday 6 August 2026.
Organisations will be notified in writing approximately 24 weeks after the closing date.
It is recommended that you approach your request based on your current level of funding and program delivery priorities.
Funding requests must:
Note:
The Program is open to professional arts, cultural and creative organisations that are in receipt of Arts Organisation Investment Program funding 2023-2027.
Applicants not in receipt of Arts Organisation Investment Program funding 2023-2027.
What funds cannot be used for:
competitions, awards, fundraising activities or prize money
Please apply using the Online Grants web portal.
You will need to enter applicant information, plus the following:
Demonstrate how your organisation’s program and activities align to the program objectives, as outlined in these guidelines. Applicants are required to provide this statement as part of their online application, with a 1500-character limit (including spaces).
Outline how the funding requested through the Creative Organisations Four Year Program will be allocated across your organisation’s operations and activities. Applicants must clearly articulate the specific areas, functions and activities that will be supported by this funding, and how it contributes to the overall operation of the organisation. Applicants are required to provide this statement as part of their online application, with a 1500-character limit (including spaces). This statement of proposed funding allocation must be clearly visible in your budget.
Your organisation’s strategic plan should clearly describe what you aim to achieve over the program period and how this aligns with the program objectives. This document must be no more than 20 pages.
The plan must outline what you will deliver each year across the four-year period, who you will deliver it to, and how you will measure and report on success.
The plan must cover 1 January 2028 to 31 December 2031 for calendar-year organisations, or 1 July 2027 to 30 June 2031 for financial-year organisations.
Begin with a clear statement of your organisation’s purpose and artistic vision: why you exist, the impact you seek to create, and your contribution to the cultural sector, communities and audiences.
Describe your strategic approach and the context you operate in, including key internal and external factors such as sector trends, audience insights, cultural protocols, community needs, and anticipated challenges.
Explain how you will resource and deliver your strategy, including staffing, partnerships, governance arrangements, and the skills and capabilities your organisation relies on. Strong governance and clear responsibilities help demonstrate capability and accountability.
Include a high-level financial overview that summarises your current position and provides forecasts for each year (income, expenditure and balance sheet projections). These should align with your strategic priorities. An outline of key business risks and proposed mitigation strategies is also recommended.
Set out how you will measure success, using indicators, milestones and/or evaluation frameworks that assess artistic, cultural, social and economic outcomes aligned with the program objectives.
Finally, outline your strategic marketing and audience development approach, including how you will connect with audiences, participants or communities, and how their needs and perspectives inform your work.
Overall, your strategic plan should provide a clear and coherent picture of what you will achieve, why it matters, how you will deliver it, and how you will remain financially and organisationally resilient throughout the program period.
You will be required to provide an indicative budget through the online portal for your first year of funding (calendar year 2028 or financial year 2027-28). Please note that your strategic plan should include a reflection of your historical financial performance and financial forecast for each year covered by the plan.
When applying, all organisations will be required to provide anticipated Organisation Outputs through the online portal for the first year of funding (calendar year 2028 or financial year 2027-28).
Outputs are specific measurable things generated by your activities. This information will be considered as part of your application and provide further clarity about your activities for the assessor. The outputs also provide important data for the department for research, analysis and advocacy purposes. All organisations are different, and some sections/outputs may not apply to you. You only need to provide outputs for the categories and items relevant to your activities.
If successful, you will be required to report on the outputs you have submitted.
Support material forms an important part of your application. It is recommended that you pay close attention to the support material you choose to ensure it offers the best support for your application. You can upload your support materials with your online application.
If you are submitting audio and/or video files, you must upload them to file streaming sites like Vimeo, YouTube, Bandcamp or SoundCloud that do not require a log-in or password to access. Please do not use Dropbox to deliver audio, video or other files. You can find instructions on how to use these sites at the following links:
More information about support material and the acceptable formats and limits can be found in the table on the next page.
Applications must meet the program objective and are assessed by a panel of industry peer assessors. All applications are assessed against four criteria:
The panel of peer assessors will recommend a portfolio of small to medium arts, cultural and creative organisations. The department may provide moderation advice to the Minister for Creative Industries taking into consideration a balance of policy objectives, artform, sector role, size, geographic spread and community reach.
As part of the moderation advice, the department may recommend awarding your application under the Two Year program.
The panel recommendation and the department’s moderation advice will be submitted to the Minister for Creative Industries for approval.
The four assessment criteria have a subset of dimensions and definitions to provide guidance.
Weighting 25%
Dimensions: Imagination, Authenticity, Originality, Inquisitiveness, Excellence, Captivation, Relevance, Innovation, Challenge, Risk and Rigour.
Dimensions: Diversity, Platform, Collaboration, Leverage, Number and Growth.
Dimensions: Realistic, Achievable, Demonstrated Research and/or Consultation, Evaluation, Sound Governance.
The Online Grants web portal is optimised for use with recent versions of Google Chrome, Edge, or Safari in combination with Windows or Mac OSX.
Please check your information under the Account Details tab (top right) in the web portal.
Throughout the online grant application form you will find help text to guide you through the questions and the process of applying online.
Online Grants help text is available by hovering your mouse over the question mark symbol.
To make sure your work is being saved, please use the ‘Save & Next’ or ‘Save & Previous’ buttons instead of the browser forward and back buttons.
Make sure everything you need for your application is included because once you submit your application there is no opportunity to add or amend anything.
When you have completed all sections, click ‘Submit as Final’. It is very important that you are completely satisfied your application is completed BEFORE you click ‘Submit as Final’.
A system-generated email confirming the successful submission of your application will be sent to your registered email address within 15 minutes of submission. This email confirmation is evidence that you have submitted your application by the due date and time, and it is your responsibility to contact us immediately if you do not receive it.
If you do not receive confirmation, contact onlinesupportci@cits.wa.gov.au quoting your application name and time of submission, and a staff member will investigate the status of your application. Claims relating to application submission errors after this time will not be investigated.
Organisations will be advised in writing of the outcome of your application approximately 24 weeks after the closing date. All successful applications will receive contracting information in due course.
The program will offer four-year fixed term agreements. Funding agreements will commence 1 January 2028 for organisations on a calendar year cycle, and 1 July 2027 for organisations on a financial year cycle.
Culture Counts (for relevant organisations)
The Department uses these reporting mechanisms to monitor the progress of the organisations.
The Department has aligned the Creative Organisations Four Year program to the WA Government priorities and the Creative WA outcomes framework.
The program outputs such as attendance and participation, employment and sales, are all tracked to the Creative WA outcomes within the Online Grants Management System. The monitoring and evaluation of the Creative WA outcomes will demonstrate the impact and public value of WA Government investment in culture, arts and creativity.
Culture Counts began in WA as a mechanism for implementing the Public Value Measurement Framework, a policy of the WA State Government. Culture Counts is a digital data collection and analysis Platform that evaluates feedback from multiple sources to measure the impact and value of an activity.
Culture Counts will be available to organisations funded through the Creative Organisations Four Year Program and will be supported in integrating Culture Counts to evaluate and assess the intrinsic impact of their work. All organisations will be required to use Culture Counts for a sample of agreed activities.
If you need extra assistance due to disability, language barriers or any other factor that may disadvantage you in completing your application, please contact us.
The advice provided by Grants Officers does not guarantee the success of your application.All applications are considered on their own merits and against the assessment criteria and program objectives.
Contact details for assistance with the Creative Industries Online Grants portal or CITS funding enquiries can be found below.
For assistance using the Creative Industries Online Grants portal or to report any related technical issues, contact the Online Grants Support Team: onlinesupportci@cits.wa.gov.au
For enquiries relating to Creative Industries funding programs, including advice or assistance with your application, contact a Grants Officer:
Email grantsci@cits.wa.gov.au
If you are deaf, or have a hearing or speech impairment, contact us through one of the following:
TTY users phone 133 677 then ask for 6552 7400.
Speak and Listen users phone 1800 555 727 ask for 6552 7400..
For interpreting assistance in languages other than English, telephone the Translation and Interpreting Service on 13 14 50 and ask for a connection to 6552 7400.
Creative Organisations Multiyear funding — Application information
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