From 1 July 2025, the Department of Creative Industries, Tourism and Sport (CITS) replaces the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSC).
Guidelines
The Creative Learning Partnerships Program offers grants between $80,000 and $120,000 per annum to deliver 2-year creative learning programs.
The Creative Learning Partnerships Program enhances students’ (years PP to 10) and educators’ creative learning capabilities in and through the arts. Programs will build educators' pedagogical capacities and increase access to and participation in the arts, cultural and creative activities.
A key concern addressed through the program is those students who are disadvantaged and least likely to have access to such opportunities to enrich their overall learning and engagement. As part of the Creative Learning Partnerships Program, arts organisations will work with identified clusters of schools to deliver programming over 2 years.
The Creative Learning Program recognises that the following 5 program objectives are interdependent.
Enhance students’ and educators’ creative learning capabilities to increase engagement and support success across Western Australian curriculum areas and beyond.
Your application should align with all program objectives.
Note: applications that align with all key program priorities will be given priority.
As part of the assessment process, CITS may provide information on prioritising funding to schools that need it most upon advice from the Department of Education.
Applications are open to Western Australian based:
If you are applying on behalf of Aboriginal people you must provide evidence of significant Aboriginal involvement in the conception, development of and participation in the activity.
This funding cannot support core activity of Arts Organisation Investment Program (AOIP) funded recipients and Major Performing Arts companies.
Please note: this program excludes state operated arts and cultural institutions.
The key dates calendar has application opening, closing, draft review and activity start dates.
You are encouraged to submit your application before the closing date to ensure you have plenty of time to allow for technical or eligibility/resubmission issues. All times are in AWST (for Perth, Western Australia).
Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application approximately 12 weeks after the closing date.
Processing of grant payments to successful applicants will not start until the grant contract is signed and returned. Depending on the activity start date, we cannot guarantee notification and/or availability of funding before the activity begins.
Eligible applicants can apply for between $80,000 and $120,000 per year to deliver a 2-year creative learning program commencing from 15 January 2026 onwards. You can request up to up to 70% of your activity costs. You must demonstrate at least 30% income from other sources with at least 10% cash, or your application will be ineligible.
Your funding request will be the difference between your expenditure minus your income in your application budget.
Note: if you are considering a project that explores or incorporates Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander cultural knowledge, it is strongly encouraged that your application include details of the key Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander personnel who will be advising on this aspect of the activity.
*For short term project-specific software licenses please speak to a project officer.
**For these projects to be competitive, the beautification must be a secondary outcome. The primary focus of this program is to support projects engaging artists to work with students and teachers to embed creativity and arts beyond arts learning areas. You are strongly encouraged to explore creative learning activities other than school beautification.
You will make your application ineligible if you:
One application per provider/organisation/institution will be accepted.
Please apply using the Online Grants web portal.
More information on how to apply can be found in the application manual.
There are 4 components of a grant application:
Each plays a significant and distinct role in creating a whole picture about your activity.
Your answers to the core application questions should give assessors a concise overview of your activity using plain language. Each question has a 1500-character limit. If you need more information on how to prepare your application, please read the application manual.
You can extract a copy of your draft application in Online Grants at any stage to share with others for their feedback.
Respond to the following questions with reference to the assessment criteria, program objectives and relevant key program priorities:
Describe your planned activity. Provide a summary of the activity, the key elements, what is involved, what target groups will be included and how they will contribute. Outline the importance and relevance of the activity to your organisation and target groups.
Describe why your activity is relevant to the creative learning landscape within Western Australia, with reference to the program objectives and key priorities relevant to your activity and community. Outline how your activity enriches learning for students and builds the capacity of teachers to use creative learning approaches in their teaching practice across the curriculum.
Consider how the activity will assist in building sustained, meaningful engagement with the activity partners and creative learning sector (creatives, teachers, school leadership, school community, corporate and philanthropic partners, government agencies).
Outline how key personnel, partners and collaborators will contribute to and/or co-design the planning, development and/or delivery of the activity. Describe milestones and how the activity will impact creatives’ professional learning, creative practice and/or networks, and wider creative learning community in Western Australia. Outline why you have proposed the school(s) where the planned activity will occur.
Note: you can attach brief CVs, biographies or profiles demonstrating the experience of the creative personnel in your support material.
Provide a summary of the key milestones in your activity planning and delivery, the key stages of the activity and who will be responsible. Describe the stages or steps in planning, managing and delivering your activity. Include specific details that are essential to the success of your activity. Please outline your plans for marketing and promotion of the activity.
Note: further information can be provided in the support material through a project plan.
Describe the creative processes used to engage students in their learning. Outline which areas of the curriculum your activity aligns with, and how the use of creative processes will impact student engagement across learning areas. Include the skills and/or professional learning outcomes gained by creative practitioners, educators and/or school staff through the activity. Consider how your activity supports critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability, ethical understanding and/or intercultural understanding. Outline the expected outcomes that will be achieved — these may be fixed outcomes or processes.
Outline the methods, processes or tools you will use to measure and report your progress towards, and/or achievement of, the activity outcomes you outlined in question 5. Explain how these align to the objectives and priorities of the program. Consider how you will know whether you achieved your proposed outcomes. Outline how you will share the learnings with the wider education/creative learning community.
You are required to provide relevant project outputs. An output is a specific measurable thing that is generated by your project. This information will be considered as part of your application and provide further clarity about your project for the assessor. The outputs also provide important data for the department for research, analysis and advocacy purposes.
You only need to provide outputs for the categories and items relevant to your project.
If your application is successful, you will be required to report against your planned project outputs in your acquittal report.
Refer to the application manual for an explanation of the project output questions.
Please contact us if you have any questions.
The financial information in your budget helps to demonstrate that all elements of your activity have been considered, thoroughly researched and costed. A good budget also provides confidence for CITS that your activity will be a sound investment for the State of Western Australia.
You should indicate which expenditure items you want CITS to support. List those items in the ‘Additional Notes’ section of the application form’s budget page.
If you are registered for GST you should not include GST in the budget figures. All amounts should be in Australian dollars.
Your funding request is the difference between your expenditure minus your income. To ensure this amount is calculated accurately, seek quotes for all expenditure items (whether or not you intend to include these as support material) and include all costs associated with the activity, even if they are supplied in-kind.
Many activities will include in-kind contributions in the form of offering something for free or at a discount. More information on in-kind expenditure and income as well as an example of how to demonstrate your in-kind support follows this section.
For each expenditure or income item you add to the budget, use the notes area alongside the item to explain how it relates to the delivery of your activity and how the cost was calculated. If relevant, include a breakdown or itemisation of costs.
Expenditure items can vary significantly from one activity to another. Any legitimate expense that is eligible can be included in the budget.
Do not duplicate costs in the budget form. For example, if you receive a quote for advertising which includes design, do not add an additional item for design. Simply use ‘advertising’ as the expenditure item, and add a note explaining that the cost includes design.
Make sure you check the list for ineligible items.
Expenses related to the management and administration of the activity. For example, telephone/internet, insurance, postage and stationery. Eligible expenditure items in this category may also include audit costs and accessibility costs (expenditure associated with making your activity accessible to participants or audiences with a disability).
Costs associated with marketing to your target audience. For example, information, promotion and audience engagement activities, advertising, graphic design, merchandise photography, videography, public relations and production of marketing collateral.
Costs related to the remount, production and delivery of the activity or its deliverables, including the costs of presentation and exhibition. Eligible items may include venue hire, lighting hire, set construction, manufacturing costs, recording fees, rehearsal space hire, props and audio-visual costs.
Expenditure in this category should include salaries, fees and allowances for all key personnel, with separate components itemised in the budget notes. We support appropriate rates of pay for all people involved in your activity. Refer to the following websites for information on industry standard payment rates:
If these standards do not apply to your activity then you must outline how reasonable rates have been calculated. For long-term activities, it may be appropriate to pay artists a rate based on a yearly salary for a similar kind of work. If this is the case, you need to clearly explain the rationale for the pay rate in your budget notes.
All rates should be relative to level of experience.
Please note that organisations, such as Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, predominantly provide information on minimum base rates for employees engaged on a full-time, part-time or casual basis. Rates for artists and arts workers engaged as contractors will include a loading to cover the costs of being self-employed. Full-time, part-time and casual rates do not factor in these costs and should not be used when engaging contractors.
Costs associated with transporting people, equipment or goods. Eligible items may include fares (taxi, airplane, bus etc.), tolls, land or air freight, and vehicle hire.
This program does not fund 100% of your activity costs. You must demonstrate at least 30% total leveraged income, of which 10% must be a cash contribution, or your application will be ineligible.
May include ticket sales, product sales, performance fees and merchandise sales. For performances, this amount should factor in the number of performances, average ticket price and projected venue capacity.
List any income received through sponsorship from corporate bodies or businesses. Income received through government sponsorship should be included in the relevant government income category.
May include contributions from fundraising, crowdfunding, donations, gifts and bequests.
All grants and sponsorship being sought from local, state and federal government, Creative Australia, and other government sources must be included, whether or not this support has been confirmed. If your application is to be assessed by an assessment panel, we will attempt to confirm the status of any pending funding applications directly with the funding body prior to the panel assessment. Do not include CITS grant funds being requested as part of this application.
Your 10% required cash contribution should be included here. Whether you are making a cash contribution, or someone is providing cash to the activity, list this/these item(s) as a ‘cash contribution’ or similar. Include any other income source that does not fit within any of the above categories and provide enough detail to identify the income source.
Some expenses may be offered to you for free or at a discount. This might be borrowed equipment, the use of a rehearsal space, donated or discounted goods or services, teacher/relief teacher or school staff salaries for time spent on the project, volunteers (including yourself), negotiated discounted fees and allowances. Anything given to your project at no expense to you is considered in-kind.
All in-kind expenditure must be included as a budget item under the in-kind expenditure category. The corresponding recognition of in-kind income is created automatically in your online application, and you do not need to enter any in-kind income budget items. The total in-kind expenditure must always equal the total in-kind income.
If, for example, you are hiring a venue, which would normally charge $2000, and you have successfully negotiated an $800 (40%) discount, you would include venue hire fee as a budget item under the expenditure category of $1200 and $800 under the in-kind expenditure category.
This section of the budget provides an opportunity for you to detail any additional information you feel may help to clarify items within your budget. For example, for fees and salaries you can indicate in this section how you calculated your amount.
You should use this section to indicate which expenditure items you want CITS to support.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) considers any grant payment to be taxable income for the purposes of your annual income tax return. If you receive a grant you are encouraged to discuss your tax implications with your tax agent or the ATO.
If you are registered for GST you must show your expenditure items exclusive of the GST component. For example, you have been quoted $550 including GST for lighting hire. In your expenditure budget you would only show lighting hire of $500.
If you are registered for GST and your activity is funded, CITS payment will include a 10% GST component to cover those items on which GST is payable.
If you are not registered for GST you must show your expenditure items inclusive of the GST component. For example, you have been quoted $550 including GST for lighting hire. In your expenditure budget you would show lighting hire of $550.
If you are not registered for GST and your activity is funded, CITS payment will include the GST component for those items on which GST is payable.
Support material is crucial to a successful application and is essential for assessors to fully gauge the value of your activity. It is highly recommended you pay close attention to the support material you choose and make sure it offers the best support for your application.
It should help to demonstrate the 4 assessment criteria: quality, reach, good planning and financial responsibility as well as the objectives and priorities of the program.
There are 3 mandatory units of support material for the Creating Learning Partnerships. You must submit all 3 units.
You can select up to 3 additional units of support material that are within the limits as described below. Mandatory support materials and will not count towards your support material limits.
Please note:
More information about how to submit your materials can be found in the application manual.
Maximum 2 A4 pages. One PDF only, 5 MB max. This document should provide:
Note: the Department of Creative Industries, Tourism and Sport reserves the right to work with successful applicants to confirm participating schools.
Maximum 10 A4 pages. One PDF only, 5 MB max.
Your project plan should include the following:
Support material summary
Note: weblinks are not accepted.
*Can include multiple screenshots of emails, quotes, letters of support, etc. We suggest taking a screenshot or snip of the essential information and pasting up to 4 per A4 page so they are still legible when viewed at 100%.
10 images (combined total of all images submitted)
Audio and/or video files must be uploaded to file streaming sites like Vimeo, YouTube, Bandcamp or SoundCloud that do not require a log-in to access. Do not use Spotify or Google Drive.
You can find instructions on how to use these sites at the following links:
Applicants may request a draft review. Check the key dates calendar for the draft review deadline date. You are strongly encouraged to make this request well before the review deadline to give staff enough time to provide feedback as well as time to update your application on receipt of this review. First time applicants will be prioritised.
Contact onlinegrantsupportca@cits.wa.gov.au if you require assistance requesting a draft review in Online Grants.
Applications to this funding program are assessed by an external peer assessment panel.
All applications are assessed against the program’s objectives and priorities, and the 4 criteria:
Each has a subset of dimensions and weightings which can be found below.
More information about the dimensions and definitions, which have been developed by artists and creatives representing their sector, can be found in the application manual.
You are not expected to address all dimensions and definitions, only those most relevant to your application.
Your application must meet all program objectives to be successful. Applications that meet all program priorities will be prioritised. Assessors will consider your application against the relevant dimensions and definitions and allocate a weighted score for each of the 4 criteria.
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.
Final approval of successful applications depends on available budget and approval by the Minister or delegated authority.
Weighting 35%
Imagination, authenticity, originality, cross-curricular alignment, inquisitiveness, excellence, captivation, relevance, innovation, challenge, risk and rigour.
Quality refers to the level of artistic and cultural significance of the activity. Quality may be demonstrated by examples of previous work, sector support, timeliness of the work and a strong history in your area of practice. It may also be demonstrated through the skills and experience of the people involved in the activity, and the alignment of those skills and experience to deliver the project.
Weighting 20%
Diversity, platform, collaboration, leverage, number, growth and depth.
Reach refers to the level of impact the activity is likely to have. Reach may be demonstrated by including information such as the number of participants and depth of engagement, details around extended activity in the wider school community, networking opportunities, relevant marketing and promotional strategies and the potential increase in audience or markets.
Weighting 25%
Realistic, achievable, considered, demonstrated research and/or consultation, evaluation and co-design.
Good planning refers to the level of consideration which has been given to practically undertaking the activity. Good Planning can be demonstrated by, but not limited to; carefully considered preparation, confirmation of key personnel, a realistic timeline and achievable outcomes, documented research and/or consultation, and a process of evaluation.
Value, comprehensive budget, financial self-sufficiency.
Financial responsibility refers to the sound management of the budget. Financial responsibility can be demonstrated by efficient use of resources, reasonable expenses and an accurate and comprehensive budget. Other sources of income have been considered and included where appropriate and the activity goes some way towards self-sufficiency.
If your application is successful you will be required to fill in an acquittal report when your activity has finished. An acquittal report details your activity and how you spent the grant. The acquittal report will be available for you to access in Online Grants, via the Edit/View Reports tab on the home page once a copy of your signed funding agreement has been received.
Your acquittal report must be submitted within 90 days of the activity completion date as specified in the funding agreement.
You will need to answer the following questions:
The acquittal report will also include your activity budget. You will be required to enter all the actual figures against each budget item and add any additional items not in the original budget. Variations between budget and actual figures are acceptable; however, you must provide an explanation for large variations in the Notes for that item. As you enter actual figures, the activity profit/loss will be automatically updated and displayed at the top of the Financial Information page.
You must upload relevant documents, images and/or videos that substantiate the delivery of the activity and that may demonstrate the impact and outcomes achieved.
Consider including receipts for your major expenditure items, any reviews or feedback from attendees or stakeholders, examples of the creative learning outcomes, photographs or video documenting the process or presentation, evidence of box office or sales where relevant, examples of any promotional material produced, and any evaluation related documents.
As a rough guide please refer to these formats and limits for your acquittal report support materials:
Do not use zipped files, or file sharing services such as Dropbox, OneDrive or Google Drive to submit your support materials, or any streaming services that require a log-in to access, such as Spotify.
You may use links to websites as acquittal report support material where relevant, for example if you were funded to create or update your website.
Refer back to your application’s activity outcomes for guidance in selecting suitable material.
If possible, please provide your support material in one PDF document for text and one document for images. Please note there is a 5 MB size limit for documents. Audio and video material must be supplied as separate URL links directly in the Online Grants portal.
The funding acquittal report also includes the option to provide feedback to help us to continually review and improve the service we provide.
If you are successful, prior to your acquittal you will be required to submit a mid-project report by the end of the 2026 calendar year.
The Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries takes into consideration various levels of disadvantage including economic, social and/or geographic.
Identifying economic and/or social disadvantage in line with the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) considers the measure known as the Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA). A school’s ICSEA indicates the average educational advantage of the school’s students and is calculated using information about a parent’s occupation and education, school geographical location and the proportion of Indigenous students.
Additional to social and economic disadvantage, areas of geographic disadvantage include:
Project officers are available via telephone and email to answer queries about applications and suitability of activities to specific programs.
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 project officers does not guarantee the success of your application.
Due to the high number of applications received, each funding round is highly competitive.
All applications are considered on their own merits and against the assessment criteria and program objectives.
For assistance using Online Grants or to report any related technical issues, contact the Online Grants Support Team: onlinegrantsupportca@cits.wa.gov.au
For enquiries relating to this funding program, including advice or assistance with your application, contact a project officer:
The department is committed to supporting applicants with disability. Information can be provided in alternative formats (large print, electronic or Braille) upon request.
If you require special assistance in preparing your application, please call 61 8 6552 7400 or toll free for regional WA callers on 1800 634 541.
Family, friends, mentors and/or carers can attend meetings with you.
If you are d/Deaf, or have a hearing or speech impairment, contact us through one of the following:
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 or 1800 634 541.
Toll Free (Country WA callers only): 1800 634 541
Email the project officers: creativelearning@dlgsc.wa.gov.au