Expression of Interest Guidelines
The Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries and Healthway recognise the importance of providing opportunities for children and young people to engage in authentic creative and artistic experiences, promoting positive social and emotional wellbeing.
The program will support the engagement of creative practitioners to use the arts as a vehicle to reach priority communities and increase opportunities for young people to engage in continuous creative activities to encourage agency, creativity, connection and resilience. The program also supports activities to build preventative health initiatives aimed at supporting participants’ mental health and fostering social and emotional wellbeing.
These guidelines will support applicants who are submitting an Expression of Interest as part of Stage 1 applications to the Creativity and Wellbeing for Young People Program.
Competitive projects will demonstrate alignment to all program objectives.
Creativity and Wellbeing for Young People supports preventative projects and/or programs that provide opportunities with repeat participation and engagement in arts and creative activities for young people in Western Australia.
Examples of activities that can be funded through this program include:
Applications are open to:
* Must have a Western Australian office, or be currently residing in Western Australia, with a Western Australian address.
The key dates calendar has opening, application closing 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).
Eligible applicants may request up to $75,000 for projects and/or programs.
The amount requested should take into consideration:
This program may fund up to 80% of your activity costs. You must demonstrate at least 20% income (either in-kind or cash), or your expression of interest will be ineligible.
You may submit 1 Expression of Interest application for consideration.
Successful recipients much must complete activities within 12 months of receiving the funds.
Please submit your Expression of Interest application using the Online Grants web portal.
We strongly suggest speaking to a Project Officer prior to commencing your Expression of Interest application
The core components of your application: application questions, alignment to objectives, financial information and support material. Each plays a significant and distinct role in creating a whole picture of your activity.
Provide a summary of the activity and the key elements and what gaps does this project address? Consider including evidence of consultation or previous delivery outcomes within support material.
Clearly outline the target group of young people you propose to work with and why. Include a clear outline of the intended reach of your project detailing the number of young people involved and their repeat engagements.
Consider what activities and/or processes you will undertake to create and build social and emotional wellbeing for participants. Consider how your project will create creative opportunities and skills development for participants.
Identify the key project coordinators (organisations and/or individuals) and creative professionals responsible for delivering the activity. Describe their roles and relevant expertise.
Outline the key processes and stages of your project. Include consideration of how you will market and promote your project, and how you intend evaluate your project.
Expressions of interest are required to complete an indicative expenditure overview to be completed in the online budget template.
The financial information in your budget helps to demonstrate that all elements of your activity have been considered. A good budget also provides confidence that your activity will be a sound investment for the State of Western Australia.
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.
Expenditure items can vary significantly from one activity to another. Any legitimate expense that is eligible may be included in the budget.
Do not duplicate costs in the budget form. For example, if you receive a quote for equipment hire that includes several items such as a camera/lights/batteries, do not include a separate item for ‘camera hire’. Simply outline 'equipment hire' as the expenditure item and add a note explaining the cost includes camera hire.
Make sure you check the list of what you can't apply for.
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 so you must demonstrate at least 20% income, which may include in-kind support, or your application will be ineligible.
May include ticket sales, product sales, performance fees, royalties, artwork and/or 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 government, State Government, Commonwealth Government, the 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 a peer 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 department grant funds being requested as part of this application.
If you are making a cash contribution, or someone is providing cash to the activity, list this item 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, volunteers (including you), negotiated discounted fees and allowances. Anything given to your project at no expense to you is considered in-kind.
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.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) considers any grant payment to be taxable income for the purposes of your annual income tax return. You are encouraged to discuss your tax implications with your tax agent or the ATO prior to applying for a grant.
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 your activity is funded, the department 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 your activity is funded, the department payment will include the GST component for those items on which GST is payable.
Project outputs are not required as part of your Expression of Interest application.
Should your application be successful in progressing to Stage 2, applications will need to provide outputs for the categories and items relevant to the project.
If your application is successful, you will be required to report against your planned project outputs in your acquittal report.
Support material is central to demonstrate the value of your proposed activity. The support material you choose should provide further information and evidence to support the project outlined in your application.
Your choice of support material should help to demonstrate the four assessment criteria: quality, reach, good planning and financial responsibility, as well as how your project will meet the objectives of the program. See How will my application be assessed.
For this program, there is one downloadable form which must be included with the application. These forms are not counted as part of the support material limits:
Engagement overview form — download and complete the excel spreadsheet. Ensure you upload as support material to your application.
Maximum 20 A4 pages of text, in PDF or Word format. Preferably in one single document (maximum file size 5 MB. All text must be legible at 100%). Note: weblinks are not accepted.
Maximum 10 images in one PDF or Word document or up to 10 image files (maximum file size 5 MB with one line of text caption permitted for each image). Note: weblinks are not accepted.
Maximum 4 links to audio and video content not exceeding 12 minutes combined listening or viewing time.
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.
You can find instructions on how to use these sites at the following links:
Expression of Interest applications to this program are reviewed and assessed by Department of Creative Industries, Tourism and Sport staff, Healthway staff and an external peer assessor.
All applications are assessed against the 4 criteria:
Each has a weighting and a subset of dimensions with definitions. 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.
Assessors will consider your application against the relevant dimensions and definitions and allocate a weighted score for each of the four criteria.
Once the panel have reviewed and assessed the Expression of Interest applications, a moderation meeting will be held. This meeting will take into consideration a balance of:
Quality refers to the level of artistic and cultural significance of the activity, and alignment to program objectives.
You must consider the project concept and how it relates to the program objectives. Quality 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
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, detail as to the extension into the wider community, and legacy of the activity.
Good planning refers to the level of consideration which has been given to practically undertaking the activity.
Good planning can be demonstrated by, but is 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.
Financial responsibility refers to the sound management of the budget. Financial responsibility can be demonstrated by, but is not limited to, efficient use of resources, reasonable expenses and an accurate and comprehensive budget, including use of budget notes.
More information on how to apply can be found in the application manual.
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: onlinesupportci@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.
Family, friends, mentors and/or carers can attend meetings with you.
If you are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment, please 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 61 8 6552 7400.