The First Peoples Curators Program supports early career Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander curators with new skills, professional presentation and development opportunities, and access to key industry networks.

Successful applicants receive

• $1,500 curator/s fee per exhibition;
• $600 artist fee per artist capped at $3,000;
• Access to Travel Fund up to $1,000 if regional or interstate based
• A fully subsidised six-week exhibition in Gallery 1;
• Professional mentorship with an established First Peoples curator;
• Access to Firstdraft’s equipment and resources;
• Marketing and communications support, including professional documentation;
• An opening night event and an artist/s talk;
• Professional exhibition invigilation

Key Dates:

• Callout opens Tuesday 1 April 2025 (5pm)
• Online information session (auslan interpreted) - Wednesday 16 April 2025 at 6:30pm
• Open all year round.

Guidelines

Firstdraft assess applications on:

• artistic merit;
• emergent and experimental nature of the practices presented;
• advancement of the applicant/s’ artistic and professional practice;
• responsiveness to contemporary contexts;
• geographic, demographic and art form diversity

Applicants should also consider the following:

• New work and/or work that has not been exhibited in Sydney is preferred.
• Mid-career and more established artists must demonstrate that the work is of an experimental nature and represents a departure from their current practice.
• Preference is given to artists who have not shown at Firstdraft in the past two years

• Phone: 02 8970 2999
• Email: info@firstdraft.org.au