AusArt Day Micro Grants 2026

AusArt Day is a national initiative designed to support and enable a collective action by artists and arts organisations to fundraise on one national day – increasing the visibility of arts philanthropy and encouraging greater generosity in support of the arts.

It aims to elevate the public value of the arts in the consciousness of everyday Australians and increase donor engagement in support of Australian creativity.

For 2026, AusArt Day will take place on Thursday 22 October 2026, building on the momentum of its inaugural year. AusArt Day offers two grant opportunities, as follows:

To support the creation of digital content for use within your AusArt Day campaign:

• artists and collectives – $2,500
• arts organisations (of less than $5 million operating budget) – $5,000.

An opt-in dollar-for-dollar matched funding to incentivise your donor engagement during your AusArt Day campaign:

• artists and collectives – $2,500
• arts organisations (of less than $5 million operating budget) – $5,000

The matched funding initiative encourages donations during AusArt Day by matching each contribution dollar-for-dollar, effectively doubling the value of every donation up to a set limit (limits outlined above).

Accessibility:

Applicants to the micro-grant opportunity must meet the following criteria:

• be a practicing Australian artist or a small to medium-sized arts organisation, active in fundraising for an arts and cultural project, cause or activity, with an annual operating budget under $5 million
• are a legally constituted entity (with an ABN) be 18 years or older are based in Australia and are carrying out the majority of their arts activity or practice within Australia work within one or more of the following artforms: 
  • First Nations Arts, Music, Visual Arts, Literature, Dance, Theatre, Emerging and Experimental Arts (EEA), Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD), and Multi-Arts demonstrate capacity to deliver a fundraising activity example of a minimum delivery of one fundraising campaign in the last 3 years (2023/4 – 2025/6) at least one public social media account that has been actively used for a minimum of 12 months, with at least 12 posts per annum.