Creative Australia has announced the recipients of its new two-year pilot investment program supporting small to medium arts organisations through 2025 and 2026.

The initiative has been made possible by additional investment from the Australian Government, and will provide a boost to organisations across theatre, dance, experimental arts, community arts and cultural development and visual arts.

Bendigo’s children’s theatre-focussed Arena Theatre Company, the Sydney physical theatre company Branch Nebula and South Australia’s Slingsby are among the recipients, as are Melbourne’s St Martin’s Youth Arts and La Mama, which announced in March this year that it was ceasing public performance throughout 2025 in order to “completely review its operations”.

La Mama. Photo © Glenn Hester

Also receiving funding are Sydney’s National Theatre of Parramatta and Monkey Baa, Somebody’s Daughter Theatre Company (Melbourne) and dancer-choreographer Stephanie Lake.

Creative Australia will use the pilot to explore a new investment model for organisations seeking stability beyond project-based support.

Executive Director Arts Investment Alice Nash said: “We are excited to pilot a new investment model that provides the security of multi-year investment to a broader range of organisations. At a time when rising costs of production, skills and workforce shortages, and...