The recipients of the 2026/27 Regional Arts Development Fund Community Grant Round have been announced following the October Mareeba Shire Council Meeting.
The Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) is a partnership between the Queensland Government and Mareeba Shire Council to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.
Minister for Education and the Arts John-Paul Langbroek said the Regional Arts Development Fund has an impressive track record of supporting local arts and cultural programs across Queensland communities.
“For 34 years, Arts Queensland has partnered with regional councils to co-invest in local arts initiatives that generate jobs, community engagement and help boost local economies. The Crisafulli Government will continue to support these vital collaborations.”
Chair of the RADF Advisory Committee, Mareeba Shire Mayor Angela Toppin, said the funding will support a range of projects that benefit local artists and communities across the Shire.
This year’s grant round was extremely competitive, with a high number of outstanding applications received,” Mayor Toppin said.
“While we were unable to fund every project, we are pleased to support seven successful applicants through the RADF Program. A total of $40,520 has been awarded to projects that will strengthen our local arts and cultural sector through creative initiatives, storytelling, culture and heritage activities, and professional development opportunities.”
- Voices from the Verge $4,780
Developed by a Mount Carbine artist, Voices from the Verge is a youth-focused, capacity and skills building project that will support 20 marginalised young people from the Tablelands Home Education Group to undertake training in smartphone filmmaking and storytelling. Participants will capture and share their collective stories, collaboratively creating a short documentary.
- Italian Stories of Mareeba, Migration, Memory and Place $10,000
A Queensland based practitioner will deliver a community-led cultural heritage project, exploring and preserving Mareeba Shire’s Italian migration stories through bilingual storytelling, family memories, photographs, oral histories and historical interpretation. Participatory community workshops will connect local families with their heritage, informing a lasting creative outcome that return these stories to the Mareeba Shire community.
- 30th Anniversary Project $7,940
The Kuranda Arts Cooperative 30th Anniversary Project will celebrate three decades of local artistic achievement and community participation through a curated exhibition and professionally produced history video. The project will celebrate this milestone by documenting its history and strengthening its capacity for the future.
- I am Nature: School Holiday Workshops $1,800
A Julatten based artist will deliver I Am Nature; a series of creative workshops for local children and their families, connecting them with the local animals and flora. Using natural and recycled materials, participants will collaborate on a giant sculpture together, storytelling and creating their own unique art to take home.
- Reimagining Mareeba’s Stories: Accessible Interpretation Project $10,000
Mareeba Heritage Museum will renew two museum exhibitions through professional curatorial review, improved interpretation, enhanced historical imagery, and contemporary graphic design. New exhibition-quality panels will strengthen readability and storytelling while preserving the objects, immersive displays, and community character that make the Museum unique.
- Age of Faith $3,000
A local artist from Speewah will hold a painting exhibition at Northsite gallery that features six large scale oil on canvas paintings. Original works inspired by the reminder that life is fragile and distant in the regions during the Covid Pandemic. The works seek to celebrate the features of the lived experience of the tropic and the wet tropics environments in Far North Queensland.
- Yarra Sculpture Gallery Winter Residency 2027 $3,000
A Mount Carbine based artist will undertake an eight-week residency with Yarra Sculpture Gallery in Melbourne in 2027, developing new work, and extending their practice and networks. Knowledge and experience gained from the residency will be shared locally through a workshop and public showing.
“Congratulations to all of the RADF grant recipients, we look forward to seeing the wonderful outcomes in this space over the next year,” concluded Mayor Toppin.