Regional Arts Victoria Grants: Supporting Artists Beyond the City

Regional Arts Victoria (RAV) is the peak body for arts and culture in regional Victoria, Australia, supporting artists and arts organisations outside Melbourne through grants, residencies, professional development programs, and advocacy. Founded in 1969, RAV has been supporting the arts in regional Victoria for more than five decades, addressing the specific challenges that artists face when working outside major urban centres and ensuring that the benefits of arts funding are distributed equitably across the state.

The organisation's focus on regional artists is its most important and distinctive characteristic. Artists who live and work in regional Victoria face specific challenges that are different from those faced by artists in Melbourne, including limited access to professional development opportunities, smaller local markets for their work, and greater distances from the galleries, studios, and arts infrastructure that are concentrated in the capital city. RAV's programs are designed to address these specific challenges, providing support that is tailored to the needs of regional artists rather than simply replicating the programs available in Melbourne.

The Grants Programs

RAV administers several grants programs that support artists and arts organisations in regional Victoria, with funding available for a range of activities including the creation of new work, professional development, community engagement, and the development of arts infrastructure in regional communities.

The Creative Development grants support individual artists and small organisations in developing new creative work, with funding available for the research, development, and creation of new projects. The grants are designed to support the full range of creative activities that contribute to the development of new work, from initial research and experimentation through the creation of finished work and its presentation to audiences.

The Professional Development grants support individual artists in accessing professional development opportunities that are not available locally, including workshops, courses, residencies, and other activities that advance the artist's practice. The professional development grants are particularly important for regional artists who need to travel to access the professional development opportunities that are concentrated in Melbourne and other major cities.

The Community Arts and Cultural Development grants support projects that engage regional communities in arts and cultural activities, with funding available for projects that involve community participation and that contribute to the cultural life of regional communities. These grants reflect RAV's understanding that the arts play an important role in the social and cultural health of regional communities and that supporting community arts is an important part of its mission.

The Residency Programs

RAV administers several residency programs that provide regional artists with opportunities to work in different environments and to engage with different communities and artistic contexts. The residencies are designed to support artistic development and to build connections between regional artists and the broader arts community.

The Country Arts Support Program (CASP) provides small grants to regional arts organisations for a range of activities including residencies, workshops, and community arts projects. The CASP program is one of the most accessible funding mechanisms available to regional arts organisations, with a relatively simple application process and a broad range of supported activities.

The Regional Context

Regional Victoria encompasses a vast and diverse geographic area, from the agricultural plains of the Wimmera and Mallee through the alpine regions of the Victorian Alps and the coastal communities of the Gippsland coast. Each of these regions has its own distinctive character, history, and cultural traditions, and the artists who live and work in these regions bring a specific perspective and set of experiences to their work that is different from the perspective of artists in Melbourne.

The landscape of regional Victoria has been a central subject for Victorian artists throughout the history of Australian art, from the Heidelberg School painters who worked in the hills and valleys around Melbourne through the contemporary artists who engage with the specific landscapes of different regional areas. RAV's support for landscape painting and other art forms that engage with the Victorian environment reflects its understanding of the importance of this tradition to Victorian cultural identity.

The Advocacy Role

Beyond its grants and programs, RAV plays an important advocacy role for regional arts in Victoria, representing the interests of regional artists and arts organisations in policy discussions and funding negotiations with state and federal government. This advocacy role is an important part of RAV's mission, ensuring that the specific needs and challenges of regional artists are understood and addressed in the broader arts funding landscape.

The advocacy work reflects RAV's understanding that the structural challenges facing regional artists, including geographic isolation, limited local markets, and unequal access to professional development opportunities, require systemic responses as well as individual project support. The organisation's advocacy work aims to address these structural challenges at a policy level, complementing the direct support it provides through its grants and programs.

The Bottom Line

Regional Arts Victoria is the most important source of arts funding and support for artists in regional Victoria, providing grants, residencies, and professional development programs that address the specific challenges of making art outside major urban centres. For artists resident in regional Victoria who want to develop their practice and access public funding for their work, RAV is the most important and accessible funding body available.