City of Greater Geelong Creative Seed Grants (Australia)

These grants are designed to spark innovation and encourage fresh thinking and seed early-stage concepts with strong potential to grow, influence, or create meaningful impact.

Funding Information

• You may request up to $2,500.
• The total amount of funding available for Creative Seed Grants is $25,000.

What can you apply for?

• To help you work out whether your project is the sort of thing they are looking to fund, they have developed the following list of example projects and costs they might cover.
  • They will fund:
    • Types of projects
      • Projects within the City of Greater Geelong’s municipal boundaries
      • Creative tech mashups – merging art, AI, data, or augmented reality in unexpected ways
      • Projects co-designed with communities, especially underrepresented voices
      • Temporary activations or pop-ups that bring creative experiences to unexpected places (laneways, shopfronts, parks)
      • Micro-residencies or fellowships for artists, designers, or makers to explore a challenge
      • Immersive audio walks that blend storytelling, sound design, and local history
      • Testing for new scripts, choreography, or musical ideas
      • Peer learning circles or skill-share hubs around design, culture, or innovation
      • A short film prototype exploring local identity, climate, or cultural shifts
      • Interactive storytelling or multimedia projects rooted in local identity
      • Reuse/recycle-focused projects that repurpose materials creatively
      • Initiating purpose-driven start-ups in design, fashion, gaming, or publishing
      • New business models that blend commercial and cultural value
      • Creative ways to visualise or communicate local stories and data
    • Types of expenses
      • Venue and studio hire, (including City of Greater Geelong venues)
      • Contractors engaged to deliver a project
      • Artists/creatives fees (artists and creatives should be appropriately paid)
      • Materials
      • Equipment purchases or hire
      • Inclusion and access costs
      • Documentation and evaluation
      • Marketing and promotion
      • Software licenses (editing, design, AR, sound, etc.)

Who is eligible to apply?

• This grant is available to applicants whose primary practice is within the arts, creative and cultural sector.
• Being eligible means, you can receive a grant, but it does not guarantee funding. To apply for this grant, you must be one of the following:
  • resident or operator within the City of Greater Geelong
  • incorporated not-for-profit organisation
  • unincorporated group with an auspice
  • registered charitable organisation
  • business
  • individuals operating as sole traders (with an active ABN).

Who cannot apply?

• You are not eligible to apply if you are any of the following:
  • school or learning institution
  • individual (without an ABN)
  • previous applicant with an outstanding acquittal for grant funding from the City
  • applicant who has not complied with the terms of a previous funding agreement
  • entity involved in legal proceedings related to winding up its operations, experiencing insolvency or
  • bankruptcy (includes any legal bankruptcy related actions against an entity’s directors or officers)
  • entity with outstanding debt to the City of Greater Geelong or in legal proceedings with the City.

For more information, visit City of Greater Geelong.