Arts Northern Rivers want to hear YOUR BIG IDEA. 

If you are passionate about the arts and have proposals for ambitious ideas ready to be developed into contemporary arts projects, send them to Arts Northern Rivers. The winning idea will receive $5,000 seed funding and a tailored project development package. 

The concept must be original and at the cutting edge of visual arts, experimental, performance, theatre, live art, music, sound, dance or interdisciplinary contemporary arts practice.

The winning project will work closely with Arts Northern Rivers to hone their project ready for funding.

YOUR BIG IDEA needs to have a public outcome at a site within the Northern Rivers and be led by a Northern Rivers based artist, team or company. Project partners are encouraged and can be sought locally, nationally and internationally.

To be eligible you must be passionate about your big idea and committed to delivering the project if successful for funding. 

Applications will be assessed by a panel of highly regarded industry leaders. 

During the inaugural Your Big Idea project in 2018, the selection panel selected two winning ideas from Caroline Wales and NORPA. 

Caroline’s big idea for Ballina’s Pop Up Festival of The Arts, Ballinale, was to convert self-storage units in the Ballina Industrial Estate into immersive interdisciplinary spaces. 

Arts Northern Rivers Executive Director Peter Wood said Caroline’s Storage-Space Festival idea “was exactly the sort of innovative thinking we were looking for”.

“This year it’s great to be encouraging artists to keep producing experimental work and support new creative developments, particularly during COVID-19 and its impacts on the arts and cultural sector,” he said.

“We’re looking for a boundary pushing concept, something original and something at the cutting edge of contemporary arts practice.”

Applications close on October 12. To apply, visit yourbigideanr.com