The Resilient stream provides organisations based, or delivering services, in regional and remote areas of Queensland and the Northern Territory with multi-year general operating support — the funding Australia’s for-purpose organisations need most. Resilience funding to arts and cultural organisations is delivered in partnership with the Australian Cultural Fund, through a tailored service offering for the philanthropic sector called Amplify.
new approvals
organisations supported
First Nations organisations
total Resilient funding approved and distributed
The figures in the infographics above refer only to funding approved and distributed in the 2025/26 financial year.
In April 2026, Norman Frank Jupurrurla and Serena Moreton Nabanunga moved into their home in Tennant Creek and and innovative new model of remote housing with tears in their eyes and smiles wide.
The moment marked a historic moment for these Warumungu Elders and their family. Years in the making, the home is the result of sustained listening, advocacy, and the development of Wilya Anyul Janta (Wilya Janta), which means "standing strong".
This is just the beginning for Wilya Janta, who has changed the narrative about remote Indigenous housing for good. Remote Indigenous housing has been considered in the “too hard” basket until now, with the previous models leading to poor cultural, health, and environmental outcomes.
Now, Wilya Janta has created a blueprint for the future of Indigenous-led design and housing across remote Australia. Wilya Janta’s first 'Explain Home' serves as concrete (or mud-brick) proof that a better model is possible. Norm and Serena’s home has been designed to be culturally appropriate, climate-ready, and economically cost-competitive.
Wilya Janta is doing more than building houses. The organisation is helping to build the case for "right way" Indigenous housing, and to demonstrate its long term value. In March 2026, alongside Aboriginal Housing NT, Wilya Janta released an independent report titled Culturally Safe and Healthy Aboriginal Housing: Business Case. The findings show that for every dollar invested, up to two dollars in measurable benefits can be returned.
TFFF funding has been directed towards supporting local employment opportunities in Tennant Creek, strengthening skills and capability within the community. Wilya Janta's team has been producing the homes’ mudbricks, working on new designs, and just celebrated the first Warming House!
The impact is already visible. Families are coming together in spaces designed for how they live. Children have room to play. Adults can gather, share meals, and sit by the fire. These everyday moments speak to something larger – Wilya Janta is making a difference in more than housing, a difference that reflects a fundamentally different way of living for the next generation of families growing up in remote Australia.
Photos 1 & 2 by Andrew Quilty.
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Aboriginal Art Co. is Magandjin/Brisbane’s first Indigenous Art Centre. It connects Indigenous Art Centres and independent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from predominantly regional and remote Australia to the metropolitan Queensland market. Importantly, customers know they are making ethical purchases that support First Nations artists and their communities. Beyond sales, Aboriginal Art Co. offers various professional development and engagement activities, including solo exhibitions and residence programs for emerging artists and makers, creative workshops, and walking tours for the general public.
The Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA) is a registered training organisation providing vocational education and accreditation in contemporary performance. ACPA provides early encouragement, connection, and training for young First Nations people interested in the performing arts, many of whom pursue careers across contemporary music, dance, circus, theatre, and film and television. With TFFF funding, ACPA is able to connect with prospective students in regional areas and offer supported school holiday camp experiences for them at its Brisbane campus.
artisan has been Queensland’s home of craft and design for over 50 years. As the leadership body representing makers across the state, it works to support vibrant and thriving communities of craft and design practice while advocating for sector recognition and promoting and supporting contemporary craft and design practices. artisan collaborates with individual artists and organisations across Queensland to ensure regional areas of the state see equal inclusion and representation.
Australian Indigenous Governance Institute (AIGI) is an independent, Indigenous-led centre working towards a future in which Indigenous peoples, communities and nations can pursue and exercise their right to self-determination and economic development through strong self-governance. AIGI connects Indigenous Australians to world-class governance practice, resources, and professional development to meet their self-determined governance needs.
Baby Give Back collects donated essentials, like quality clothing, nappies, and other baby items, to support vulnerable families with young children aged 0-5 by providing personalised 'Safe Start' and 'Clothing' boxes. A Queensland-based charity, Baby Give Back is currently expanding its services due to significant need in rural, regional, and remote communities. It is working in partnership with social services and other material basics organisations Orange Sky Australia, Thread Together, and Foodbank Queensland to operate a new wraparound service in Townsville.
BlakDance is the national industry organisation working to build a sustainable First Nations contemporary dance sector. It does this by supporting independent dancers, choreographers, and small companies with producing power for their creative developments, world premieres, festivals, and local and international tours. BlakDance works alongside other self-determined First Nations performing arts companies to address critical issues in workforce development and sustainable career pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander performance artists and arts workers.
Developed, governed, and led by First Nations men, Brother to Another guides and empowers First Nations young people, families, and communities to heal and realise their full potential. Brother to Another is focused on keeping young people connected to culture and out of the justice system. It addresses not only the practical needs but also the emotional, mental, and social well-being of young men between eight and twenty-four years old, by providing mentoring, counselling, job training, and educational re-engagement opportunities.
Brown’s Mart is the home of Territory performing arts. Based in Darwin on Larrakia Country, Brown’s Mart is both a venue for hire and a producing organisation, supporting and connecting artists living and working in the Northern Territory with local and national opportunities. Year-round, its performance spaces hold events from play readings and theatre productions to live music, much-loved annual festivals, and community events.
Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) is Queensland’s premier Indigenous art fair, providing cultural and economic platforms for Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and Art Centres. CIAF’s centrepiece is a three-day art fair held annually in Cairns, which also includes traditional and contemporary live performance: music, song and dance; theatre and fashion; workshops, and informative talks. CIAF allocates its TFFF funding towards supporting fashion pathways and the production of the Fashion Performance, which is the centrepiece of each year’s fair.
Camerata’s primary aim is to empower artists, inspire audiences, and enrich communities through music. It provides career and performance opportunities for string players who wish to build professional, international careers from Queensland. Camerata undertakes a major concert season annually in both Brisbane and Toowoomba, and performs a variety of musical styles, often featuring a contemporary soloist or vocalist. The ensemble commits to one regional tour each year, delivering full-scale concerts, education workshops and pop-up performances for communities young and old.
Cape York Partnership is working to empower Indigenous Cape York families and communities to strive for lives of value, freedom, and prosperity via an ecosystem of interrelated organisations and initiatives. The School to Jobs (S2J) initiative is part of that ecosystem and is led by Cape York Employment. S2J aims to address the major barriers for youth transitioning to employment by promoting an aspirational culture that encourages students to strive for bright futures and become the drivers of change in their local communities. The initiative supported 200 young people in FY25 ensuring students are healthy, financially literate and maintain their cultural identity and connection to family.
Working in the Northern Territory with children, families, and communities that face the greatest exclusion and live with injustice and disadvantage every day, Children’s Ground has a vision to create a new future filled with promise, hope, and empowerment. Children’s Ground’s 25-year strategy envisages all First Nations children and families realising their aspirations for a life of opportunity, strong cultural identity, and personal wellbeing. Children’s Ground recognises the expertise of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems and integrate cultural knowledge with international leading educational practice to enable Indigenous children to walk in two worlds.
Circa Cairns is the First Nations-led, regional offshoot of Circa Contemporary Circus. After three years of creating, performing, and touring culturally-strong contemporary circus works, the Circa Cairns model is evolving to prioritise in community and on Country engagement experiences across Far North Queensland, particularly for Indigenous youth. Like many peer organisations, Circa Cairns is working towards a generational horizon, slowly but surely delivering programs to increase First Nations pathways and representation within circus, and the arts more broadly.
Corrugated Iron Youth Arts (Corro) is igniting creativity in all young Territorians. Based at the Nightcliff Community Centre, Corro works in partnership with children, young people, emerging and early career artists to provide access to creative experiences and support professional pathways into arts and cultural careers. Beyond term-based workshops and annual performance opportunities, the Creative Schools & Communities program connects with urban, regional, and remote educators, youth services, and families to share custom arts residencies, diversionary, creative health, and wellbeing programs and projects.
Crossroad Arts is an inclusive arts organisation in Mackay with the vision of ‘Arts for All.’ Through facilitating high-quality inclusive arts experiences, Crossroad Arts co-creates new narratives with artists with disability that aim to change perceptions and shape the sector of the future. It runs year-round community workshops enabling social and cultural connection, and offers professional development programs for emerging and established artists to refine and expand their skills, as well as major production opportunities.
Dads Group is a national, grassroots movement focused on shared parenting and positive fatherhood. The organisation’s core business is regular, peer-to-peer support for dads, and it delivers an annual Man with a Pram campaign to change the narrative around being a father. Recently, Dads Group has designed a system-changing framework, the Integrated Model of Care, in an effort to intentionally include dads as part of the design of antenatal and early parenting support. This framework aims to normalise father-inclusive practice across health systems and contribute to a more equitable and whole-family model of care.
Recognised as one of Australia’s leading performing arts companies, Dancenorth balances a dynamic regional presence in Townsville with a commitment to creating compelling contemporary dance that tours the globe. Alongside its professional ensemble and touring productions sits an equally vital pillar of focus, the Community Experience Program. Built on an ethos of invitation, permission, and exchange, the Community Experience Program is designed to dismantle the many barriers to dance, experienced by specific communities and by us all.
The Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF) provides a unique opportunity for arts industry buyers, and art and design lovers, to purchase art directly from Indigenous owned and incorporated Art Centres. In 2025, DAAF platformed 78 Indigenous Arts Centres across in-person and online events, represented more than 1,800 emerging and established artists, and generated $5.1M in sales — 100% of which go directly back to Art Centres and their artists. Indigenous Fashion Projects celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Country to Couture runway, supporting a workforce of 340+ First Nations designers, textile artists, models, stylists, hair and makeup professionals, and photographers.
Darwin Festival is a major international festival with a vibrant and eclectic arts and cultural program. Created to support community recovery from Cyclone Tracy, Darwin Festival now connects tens of thousands of locals and visitors annually, making it the largest in-person cultural event in the Northern Territory. The Festival reflects Darwin’s position at the Top End of Australia, its unique Indigenous and multicultural population and its close proximity to Asia, while at the same time showcasing some of Australia’s finest live performance artists.
Deadly Inspiring Youth Doing Good (DIYDG) is a youth led, First Nations governed organisation aiming to inspire, equip and empower the next generation of change makers. Founded in 2016 and based in Cairns, DIYDG provides a platform for young people to co-design and lead their own projects, and values family, leadership, wellbeing, and growth. DIYDG is committed to collaboration and working in partnership to ensure a brighter future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people.
Flipside Circus is Queensland’s largest youth arts organisation, with a reputation for excellence in training and performance as well as fostering Brisbane’s renowned circus sector. Flipside's vision is to empower communities through circus, guided by values of celebration, experimentation, creativity, wellbeing, and agility. Flipside delivers training, community, and social circus programs across Queensland, including extensive regional and remote residency and touring programs.
Foodbank Queensland is the largest food relief organisation in the state. It provides food relief on a daily basis, as well as collaborating to build more resilient food systems for the future. With two Brisbane distribution centres and a smaller site in Townsville, it currently supports 135,000 Queenslanders in crisis each week and 52,000 children via school breakfast programs. Foodbank Queensland is undertaking strategy, planning, and development work to position a North Queensland Essentials Hub for capital investment and delivery; and to deliver place-based school and kindergarten breakfast programs in Mount Isa.
Gunawuna Jungai (GJ) is an Aboriginal community-controlled organisation established as the cultural authority representing Indigenous family groups in Doomadgee. Aiming to strengthen families, communities, culture, and Country, GJ is committed to reshaping service delivery models to address the compounding problems of entrenched disadvantage. GJ’s community-led principles refer to a model of development that privileges community leadership to determine the needs, aspirations, priorities, and solutions of the Gangalidda and Waanyi people.
Based at the Araluen Art Centre in Mparntwe/Alice Springs, GUTS Dance is the only contemporary dance organisation within a 1,500km radius. Even before GUTS was founded, its Co-Artistic Directors instigated Alice Can Dance, engaging Central Australian school students in dance education and celebratory performance since 2012. GUTS believes that healthy communities dance together, and that artistic excellence and community engagement go hand in hand. Strong partnerships see GUTS represent the creativity and vitality of their desert home in other regions and cities, as well as encouraging more artists and arts workers nationally to engage with Central Australia.
Impact North is an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation delivering structured business programs to support regional and remote Indigenous businesses and social enterprises. Impact North also manages coworking spaces and creates opportunities for connection, collaboration and business development on Country. As an organisation, Impact North is moving from start-up phase to building its capability and capacity in preparation for scale. To date, entrepreneurs that participated in Impact North programs have created 188 jobs for Indigenous people, generated $4.1M in revenue, and over 80% have sustained their businesses.
Situated in the Lockyer Valley, Laidley Community Centre (LCC) is a grassroots, community-run organisation with the motto ‘Everyone Welcome.’ LCC’s vision is for all residents in Laidley and the surrounding areas to have access to basic necessities in order to experience quality life opportunities in a thriving and supportive community. Its Early Connections Program is well regarded in the region and aims to support families to give their children the best start in life possible.
Starting in Palm Island as the Cathy Freeman Foundation in 2007, Murrup is now an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation that partners with four remote communities across Queensland and the Northern Territory. Murrup strives to create environments in which young First Nations people in remote areas are free to create the future of their dreams. Utilising a place-based approach, Murrup co-designs its program with local communities to support children and young people, and their families, through their early years, school journey, and beyond. Murrup is committed to a local employment model aligned with Priority Reform Two of the National Closing the Gap Agreement.
MusicNT is the peak body for contemporary music in the Northern Territory. With offices in Darwin and Alice Springs, it supports a membership of 3,500 individual musicians and bands annually. MusicNT delivers a suite of development programs and platform opportunities for NT musicians, as well as growing other vital skill sets for a strong industry. Its flagship programs and events include the National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMAs), the Bush Bands Program, and the Desert Divas. MusicNT pioneered the All Good Project creating safer venues and festivals, and its advocacy efforts have increased gender equality in the music industry.
Opera Queensland is the state opera company for Queensland, bringing the joy of opera to all Queenslanders. Opera Queensland has been central to the evolution of the art form in Queensland and nurtured the careers of some of the country’s most renowned artists. Through its Learning, Regional and Community department, the organisation delivers a coordinated program of education and community workshops, schools shows, and touring productions, all built on reciprocal relationships and local investment. The centerpiece of Opera Queensland’s annual programming is the Festival of Outback Opera, created and presented in collaboration with communities in Winton and Longreach.
Founded in 2009, Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak (QATSICPP) is Queensland’s peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. It has 38 member organisations and a ten-year strategy focused on a future where children are safe, cared for, and thriving. As a peak body, QATSICPP is responsible for representing the voices of community when in dialogue with government. A respected voice across the child and youth sector, QATSICPP is the first Australian peak to represent both child protection and youth justice members. QATSICPP will deliver regional and remote youth forums, informing place-based reports that will guide community-led youth justice and prevention efforts across Queensland.
Queensland Music Festival (QMF) is an organisation with a rich history of connecting communities across Queensland through place-based music festivals. Since 2020, it has focused on the development of music and cultural tourism for regional communities, enabled through its award-winning Queensland Music Trails model. Its flagship offering is The Outback Trail, which in 2026 delivered a program from Charleville to Mount Isa, as well as The Reef Trail which connects two spectacular outdoor concerts at Lake Proserpine and Airlie Beach.
Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO) is Queensland’s flagship symphony orchestra, and the second oldest professional symphony in the country. QSO’s relationship with regional Queensland commenced only two months after its formation and continues to this day. The 2024-2028 Regional Touring Strategy charts the QSO’s path back to the regions after pandemic interruption and includes a roster of full symphony concerts, touring ensembles, and in-schools education offerings. QSO’s vision is to be a great orchestra on and off the stage that entertains, inspires, and educates Queensland.
Storyfest grew its reputation as the leading children’s literary festival for the Gold Coast and surrounds, through its origins with Somerset College. With the TFFF’s support, Storyfest has expanded to deliver three regional festivals annually in partnership with schools and communities. After two outstanding years in Longreach piloting Storyfest Out West, the festival is now also delivered in St George and Emerald, ensuring children, youth, families, and teachers across Queensland can experience Storyfest in their own backyards.
Topology is an award-winning arts organisation, encompassing a professional quintet of musicians, a Creative Academy arts education program, and its Creative Communities community and cultural development service. Topology identifies its role as fostering cultural connections, creating pathways to greater community resilience and agency. Creative Communities reaches schools, towns, festivals, and stations across Queensland, from Normanton to Mount Isa to Texas, developing and celebrating regional artistic expression.
Umbrella Studio is a contemporary and experimental arts organisation in Gurambilbarra (Townsville). Founded 40 years ago as an artist collective, Umbrella Studio works to express and amplify distinctive and authentic North Queensland voices, while connecting regional perspectives across Australia and the world. It achieves this through onsite and touring exhibitions, new commissions and residencies for the region’s artists makers, professional development programs, creative studio access, and a biennial place-making festival, Pop Up North Queensland (PUNQ).
Wilya Janta, meaning ‘standing strong’, is a housing collaboration in Tennant Creek. The organisation is creating houses that reflect cultural practices, improve health outcomes, and are climate appropriate, cost effective, and scalable. Wilya Janta provides employment opportunities and leadership development within the local community and has received invitations to work with other remote communities in the future. The organisation is playing a critical role in shaping housing policy at a territory and federal level.
Women of the World (WOW) is an international movement that advocates for gender equality through storytelling, art, performance, and community cultural gatherings. WOW Australia is run by the organisation Of One Mind, which creates and invests in cultural activities that deliver social outcomes. Through regional festivals and events, WOW Australia advocates for and brings together people from all walks of life to work together in their own communities to effect change.
Since 2005, Yalari has been providing Indigenous children from regional and remote communities across Australia the opportunity to receive a full boarding school scholarship, while supporting these students to maintain cultural and family connection on their secondary education journey. Yalari’s Pathways Program begins in Year 10 and is designed to support Alumni in leadership, professional, and personal development, and to empower civic contribution upon graduation.
‘Yiliyapinya’ means brain in Wankumara language and is an Indigenous-led for purpose organisation focused on brain health and healing for children, young people, their families. Yiliyapinya has supported over 2,000 adults in the child-facing workforce, especially youth justice and child safety staff, to understand and/or improve their brain health. Yiliyapinya applies neuroscience and cultural wisdom in its programs as it aims to close the learning and earning outcomes for people who have experienced adverse life circumstances.
Operating since 1990 as a response to youth homelessness, Youth Link provides a ‘One Stop Shop’ of services that support at-risk young people from 12-24 years of age. These services include the Youth Cre8 Kuranda Initiative (Cre8). Established in 2013, Cre8 is a youth hub in the Atherton Tablelands, delivering a range of activities to empower young people towards a positive future.
1Co-administered through the Australian Cultural Fund’s Amplify Program. Applications approved in previous financial years are not included in total FY26 Resilience funding approved and distributed.
Throughout this report a ^ symbol identifies an Indigenous-led organisation or agreement where TFFF funding has specifically benefitted Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people and communities.
