Holy Holy, DZ Deathrays & More Among Australia Council Grant Recipients

The Australia Council has unveiled its list of recipients for its February grant round, with high-profile musical acts such as Holy Holy, DZ Deathrays, Northeast Party House, Gang Of Youths, Polish Club and more picking up funding from the national arts body for new projects.

The Australia Council issued $11.2 million in funding to its February recipients, tallying 404 projects for individuals, groups an arts organisations in addition to several developmental grants.

"The projects include innovative collaborations, groundbreaking ideas, projects bringing together people from diverse backgrounds, and capacity-building for emerging artists," Australia Council chief executive Tony Grybowski said in a statement. "This year also marks our continued commitment to providing dedicated funding for artists with disabilitiy, with the second allocation of $330,000 awarded to 16 projects for individuals and groups.

"The flexible and responsive nature of our new grants program continues to increase access to new artists, groups and organisations, with nearly 40 per cent of applicants in this round having never applied to the Australia Council before, and 22 per cent of new applicants being successful."

Holy Holy lead the musical charge of recipients with a singular $40,000 projects grant, though Northeast Party House have snagged two separate grants valued at a total of more than $50,000 (a $27,734 projects grant and a $23,626 development grant). DZ took home $27,700 for their project application, Polish Club walked away with $10,386, and Gang Of Youths are sitting pretty with $25,000 for their development grant.

Other bands and artists to pick up musical grants include Dorsal Fins ($15,000), Lawrence English ($27,750), Mojo Juju ($15,750), Katie Noonan ($20,200), Royal Headache ($38,984), SPOOKYLAND ($19,939), The Bombay Royale ($25,500), The Funkoars ($28,967) and more.

Along with music, the Australia Council issued grants in the fields of literature, dance, theatre, Indigenous arts, emerging and experimental arts, community arts and development, artists with disabilities, visual arts, multi-artform and others. Just less than a quarter of successful applicants across the board coming from regional or remote areas, while nearly a third (29 per cent) of projects were built with access, participation and audience engagement as their primary focus.

See the full list of February grants recipients at the Australia Council's website.