Guidelines for Grants and Assessment Criteria

All applications are assessed against the Council's guidelines for grants and assessment criteria (see below). Applications for grants must therefore comply with these guidelines before being submitted for consideration:

Relevance to the Council’s Objectives

• The project should be an initiative relevant to the Council's goals (as indicated in the Strategic Plan 2011-2014). Such initiatives may promote new areas of contact between Australia and China or develop existing linkages.
• Excellence and Quality
• Applicants should have an established record of achievement in their proposed field of endeavour.
• All eligible applications will be assessed by the Council against the following assessment criteria:
  • The extent to which the project’s objectives are clearly defined and consistent with the Council’s goals.
  • The project’s potential to be wide-ranging and offer prospects of long-term links and continuing exchanges.
  • The applicant/s ability to deliver the project successfully and the quality of the application.

Sustainability and Continuity

• The project should establish prospects for future independent activity as a result of initial Council funding.
• Preference will be given to projects which are able to demonstrate that they have obtained part of their funding from other sources and can provide evidence of such support.
• Council support should constitute seed funding intended to encourage financial support from other sources, including corporate sponsorship.
• While grant amounts will be considered on a proposal basis, major grant funding of AUD 30,000 or more for any single activity will only be provided in exceptional circumstances and where the Council decides the project will become a priority activity of the ACC in that financial year.
• Where a project is of high quality, but financially beyond the Council's resources, the Council may decide to award the applicant a grant conditional on funds being raised from other sources.

Evidence of Partnership

• Where projects are to be undertaken in conjunction with, or part funded by a Chinese or Australian organisation, applicants must demonstrate that sufficient support is available from the counterpart to ensure the success of the project. An example of such support might be accommodation and other services provided free of charge by host institutions. Copies of documentation to this effect should be provided. Where the support takes the form of guarantees by governmental or other agencies, documentary evidence of this should also be provided.

Publicity

• Provision should be made in the application for publicity or promotion of the project. Full acknowledgement of the Council’s support is required in all promotional materials and publications associated with ACC-funded projects and recipients of funding for performances and exhibitions in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, are required to list their events on OzArts Online.