Previous City Grants Recipients

In 2025-26, we awarded four grants for projects to bring energy and activity to the City Centre and Braddon.

Flourish art mural

Amount awarded: $35,890

• Artist Lawrence Tan’s ‘Flourish’ mural will become a new Braddon landmark with help from young artists, transforming the Branx building’s southern-facing façade into a piece that celebrates local talent.

ACT JAM BMX street event

Amount awarded: $50,000

• Tyson Jones-Peni and FACT BMX Club, will bring high-energy BMX competitions to Elouera Street in Braddon in November 2025

Belco Bowl Jam Welcome Party

Amount awarded: $50,000

• The Canberra Skateboarding Association will bring skateboarding culture into the City Centre with a laneway event in Verity Lane of the Sydney Building.

Lakespeare performances

Amount awarded: $18,000

• Two free outdoor Shakespeare performances, one each in Glebe Park and Haig Park, offering relaxed, picnic-style theatre experiences supported by local traders and community groups.

In 2024-25, we awarded four grants for projects to bring energy and activity to the City Centre and Braddon.

Canberra Art Biennial

Amount awarded: $50,000

• a month-long festival showcasing contemporary art across various venues in Canberra, including public spaces that will inspire residents, workers and visitors alike.

Elsie’s Film House

Amount awarded: $49,850

• Establishing a community-led social cinema in the City Centre, offering inclusive film screenings and events for diverse and marginalised groups.

Braddon Busking Festival

Amount awarded: $15,800

• Braddon will come to life for a day-long festival of local musicians, creating a welcoming atmosphere for both visitors and residents.

Pedal Power’s Canberra Cycling Festival

Amount awarded: $25,000

• Celebrating cycling and sustainability with music, arts, food and drink, group rides, workshops and interactive stalls. Grant funding will also support a group ride on International Women’s Day.

Four grants were awarded for the Placemaking Grants program 2023-2024 to bring more people into the City Centre and Braddon and elevate the profile of the Precinct.

Urban Pause | Skeehan Pty Ltd

Amount awarded: $50,000

• A sustainable oasis right in the middle of the city! Urban Pause offers restful, work-friendly spaces crafted from reclaimed materials. It's not just a place, it's an experience designed to enrich Canberra's public areas.

Haig Park Nature Activation | EggPicnic

Amount awarded: $28,500

• Art meets technology in this awe-inspiring project. Interactive aluminium panels and QR codes will educate and deepen our connection with local wildlife.

Capital Open | Church

Amount awarded: $49,077

• Skateboarding, music, and art come together in an electrifying event. Capital Open aims to captivate both local and global audiences, making Canberra's cultural scene more vibrant than ever.

Blank Space | Creative Guild

Amount awarded: $50,000

• Blank Space is a dynamic coworking hub by day and an arts platform by night. A game-changer for creatives struggling with covering rent and visibility.

As part of the Placemaking Grants program 2022-2023, three grants were awarded to bring more people into the City Centre and Braddon and elevate the profile of the Precinct.

Poetic City Festival | Jacqueline Malins

Amount awarded: $49,500

• Enveloping the City Centre in a community poetry festival. This initiative celebrated diverse narratives through poetry and language-related experiences, enhancing cultural engagement and fostering a rich sense of place and seasonality.

Public Art Treasure Hunt | Claire Granata

Amount awarded: $45,734

• A series of engaging treasure hunts, and workshops revealing 100 pieces of overlooked beauty in the City Centre, fostering a vibrant connection between the community and the Australian National University, and transforming urban spaces into an interactive outdoor art gallery.

Jazida Productions: Pop-up Parties | Rachel Reid

Amount awarded: $46,899

• Enlivened the City Centre and Braddon through Jazida Pop-up Parties every Friday evening. These events, filled with live performances, interactive arts, and various entertainment, fostered community bonding, and offered a vivacious and inclusive atmosphere for residents and visitors alike.

The 2021-22 Placemaking Grants program funded three projects to attract people to the City Centre and Braddon and improve their relationship with the area.

Big Swoop | Yani Pouartzis

Amount awarded: $43,334

• Big Swoop pays homage to one of Civic’s primary inhabitants - the magpie. This installation is designed to entice visitors with its size and intrigue, people will be immediately drawn to it. Measuring 2.4m tall, 3.5m long and 2m wide, the inherent playfulness of the sculpture generates joy and encourages people to bring their friends and spend time in the area.

Reveal Braddon | Visumotus Interactive

Amount awarded: $49,942

• Visumotus  Interactive exhibited large scale projection mapping installations within Braddons most utilised public areas. Delivering three large scale projection displays illuminating the streets of Braddon bringing life to this much-loved local area. These enjoyable and engaging art displays attracted visitors to the area.

Yes! Fest 2022 | Yes! Fest

Amount awarded: $50,000

• Yes! Fest 2022 brought the LGBTIQ+ community together to continue the annual celebration of love and equality. Featuring talented LGBTIQ+ performers and musicians, the festival transformed the Braddon’s rainbow roundabout with a family show and merging into a street festival of CBR pride. The event also showcased LGBTIQ+ visual artists, an exciting addition to the regular programming.

The City Renewal Authority awarded approximately $240,000 in funding for a range of projects to activate public spaces within the City Centre Marketing and Improvements Levy area.

Canberra’s public art biennial | contour 556

Amount awarded: $39,500

• Canberra’s free public art biennial held around the designed heart of Australia’s capital city: Lake Burley Griffin, Acton and Civic. Following successful events in 2016 and 2018, contour 556 returned for three weeks in October 2020, featuring over 60 local, national and international artists, working across sculpture, performance, sound and digital projections.

The Together Alone project | The Street Theatre

Amount awarded: $44,362

• A stencil-street art performance project exploring the idea of personal space versus shared space in a world where social distancing has become the norm. It was a site-specific large-scale permanent installation on the brick façade of The Street Theatre.

Canberra Kinetic Sculpture Race | Constance Titterton

Amount awarded: $40,327

• A one-day event showcasing amphibious, pedal-powered kinetic sculptures. It connected makers, artists, engineers, community members and businesses. This event raised the profile of Canberra’s art scene and global connections, while showcasing the city’s commitment to sustainable practices, and making the city a vibrant, thriving city for all.

You Are Here Festival 2020 + Cahoots Lab | You Are Here Canberra Incorporated

Amount awarded: $47,367

• An experimental arts activity held in Braddon and the outer suburbs of the ACT over the last three weekends of September 2020.

The City Renewal Authority awarded approximately $100,000 in funding for a range of projects to activate public spaces within the City Centre Marketing and Improvements Levy area. Highlights included:

Latin Lunches |Spanish Speakers Association Inc

Amount awarded: $10,000

• A four-day program of activity over two weeks that complemented the Latin American theme of the location with celebrations of multiple Latino cultures.

Shakespeare By The Lake III: A Midsummer Night's Dream | Lakespeare and Co

Amount awarded: $8,300

• A free performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream in Glebe Park featuring local artists.

Sound System Rebellion | Liquid Sunshine Sound System Pty Ltd

Amount awarded: $10,000

• A music and dance festival in Verity Lane and six Sydney Building venues

Reconcile | Ms Liz Lea

Amount awarded: $9,800

• A celebration of First Nations dance and music which took place in Reconciliation Week.

Art on the Street Festival Braddon | Braddon Collective

Amount awarded: $10,000

• An art festival including permanent large scale murals, temporary artworks, creative workshops and tutorials.

Glass Snail – Window to the Wider City | Constance Titterton

Amount awarded: $9,769

• A bespoke mobile art piece / bicycle that is interactive, playful, and family friendly. The project emphasised cycling routes, celebrated art, and was constructed using second-hand materials.

The City Renewal Authority awarded almost $300,000 in funding for events, activations, and community building projects across eleven projects.

World Curry Festival | Canberra India Council

Amount awarded: $50,000

• The Canberra India Council presents a two-day food festival in the city including curries from different regions, cultural performances, a chilli eating competition, and games. This is the World Curry Festival’s fifth year of operation.

You Are Here Festival 2019 | Mr David Howe

Amount awarded: $50,000

• You Are Here Canberra Incorporated held a three-day showcase of Canberra's experimental art that invited the community to interact with the city in innovative ways. The artists from a variety of disciplines were selected from You Are Here's 2019 Artist Development Program. They were to embed the unique nature of specific city spaces into their work.

DESIGN Canberra 2019 | Craft ACT

Amount awarded: $50,000

• Craft ACT transformed Civic Square into DESIGN Canberra’s dedicated event hub during the festival. This involved talks, entertainment, performances, art, wellness, and creative ideas over the three weeks. A site-specific design installation commission for Civic Square was also included in the proposal.

Orange Wolves multi-disciplinary audience immersive experience | Canberra Institute of Technology

Amount awarded: $50,000

• A three-day art and design event held within the levy area, which will feature six retired Transport Canberra buses transformed into small cinemas, music venues, fashion runways, maker spaces, and installation spaces. It provided an immersive experience including music, media, arts, fashion, technology, and design. The buses will be transformed using the skills and resources of CIT departments.

Canberra Comedy Festival 2020 – Festival Square | Canberra Comedy Festival

Amount awarded: $43,200

• Civic Square was transformed into “Festival Square” during the Canberra Comedy Festival, with marquees, hangout areas and free outdoor comedy events during one week in March 2020. “Festival Square” proved popular inand enlivened the cultural precinct through a non-ticketed outdoor set-up and program.

Braddon Busking Festival | Braddon Town Team

Amount awarded: $10,000

• The Braddon Town Team held a one-day festival in Braddon celebrating Canberra’s busking talent, with the objective of creating an annual festival. Buskers will compete for prizes and entry into the National Busking Festival in Cooma.

The City Renewal Authority has awarded $156,000 in grants to eight recipients which helped activate and improve the city centre with events a research project and an urban treasure hunt.

Summer stretch in the city: Free lunch time yoga sessions | Joga Yoga

Amount awarded: $9,500

HEAT Latin Fiesta Festival 2019 | Baha Agency

Amount awarded: $17,500

Soul Defender | The Dionysus Movement Pty Ltd

Amount awarded: $79,360

Canberra Hustle – Urban Treasure Hunt | Fully Rad Adventures

Amount awarded: $10,000

The City Renewal Authority awarded $200,000 in grants to 11 recipients. The City Grants helped activate and improve the city centre with a diverse range of events and activations. Highlights included:

Design Canberra festival |CraftACT: Craft and Design Centre

• Amount awarded: $53,368

Canberra District Wines Laneway Event | Canberra District Wine Industry Event

• Amount awarded: $20,369

Workshop on participatory public art | Adelaide Rief

• Amount awarded: $5,000

ANCA Art Bus | Australian National Capital Artists Inc

• Amount awarded: $80,000

The City Renewal Authority awarded $173,164 in grants to 12 recipients.  City Grants will helped activate and improve the city centre with six events, three installations, a research project, an accessibility education campaign, and a new public art mural. Highlights included:

ACT Young Planners Pop-up Parklet | Planning Institute of Australian ACT Young Planners

• Amount awarded: $5,000

Loaded Laneway | Reload Bar and Games and Treehouse Bar

• Amount awarded: $19,773

Evaluation and Community Engagement Suite of Research Tools and Activations for the City | University of Canberra

• Amount awarded: $19,172

Create-a-place x3 |Wellspring Environmental Arts and Design

• Amount awarded: $23,780

Hurly Burley Winter Fair 2018 |Chenoeh Miller

• Amount awarded: $74,479