CAL 's Board is authorised by CAL 's Constitution to allocate 1% of copyright licence fees collected to cultural development.
This is known as the Cultural Fund. The Cultural Fund supports a wide variety of projects that enhance the economic and creative climate in which CAL 's members operate. It is also designed to provide practical assistance to creators to the benefit of the Australian cultural community generally.
The priority area for funding for the Cultural Fund in 2008 is ‘The Development and Dissemination of Australian Content'. Contact CAL's Manager, Cultural Fund for more information.
Click here to view application guidelines.
Projects supported by the Fund in 2007/08
Walkley Award 2007 ($50,000)
CAL sponsored 2007's Walkley Award for Best Non-Fiction Book. For the first time in the award's three-year history, CAL sponsorship enabled the winner to attend the prestigious three-day Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism held by Harvard University in Boston .
Currency House ($30,000)
Currency House have scheduled an Australia-wide series of launch events and panel sessions, centred around the cultural issues raised in their ‘Platform Papers' monograph series.
Australian Literary Agents Association ($38,350)
In 2007/8 CAL has funded a range of professional development opportunities for literary agents. These include training for junior staff in selling overseas rights, and a seminar on current and future developments in digital publishing.
Bundaberg Writers Festival ($16,250)
In 2008, the popular Bundaberg Writers Festival will feature a range of interstate writers, whose fees and expenses are covered by a Cultural Fund grant.
Freelance Journalism Convention ($10,000)
CAL continues its support of this important meeting place for freelance journalists, providing funding for keynote speakers.
Postgraduate History Prize ($13,500)
The Australian Historical Association (AHA) is running a new Postgraduate History prize. The $4000 prize is open to postgraduate students enrolled in Australian universities with an unpublished article-length work of historical research.
Classic Australian Works ($38,000)
A new series of Sydney University Press's Classic Australian Works is being launched in June 2008. The series resurrects out-of-print Australian classics, and includes contemporary prefaces, commissioned from leading Australian scholars.
Titles are available for purchase from www.sup.usyd.edu.au
Illustrators Australia ($7,475)
CAL funded the inaugural seminar for Illustrators Australia, held at ‘Space 39' Gallery in Melbourne . The seminar combined exhibitions of work with sessions on professional development for illustrators and designers.
Primary English Teaching Association Schools Program ($50,000)
Primary English Teaching Association trained emerging authors in presenting author talks and writing workshops to primary schools. Website ( www.whatsyourstory.edu.au ) offers downloadable e-manuals for authors, publishers and educators who are interested in conducting similar sessions.
Asian Secondments for Journalism Students ($5,000)
Professor Richard Broinowski travelled to Southeast Asia , making contacts with media outlets willing to offer internships to Australian university journalism graduates.
Centre for Youth Literature ($30,000 over three years)
Building on the success of their website insideadog.com.au, the Centre for Youth Literature now presents Australia 's only teenage choice award – The Inky Awards.
Sponsored by CAL , the Awards involve teenagers in the selection, reading and discussion of youth literature, awarding the best Australian book with the Golden Inky Award, and the international winner the Silver Inky.
To find out more about the 2007 Inky Award winners and details for 2008, visit www.insideadog.com.au
Watermark Fellowship ($6,000)
In 2008 CAL will be the major sponsor for the Watermark Literary Fellowship.
The biennial Fellowship is offered to emerging writers of natural history, nature and place, providing a 12-week residency and mentorship.
Young Australians Reading Scoping Proposal ($15,000)
The State Library of Victoria will embark on a scoping project to determine the measurable benefits of a proposed national schools reading program – Young Australians: Books in their hands .
The proposed program will look at the reading habits of young people in the first year of secondary school and develop a fully scoped proposal.
The NT Writers' Centre Wordstorm Festival ($26,450)
The NT Writers' Centre's held their 2008 Wordstorm Festival in Darwin , rounding up some of the finest writers from Australia , South East Asia and the Pacific.
May Gibbs Childrens' Literature Trust ($50,000 over three years)
CAL funding will support a writers' residency program for Australian children's authors and illustrators over the next three years.
The one-month residencies at the May Gibbs Childrens' Literature Trust studio apartments allow interstate and regional children's authors and illustrators the opportunity to develop their creative work in peaceful surroundings.
More information and application details are available at www.maygibbs.org.au
Association for the Study of Australian Literature ($45,000 over three years)
The Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL) will receive CAL funding over the next three years to support its annual conference held in July each year.
Funding will focus on ASAL prize-winners, writers panels and a scholarship program to support post-graduates' conference attendance.
Children's Book Council Conference ($13,961)
The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) held their biennial conference in Melbourne , calling on CAL sponsorship to help raise the profile of those authors and illustrators who write for young people in Australia .
For conference details visit www.cbc.org.au
Macquarie University Writer in Residence Program ($7,086)
With CAL funding, Macquarie University will undertake their 2008 Australian writers' residency program.
Tasmanian poet and editor, Gina Mercer, will bring a range of experience to share with students. Audio recordings of Gina's presentations will also be made available on the Macquarie University website www.mq.edu.au
A Guide to Copyright for graphic designers ($24,100)
With CAL funding, the Australian Copyright Council (ACC) has published a Guide to Copyright for graphic designers.
This is the first comprehensive Guide produced by the Council specifically for these creators, and is available to purchase from the ACC's website, www.copyright.org.au
Children's Literature in the Centre ($20,000)
CAL will sponsor writer attendance at the inaugural Children's Literature in the Centre Festival.
This Alice Springs Festival provides the Alice Springs community with the opportunity to meet and mingle with Australian children's authors, illustrators and storytellers.
UTS Sydney-Leipzig exchange program ($6,000 in 2008 and 2010)
Co-funded with the Goethe Institute, financial support from CAL will enable Australian students in 2008 and 2010 to participate in the Sydney-Leipzig exchange program.
The partnership between the Goethe Institue, the Leipzig Institute of German Literature, UTS and the University of Western Sydney gives a young Australian writer the opportunity to spend four weeks in Leipzig and Berlin to promote Australian literature and their own writing.
Next Wave Festival ($10,000)
The 2008 Next Wave Festival established a professional development and mentorship program for emerging Australian arts writers, aged 30 years and under. A festival reader containing finished written articles produced over the course of the program will also be published by Next Wave.
Melbourne Emerging Writers Festival ($15,715)
In 2008 the Melbourne Emerging Writers Festival introduces the Ambassadors program.
Five experienced writers contribute to festival sessions, panels and informal discussions, providing inspiration and guidance to a new generation of writers.
Sydney Writers Festival Publishing Industry Program ($25,000)
CAL is providing support for a Publishing Industry Program at the 2008 Sydney Writers Festival.
A highlight for Australian publishers, this year's festival features sessions, panels and workshops dedicated to publishing industry development, headed by key Australian and international publishing industry representatives.
Program details are available at www.swf.org.au
Sydney PEN Voices Lecture series ($120,700 over two years)
Continuing our support of the successful 2007 Sydney PEN Voices Lecture series, CAL sponsorship will see the lecture series continued over the next two years. The three essays presented at the 2008 and 2009 Lecture Series are to be published by Allen & Unwin.
In addition, CAL funding will also provide payment to Australian editors and authors for their contribution to the Sydney PEN magazine, the Quarterly .
Arts Law Centre Indigenous Wills Project ($50,000)
Artists in the Black (AITB), the Indigenous service of the Arts Law Centre of Australia, will be using CAL funding to establish an education program on wills and inheritance issues for Indigenous creators.
Visit www.artslaw.com.au for more details.
Readings Bookshops Writer Event Series ($20,000)
Readings , a major Australian bookseller, will use CAL Cultural Funding for their upcoming writer event series. The majority of featured authors will be new or emerging writers, promising a thriving events program for writers, publishers, artists and the general public. Event listings are available from the Readings website www.readings.com.au
New South Wales History Week ($15,000)
Fees and expenses for the NSW History Week annual lecture and their ‘Off The Beaten Track' regional touring program are covered by the Cultural Fund in 2008.
South Australian Writers Centre ($20,000)
Hundreds of South Australian school students with a talent for creative writing will get together at venues around the State to share their work with popular Australian children's and young adult authors. The SA Writers Centre will also develop a network of school writing clubs.
The AWGIEs ($30,000)
CAL supports both the Richard Wherrett Award, Australia 's richest award for a playwright, and the AWGIE Peer Recognition Prize.
Sydney PEN and Manning Clark House ($38,640)
The successful and thought-provoking PEN lecture series will once again receive CAL 's backing. Welcome additions to the program for 2008 and 2009 are repeat sessions of each lecture, to be held in Canberra and hosted by Manning Clark House.
Clunes to Booktown ($2,920)
Small publishers met at this regional Victorian festival to discuss their work and the issues that affect them.
Dead Bones on the Road ($11,300)
The Dead Bones Society (DBS) is an award-winning program established in Bathurst , NSW, in 2005. With CAL funding, the program will be taken on the road in 2008. A handpicked ‘suitcase' collection of rare fossils and minerals, artworks and historical memorabilia will inspire school students in country schools to write creatively.
Franco-Anglais Poetry Festival ($10,000)
Hosted by Melbourne PEN, Australian and French poets join together to celebrate their art. The Festival is linked to a similar event, celebrated in Paris for the past thirty years.
Melbourne Writers Festival ($17,150)
The Cultural Fund is supporting the attendance of a wide range of Australian authors at this year's festival.
Inscription ($15,000)
When Hollywood script editor Michael Hauge visited Australia in June 2008 as a guest of the Inscription agency, CAL supported free entry to his seminars for Australian film students at venues across the country.
Charles Sturt University Foundation ($30,000)
CAL has provided foundation funding for annual secondments at regional schools for CSU education students.
Society of Editors (Qld) ($39,510)
The Society of Editors will join forces with the Queensland Writers Centre to administer a two-year mentorship program for writers and their editors.
Waverley Award for Literature ($80,000)
From 2008 through 2010, CAL will be the major sponsor of the Waverly Award for Literature, providing expenses and fees for the winner, short-list and judging panel.
National Young Writers Festival ($43,350)
For the next three years CAL will continue its sponsorship of this major youth Festival, held annually in Newcastle , NSW. CAL is the sole sponsor of the Festival's Zine Fair and Publishing Program.
Sleepers Salon ($900)
Three prominent writers and critics will feature at these popular Melbourne events in 2008. The Cultural Fund will support their performance fees.
SPUNC ($31,160)
The recently-formed association of small publishers will begin work on a website and marketing program for their members.
University of Western Australia , Westerly Centre ($33,000)
CAL will support a valuable on-line archive for Western Australia 's prestigious literary journal, Westerly .
Westerly and Indigo ($35,000)
Westerly and Indigo journals have plans to get together for a joint marketing program, publicising their writers across Australia .
Meanjin ($64,000)
Under new editorship, Meanjin has plans for a new design, a series of commissioned essays and public lectures. CAL 's Cultural Fund will support these initiatives over the next three years.
Walkley Award 2008 ($50,000 )
CAL is sponsoring 2008's Walkley Award for Best Non-Fiction Book. Details are available at www.walkleys.com
Projects supported by the Fund in 2006/07