Community Grants
The City of Adelaide Community Grants Program supports community-led projects delivered in the city and North Adelaide.
Projects must be open to the public and free or low-cost to take part in.
We fund projects that focus on:
- Arts and Culture
- Community Wellbeing
What we fund
We fund local ideas that bring people together. These projects help build a welcoming and connected city where people feel they belong.
Examples include:
- Murals and temporary public art
- Multicultural events and gatherings
- Community-led active recreation initiatives
- Creative performances and exhibitions
- Medium-size events involving priority groups
- Event/workshop series
- Strategic initiatives that demonstrate collaborations
Arts and Culture
We fund projects that:
- Celebrate Adelaide’s cultural life, including its UNESCO City of Music status
- Support creative careers and local artists
- Improve access to arts and culture for everyone, including priority groups
- Recognise and respect Kaurna and First Nations arts, culture, and truth-telling
- Elevate and protect cultural heritage and venues
- Bring creativity into everyday city spaces, including underused places
Community Wellbeing
We fund projects that:
- Help people connect and take part in community life
- Reduce social isolation and build inclusion
- Encourage play, movement, and active living for all ages and abilities
- Support people to share knowledge, culture, and lived experience
- Build community leadership and skills
- Strengthen resilience during challenges and emergencies
- Support safe, respectful environments and help prevent gender-based violence
Grants and funding
| Grant | Purpose | Requirements | Key dates | Available funding |
| Quick Response |
| For small projects where a small amount of money makes a clear difference, not big projects that already have a lot of funding. | Applications must be submitted at least 5 weeks before your project start date | $2,000-$5,000 |
| Major Grants |
| You must contribute 20% of the total project cost and show that you are working with at least 2 local partners. | Round open: Monday 21 September. Round closes: Friday 23 October | $5,000 - $20,000 |
Apply for a Community Grant
- Please read the Community Grants Information Booklet 2026/27 before applying.
- Determine the focus area for your project. If you are unsure you can get in touch at [email protected].
- Submit an application form online using the correct focus area.
Apply now
Information sessions
Our information sessions have now passed. If you have questions or want to learn more about the application process, you can read the PDF versions of each session below.
Arts and Culture Information Session
Community Wellbeing Information Session
In-person drop-in sessions: Tuesday 6 & Tuesday 13 October, 2-5pm, Minor Works Building
Frequently asked questions
Community Grants are for:
- Community groups
- Individuals, sole traders and partnerships
- Aboriginal Corporation and Torres Strait Islander Corporations
- Charities, charitable trusts and not-for-profit organisations
- Incorporated associations
- Companies limited by guarantee
- For-profit organisations with annual revenue less than $250,000 may apply if delivering community benefit. For-profit organisations with an annual revenue of more than $250,000 are ineligible.
For a full list of eligibility criteria please see the Community Grants Information Booklet.
The primary purpose of a project should be used to determine where you apply.
If your project has creative outcomes but the primary purpose is connecting local residents, then it sounds like the Community Wellbeing focus area might be a better fit for your project.
If your project has community connections outcomes but the primary purpose is to exhibit artwork, then it sounds like the Arts and Culture focus area might be a better fit for your project.
If you are still not sure please contact us on [email protected] or (08) 8203 7203 to discuss further.
The Community Grants 2026/27 major round supports projects taking place from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2027.
We cannot accept applications for projects happening less than 5 weeks from the date of submission due to the assessment and approval process required to administer funding.
All projects must have a physical outcome in the City of Adelaide that is open to the public to attend, such as an event or a mural in the public realm.
Projects can be ticketed. All projects must present value to the city community and accessibility and affordability are considered in the assessment process.
Equipment such as computers, drones, cameras and other equipment that could be considered capital expenditure or organisational assets that will have long term value beyond the duration of your project are not eligible budget items.
It sounds like your project might be a better fit for funding through City of Adelaide subsidiary Adelaide Economic Development Agency (AEDA).
AEDA provide funding for projects that drive visitation, spend and support for local businesses and that increase the profile of the city and North Adelaide as a tourist destination.
Visit AEDA's Events & Festival Funding Opportunities page for more information.
All projects must have a physical outcome in the City of Adelaide that is open to the public. Projects that do not have a physical outcome in the City of Adelaide that the public may attend are not eligible for funding through the City Community Grants program.
It is recommended to consider funding through Create SA or Creative Australia.
Community Grants can support costs associated with travelling within South Australia as part of supported projects. Funding cannot support interstate or overseas travel or accommodation expenses.
Priority groups include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, children and families, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, international students, LGBTIQA+ communities, older people (50+ years), people experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage, people from refugee or asylum seeker backgrounds, people with disability, women, and young people (12-25 years).
The use of priority groups reflects a broader sector approach that recognises that some groups face greater barriers to health, safety, inclusion, or participation. These barriers can include discrimination, cost, limited access to services, language, disability, or social isolation. A priority groups approach helps address these gaps by prioritising funding to remove systemic barriers and create fairer outcomes.
Yes. The Community Grants program can support murals on privately owned properties within the City of Adelaide. To be eligible for funding, the mural must be located on the exterior of a building and be visible to the general public. Find out more about the process of creating a mural.
Previously funded projects
Find out more about the 2025/2026 Community Grants recipients and view some highlights below.
Franklin Street Mural (Matt Fortrose)
Funding awarded: $20,000 (Major Grant)
Local artist Matt Fortrose created a new abstract mural on the side of the Adelaide Bus Terminal on Franklin Street. The artwork was created in collaboration with disabled artist Lewis Constantine with mentorship provided and supported through Co-Art Studio. The artwork is abstract using layered shapes, gentle colour changes, and textured surfaces that interact with light and movement. It supports minimization of graffiti of this council owned wall asset with an incorporated graffiti management plan.
Image: Matt Fortrose and Lewis Constantine, Franklin Street Mural, 2026. Photo: Jack Fenby
Qigong and Tai Chi Training (South Australian Health Quigong and Tai Chi)
Funding awarded: $5,000 (Quick Response Grant)
With support from the City of Adelaide’s Community Grants Program, the South Australian Health Qigong and Tai Chi Association is delivering free weekly Tai Chi sessions in Veale Gardens / Walyu Yarta (Park 21), advancing key priorities of community wellbeing and active inclusion.
Open to all ages, abilities, and backgrounds, these accessible sessions remove barriers to participation while promoting gentle physical activity, mindfulness, and social connection. Grounded in traditional Chinese practice, the program also fosters meaningful cultural exchange, building on the Association’s strong civic presence and contributions to events such as the Australia Day Parade and the first International Taijiquan Day at Elder Park in March 2026.
Set within the Park Lands, the initiative creates a welcoming environment where community members can connect, move, and support their wellbeing together.
Image: Zhao Dang leading a Tai Chi practice at Vale Gardens/Walyu Yarta, June 2026. Photo: Cath Leo
Community Nights (MOSAIC Adelaide Inc)
Funding awarded: $8,000 (Major Grant)
Multicultural community organisation MOSAIC is delivering a series of community nights, co-hosted with partner community organisations at the Multicultural Communities Council of South Australia (MCCSA) Multicultural Hub and Minor Works Building Community Centre.
Through cultural immersion, heritage education, food, music, and traditional performances, this program is reducing social isolation, creating opportunities for everyone to participate in community life, and enabling intercultural and intergenerational connections.
Image: Colombian Community Dance Group at the MOSAIC Colombian Community NIGHT, May 2026. Photo: Cath Leo
Like Me, Like You (ActNow)
Funding awarded: $18,900 (Major Grant)
With support from the City of Adelaide’s Community Grants Program, ActNow Theatre delivered five free performances of Like Me Like You during Reconciliation Week 2026 in North Adelaide.
Designed for children and families, the production explored the diverse cultures, identities, and stories that shape contemporary Australia, introducing little ones to the ideas of inclusivity, personal safety and belonging while sowing the seeds for anti-racism and bullying prevention.
Featuring artists from a range of backgrounds, the program promoted inclusive representation on stage driving a vision for a city where all people feel welcome and connected.
Image: ActNow performers during the Like Me Like You performance at North Adelaide Baptist Church. Saturday 30 May, 2026. Photo: Cath Leo
Tea with a Refugee, Multicultural Youth of South Australia (MYSA)
Funding awarded: $6,000 (Major Grant)
To celebrate Refugee Week 2026 and with the support of the City of Adelaide, MYSA delivered a community activation at the heart of Rundle Mall. Tea with a Refugee invited members of the public to share tea with young people from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds.
This free event, delivered across two days, offered a unique opportunity for City of Adelaide communities to learn first-hand about stories of resilience. The event included cultural performances and activities for everyone to join in.
Image: Andres shares his story with a family visiting Rundle Mall, 19 June 2026. Photo: Cath Leo
Speculative Re-Wilding: Planting Car Parks for a More-Than-Human Future (Henry Wolff and Heidi Kenyon)
Funding awarded: $10,000 (Major Grant)
The project care–––fall transformed the North Adelaide Community Centre carpark into a series of living rain gardens, reimagining an underused urban space as a site for biodiversity and community connection. Led by artists Heidi Kenyon and Henry Wolff, it translated three years of collaborative research into a site-responsive installation of micro-ecosystems featuring native and non-native plants. These systems demonstrated how urban environments can support ecological function, carbon offsetting, and new relationships between built and more-than-human worlds. The project culminated in a public opening with a Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony, artist talk, and a performance within the gardens, inviting audiences into an embodied experience of care, fragility, and ecological uncertainty, while prompting reflection on biodiversity loss, climate anxiety, and resilience.
Image: Heidi Kenyon and Henry Wolff, care–––fall, 2025. Opening event. Photo: Sia Duff
Papercuts Comics Festival 2025 (Papercuts Comics)
Funding awarded: $15,000 (Major Grant)
Papercuts Comics Festival 2025 is a free, accessible celebration of independent comics and graphic storytelling, attracting artists and audiences from across Australia. Featuring artist stalls, talks, workshops, and exhibitions, the festival highlights diverse small press and self-published work while fostering community connection and creative exchange. With a strong commitment to accessibility, the event is designed to be welcoming and inclusive, supporting broad participation and engagement across the comics community.
Image: Market Day, Papercuts Comics Festival. Photo: Sia Duff.
Gigante – Giant Puppet Project Launch Event (Australian Migrant Resource Centre)
Funding awarded: $2,000 (Quick Response Grant)
The Gigante – Giant Puppet Project launch marked the culmination of a collaborative initiative led by the Australian Migrant Resource Centre with the SA Puppetry Network and local Latino communities. Over 50 participants co-created a 3-metre puppet, KIRA (Kindness, Inclusion, Respect for All), guided by visiting artist Felix Po. The free public event featured performances, music, and cultural celebration, attracting over 120 attendees. Beyond its launch, KIRA serves as an ongoing cultural asset, designed for participation in festivals and public events, promoting messages of unity, inclusion, and peace.
Image: Giant puppet launch event, 2026 Australian Migrant Resource Centre & SA Puppetry Network. Photo: Dinuka Liyanawatte.
Need more information?
If you have any questions about Community Grants, please reach out to us:
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