With your support, Ku Arts can build on the career development opportunities provided to hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visual artists working in regional and remote communities across South Australia. Access to quality materials such as exhibition quality canvas, paints and brushes, artists tools such as scissors, tape, carving and sculpting equipment or ...
Ananguku Arts and Culture Corporation (Ku Arts)
Artists Materials Fund
GOAL
$15,000
Australia > SA > Regional
Field of Interest
- Arts and culture
Target Population
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- Not applicable
Ananguku Arts and Culture Corporation (Ku Arts)
Ananguku Arts and Cultural Aboriginal Corporation (Ku Arts) is South Australia’s peak body for Aboriginal artists and art centres. Founded in 1998 by senior Anangu women, Ku Arts is proudly 100% First Nations governed and led by an all-Aboriginal board. Our mission is Strong Arts, Strong Culture, Strong Communities. We support artists across all stages of their careers through advocacy, governance, business development, and creative and cultural programs grounded in self-determination and community voice.
Ku Arts addresses the inequities facing Aboriginal artists in remote and regional communities by supporting access to materials, industry pathways, infrastructure, and skills development. We provide culturally safe support to five Aboriginal-owned art centres, and also lead state-wide initiatives for independent artists through in-community workshops, residencies, and wellbeing programs.
We are best-placed to do this work due to our long-standing grassroots relationships, cultural authority, and cross-sector networks. In 2024, Ku Arts delivered over 2,000 minutes of wellbeing engagement, supported 23 First Nations language groups, and received 94% participant satisfaction across our programs. Our team also travelled 31,215 kilometres across South Australia to provide on-the-ground support, demonstrating our deep commitment to regional and remote communities.
Our current priorities include:
– Strengthening governance and leadership pathways
– Expanding regional and remote artist development
– Increasing art centre sustainability and infrastructure
– Enhancing First Nations policy influence
– Creating culturally safe employment and economic opportunities
Funding will support our capacity to deliver these outcomes and expand impact across health, education, culture, and economic participation.
Ku Arts holds DGR1 status
Project Summary
With your support, Ku Arts can build on the career development opportunities provided to hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visual artists working in regional and remote communities across South Australia. Access to quality materials such as exhibition quality canvas, paints and brushes, artists tools such as scissors, tape, carving and sculpting equipment or weaving supplies, is crucial to their artistic practice. Due to distance and financial hardship many of these artists have limited access to the quality art materials necessary to produce market-ready artworks.
With your contribution to the Artists Materials Fund, Ku Arts can support artists who work independently, especially those without access to a local Aboriginal Art Centre.
We invite you to donate and directly improve access to quality arts materials for South Australian based Aboriginal and Torres Strait artists.
Project Outcomes
Through the Ku Arts Art Materials Fund, we aim to ensure that independent Aboriginal artists living in regional and remote South Australia can access the quality materials they need to sustain their art practice, cultural expression, and personal wellbeing. For artists living outside of the art centre model, lack of access to canvases, paints, weaving materials, and the high cost of freight are significant barriers.
This program was launched in direct response to community need: over 36% of enquiries to Ku Arts in 2022–23, the year the program launched, were requests for help accessing art materials. In the first year, we supported 16 individual artists and 5 group programs across 7 remote regions, with delivery focusing on tangible creative and wellbeing outcomes.
Our goal is to expand this support to reach more artists and ensure this critical program is ongoing. We will know we have achieved this by measuring:
– The number of artists supported annually
– Regional coverage and reduction in unmet requests
– Artist feedback and wellbeing outcomes
– Increased creative production and engagement with the broader arts sector
With each donation, we are helping to preserve culture, support economic participation, and enable artists to share their stories. Whether it’s a young artist starting out, an Elder preserving knowledge through painting, or a community group running workshops—your support means they can continue.
This is more than materials. It’s about creative access, cultural continuity, and opportunity.
Budget Breakdown
TOTAL BUDGET: $15,000
FUNDING
| Funding source | Amount |
|---|---|
| Funding Gap | $15,000 |
EXPENSES
| Expense item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Art Materials | $15,000 |
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