ASA receives Australia Council funding for Takeaway Creatives project

19.05.20

The ASA is thrilled to announce that we have received funding from the Australia Council’s Resilience Fund for a new project designed to assist authors and illustrators to pivot to running their appearances online.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has seen the cancellation of authors’ live appearances at libraries, schools and festivals and the demand for online capabilities has never been higher. Even after the relaxation of social distancing, online appearances are likely to continue as we adapt to an increasingly digital world.

Part of this funding will be used to offer authors/illustrators a free online course, Authors Online: How to Run Virtual Appearances, which will teach you all the skills you’ll need to run your online appearances, including technical knowledge, how to present your customised digital content, how to engage online audiences and how to protect the rights in your digital material.

The majority of this funding will go directly to our members, with the establishment of our new Takeaway Creatives Grant. Offering $1000 to fourteen individual creators to set them up for virtual appearances, this grant could be used to develop high quality digital assets, or to meet the cost of purchasing equipment.

We’d like to thank the Australia Council for their generous support.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.