Awesome Black Launch New Initiative Supporting Indigenous Creative Voices

First Nations-led social enterprise Awesome Black have announced a new initiative, the Voices Rising Fund, designed to support and elevate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander creative voices.

Supporting the creation of publishable works across literature and music of all styles and genres, the fund focuses on enabling culturally significant projects to move from concept to publication, bridging the gap between creation and commercial distribution. This includes music and photography, poetry, novels, non-fiction media forms, and more.

It will invest directly into the development of such projects, providing resources and support to bring them to fruition. Awesome Black will act as a hands-on cultural and creative intermediary, ensuring artists, publishers, and labels work together in a collaborative and equitable way, and assisting with negotiations on the terms of project delivery.

The first recipient of the fund is Western Sydney-based hardcore band Homesick, and Awesome Black are being supported by publishing house Allen & Unwin and First Nations music label Bad Apples.

Travis De Vries, creative director of Awesome Black, said: “We built the Voices Rising Fund to give Blak artists the freedom to make the work they want to make without waiting for permission or being boxed in by old systems. It’s about paving our own ways for stories that need to be told.

"I'm incredibly passionate about publishing work and being able to put something into the world that has staying power.”

The Voices Rising Fund is open for applications year-round. Assessments will take place twice annually, with a maximum of $60,000 distributed across a minimum of two projects per year.

The assessment panel comprises representatives from major and independent music labels and literary publishing houses, First Nations arts workers and curators, and members of the Awesome Black team.

See here for more information, including eligibility requirements.