From Darwin to Dixon Street – Creative Future Fund
July 16, 2025
National Theatre of Parramatta has been selected as a recipient receiving significant investment from Creative Australia’s inaugural $7.8M Creative Future Fund investment.
From this creative development funding we will be developing an epic adventure, From Darwin to Dixon Street, putting the contribution of Australia’s Chinese community at the heart of a new theatrical drama.
This journey is taking place with Jenevieve Chang, Darren Yap and Joanne Kee with project partners Darwin Festival and La Boite Theatre.
It is an honour to have had our project selected, being one of only 20 projects from 283 national expressions of interest.
The Creative Futures Fund supports extraordinary works that push boundaries and bring distinctly Australian stories to audiences across Australia and around the world. It will invest $7.8 million this year to support 20 ambitious, large-scale creative projects, spanning every state and territory.
An initiative of the Australian Government’s National Cultural Policy Revive, the Creative Futures Fund supports the creation and sharing of Australian stories, and new ways for people to engage with them.
Executive Director Arts Investment Alice Nash said:
“This is an investment in imagination. It will support the telling of unique Australian stories that cross generations, industries, and borders, while remaining deeply local.”
A key aim of the Fund is to leverage cross-sector partnerships to deliver ambitious works. The projects will intersect with fields from education, sport, science, agriculture, tourism and fashion through partnerships and collaborations.
Director of the Creative Futures Fund, Wendy Martin, said:
“This extraordinary collection of work will take audiences on imaginative journeys under the sea with sharks, onto football fields and into the wild, wonderful world of roller derby. Collaborations between artists and scientists will investigate Hobart as gateway to Antarctica and explore the Murray Darling River system as a life force that runs through our country. This first round of projects offers a glimpse of what is possible through investment in our creative future.”
The investment will support:
- Six major outdoor experiences in public spaces, including projects that invite audiences to connect with nature through innovative dark night sky tourism experiences.
- Five new First Nations-led projects that celebrate cultural knowledge and leadership.
- Interactive works for families and young people, fostering creativity across generations.
- New works across music, visual art, theatre and exceptional artist lead projects, responding to our times, made with and for communities.
In its first investment round, the Creative Futures Fund offered two funding streams to support ambitious Australian work, Delivery and Development. 14 organisations received Development investment to explore new ideas, adapt existing works, and test market potential, while six organisations received Delivery investment to realise bold new works, build partnerships and co-investment and deliver lasting impact.
Via the Consortium of Australian State Theatres (CAST) and other organisations that form part of the National Performing Arts Partnership Framework, the Creative Futures Fund will also invest in a three-day gathering, later this year, of subsidised and commercial theatre producers to support the development of ambitious new theatre and cross sector collaboration.
For more information about the Creative Futures Fund, visit the website.