Frequently Asked Questions

For artists requiring assistance with their submission, please email help@dsfa.org.au and provide your name and phone number and someone from the Award will contact you.

Entries can only be made via the Enter page and will only be accepted between the dates listed on the Award page. Please ensure you have read through the FAQs on this page and have the necessary files ready to upload before commencing the entry process.

The timing and amount of the Award are outlined on the Award page and may vary at the discretion of the Trustees. Artists will be expected to outline how the Award is to be used to enhance their professional development.

Awards of financial assistance could be made for, but are not limited to, the following areas:

• Professional Development
• Tuition fees, mentoring, etc
• Modification to equipment
• Purchase of equipment or materials or access to specialised machinery
• Exhibition expenses

Entrants should not be constrained by the examples given above, however if in doubt please contact the Trustees.

1. Entries may be made by any person with an intellectual, physical, psychiatric, cognitive or sensory disability. Note that entries may be prepared and submitted on behalf of a person with a disability – but only with their agreement and consent.
2. Artists must be resident in South Australia.
3. Emerging practitioners of a diverse range of visual arts, crafts and design are eligible, including but not limited to: painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, ceramics, jewellery, textiles, video and sound, and performance art. More experienced artists seeking professional development as a result of a newly acquired disability may also be eligible.
4. Artists must submit 6-8 high quality examples of their work, or 3-5 for media arts video and sound), completed within the last two years together with a CV for consideration of artistic merit and potential for development.
5. The proposed use of the Award should further the artist’s development in their chosen medium.

Entrants are required to outline how the Award will be spent.

If support is sought for materials, equipment or exhibition expenses, you should include a list of items and their approximate cost.

If support is for tuition, mentoring or other education, indicate proposed fees, length of course, and name of the school or tutor. Also indicate when you propose to undertake the study.

In submitting your Entry, please include a Budget of proposed expenditure using this form: .DOCX Budget or .DOC Budget.

The requested total (excluding any in-kind or other contributions) must not exceed $3,000.

During the entry process you will be asked to submit recent examples of your work – completed within the past two years.

For painting, sculpture, ceramics, jewellery etc, please upload photographs of 6-8 recent works. These files should be of a high quality to enable the assessors to view the work clearly. Each image should be no larger than 5 Mb in size, 300 dpi, and in one of the following formats: jpeg, jpg, tiff, png or pdf.

For media arts (time-related art such as video or sound), please limit each work’s duration to 3 minutes, and rather than uploading the files, please provide links to 3-5 recent pieces on platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, Soundcloud, or a webpage.

Entrants will also be asked to upload a reference using the document provided here: .DOCX Reference or .DOC Reference.

One reference is required with the entry. The reference helps the Trustees assess how the Award will enhance the artist’s professional development. The reference should be relevant to the professional skills or development of the Artist.

During the submission process, entrants will be asked to upload the reference using the document provided here: .DOCX Reference or .DOC Reference.

Yes. A ‘Save and Continue’ option is provided at the bottom of each page of the Enter Award section. You can save and continue your partially completed entry by clicking the link.

When you select ‘Save and Continue’ you will be presented with a unique URL (web address) to return to and continue your entry. You simply add your email address and the unique URL will be emailed to you for later use.

Please note that only text entered in the form will be saved. Any documents selected for upload (reference, CV etc and artwork images) will need to be selected again when you return to complete the entry process.

Awardees are selected by the Trustees of the Award Fund, which includes recognised South Australian artists.

All entrants will be contacted by email.