An update from Tina Hill, Senior Investment Officer, Arts Queensland

The Playing Queensland Fund forms part of Arts Queensland’s new Arts and Cultural Investment Framework (2013-2014), and the results have been incredible. In 2013 over 95,000 regional Queensland audience members have enjoyed 42 different touring productions supported by the Playing Queensland Fund.

Applications are steadily flowing in for 2014 and 2015 touring proposals. This quick response fund is designed to respond to opportunities that arise at (relatively) short notice. It also supports tours many years in advance to provide tour operators and venues with confirmation and the ability to scope and plan the larger scale tours.   

A few tips from the panel which assess applications to this fund:

  • Make sure you have letters of support for your touring production from the communities and/or venues – this helps you demonstrate demand for the tour.
  • The logic of the touring itinerary will be looked at carefully.  Does the itinerary make sense, is it cost effective, does the tour offer value for money; will the subsidy per seat be minimised?
  • How you engage with the communities you are visiting is critical. Are there innovative ways of reaching more audiences such as partnerships between smaller communities, transport for audiences?  
  • What is the value proposition of this tour, what’s on offer, what will be left behind, how will you engage with and support community members?


The range and scope of tours varies enormously and this is a great opportunity to highlight a few exciting tours supported through this fund:

  • International harmonica musician Antonio Serrano is currently touring his Harmonious Tour to six regional Queensland tours off the back of presentations at world music festivals WOMADelaide 2014 (Adelaide) and WOMAD (New Zealand). This tour offers an opportunity for regional Queensland audiences to engage with a high quality international world music artist.
  • Regional Queensland audiences may be interested in catching 4MBS Classic FM’s tour of Cribbie – a musical play about residents of the lost Brisbane suburb of Cribb Island – touring Queensland in June 2014.
  • Look out for the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s tour of Virtual touring regional Queensland in 2015. This innovative, high quality, but cost effective touring model enables greater audience reach through an immersive installation. Virtual offers an audio-visual interactive digital installation where the audience stands on stage surrounded by the Australian Chamber Orchestra musicians as they play.  

arTour has an important role to play in supporting artists and communities to engage with touring opportunities. If you are looking for a touring production or need help shaping your touring itinerary, contact to arTour on 07 3872 9041 or info@artour.com.au

If you need help preparing an application for touring investment through the Playing Queensland Fund, you can call Arts Queensland on 3034 4016, toll free 1800 175 532, or email investment@arts.qld.gov.au.