Musicians receiving funding include Liza Lim, Richard Mills, Mary Finsterer, Richard Gill’s ARCO and Chamber Made Opera.

The Australia Council for the Arts has announced a $6.1 million investment through its latest grants round. The funding will support 221 projects delivered by 147 individual artists, 25 groups and 49 small-to-medium arts organisations across a range of disciplines.

“Since the new grants model opened in early 2015 we have received nearly 10,000 applications and we’re seeing an increasingly diverse range of artists creating and presenting art in new and innovative ways”, said Australia Council CEO Tony Grybowski. “We’re excited to be able to empower artists to push boundaries and deliver compelling works”.

Of the 221 projects receiving grants, 35% of the applications received were from first time applicants, representing 20% of all successful applications. Nineteen percent of grants funding was awarded to applicants based in remote and regional Australia, while across the individual categories, female applicants received 45% of the grants.

Many of the works funded will appear in major festivals, such as the Adelaide Biennal or the Biennale of Sydney, which attract hundreds of thousands of regional and international visitors, providing a boost to local economies.

The many successful applicants include Chamber...