Organizer Information
Artist Engineering (Artist Engineering Pty Ltd) is a Melbourne (Naarm)-based company that designs and manufactures AE Hardware, a non-contact hanging, handling, and transit system for artworks. The hardware is the product of five years of research and development, prototyping, and laboratory testing, guided by founding principles of reducing risk of damage to art objects and improving safety across art logistics and conservation practices. The company developed the system in response to feedback from conservators, preparators, and registrars about long-standing risks in traditional contact handling of artworks. Given its close ties to the art-handling, conservation, and logistics side of the industry, Artist Engineering established the Art Worker Artist Grant to support the artistic practices of people who work in these adjacent, often financially precarious roles within the art world.
Title & Description
Art Worker Artist Grant (2026 Edition)
The Art Worker Artist Grant is a biennial grant supporting artists whose livelihoods are connected to the production, handling, exhibition, care, movement, or stewardship of art. The grant is intended to support the development of artistic work "in whatever form that may take," with funds usable for studio time, travel, healthcare, research, equipment, rest, materials, living expenses, childcare, "or something else entirely." There are no required outcomes and no required grant acquittal.
Categories
- Visual Arts
- Craft
- Curatorial
- Interdisciplinary Arts
Eligibility
- Open to artists who support their practice by providing any form of labour in any area of the art industry
- Eligible labour areas include, but are not limited to: museums, galleries, artist studios, collections, auction houses, art fairs, fabrication, framing and mountmaking workshops, conservation labs, art logistics and crating companies, and storage facilities
- No nationality, age, or career-stage restriction stated in the source
Program Benefits & Awards
- One recipient will receive a grant of $5,000 AUD (2026 edition)
- No required outcomes
- No required grant acquittal
Application Fee
None
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Entries Open: August 24, 2026 (AEST)
- Application Deadline: 14 September 2026 (AEST) — or once the first 500 submissions are received, whichever comes first
- Recipient Announced: November 2, 2026 (AEST)
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Additional Details
- Applications for the 2026 edition are limited to the first 500 submissions
- The recipient will be selected by an independent jury: Andria Hickey (curator; curatorial advisor, Barclays Center; formerly The Shed, Pace Gallery, MOCA Cleveland, Public Art Fund), Clynton Lowry (artist, writer, publisher; founder/editor-in-chief of Art Handler; founder of Jobs.art), and Paul Graham (photographer; exhibited at the 49th Venice Biennale and MoMA; recipient of the Hasselblad Award and the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize)
- The grant is overseen and funded by Artist Engineering®