The 2023 State Library Victoria Fellowships Program is a unique opportunity for artists, writers, and scholars to immerse themselves in the Library's extensive collections and bring them to life in new and innovative ways.
There are 15 fellowships available, offering support through financial grants, shared office space in the Library’s magnificent dome annulus or through studio residencies, and direct access to Library collections and expert staff.
We are looking for submissions that repurpose, transform or imaginatively respond to the Library’s collections. Previous fellowship projects have included a memoir retracing the journey by Chinese-Australian migrants to the goldfields in the 1800s, a film about the influence of Irish Gaelic dance in Victoria, and the continued development of the Woiwurrung language database. Possible formats are endless, from developing a podcast, documentary or original score to creating a performance or historical essay.
Let the boundless opportunities within the collections inspire your ideas to take flight!
Applications close Friday 16 September.
Learn more about Fellowships Program 2023
The 2023 State Library Victoria Fellowship Program is designed to bring our collections to life.
It acts as an incubator for creative and imaginative responses and fresh perspectives.
Fellowships
The Amor Residency at Baldessin Studio is offered to a visual artist committed to their practice, wishing to explore and experiment with works on paper, particularly printmaking, using research material from the State Library.
The residency may take place at any time within 2023, according to the recipient’s project and research plans, and includes accommodation, printmaking tuition or technical support, materials or editioning to the sum of $5000. The recipient also has access to desk space in a shared office at State Library Victoria for 12 months (January – December 2023) and access to collections and staff expertise.
About Rick Amor & Baldessin Studio
The 1971 bluestone Baldessin Studio is located in bushland 50 km from Melbourne and is named in memory of its builder – artist, printmaker and sculptor George Baldessin (1939–78).
The Amor Residency at Baldessin Studio is generously supported by artist Rick Amor and Baldessin Studio in St Andrews.
The Tate Adams Memorial Residency at Baldessin Studio is offered to a visual artist committed to their practice, wishing to explore and experiment with works on paper, in particular, printmaking for an artist book, using research material from the State Library.
The residency may take place at any time within 2023, according to the recipient’s project and research plans, and includes accommodation, printmaking tuition or technical support, materials or editioning to the sum of $5000. The recipient also has access to desk space in a shared office at State Library Victoria for 12 months (January – December 2023) and access to collections and staff expertise.
About Tate Adams & Baldessin Studio
Tate Adams AM (1922–2018) established the artist print department at RMIT in 1960 and championed printmaking throughout Australia. His students included George Baldessin.
Situated in bushland 50 km from Melbourne in St Andrews, the Baldessin Studio is named in memory of artist, printmaker and sculptor George Baldessin (1939–78), who built the bluestone studio in 1971.
The $15,000 Berry Family Fellowship supports a project exploring an aspect of the social history of Melbourne or Victoria based on the State Collection.
The Berry Family Fellow receives a $15,000 grant, access to desk space in a shared office at State Library Victoria for 12 months (January – December 2023), and access to collections and staff expertise.
Offered biennially, the Berry Family Fellowship commemorates the contribution of the Berry Family to the cultural life of Melbourne and Victoria.
The $15,000 Children’s Literature Fellowship is a specialist fellowship to support a project exploring aspects of children’s book publishing, writing or illustrating for early years, children and young adult fiction (0–18 years of age).
Fellows can access more than 100,000 collection items for inspiration, including novels, illustrated fiction, picture books, graphic novels, poetry and traditional stories.
Fellows receive a $15,000 grant, access to desk space in a shared office for 12 months (January – December 2023), and access to collections and staff expertise.
This year the Library is offering two $15,000, Creative Fellowships to provide artists and scholars with a unique and supportive environment to explore our collections. We invite recipients to be inspired by, repurpose, transform or imaginatively respond to published or original sources, including manuscripts, maps, music, newspapers, oral histories and rare printed material, in any way they choose.
Applications are welcome from individuals or collaborative partnerships practising in any art form – visual arts, new media, dance, musical performance or composition – and writers and scholars in any discipline or subject.
Fellows receive a $15,000 grant, access to desk space in a shared office for 12 months (January–December 2023), and access to collections and staff expertise.
The $15,000 Regional Fellowship offers two regional Victorian artists, writers or researchers the opportunity to create new work through repurposing, transforming or imaginatively responding to published or original source material from the Library’s extensive collections.
Applicants may be individuals or working in collaborative partnerships. They may include creatives practising in any art form – such as the visual arts, new media, dance, musical performance or composition – and writers and scholars in any discipline or subject.
Applicants must reside in regional Victoria, with their postcode reflecting their residence in one of the 48 local government areas classified as ‘regional’ by the Victorian Government.
Read a list of these local government areas.
Fellows receive a $15,000 grant, access to desk space in a shared office for 12 months (January – December 2023), and access to collections and staff expertise.
Regional Fellows can also receive support connecting to regional library services and accessing online collections from the Library. Projects that deliver outcomes in regional areas are highly desirable.
The Library gratefully acknowledges support provided by Regional Arts Victoria.
The $10,000 Georges Mora Fellowship allows one contemporary artist to study, experiment and explore fresh thinking in their art.
The recipient is awarded $10,000 for up to 12 months research and given the means and uninterrupted time to work closely with the rich resources of the State Library, including access to a private study desk space in a shared office for 12 months (January – December 2023).
The successful applicant will also receive help applying for a self-identified local or international residency and access to organisations and individuals with specialist knowledge to support them to research, experiment and create.
The Georges Mora Fellowship is awarded with funds generously donated by arts supporters and with the support of State Library Victoria, Alliance Française de Melbourne and other partners.
About Georges Mora
The Georges Mora Fellowship is named after entrepreneur, restaurateur and art dealer Georges Mora. Georges was born in Germany in 1913. After World War II, he briefly settled in New York before immigrating to Melbourne. He purchased and ran the landmark Balzac restaurant in East Melbourne and St Kilda’s Tolarno Hotel. The hotel included a gallery, which was moved to South Yarra in 1979.
In his lifetime, Georges Mora was an avid supporter of the arts and Australian artists, including Charles Blackman, Arthur Boyd, Joy Hester, Sidney Nolan, John Olsen, John Perceval and Albert Tucker. Georges’ commitment to developing innovative and varied artists saw him produce outstanding exhibition programs featuring local and international artists. He died in 1992.
In 2023, State Library Victoria will offer two dedicated Indigenous research fellowships:
- the Indigenous Victorian Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Research Fellowship; and
- the Indigenous Victorian Aboriginal Family History Fellowship
The Library’s collections include significant documentation of Victorian Aboriginal people and the cultural knowledge of their Ancestors. These fellowships aim to increase Aboriginal Victorians’ access to this material by supporting researchers to uncover new information from the records of the colonial era held in the collection and to instigate ongoing discussion and information sharing.
The fellowships are open to researchers who identify as Indigenous Victorian Aboriginal and who are committed to recovering and analysing a significant body of cultural information; and to developing new ways of sharing these findings in culturally relevant and accessible forms.
Through the Indigenous Victorian Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Research Fellowship, analysis of this material has the potential to contribute to cultural renewal programs across Victorian Aboriginal communities.
The Indigenous Victorian Aboriginal Family History Fellowship provides an opportunity for focused research to discover family connections and to create a means for sharing these findings among family networks and the broader Victorian Aboriginal community.
Fellows receive a $15,000 grant, access to desk space in a shared office for 12 months (January – December 2023), and supported access to the Library’s collections and staff expertise.
The 2023 Indigenous Victorian Aboriginal Cultural Research Fellowships program is coordinated by the Victorian Indigenous Research Centre.
Join us at our information session to learn more about the program.
Generously endowed by the estate of Dr Christopher Baker, The Kerri Hall Fellowship for Performing Arts offers $15,000 to creatives, artists and writers from Victoria’s Loddon Mallee region in the field of performing arts.
Applicants will be given the opportunity to undertake projects exploring theatre and the performing arts in Victoria, drawing on the Library’s collections relating to scriptwriting and production, drama, opera, ballet, musical theatre, vaudeville, puppetry and magic, theatres, concert halls and venues, or festivals and events.
About Kerri Hall
Kerri Hall was a librarian at State Library Victoria from 2001 until 2017. Highly respected for her extensive knowledge of the Library’s theatre and performing arts collection Kerri raised the profile of this collection and greatly enhanced access to it through extensive cataloguing and digitisation projects. Kerri was born and raised in the Victorian Mallee district and remained deeply connected to this region.
About Christopher Baker
Christopher’s career as an executive manager included over 25 years of experience leading people and managing change across not-for-profit, public and private sectors, from manufacturing to employment services. On leaving corporate life in 2003, Christopher continued to provide change management and human resource consulting services while pursuing his interest in civil society.
Christopher Baker joined the research team at the Asia-Pacific Centre for Social Investment and Philanthropy (ACSIP) in January 2010 following the submission of his PhD thesis, Wealth transfer and post-mortem charitable giving in Australia.
Christopher died in 2020 from mesothelioma, and his wish was to establish a Fellowship in the memory of his late partner, Kerri Hall.
In association with Regional Arts Victoria, two fellowships are available to regional Victorians to be inspired by, repurpose, transform or imaginatively respond to published or original source material from the Library’s extensive collection, in any way they choose, to create new work.
The fellowships carry a $15,000 grant, access to desk space in a shared office for 12 months (January – December 2023), and access to collections and staff expertise.
The Marion Orme Page Regional Fellowships, in partnership with Regional Arts Victoria, are supported by a generous donation from the Marion Orme Page bequest.
The Redmond Barry Fellowship offers writers and scholars the opportunity to use collections at the Library and the University of Melbourne's Archives and Special Collections to research a project in any discipline. This includes early career researchers and graduates.
The successful applicant receives $15,000, access to desk space in a shared office for 12 months (January – December 2023), and access to collections and staff expertise. Australian scholars and writers can apply.
The fellowship is jointly sponsored by the Library and the University of Melbourne, so research should make use of collections at both institutions. Projects that highlight linkages between the collections and promote new insights on the subject, material, or collections are encouraged, as is the production of a digital, creative, or literary work that can be openly shared and published in the University’s Repository.
About Redmond Barry
Sir Redmond Barry (1813–1880) was born in Ireland and emigrated to Melbourne in 1839. A practising lawyer, he became a judge of the new Victorian Supreme Court in 1852. The following year, Barry was appointed chairman of the trustees of the Melbourne Public Library (now State Library Victoria). He was the University of Melbourne’s first and longest serving Chancellor from 1853–1880.
Barry was an influential political advocate for the creation of public works throughout Melbourne, had a lifelong interest in philanthropy and contributing to Melbourne’s social and cultural activities, and was instrumental in founding the Library, University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital.
More information
Please visit the University of Melbourne website for further information about the fellowship and how to apply.
Current Fellows
Since 2003, the Library’s annual Fellowships Program has nurtured and supported the creative and scholarly ventures of more than 200 authors, musicians, artists and historians.
Support
Contact us
Have questions or feedback about fellowships, or need a hand applying? Contact our friendly staff by email or talk to us when you visit the Library.
Email: fellows@slv.vic.gov.au (reponse within five working days)
Tile image credit
Zo Damage, a photo of herself pulling a giant proof off the press at Baldessin Press & Studio, © Silvi Glattauer.