Professional Placement Program
Are you a Gold Coast based early or mid-career artist or creative worker who has experience working in a professional creative arts capacity?
Are you looking to deepen your understanding of working in a professional context learning from senior mentors?
Do you have a genuine desire to establish new relationships, networks, experience and knowledge to accelerate your career opportunities?
What is the Professional Placement Program?
This program is designed to help early and mid-career artists and creative workers gain paid experience in a professional arts and cultural setting, supported by a mentor.
Calling out for participants for our 2026 Program
We are looking for early and mid-career stage applicants from a range of different art forms to participate in the Program and elevate their career!
The Professional Placement Program provides participants with a modest stipend to support their engagement.
Please note: For this Program, the definition of early and mid-career are as follows:
- Early career: artists / creative workers with between 1 and 3 years accumulative experience as per the eligibility section below.
- Mid-career: artists / creative workers with a minimum of 3 years accumulative experience as per the eligibility section below.
Placement career stage options
To cater for different career-stage professional development needs, the Placement Program provides two options to choose from across a range of different art forms:
Option 1: Early career mentorship
- 6 different early career mentorships to choose from (see the Placement Details section below).
- 40 hours one-on-one mentorship within an industry environment with a mentor who has been selected to participate in the Program.
Option 2: Mid-career placement
- 5 different mid-career Placements to choose from (see the Placement Details section below)
- 30 days hands-on professional development within a host organisation that has been selected to participate in the Program.
Eligibility
All applicants must:
- be 20 years of age or older by 22 June 2026
- be an Australian citizen or permanent resident
- be a resident of the Gold Coast
- have a registered Australian Business Number (ABN) or be willing to obtain one in the name of the applicant or their business
- have uploaded relevant compulsory support material as part of the application
- have no overdue acquittals from a funding and/or professional development program delivered by the City of Gold Coast (see Glossary in Guidelines document).
We will check the eligibility of all applicants before they can progress to the next stage of the selection process. All applications will be assessed against the criteria outlined in the Placement Guidelines.
Early career applicants must
Be an early career artist or creative worker who has between 1 and 3 years accumulated experience working in a professional creative art capacity:
- in their area of expertise and / or
- within an organisation in the cultural or creative sector, and / or
- managing their own company and / or
- official tertiary education industry-based experience.
Mid career applicants must:
Be a mid-career artist or creative worker who has a minimum of 3 years accumulated experience working in a professional creative art capacity:
- in their area of expertise and / or
- within an organisation in the cultural or creative sector, and / or
- managing their own company and / or
- official tertiary education industry-based experience.
Key dates
- Applications open: Monday 2 February 2026
- Applications close: Monday 23 February at midnight
- Notify application outcomes: by Tuesday 7 April 2026
- Interviews conducted: between 20 April and 8 May 2026
- Notification of interview outcomes: by 15 May 2026
How to apply
Interested in participating in the program?
- Before starting an application please check your eligibility by reading the 2026 Professional Placement Program guidelines(PDF, 248KB).
- Decide which career stage is relevant to your experience, and which opportunities you'd like to apply for, by reading the 2026 placement details(PDF, 573KB).
- Submit your application online.
submit application
Contact us
Senior Arts Officer – Sector Development
Email: cultural@goldcoast.qld.gov.au
Phone: 07 5581 7170