Professional Placement Program
Callout for participants for 2025
Are you a Gold Coast-based early or mid-career or arts 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?
We are looking for early and mid-career stage applicants from a range of art forms to elevate their careers.
What is the Professional Placement Program?
This program is one of the development initiatives from our Arts and Culture team. It is designed to help early to mid-career artists and creative workers gain paid experience in a professional arts and cultural setting, supported by a mentor.
The Program provides participants with a modest stipend to support their engagement.
Placement career stage options
To cater for different professional development needs, the Program provides two options across a range of different artforms:
Option 1. Early career mentorship
- 40 hours one-on-one mentorship within an industry environment with a mentor who has been selected to participate in the Program.
- Over 10 different mentorships to choose from (more details in the Placement Details section below)
Option 2: Mid-career placement
- 30 days hands-on professional development within a host organisation who has been selected to participate in the Program.
- Over 40 different placements to choose from (more details in the following Placement Details section)
Eligibility
Definitions
- Early career: Artists / creative workers with between 1 and 3 years accumulative experience as per the eligibility criteria.
- Mid-career: Artists / creative workers with a minimum of 3 years accumulative experience as per the eligibility criteria.
All applicants
All applicants must:
- be 20 years of age or older by 26 May 2025
- 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).
Early career applicants
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
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 close: Monday 24 February at midnight
- Notify application outcomes: By 1 April
- Interviews conducted: Between 28 April and 16 May
- Notify interview outcomes: By 20 May
Placements on offer
For details of each placement such as host organisation, role details and start and finish dates, download Placement Details(PDF, 573KB)
How to apply
- Based on the career stage definitions and Placement Guidelines, determine what opportunities you will be applying for (early career or mid-career)
- Read through the range of Placements on Offer document above related to your career stage and choose which ones you would like to apply for
- Read through the following Placement Guidelines
- Check your eligibility
- Submit an online application form
Download Professional Placement Program 2025 Guidelines(PDF, 219KB)
Apply online
Contact us
Senior Arts Officer – Sector Development
Email: cultural@goldcoast.qld.gov.au
Phone: 07 5581 7170