Key Funding Area
LGBTQIA+ Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and South Sea Islander People
In 2024 we commenced our commitment to funding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander work by doing a national call out for people of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander identity to join our board. We were delighted to welcome Jackie Reilly to the board in April 2024. We have developed our engagement strategy and set up an advisory group co-chaired by Jen Toonen and Damien Ralphs.
Our first grant round in this area is now open for applications. View more information and apply here.
Partner Organisations
Our knowledge in this area is significant, but there are many groups that have real expertise and lived experience, and we want to work with them in partnership. Groups we have collaborated with include…
Projects funded towards LGBTQIA+ ATSISSI People
Kimberley Blak Pride Festival
Kimberley Blak Pride
2026 | $20,000
Funding the coordination and delivery of their annual pride festival over the next two years. The Kimberley Blak Pride Festival is multi day, community led celebration that centres SBLGBTIQA+ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, their families, allies, friends and Kimberley community. Grounded in lived experience, the Festival creates safe, inclusive and culturally grounded spaces for connection, Queer Blak Excellence and Rainbow Lateral Love.
BLAQ | Fashion as Resistance
DECOLONISE
2026 | $20,000
BLAQ | Fashion as Resistance is a multidisciplinary performance work that combines storytelling, fashion, music, dance and visual art to elevate LGBTQIA+ ATSSSI voices. Led by JAJA, BLAQ brings together a cohort of LGBTQIA+ ATSSSI creatives to collaborate in the development of an original performance work; inviting the audience to immerse themselves in story and truth-telling, evoking people to look at how they contribute to colonial impact, systemic racism, homophobia and heterosexism.
Mr First Nation
BRG Productions
2026 | $10,000
Mr First Nation is a Blak LGBTQIA+ performance development project led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander SBLGBTQIA+ artists, focused on drag king performance, storytelling, and cultural expression. The project addresses the ongoing underrepresentation and limited resourcing of First Nations LGBTQIA+ artists within contemporary performance and drag spaces, particularly those centring Blak queer masculinities and self-representation.
Welcome With Pride Training for KHT Staff
Koorie Heritage Trust
2026 | $17,940
All KHT staff will undertake the Welcome With Pride program, a training initiative that assists organisations to create an inclusive workplace and visitor experience. The program will have ongoing benefit, not only for LGBTQIA+ First Peoples but also the wider LGBTQIA+ community, with LGBTQIA+ inclusivity woven into their organisation and cultural programs.
SBLGBTQIA+ First Nations Burlesque Mentorship Program
Canberra Burlesque Academy
2026 | $14,510
A targeted program where First Nations artists are not only participants, but leaders and decision-makers within the space. The SBLGBTQIA+ First Nations Burlesque Mentorship Program removes barriers to culturally safe, queer-led training spaces for First Nations SBLGBTQIA+ artists through a structured, supported pathway.
VACCA LGBTQIA+ Inclusion Initiative
Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency
2026 | $20,000
VACCA’s LGBTQIA+ Inclusion Initiative will deliver Days of Significance celebration events, staff education activities and support participation in external LGBTQIA+ events. The purpose of this project is to continue building staff education and promote connection, inclusion and visibility across the organisation.
Blackfulla Alt2Su attendance at Lowitja Institute 4th International Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Conference
Blackfulla Alternatives to Suicide
2025 | $3,000
This grant supports Blackfulla Alt2Su facilitator Emma’s attendance at the Lowitja Institute 4th International Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Conference on Kaurna Country in June 2025. Emma has been chosen to do an oral presentation at the conference in regards to their peer work with Blackfulla Alternatives to Suicide. This is a great opportunity to share the work they do to a large international audience.
Gadigal Koori Radio: Queer, Blaq & Deadly Program
Tony Duke with Koori Radio
2024 | $10,000
To pilot a weekly Queer Blaq and Deadly radio show over a 3-month period. Run by a team of First Nations LGBTIQA+SB people.
Welcoming the Unwelcome: A Black Rainbow Homecoming
Marijke Bassani
2024 | $10,000
Marijke will work with Cape York Peninsula-based First Nations LGBTQIA+ Sistergirl, Brotherboy, 2Spirit & IndigiQueers on a human rights photography grassroots project. This will involve spending 2-3 years taking portraits and collecting contemporary personal narratives about community life and culture for First Nations LGBTQIA+ Sistergirl, Brotherboy, 2Spirit & IndigiQueer peoples in the Cape York Peninsula. These will be collated into a photography book, and all profits from the book will go back to the local communities.
Yarns Heal Suicide Prevention Project
Yarns Heal
2024 | $10,000
PFA funded $10,000 to the Yarns Heal project in Queensland, auspiced by Queensland Council, for their Yarns Heal Suicide Prevention Project presentation at World Indigenous Suicide Prevention Conference, New York, July 2024.
This arose from a recommendation from Bec Johnson, who had been on our board and advocated for funding to this important project.
Yarn It Up
ACON
2021 | $10,000
This grant was awarded to ACON in partnership Aurora Fund to run several yarning circles with sister girls and brother boys in NSW to build their resilience and improve their health and wellbeing. It also aims to increase ACON’s reach and relationships with communities who have been historically oppressed, excluded and minoritised.
Latest News
Announcing recipients of PFA’s first ATSSSI large grant round
Damien Ralphs awarded First Nations Person of the Year at SA Pride Awards
Meet PFA’s ATSSSI Advisory Committee Co-Chairs
