Ngaoara Fellowship
The Ngaoara Fellowship is an opportunity for an emerging First Nations artist to hold a funded solo exhibition at Shoalhaven Regional Gallery alongside an established First Nations artist and mentor. The Fellowship includes artist fees and up to $10,000 in production costs. Applications for 2026 Ngaoara Fellowship open 15 September and close Nov 7.
Bagandha yanggamba-ngga, Nicole Smede, Shoalhaven Regional Gallery 2025
Video filmed by Tad Souden for Shoalhaven Regional Gallery 2025.
"Here, Country, experience, history and truth speak through every artwork—rusted metal in Karla Dickens’ Resist the System, the layered patterns of Jaz Corr’s Woven, the shadow and flicker of Single Channel, where stories rise and dissolve like tidal water. To find myself here, exhibiting alongside these artists, is a gift. As the inaugural recipient of the Ngaoara (Black Cockatoo) First Nations Emerging Artist Award, whose practice has long been rooted in poetry and music, stepping into the gallery with a work in a medium I have only recently touched, feels like both a risk and a homecoming. An opportunity to leap. True to its name, this award is a transformation of form, space and time, and encourages to be bold, to stretch, and imagine", Nicole Smede, 2025.
First Nations Fellowship 2025
In 2025 Shoalhaven Regional Gallery held the inaugural First Nations Fellowship, a funded exhibition and mentorship opportunity with Karla Dickens. Nicole Smede won with her project, Bagandha yanggamba-ngga - ‘Country sings in me’, a nine-channel video and sound installation that speaks to the origins of traditional languages and the reciprocal exchange between Country, human and non-human kin. Nicole Smede is a multi-disciplinary artist of Warrimay, Irish and English heritage, living and creating on Wadi Wadi Dharawal Country. A trained vocalist, Nicole's voice has been heard on Triple J, globally on award-winning film scores, and graced the stages of City Retail Hall, Parliament House, MONA FOMA festival, galleries and venues across Australia. Bagandha yanggamba-ngga - ‘Country sings in me’ is Nicole's first multi-channel video installation.
In 2026 this opportunity will run again relaunched under the new name the Ngaoara Fellowship.
The Ngaoara Fellowship is an opportunity for an emerging First Nations artist to hold a solo exhibition at Shoalhaven Regional Gallery alongside an established First Nations artist and mentor. Applications for 2026 Ngaoara Fellowship open 15 September and closes midnight Nov 7.
The Ngaoara Fellowship is an exhibition and mentoring opportunity for an emerging First Nations artist. For this opportunity an emerging artist is defined as an artist in the first ten years of their practice, or someone with an established practice moving into a new artistic medium. The successful applicant will be provided with an artist fee, up to $10,000 in project costs, a funded solo exhibition at Shoalhaven Regional Gallery and a mentoring opportunity with Aunty Julie Freeman. The Gallery will cover all costs for installing the exhibition, please only include project costs in your application.
Aunty Julie Freeman is a Gorawarl Jerrawongarla woman, is a traditional owner of South Sydney and the South Coast of New South Wales. She comes from Sydney's local Aboriginal community of La Perouse and is a recognised artist, cultural leader and storyteller.
Exhibition dates are 25 July – 3 Oct 2026.
Applications have closed for 2026. This opportunity will be offered again in 2027 please join the mailing list to find out more.