More than half the grants awarded to individual artists in the latest round of Australia Council grants have gone to women. At 63 percent, this significant success rate for female grant applicants has been welcomed by the Australia Council in the wake of research published in Making Art Work: An Economic Study of Professional Artists in Australia. The report found that female artists routinely earn 25 percent less than their male counterparts, greater than the workforce gender pay gap of 16 percent, and also earn 30 percent less from creative work on average.

Composer Cat Hope. Photo supplied

Those in the music industry have particular cause to rejoice, as 73 percent of music grants awarded to individual artists went to women, representing a substantial increase on previous rounds. Acclaimed composer Cat Hope is one of these successful applicants – the grant will allow her to develop the final stage of her opera, Speechless.

Other successful female grant applicants receiving support for concerts and performances include Genevieve Lacey, for the final development and premiere of a performance piece called Soliloquy; Kate Neal, for the final development and presentation of a new musical work called While...