Recently I was the recipient of a stART grant through Creative Alliance Queensland, Creative Arts Alliance and Arts Queensland.  The stART Grant Program was established by Arts Queensland to support Queensland independent artists and arts workers impacted by COVID-19 restrictions.

Creative Arts Alliance has administered the stART Grant Program in the South East Queensland North region which includes the local government areas of Gympie, Noosa, Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay, Somerset and Redlands.

Of the $700,000 of stART funding available, $90,000 has been allocated to the region. Thirty applicants from the local arts sector including artists, producers, technicians, freelancers and other arts workers whose employment has been reduced or ceased due to the pandemic, will now be receiving $3000. This grant will assist in the development of arts and creative projects, producer services, technical support and equipment purchases.

My project – Rosie Leads the Way Resources Project

The grant money for this project went towards the process of writing, editing, illustrating, designing and creating social and emotional learning resources based on my new picture book, Rosie Leads the Way.

I was able to hire 2 other freelancers in the creative industry, purchase video equipment and pay for printing costs.

The resources created through this project are FREE for all early learning centres, kindergartens and schools and include:

• Teacher Notes (Australian Curriculum)
• Teacher Notes (Early Education)
• Printables
• Posters
• Learning activities
• Videos

Click here to access these resources

The creative minds that assisted with this project were Lisa Coutts and Vanessa RyanRendall.

Lisa is the wonderfully, fabulous illustrator of Rosie Leads the Way. She created more exciting illustrations of Rosie being strong, smart and kind that were used on posters, learning materials, worksheets and colouring-in pages.

Vanessa is an incredibly talented author, teacher and school librarian and assisted with the writing of the teacher notes that are aligned with the Australian Curriculum.

This grant also paid for the printing costs of  5 Rosie Leads the Way Resource kits (valued at $100 each) to the following 5 local Sunshine Coast Kindergartens:

• C&K Peregian Springs
• Coolum Beach Community Kindergarten
• Peregian Beach College Early Learning Centre
• Little Sprouts Bli Bli
• Landsborough Kindergarten

I am incredibly grateful to be a part of this process and I am looking forward to hearing back from many teachers and educators on how these resources have been beneficial in their classrooms.

A sneak peek at some of the resources made…

Renee Irving Lee

Children’s Author, Freelance Writer + Educational Consultant

Renee is a children’s author based on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.  She is passionate about creating profound social change by providing children, teachers and parents with the positive language needed for healthy social and emotional development.  She is the author of picture books, The Strongest Boy, and Rosie Leads the Way.