Carriageworks' Solid Ground initiative is celebrating 10 years of providing education and employment pathways in the arts for First Nations youth.

Building on this legacy, from 2025 onwards Solid Ground will be expanding its career pathways initiative for young people interested in exploring careers in the creative sector, via paid internships, training and work placements.

Since its launch in 2015, more than 1,034 school students have participated in the Solid Ground program, under the mentorship of 41 artists-in-residence including the likes of Dennis Golding, Thelma Plum, Sani Townson, Emma Donovan, Dobby, Shannon 'Monks' Smith, Bjorn Stewart and Kodie Bedford.

The program has placed 52 interns, both at Carriageworks and at arts organisations such as NIDA, and has supported and funded 146 students to engage in tertiary education opportunities at leading institutions including the National Art School, AFTRs and NIDA.

Solid Ground enables students to connect with culture and discover their own creative practice under the mentorship of First Nations practicing artists and cultural leaders.

Through year-long artist residencies, the program provides training and career development pathways for primary and high school students at schools across Western Sydney and Inner Sydney. Sessions are held every week, in which students collaboratively create new artworks within the resident artist's discipline.

Each year, Solid Ground students showcase their creativity in an exhibition at Carriageworks, with the upcoming exhibition taking place during NAIDOC Week. In 2025, the program has welcomed leading artists, including rapper and host of triple j's Blak Out Nooky, weaver and visual artist Peta-Joy Williams and singer songwriter Akala Newman to mentor First Nations students from Alexandria Park Community School, Erskine Park High School and Chifley College Dunheved.

Through the exhibition, students share what they have learned in the program, their connection to culture, and their artistic expression across diverse mediums.

The Solid Ground program has had a profound impact on students, with teachers reporting increased school attendance and motivation. The program's artists-in-residence serve as powerful role models, showing First Nations young people that creativity, talent, and passion can lead to professional success.

Beyond artistic inspiration, Solid Ground also provides a vital space for students to feel supported in connecting with their cultural identities, reinforcing a sense of belonging and confidence.

Former student of Solid Ground, Jade Walker said that the program greatly assisted her in connecting to her cultural background and community ties.

"When I started the program back in year eight, I didn't have a very big cultural connection. The program meant a lot in being able to connect to such an important part of my background and be able to teach that to my Pop, because he wasn't allowed them experiences when he was a young kid," she said.

In addition to its ongoing in-school program, this year Solid Ground will be expanding its career pathways initiative to include arts administration roles, broadening opportunities for First Nations young people pursuing careers in the creative industries.

Producer at Solid Ground, Felix May said that Solid Ground aims to provide a culturally safe space for mob, run by mob.

"Solid Ground works because it's run by mob, for mob. We provide a culturally safe space, but it's so much more than just the arts, and the events that we do, and the excursions and all of those things. It would be deadly to see this program continue because I know if I had something like this in school, I would have stayed in school."

Carriageworks chief executive Fergus Linehan said Solid Ground has had a profound impact and that Carriageworks is proud to support them, creating lasting change.

"Solid Ground has had a profound impact in its first 10 years - creating pathways into the arts that simply didn't exist before. It's a crucial program that empowers First Nations youth, and we're proud to support them in creating real, lasting change - both for individuals and for the arts sector as a whole."

The Solid Ground program is partly funded by the Australian Government through the National Indigenous Australians Agency, and supported by private philanthropy and community donations.

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