* CSU CUP small grants available for Wagga Wagga region arts and culture projects * Applications close Friday 24 August * Previous recipients include the Henry Lawson Festival of Arts in Grenfell, Mount Austin High School, Uranquinty Preschool, and the Wagga City Rugby Male Choir * The grants help the community to encourage participation in arts and cultureThe next round of 2018 Charles Sturt University (CSU) Community-University Partnership (CUP) grants for arts and cultural activities are available for applications.Individuals and community groups across the University’s regions covered by its campuses in Wagga Wagga, Bathurst, Albury-Wodonga, Dubbo, Orange, and Port Macquarie are invited to apply.Acting Head of Campus at CSU in Wagga Wagga Mr Adam Browne said, “The University provides up to $20,000 worth of CUP grants across its regional footprint, and I encourage individuals and groups with projects or initiatives that meet the criteria to apply.”Applications close on Friday 24 August, and the CUP grants application form is here:https://about.csu.edu.au/community/grants/arts-and-cultureThese previous recipients each received a $1,000 CSU CUP arts and culture grant for their projects:The Henry Lawson Festival of Arts in Grenfell (pictured left, in 2016) organises national competitions and exhibitions in the literary, visual and performing arts, and celebrates and promotes the winners. As in 2016, the CSU Cup grant was used to help stage and judge the 2017 Verse and Short Story Competition.Mount Austin High School in Wagga Wagga used their grant to help fund students to go to Sydney for rehearsals for State Dance and the Schools Spectacular. These students are selected from over 3,000 participants state-wide. They studied professional dance under the instruction of Bangarra Dance Company teachers, and the grant assisted the students with accommodation and food while in Sydney for rehearsals and performances.Uranquinty Preschool’s project aimed to explore the music of other cultures with three- to five- year-old children. This included the music and instruments used by the Wiradjuri people, and music from Asia and Africa. This was a social activity that unites children and gives them the opportunity to express feelings and ideas. The grant was used to invite musical artists to the preschool to engage the children in music and dance with instruments that included a didgeridoo, and African drums.  Instruments, CDs and cultural costumes were also purchased to support this project.The Wagga City Rugby Male Choir, in conjunction with the South Wagga Public School, is developing a concert band which will provide accompaniment for the Choir when it performs. The CSU CUP grant to the Wagga City Rugby Male Choir contributed to the availability of sound and amplification equipment to assist student band members to engage with learning and future musical education.