
Intermission: support for a struggling performing arts community
In July 2021, an announcement was made the Victoria was to enter a ‘snap five-day lockdown’ to stop the spread of COVID 19 - after residents had already endured 173 days of lockdown in the previous 16 months. For those in the Victorian performing arts community, this was especially hard news to digest. Being one of the first industries to be shut down in March 2020, and destined to be one of the last to recover, many arts and entertainment workers were facing extreme financia

Grants approved in October & November 2022
List of grants approved during October and November 2022.

Freemasons Foundation Victoria grants $600,000 to Victorian community groups
With Victoria’s not-for-profits and local charities more active than ever, Freemasons Foundation Victoria (FFV) has awarded $617,089 in gran


When the going gets tough in Rutherglen, the community gets going!
That’s exactly what happened following flooding in January 2022. Torrential rain fell across the region, with around 100 houses affected, ranging from minor damage through to flooding that rendered the buildings uninhabitable. Secretary of Rutherglen Lodge, Bill Black, said the damage became very apparent in the days that followed the rain. “We started to see carpet, furniture and electrical goods out on the front lawn, ruined and no longer usable. Yard fences were pushed ove


Empowering refugee children through education and community
Children from refugee and migrant backgrounds encounter unique and complex barriers upon resettlement in Australia and it’s challenging for them, and their parents and guardians, to engage with their new school community. The risk of disengagement is real, which is why Alice Wojcik and Bobby Allen founded the Refugee Migrant Children Centre (RMCC). RMCC received a $15,000 grant from FFV for its Side by Side program at Glengala Primary School. Here, 72 % of students are from n