17 August 2026

Regional Arts NSW Media Release

Regional Arts NSW and The Windmill Trust are pleased to announce that the 2026 Windmill Trust Scholarship for regional NSW artists has been awarded to Charlotte Haywood.

Haywood is an independent interdisciplinary artist based on Bundjalung Country in Wilsons Creek, NSW. Her practice is research-led and explores the relationships between ecology and collective experience. This is expressed across contemporary art, textiles, installation, theatre, film, sound and participatory practice. Her work translates ecological systems into sensory and embodied experiences, sitting in a space between environmental research and contemporary art. Collaboration, experimentation and collective authorship are also integral to her practice as she explores ecological interdependence and the self-organising behaviours found in nature.

Credit: Anna Kucera

Haywood has been awarded the Windmill Trust Scholarship to support her project WAVING IN UNISON, which is a collaborative, interdisciplinary research project investigating the "theatre" of microbiology and the earthly systems it sustains. Haywood describes the project as, “...a modular, playable sculpture that is musical, exploratory and participatory. A site of gathering, performance and learning, honouring microbial life as the hidden architects of planetary balance. Animated by both artists, musicians and audiences in collaboration with microbiologists and communities. Part ecological aggregation, part choose your own adventure, part participatory flash mob/chorus of "glimmering microbial phosphorescent goop."

The Windmill Trust Scholarship will fund two artist residencies to support the development of the project. In January 2027, Haywood and her collaborators will complete the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity Residency, where they will conduct interdisciplinary research, creative exchange, ecological field investigation and artistic experimentation. This will be followed by another residency in regional NSW, which will consist of collaborative studio development, biomaterial and material prototyping, multisensory experimentation and the documentation and translation of the Banff residency research into the next phase of WAVING IN UNISON.

This will culminate in free community workshops where participants will co-create sculptural forms, soundscapes, costumes and installation elements. The final installation artwork will be exhibited in September 2027 at the Brunswick Picture House, Brunswick Heads, NSW.

Established by Primrose Moss in 1997 in memory of the artist Penny Meagher, the Windmill Trust Scholarship was born out of a desire to offer support to Australian visual artists living outside NSW metropolitan areas to advance their careers. It will greatly assist Haywood at this critical point in her career, allowing her to make the most of this international residency opportunity.

On receiving the scholarship she said, “The timing is incredible. It will reinvigorate my practice, as well as the network of artists and communities that I work with. It’ll help sustain my practise, but also I hope it will help me give back in service to this place and this community. My practise is at a stage where my projects are getting more ambitious and experimental and bigger in the amount of artists and communities I want to work with. By having the trust of the Windmill Trust Scholarship and Regional Arts New South Wales it will allow me to make these more multifaceted and experimental projects.”
Julia Harvey, Victoria Weekes from the Windmill Trust congratulate Charlotte Haywood on winning the 2026 Windmill Trust Scholarship. Julia said “We are excited by Charlotte’s approach to the project and the collaboration on many levels at both the residencies and the community workshops. It has also been another year of wonderful applications that demonstrate the strength of NSW regional artists, the quality of their work and the depth of talent that we have. Thank you to all of those artists.”

The judges described Haywood’s project as, “...a really compelling multi-disciplinary project with collaboration and community engagement at its core.”
They also noted, “In a strong field of applicants, we were unanimous in our support for Charlotte Haywood's application. She clearly articulated how the Windmill Trust Scholarship would leverage confirmed opportunities at a pivotal moment in her career. The scholarship will enable her to make the most of a significant international residency opportunity, while supporting the research and development of her experimental, interdisciplinary and collaborative practice.”

Read more: regionalartsnsw.com.au/news
Learn more about the work of Charlotte Haywood here: www.charlottehaywood.com.au