The Australia Council has approved $981,595 for 99 ArtStart grants for emerging artists in various arts forms to further their careers.

Of these, 28 were from music, covering rock, jazz, electronica, classical and opera.

They included Brisbane folktronic performer Ahliya Farebrother (aka Li Li Kite, pictured) to increase her skills, triple j 2012 Unearthed winner Yunyu Ong to work with visual creators to establish herself through Australasia and progress from her last album Spiked Soul and Ella Thompson of Melbourne’s The Bamboos to make demos and buy recording studio equipment.

Sydney jazz singer Suzanna Wellink will use her grant to collaborate with mentors in Australia and overseas, while Adelaide jazz singer Alana Dawes will use hers to build a studio and learn to become a record producer.

Others included Perth jazz bassist and songwriter Samuel Anning, UK-based Adelaide film and theatre composer Aaron Kenny, UK-based Melbourne violinist Brigitte Hart whose styles include pop and electronica, Melbourne jazz singer Andrew Gioia and Sydney composer and sound artist Colin Black.

Most of the grants were for $10,000 each. According to the Australia Council, it received 58 applications from musicians. Altogether, it received 363 applications in total for all the artforms including dance, theatre, visual arts and literature. Since 2009, ArtStart has provided 1,000 grants.