In India, creativity is a way of life, rooted in centuries of culture and tradition. It’s everywhere, both online and on-ground, in the work of digital creators, performance artists, and artisans. And yet, many of them still struggle to be seen, let alone supported.

The truth is, it takes more than talent to bring an idea to life. For many Indian creators, access to funding remains a major barrier. Traditional grants have long been competitive, complicated, and out of reach for those outside established circles. If you're self-taught or doing work outside the mainstream, the odds of receiving support are even slimmer.

That’s the problem the auster.fund is stepping in to solve. And we’re doing it with an approach that feels radical in its simplicity: trust the creators.

Launched in June 2025, the auster.fund is one of the first grassroots, creator-led funding initiatives in India. With ₹5,00,000 in grant money, mentorship sessions, and a public showcase, the fund is designed to help emerging artists take their work to the next stage.

Rather than replicate top-down models, auster.fund is built around three core principles: accessibility, inclusiveness, and creative freedom.

Accessibility: every creator deserves the resources to create

Access to resources is essential to creative work. You can have talent and vision, but without the means to bring it to life, even the most promising ideas are often put on hold to make way for the urgent demands of daily survival.

The fund removes the barriers that usually stand between creators and support: overwhelming requirements, multiple rounds of interviews, the need for personal connections to back you up.

More than that, we see funding as a way to redistribute resources in a system that has historically favored a select few. We want to shift power back to the creators, particularly those whose voices and stories have been historically left out of traditional art and funding spaces. It’s about restoring balance, expanding opportunity, and helping creators build work that would otherwise go unrealized.

Inclusiveness: creativity isn’t defined by credentials

The fund doesn’t require formal credentials. We believe that creative brilliance isn’t limited to a particular background, city, or school. In fact, it often comes from places institutions often ignore.

That’s reflected in the range of voices we saw in our first round of applicants, who came from all across the country. The top five cities represented were New Delhi (20.4%), Mumbai (16.4%), Bengaluru (7.9%), Kolkata (6.6%), and Chennai (3.9%).

In terms of discipline, submissions also reflected a wide range of creative practices, with many applicants working across multiple fields. The most represented areas were music (29.6%), art (24%), film (15.5%), publication (3.9%), and performing arts (3.6%).

What we saw in the submissions simply confirms that creative potential exists in every corner. It just needs the space to be recognized and supported.

Creative freedom: support without compromise

We only have one real requirement: a bold idea. To truly support what creators are capable of, we don’t set limits on genre or format. We asked for work that challenged form and convention, and that’s exactly what we received. Many of the proposals we received were multidisciplinary, with mediums ranging from zines and mixtapes to immersive installations and performances.

Video (45.1%) and audio (43.8%) emerged as the most explored formats, showing a strong interest in time-based and experiential forms of expression.

Creators need support now more than ever

Support is important in today’s creative landscape. While technology has opened up new opportunities, it’s also made things harder for creators.

AI has led to a 17% decrease in job postings for image creation and a 21% drop in writing and coding roles alone. And since many creators work as freelancers or on contract, which makes them harder to track, the real impact might be even greater.

With AI pumping out content by the second and algorithms only reinforcing widely favored aesthetics and formats, culture is becoming more and more homogenized. We’re drowning in content, but somehow, it all feels the same.

In this environment, authentic, independent voices are needed most. Creators who bring depth and perspective to the conversation. Creators who refuse to shrink bold ideas into safe, market-friendly versions of themselves.

With more than 300 people applying to our inaugural grant, it’s clear that so many creators are eager to have their ideas realized. And what’s even more telling were the themes that kept coming up across these projects: community, identity, and cultural preservation.

Storytelling was at the heart of many submissions, with 51.6% leaning into emotional narratives. Around 43% focused on community, showing how important connection and shared experiences are to today’s creators. And nearly 29% touched on cultural preservation, a reminder that many artists see their work as a way to keep history and heritage alive. Identity and self-discovery also emerged as key themes, present in 28.2% of the submissions.

These are universal threads that run across generations. Creators are looking to build something that lasts. This also came through in how applicants described their projects’ intended impact: 40.1% said it was to find community, 33.6% to resist the erasure of their voices, 20.4% to decolonize the archive, and 20.1% to preserve memory.

To recognize and support works like this, we grounded our selection criteria in the values that matter most.

Funding the work that matters

At the heart of the auster.fund is a belief that great work can come from anywhere. Our selection criteria is designed to identify projects that aren’t just impressive on paper, but clear in their intention and purpose.

We evaluated proposals based on how clearly they communicated not just what the project was, but why it mattered. We considered the project’s cultural or social relevance, especially when it amplified underrepresented voices or challenged dominant narratives. We also looked for submissions that were well-organized, thoughtfully presented, and feasible.

It’s about building a legacy

Funding is often the biggest hurdle standing between creators and the work they dream of making. But support shouldn’t stop there. That’s why the auster.fund offers not just financial backing but also guidance and, most importantly, a community where creators are supported for the long haul.

We couldn’t fund every project at this time, but that doesn’t mean they fell short. We’ll be showcasing them on our website to give them a bit more visibility and more opportunities. Moving forward, we’re exploring micro-grants, so we can support even more creators.

Creators want to be remembered for their work. They want to build something that carries forward their story. And how can that legacy take shape if creators aren’t given the chance to create in the first place?

We created the auster.fund to give creators that chance. To help them start, grow, and build something that matters not just to them, but to the communities and cultures they’re part of.

That’s the kind of legacy we believe in. And that’s the one we’re here to fund.

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