Back a project
Back a project the studio is building
We turn science, real and imagined, into work people meet in the open: records, films, books and programs. Every project is scoped and costed before it reaches you. Led by an evolutionary ecologist (PhD, ANU), AAAS Dance Your PhD Overall Winner 2024. We carry the grant application.
You fund work that would not otherwise exist. We make it and own it, and you get the credit, the reach and the acquittal reporting.
For grant officers, foundations, corporate partnership and CSR leads, co-producers, broadcasters, publishers and philanthropists. If your remit is public engagement with science, cultural participation, STEAM education, or diversity and inclusion, these projects deliver participatory work with measurable engagement and acquittal reporting.
What we make
Two ways we build a project. Every project is one of them.
Studio
We turn science, real and imagined, into music people choose to play. Out of it: an album, a single, a music video, a live show. Research normally waits for people to opt in. A song does not.
Field
We go where a species lives, and record it there. Out of it: a song, a film, a performance, a schools program. A species in a pop song is a species people carry with them.
Each project names its own community and its own partner. Young people, multicultural Australia, a school, a university, a gallery. The way we work holds. The people change.
Most people meet the kangaroo as a postcard, a road sign, a souvenir, a selfie in the park. Kangaroo Time put the behavioural ecology back into that picture, through music, dance and a room of Canberra collaborators. It drew more than 238 features across five continents, and it is still the clearest picture of what the studio does.
Projects in build stay confidential. The full brief, with the numbers, the team and the timeline, comes on request.
What you get when you ask. A one-page brief, a few minutes to read, built to put in front of a panel: the project in one line, what gets made in numbers, who it reaches with the evidence, why now, how it fits your priorities and past grants, the team, the budget with the artist fee named, the ask, what you get back, the timeline, and one contact.
Creative Research Engagement Partner
A 6 to 12 month retainer where the studio is embedded across an organisation's conferences, public engagement, research translation and staff development. One creative translator on the inside, shaping how your ideas meet people all year. Suits universities, research institutes and cultural organisations with a pipeline of moments across the year.
Book or commission us
Tell us what you want to book or commission and the result you need, and we send a proposal built around it, within two working days. To book WELI in person for a talk, workshop or school visit, you can also enquire on drweli.com. Smaller budgets are welcome, we scale to schools, community and not-for-profits.
Want to work with us?
The studio hires artists, scientists and scientist-artists project by project. That is a different door: join the collaborator register.
Partner
Programmes, films and music are made with partners, project by project, under contract. Our partners include institutions, funders, broadcasters, publishers, universities, schools and brands. Five ways to partner with us:
Grant funders and philanthropic partners
Arts and science funders across federal, state, philanthropic and international bodies. We carry the application.
Broadcasters and publishers
Children's animation commissions, music documentary, science-led series and illustrated book lists.
Sync and brand licensing
Music for sync placement in television, film, documentary, advertising and brand work, plus library and custom commissions.
Universities and research institutions
ARC Linkage and Discovery impact-pathway partnerships, HDR co-supervision and research-engagement collaborations.
Schools and programme partners
School visits, assemblies and classroom STEAM formats, with ongoing programme partnerships through Kangaroo Time Kids.
Contact
Tell us about the project and what you need. We will read it and reply.