Follow Your Heart Grants

For passionate, hardworking young people up against a hard road. We help them keep doing what they love most.

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Meet Paige

The Latest Grant Recipient

Paige is a young dancer with a thread running through her story we could never have scripted.

She trains at ED5 International, the same school where Nicole once danced. She started out at JL Dance on the South Coast, run by Jodi-Lee, who grew up dancing alongside Nicole and has given awards in her honour for thirteen years, and now in Julie's too.

Earlier this year, while her dad Richard was fighting stage 4 brain cancer and her Julie Tracy cared for him full time, the Foundation approved a Follow Your Heart Grant for Paige, so her dream would not be one more thing the family had to let go of.

In March, Paige stood on the stage at Because of Julie, our memorial concert for Julie, and danced. A JL Dance girl, training at Nicole's old school, performing in Julie's memory, with a grant in her name. Julie would have loved every second of it.

Tragically, Paige recently lost her dad. Our hearts are with her family. But Paige is still dancing, and because of what Julie and Nicole built, she gets to keep going. That is the whole point. A mother's love, still reaching other families."

Why we do this

Nicole lived for two things: the stage and the field. A gifted ballerina and a sport-mad, full-of-life young woman, she chased what she loved with everything she had. She was 24 when we lost her in 2012.

In the days after, our family home filled with flowers from people whose hearts were broken alongside ours. It was that sea of flowers that sparked an idea. What if all that love could be poured into something lasting? Something that truly honoured Nicole?

That was the seed. The Follow Your Heart Grants exist to keep Nicole's spirit alive, by helping young performers and athletes chase the dreams she never got to finish, and reminding them that someone believes in them.

Why we do this

Behind every single one of these grants was our Mum, Julie.

She always said she was just honouring her daughter's legacy. The truth is she was quietly building one of her own. Julie was the driving force. The one who read every application, remembered every name, and went the extra mile every time. She flew interstate to watch recipients perform. She celebrated their wins as if they were her own. She funded ballet classes at an orphanage in Kenya and posted dance clothes across the world. To Julie, a grant was never a cheque. It was a relationship.

Just how far she would go is held in a single email, written in the last days of her life. While she was in the US visiting me, Julie messaged one of our grant families. Not about paperwork, but to make sure she would be home in time to watch their daughter Carelle dance at her mid-year concert. "I would love to attend Carelle's concert," she wrote, "we arrive home 11th June." That was Julie, right to the very end.

We lost Julie far too soon as well. So we now give these grants in honour of them both. It is bittersweet, and it is also exactly what they would have wanted: their love poured straight back into young people brave enough to follow their hearts.

In Julie's own words: Always give your best. Don't give up. Do it with passion. She lived every one of those words, and we love helping others continue to do the same in honour of Julie and Nicole.

Who it's for and how it works

The Follow Your Heart Grants support young Australians aged 8 to 24 with a talent in the arts or sport, who face financial hardship, misfortune, disability or illness, and who are determined to follow their dreams.

Grants of up to $1,500 for ages 8 to 15, and up to $3,000 for ages 16 to 24.

Up to six grants awarded each year.

Grants are paid directly to providers, such as a dance school, coach or supplier, or reimbursed on receipts. Recipients do not receive cash.

Funds can go towards tuition, coaching, training, equipment, uniforms or travel.

Who it's for and how it works

In thirteen years, more than $300,000 in grants has reached young Australians across the country. Here are just a few of them.

  • Jack Howell was born with a limb difference, a congenital amputation of his left hand. It never slowed him down. By 20, after six years in the sport, he was the youngest para triathlete in the world field by six years, with one dream in his sights: the Paralympics. Para sport covered only about a quarter of his costs, so in 2024 a Follow Your Heart Grant helped get him there, and Jack went on to represent Australia at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

  • DescriptiIsla and William are young siblings who, within the space of two years, lost both of their parents. More loss than any child should ever have to carry. Through the Foundation, they found their way back to joy: William on the rugby field and the jiu-jitsu mat, and Isla shining in her jazz dancing. More than covering the fees, the grant gave them back something that had gone missing, the chance to stay active, make friends, find mentors, and simply be kids again. Mum looked after their grant herself, the way she did for so many.on text goes here

  • DescriptiWhen we met Jonathan in 2013, he was a legally blind, hearing-impaired triathlete with a dream too big for his budget: the Paralympics. What he needed was a specialist tandem bike, and it was far beyond his reach. So the Foundation stepped in. When that bike arrived from America, everything changed. Jonathan was selected into the national high-performance squad and chased his dream on one of the best tandems in the world. In his words, it was 'a complete game changer.on text goes here

  • Item descMariah was seven when she lost her Julie. Life got very hard, but she had already found dance, and her family was determined to keep her there. That is when they found us, and spoke to Julie. From that first phone call, Julie saw exactly what Mariah needed. Over the next seven years the Foundation supported her through hardship and illness, and Julie did what Julie always did. She flew to Melbourne to watch her perform, called to check in, celebrated when Mariah went en pointe for the first time, and gifted her a ballerina statue after a family loss. Today Mariah shines on every stage she graces. 'If it weren't for the Foundation,' she says, 'I wouldn't get to have that moment.ription

  • Carelle has been dancing since she was five, across ballet, tap, jazz and more. When hard times and visa troubles meant her family did not qualify for support, dance was the first thing at risk. A 2024 grant covered her fees so she could keep going. Julie had planned to be at Carelle's next concert when she returned from the US. That was Julie. Every recipient was personal.

  • When the 2022 Lismore floods took Amana's family home, dance was the one thing keeping the twelve-year-old's spirits up. A grant paid her dance and exam fees so she would not have to give it up. Over the years we have stepped in for families hit by floods, fires and drought, because a child's dream should not be the first casualty of a disaster.