As if the arts sector isn’t having it tough enough, the Australia Council has announced a list of 95 organisations to receive four-year funding going forward, but significantly cutting grants to all companies by 70 per cent across the next 12 months. The reason for the scaling back is in order to extend grants by an extra year for 49 companies who were successful in the 2016 four-year plan allocations rather than defund them immediately (see end of article for a full list). Meanwhile, other companies, like WA’s Blue Room Theatre and Pinchgut Opera, have learned that their hopes of achieving ongoing funding have been unsuccessful.
While the current plan lessens the immediate pain for companies set to lose ongoing funding – including major players like Art Gallery of South Australia, Australian Theatre for Young People, Barking Gecko Theatre Company, Ensemble Offspring, La Mama Theatre, Shaun Parker & Company, Sydney Writers Festival and The Song Company – it presents significant challenges for the entire arts community over the months ahead.
Australia Council CEO Adrian Collette said the new measures, delivered within the Council’s existing budget, were essential during this “critical period” when the cultural and creative sectors are experiencing “immediate and enormous challenges” as a result of the impact of COVID-19.
“When we embarked on this Four Year Funding process, it was a very different landscape for the sector, and indeed the world,” he said. “In the light of COVID-19, it has been essential to revise this round of Four Year Funding to provide support for the greatest possible number of small to medium arts organisations.”
Many, however, have reacted to the announcement with shock, sadness and a sense of alarm for the future. “The overall results of the four-year funding round announced today represent the savaging of the small to medium arts sector in Australia,” said Blue Room Theatre Chair Shane Colquhoun, who sees this as par for the course for a federal government which has shown precious little interest in the Australia Council since it came to power in 2013. “This is a senseless hobbling of a productive and vital industry. It is a signal to artists and arts workers that their work is not valued in Australian society. At this challenging time, where people are turning to the arts for comfort, joy, inspiration, solace and connection, the lack of support for the live arts sector seems even more short sighted.”
Liz Jones, artistic director and chief executive of Carlton’s well-respected, 50-year-old La Mama Theatre, agrees. “I’m completely blown away,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald on learning of the loss of all ongoing funding. “In the face of all that we’ve been through and achieved it is really devastating and totally unexpected; quite unbelievable. I don’t think we know what it means for us, but it’s at least 50 percent of the money that keeps us going day to day.”
While overall program funding has increased to $31.7 million per annum compared with around $28 million per annum invested between 2017 and 2020, Collette admits the situation is far from ideal. “This is to enable as many as possible small to medium arts organisations to continue to operate, and to strengthen the long term sustainability of the arts sector and the many thousands of Australians it supports,” he said. “This is not business as usual for anyone, and arts organisations also will need to adapt in order to weather these unprecedented times.”
Mary Jo Capps, Chair of the Australian Major Performing Arts Group (AMPAG) noted that although supporting more organisations at lower funding levels in 2021 offered “a kind of life-support to get through these difficult times,” she was clear that this was only appropriate as an interim strategy. “Greater investment is needed as we emerge from the COVID-19 crisis to ensure the sector can confidently play its vital role in engaging and supporting the Australian community as we rebuild,” she said.
National Association for the Visual Arts executive director Esther Anatolitis was less optimistic, expressing deep concern that newly funded organisations will have their first year’s funding reduced by 30 percent. “Rather than receiving extra support at this perilous time, they’re starting out with a cut,” she said. “Looking back just a few years, the last time the Australia Council was forced to redirect its own funds in conflict with its strategic plan was the deeply damaging Brandis cuts of 2015. The Six Year Organisations program – to which hundreds of us devoted thousands of hours in applying – was cancelled and became Four Year Organisations, while a range of specialist programs in young and emerging arts, experimental arts and community-engaged practice had to go. Those programs never returned. We cannot allow this to happen again.”
While companies have continued to lobby the federal government for greater intervention and stimulus support for a devastated arts sector, many feel that to date the response has been lukewarm at best. “What we’re seeing here are the consequences of last year’s government restructure that rendered the arts invisible in the name of its new portfolio,” said Anatolitis. “Despite the Minister’s media release last night stating that the recently announced stimulus measures will ‘keep the spotlights shining in the arts sector,’ the industry has been clear and united in advising government that this is not the case. Industry-specific stimulus measures are urgently needed to protect livelihoods and prevent collapse.”
With concert halls and theatres currently closed, and with no clear suggestion of when things might return to some semblance of normality, many now believe that the immediate future will see many arts companies closing forever with the knock-on effect of the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs in the sector.
Collette, meanwhile, acknowledged the government support available to arts organisations under the recently announced JobKeeper payment. “I encourage all eligible companies in the arts and creative sector to register their interest on the Australian Taxation Office website,” he said.
SUCCESSFUL ORGANISATIONS RECEIVING FOUR YEAR FUNDING IN 2021-2024 (95)
ActNow Theatre for Social Change
Ananguku Arts & Cultural Aboriginal Corporation
Arnhem, Northern and Kimberley Artists Aboriginal Corporation (ANKA)
Artback NT Inc
Arts Access Society Inc
Arts House (City of Melbourne)
Artspace Visual Arts Centre Ltd
Asian Australian Artists Association Inc.
Australasian Performing Right Association Ltd (APRA)
Australian Art Orchestra Ltd
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art
Australian Children’s Performing Arts Company t/a Windmill
Australian Dance Theatre Australian Music Centre Ltd
Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT)
Australian Publishers Association Ltd
Australian String Quartet Inc
Back to Back Theatre Inc
Barkly Regional Arts Inc
Biennale of Sydney Limited
BlakDance Australia Ltd
Brisbane Community Arts Centre Ltd
Broome Aboriginal Media Association Aboriginal Corporation
Cairns Indigenous Art Fair Limited
Canberra International Music Festival Ltd
Carriageworks
Chunky Move Ltd
Community Arts Network Western Australia Ltd
Contemporary Art Tasmania
Contemporary Asian Australian Performance Incorporated
Contemporary SA Incorporated trading as ACE Open
Corrugated Iron Youth Arts Inc
Craft ACT:Craft and Design Centre Inc
Crossroad Arts Inc Curious Works
DADAA Ltd
Dance North (trading under North Queensland Ballet and Dance Company Limited)
Dancehouse Incorporated
Darwin Community Arts Incorporated
Desart Inc
Design Tasmania Limited
Diversity Arts Australia (DARTS)
Eleanor Dark Foundation Ltd
Emerging Writers’ Festival Inc
First Nations Australia Writers Network
Firstdraft Incorporated
Footscray Community Arts Centre Ltd
Force Majeure
Gertrude Contemporary
Giramondo Publishing Company Pty Ltd
Griffin Theatre
Griffith Review
Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Theatre Co-op
In The Pipeline (Arts) Ltd t/a New Musicals Australia & Hayes Theatre Co
Insite Arts International Pty Ltd
ITF the Trustee for Insite Arts International Unit Trust
Institute of Modern Art Limited
JamFactory Contemporary Craft & Design Inc
KickArts Contemporary Arts Limited
Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre Aboriginal Corporation – KALACC
Koorie Heritage Trust Inc
La Boite Theatre Ltd
Lucy Guerin Association Inc
Magabala Books Aboriginal Corporation
Marrugeku Inc
Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio LTD
Melbourne Jazz Limited
Moogahlin Performing Arts Inc
Multicultural Arts Victoria Inc
MusicNT Inc
Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council
Northern Rivers Performing Arts Inc
NT Writers Centre Inc
Outer Urban Projects Ltd
Patch Theatre Company Inc
Performing Lines Limited
Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts Ltd
Powerhouse Youth Theatre Inc (t/a PYT | Fairfield)
PVI Collective Ltd
Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation
Queensland Music Network Incorporated
Sharing Stories Foundation
Skinnyfish Music
Speak Percussion
Terrapin Puppet Theatre Ltd
The Performance Space Ltd
The Red Room Company Ltd
The Substation Inc
The Unconformity
Theatre Network Australia
Tura New Music Ltd
University of Queensland Press
Warburton Youth Arts Centre
Watch This Space Inc
Western Edge Youth Arts Inc
Yirra Yaakin Aboriginal Corporation
FOUR YEAR FUNDED ORGANISATIONS 2017-2020 RECEIVING TRANSITION FUNDING IN 2021 (49)
Art Gallery of South Australia
Art Monthly Australia
Artlink Australia
Arts Access Australia Limited
Australian Book Review Inc
Australian Script Centre
Australian Theatre for Young People
Barking Gecko Theatre Company Ltd
Beyond Empathy Ltd
Board of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
Branch Nebula Incorporated
Brisbane Writers Festival Association Inc. t/a UPLIT
Brown’s Mart Arts Limited
Campbelltown Arts Centre (t/u Campbelltown City Council)
Canberra Glassworks Limited
Country Arts SA (South Australian Country Arts Trust)
Crafts Council of Victoria Ltd
Creative Recovery Network Inc
Cultural Development Network Limited
Electronic Music Conference
Ensemble Offspring
Expressions The Queensland Dance Theatre Ltd
Eyeline Publishing Ltd
Feral Arts Corp Ltd
HotHouse Theatre Limited
Information and Cultural Exchange Inc (ICE)
Kickstart Arts Inc
La Mama Inc (VIC)
Liquid Architecture Sound Inc
Museum of Contemporary Art Limited
O L Society Limited
Performing Arts Centre Society Inc
PlayWriting Australia
Polyglot Puppet Theatre Ltd
Queensland Art Gallery
Restless Dance Theatre Inc
Salamanca Arts Centre Inc
Shaun Parker & Company Ltd
Shopfront Theatre for Young People Co-operative Ltd
Somebody’s Daughter Theatre Company Inc
St Martins Youth Arts Centre
Sydney Writers Festival Ltd
Tasdance Ltd
The Song Company Pty Ltd
Tracks Inc
Umi Arts Ltd
University of Western Sydney (Writing and Society Research Centre)
Urban Theatre Projects Ltd
West Space Incorporated
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