Another budget, another controversy over arts funding.
More cuts to the already-controversial Catalyst arts funding program has led to some of the biggest names in Australian arts questioning if the government has an interest in arts at all.
The big joke is that the federal government can, and will, sit pretty in the knowledge they’ve doled out $24 million in arts funding in just over a week, building a solid arts platform to run into their election campaign.
But, with so many other public programs being cut from other departments, where did that money come from?
Well, the ugly truth is that $24 million is half of the funding outlined in the government’s four-year funding plan. So, two years worth of funding blown in less than a month.
Evelyn Richardson, CEO of Live Performance Australia (LPA) – the country’s peak live performance body – blasted the government for basically making no clear statement on how the arts sector would be funded nationally beyond announcements for the usual suspects of election-time funding, such as Ballet Australia and the National Library.
“Almost $24 million in funding grants has now been published on the Ministry for the Arts website, but the way in which the Government has handled the funding announcement does nothing to build confidence in its approach to arts funding,” Ms Richardson said.
“The Minister has missed an important opportunity to provide some clarity and certainty around his approach to arts funding given the concerns that have previously been raised about the Catalyst program.
“Our industry can deliver the jobs, growth and innovation that is important to Australia’s economic prosperity - but for all the talk of plans the Coalition doesn’t appear to have one for the live performance industry.”
Whilst the government has, ostensibly, pledged funding to nationally-regarded programs – posted with little to no fanfare on the department’s website, the naitonal arts community in general have reeled from the huge blow of losing two years of funding so suddenly.
The Australia Insitute and Sounds Australia, the country’s biggest exporter and proponent of Australian artists have to now deal with the fact funding they were basically promised has been pulled out from under them.
The sad thing is, the arts community as a whole has become used to dealing with further and further cuts every budget, as the once heavily-supported sector continues to be the kitty for other policies.
All this, on top of yet another round of ephemeral pledges to support community radio and television.
With so many worthwhile arts programs on thin ice already, a stronger statement is needed from someone this election.
Currently, there are a number of campaigns doing the rounds to make a statement about the state of arts funding. Commit to Community Radio have begun campaigning in tow of the election, and there is a Change.org petition to save Sounds Australia’s funding.
