Arts West Letter to The Hon Paul Fletcher calling for an increase to Australia Council Funding.
/The Hon Paul Fletcher MP
Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts.
Member for Bradfield, New South Wales
Paul.Fletcher.MP@aph.gov.au
10th October 2019
RE: Minimum $7million p/a increase required for Australia Council’s Four Year Funding program.
Dear Mr Fletcher,
I am writing to you today on behalf of Arts West, an Alliance of seven Arts organisations: 100 Story Building, cohealth Arts Generator, Footscray Community Arts Centre, Snuff Puppets, The SUBSTATION, Western Edge Youth Arts and Women’s Circus and a growing community of Creative Members made up of independent Artists, small companies and ensembles living and creating work in Melbourne’s Western suburbs.
Our organisations and artists work to create opportunities for communities to engage with Australia’s vibrant arts and culture; to create opportunities for artists to develop and present new work; to reduce harm on vulnerable people; to alleviate the pressures on youth services by engaging young people; and create social and cultural cohesion through bringing people together to celebrate both diversity and difference and contribute to the development of a contemporary Australian narrative.
Arts organisations across Australian have felt the impact of significantly reduced funding since 2015, when the Australia Council’s budget was reduced by then Arts Minister Brandis’ decision to reallocate $105 million from the Australia Council for the Ministry’s own use through Catalyst. Despite the sector’s success in returning some of the Catalyst Program funding to the Australia Council for the Arts - a campaign that we all contributed to through the 2014/2015 Arts Funding Senate Inquiry - successive cuts have meant that the Australia Council for the Arts remains unable to adequately support the sector with these cuts having a disproportionate impact on Arts organisations in the West.
124 organisations are currently funded through the Australia Council’s inaugural 2017-2020 Four Year Funding program. Theatre Network Australia has recently modelled that at least “$7million p/a additional funding is needed for the same number of organisations to be funded (124) in the next four year cycle” in order to secure the future of Australia’s vibrant and internationally important Arts sector. A greater investment is required if we are to achieve sector growth and make the entry of new organisations possible.
We urge you to increase Australia Council funding to secure the creative future of this country and commit to investing a minimum $7 million p/a of new funding to the Australia Council. This increase would enable greater representation from a diversity of artists, companies and artforms around Australia, and support arts organisations to build a sustainable financial model for growth over multiple years.
Yours faithfully
Art West