ArtsPeak – the confederation of national peak arts organisations – calls for a Senate Inquiry into the recent federal Budget announcement that $104.8m over 4 years will be stripped from the appropriation of the Australia Council for the Arts to establish a National Programme for Excellence in the Arts (NPEA) under the control of the Arts Minister. Dowload the ArtsPeak Media Release.

TNV’s Statement
Theatre Network (Vic) and its members across Australia urge the government to rescind the shift of $104million from the Australia Council for the Arts to a new National Programme for Excellence in the Arts

We are deeply concerned that the shift will fundamentally damage the complex ecology of the arts industry.

In particular we believe that the changes will mean less funding will be available for small to medium organisations and individual artists. We truly believe that the outstanding achievements by Australian artists and organisations – whether in film, writing, performing arts or visual arts – have only been possible because Australia has been so successful at recognising that development, experimentation, and nurturing of talent is fundamental to achieving excellence. All industries rely on a sophisticated ecology: small, risk-hungry R&D groups; organisations with deep community engagement; stable large-scale enterprises; and Avant-garde individuals operating solo. The arts is no exception. Without the finely balanced mix of supported individual artists and organisations at all levels, there is a real risk that the whole ecology will be damaged.