The National Association for the Visual Arts is among the 62 Australian arts organizations that have lost core funding, as a consequence of funding cuts to the arts that have been described as “the worst in a generation.”The Australian government body for arts funding, Australia Council, has announced the recipients of its four-year funding program. While 128 groups have been successful, 65 previously funded organizations have lost funding, among them the Centre for Contemporary Photography, the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association, and the Biennale of Sydney.While it will take some time to grasp the consequences of the cuts in the Australian arts ecology, it is likely to cause disruption across art forms that depend on public funding. Worth between AU$70,000 and $300,000 per annum, and covering core operational costs, these grants are of particular importance to medium-sized organizations, which provide a link between independent artists and large institutions, serving as incubators and developers.Among the organizations is the National Association for the Visual Arts, the peak advocacy body for visual artists, as well as Regional Arts Australia, Adelaide and Sydney Biennales, Experimenta Media Arts, and Next Wave, the most prominent incubator festival for emerging and experimental artists across all art forms.Craft and design groups have taken a particularly serious hit, with funding withdrawn for the Australian Design Centre, the country’s flagship organization, as well as Craft Queensland and Western Australia’s Form.In visual arts, organizations that have lost funding include Melbourne’s Centre for Contemporary Photography, the Australian Experimental Art Foundation, Mosman Art Gallery, Contemporary Art Centre South Australia, and Canberra Contemporary Art Space, as well as the publication Art Monthly Australia.In the performing arts, a number of prominent independent artists and companies have lost core funding, including internationally renowned choreographer Phillip Adams’s Ballet Lab, youth theatre company Arena Theatre, the Aboriginal organization Black Arm Band, KAGE Physical Theatre, and Sydney's PACT Centre for Contemporary Artists, whose alumni include director Peter Weir (The Truman Show), playwright Lally Katz, and comedian Zoe Coombs-Marr. Ausdance, the peak advocacy body for Australian dance, has also missed out.Some of the organizations have played a historical importance in the development of arts in Australia: PACT has operated without interruption for 52 years, Arena Theatre for 50, and Meanjin literary magazine for 76.“These cuts have an impact just as dramatic and negative as the arts industry has feared and will cause irreparable damage across the sector,” said the Council of Australian State Theatre in a joint announcement, in which it calls on the Australian federal government to review its budget cuts to the Australia Council. “Funding cuts at any level of the arts sector have a dramatic flow on effect throughout the industry – from independent artists to the major performing arts companies.”The chief executive officer of Australia Council, Tony Grybowski, has spoken to the press to defend the funding decisions.“Of course there comes uncertainty and a bit of disturbance,” he said, arguing that the transformation of the funding will enable innovation. “We acknowledge that the change will be challenging. I agree it is a time of change, but it’s not a dark time…”While the arts industry in Australia is in upheaval, this disruption has been awaited since 2015, when the then Minister for the Arts, George Brandis, took away AU$60 million from the Australia Council budget to establish a parallel arts funding body. Political changes have restored some of the losses, and the total of $48 million of arts funding has been allocated to the newly established Catalyst program, under the direct control of the Ministry of the Arts.However, since its establishment, Catalyst has remained a controversial program, marred by accusations of opaque and political decision-making. Though its budget is $12 million a year, more than $23 million has been spent in the first six months of the program, and some commentators have suggested that funding decisions are more related to the approaching federal election than to artistic excellence.
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