News & MediaThe Federal Budget was released this week. With regards to how the performing arts fared, there are some slight wins, some promises for the future, and some disappointments. In light of the economic situation, none of this is surprising.
TNA is hopeful that the National Cultural Policy launch in December will bring with it some additional investment. Our summary of the budget story for the arts is ‘watch this space, there’s more to come’.
Below are some of the budget analyses/responses we have seen, which might be useful to get an overall picture of where we sit.
SUMMARY OF BUDGET ANALYSES AND RESPONSES
The Office For the Arts released its own communique with a summary of arts support. It includes the transfer of CPA to the Australia Council:
“Creative Partnerships Australia funding of $15.2 million over three years from 2023-32 and $5.2 million ongoing and indexed from 2026-27 will be transferred to the Australia Council. This will ensure the Australia Council has the expertise to grow a culture of giving to the arts.”
The National Performing Arts Training organisations have also been given a small boost, with $2.4 million over four years from 2022-23 “to offset the impact of the Efficiency Dividend.” (These training organisations are NIDA, NICA, ANAM, AFTRS, Fruit Fly Circus, NAISDA, AYO and the Aust Ballet school).
There is also $10.5 million for a new Youth Engagement Model, which includes a Commonwealth Office for Youth, ongoing funding the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition, youth advisory groups and a Youth Engagement Strategy. This is not arts specific, but could be a great cross portfolio opportunity.
Limelight Magazine has a more comprehensive analysis by Steve Dow with details of Australia Council’s forward estimates. It quotes Ben Eltham saying the Australia Council is ““bumping along and getting a little bit of indexation”, rising from $221 million in 2022-23 to $247 million in the 2025-26 forward estimates.” However TNA assumes this includes the Creative Partnerships Australia funding of around $5mil p/a.
It also mentions the Live Performance Support fund: “The government has stumped up $22 million in 2022-23 to establish a Live Performance Support Fund”. This fund continues until Feb 2023, but was criticised as being irrelevant when announced, as isolation rules were scrapped days afterwards. Guidelines are still to be announced so changes may have been made.
The Guardian’s general piece by Caitlin Cassidy on the budget includes an analysis that the arts has been cut in real terms:
“Expenses under the arts and cultural heritage sub-function are estimated to decrease by 20.6% in real terms from 2022-23 to 2025-26. The government said its “commitment to deliver a national cultural policy is currently under development”.”
The Guardian’s more detailed analysis on the arts by Anne Davies supports the idea that more money is coming, with the launch of the cultural policy: “In the arts portfolio, most of the announcements were for the current financial year, suggesting that a more comprehensive arts budget will be forthcoming.”
The Sydney Morning Herald’s piece by Linda Morris also notes future funding for the policy: “Future funding decisions for the sector would be set out in the new National Cultural Policy, Burke said.”
The Conversation includes a piece by Jo Caust with a big section on the history and role of Creative Partnerships Australia. It notes that “It remains to be seen how these functions will be folded into the Australia Council.”
It finishes with a statement that sums up most of the sentiment out there: “The Labor government has a lot to do to restore confidence in the arts sector and help the sector recover from several terrible years. There is an urgency to this, but this urgency is nowhere to be seen in this budget.”