ArtsPeak calls on Govt to protect arts funding

MEDIA RELEASE COURTESY OF: ArtsPeak

ArtsPeak, the confederation of Australian national peak arts organisations, is calling on the Government to honour Julia Gillard’s pledge of 18 July 2010 to reduce the efficiency dividend from 1.25% to 1%.

ArtsPeak voices its dismay that within two weeks of Julia Gillard’s announcement, the three finance Ministers have reversed the decision in their statement of 31 July 2010, and will now maintain the efficiency dividend at the rate of 1.25% in 2011-2012. This is a major blow to the Australia Council, an organisation that distributes funding to an already fragile arts sector.

ArtsPeak says that the efficiency dividend is already severely affecting the Australia Council’s ability to deliver programs to small to medium sized arts companies and individual artists. ArtsPeak says that the finance ministers’ statement that ‘efficiencies gains will be realised without resorting to job cuts’ just does not stand up in the arts sector, and calls on the Government to exempt the Australia Council from the efficiency dividend altogether.

It is estimated that an efficiency dividend of 1.25% imposed on the Australia Council, added to a rate of inflation of around 2.5%, will amount to a real cut of 3.75% per annum. This cut is equivalent to a twenty per cent reduction in funding over five years, resulting in a disastrous loss of income to artists. While the efficiency dividend affects all government agencies, the Australia Council’s funding programs are particularly vulnerable.

ArtsPeak understands that the Australia Council does not have the capacity to further absorb the cost of the efficiency dividend without severe impact on the art form boards that provide funding to artists and their support organisations.

“Any cuts to arts funding will have a ripple effect on Australia’s capacity for innovation and creativity. Artists are key contributors to productivity, social cohesion and the economy. We have come to the point where the policy of imposing an efficiency dividend on the Australia Council is going to damage our industry,” said Tamara Winikoff, Executive Director of the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) and co-convenor of ArtsPeak.

“The latest industry research reveals that most professional artists are already earning far less than the average income, with many living below the poverty line,” said Julie Dyson, National Director of Ausdance. “How is it possible for them to produce further efficiencies and survive? Arts practitioners themselves are already the major contributors to the health and sustainability of the industry.”