Aboriginal Australian artist Lena Nyadbi. Image: australiacouncil.gov.au
The way public funding is delivered to artists and arts organisations has the potential to influence deeply what they can produce.
In August this year, Australia Council unveiled significant changes to its grants model in the organisation’s 40-year history, including a six-year funding for arts organisations and a desire to modernise the governance structure and to reduce red tape in the application of grants.
Keynote speaker Tony Grybowski will examine the issue further in Arts funding: a new model for the times on 31 Oct at the ArtsHub Conference. More than 90 grants will be cut across five broad categories in the model, which Grybowski said, aims to be more flexible and to give Australians more accessibility to the arts.
As soon as he was appointed Grybowski announced to ArtsHub that he intended to slash the number of grants and introduce a streamlined system. I think we can do a lot better to streamline that so that when an artist sends in an idea we don’t say “Does it fit in the box?” we say “Who is the best peer expert to assess this?” and get on with it.’
The grants model focuses on the needs of artists, enabling a diverse range of both practitioners and organisations to apply for funding over a wide range of arts activities.
The new model consists of five programs of various tiers, including:
- Development grants for individuals and groups valued at between $5000 and $25000;
- Arts project grants for individuals and groups valued at between $10,000 and $50,000;
- Arts project grants for organisations valued at between $10,000 and $150,000;
- Fellowships valued at $100,000; and
- Six-year funding for arts organisations
In its research summary on arts participation by Australians, “More than bums on seats: Australian participation in the arts”, Australia Council identified an increasingly positive attitude to the arts over the past 10 years, with more and more Australians believing that an appreciation of the arts will enrich their lives.
In the year leading up to the research, nine in 10 Australians aged 15 and older participated in the arts, and the same ratio thinks that arts should be an important part of the education of every Australian. Four in 10 had creatively participated in the arts. Interest in Indigenous arts is growing, with 47% saying their interest is increasing.
Grybowski said the new grants model will make it ‘simpler and easier to apply for funding. We want to encourage ambitious projects and see more audiences captivated by work that inspires and challenge.
‘This is an artist-centric grants model which positively reflects extensive input from the sector, particularly through the Australia Council Review,’ he said.
‘The review identified that while our grant programs had served the arts well in the past, it needed to evolve with the sector and be more responsive to the new ways art is being made and presented.’
ArtsHub Conference
31 October, Darebin Arts & Entertainment Centre
