A regional arts organisation supporting hundreds of artists on the South Coast of NSW is speaking out after being disadvantaged by recent funding changes at Create NSW – nor is it alone.
South Coast Arts is one of 15 Regional Arts Development Organisations (RADOs) in NSW which, collectively, directly support their regions’ artists – across all creative practices – via a range of cultural development programs. The newest RADO in the network, South Coast Arts covers the local government areas of Shellharbour, Kiama and Shoalhaven, and supports artists living in and around the likes of Berry, Gerringong, Gerroa, Jamberoo, Kiama, Nowra, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven, Ulladulla and Werri Beach.
Under Create NSW’s new funding model, RADOs must now compete for funding rather than receiving the consistent four-year funding contracts they previously relied upon. This competitive approach operates within the same overall funding pool while accommodating an increased number of applicants.
South Coast Arts, together with Orana Arts and Arts Mid North Coast. was unsuccessful in the most recent Create NSW four-year funding round. The entire RADO network, together with Regional Arts NSW, are now demanding equitable outcomes for regional areas, following this shift in state funding policy, which also included a 25% downsizing of Create NSW.
Dr Tracey Callinan OAM, CEO of Regional Arts NSW, emphasises the strategic importance of maintaining the RADO network.
‘These organisations fulfil a vital role in ensuring equitable access to arts support across regional NSW,’ Callinan said in a media statement.
A news item on the Regional Arts NSW website further emphasises Callinan’s concerns: ‘If these organisations don’t get funded, there is a good chance that they will close. This would be a disastrous outcome for the regional arts ecology, leaving behind huge holes in RADO support services. It is an equity issue – all regional artists deserve to have equal access to these services for the good of their practice, development and their communities,’ the article states.
Nor are the three RADOs the only arts organisations impacted by the recent changes, with a number of regional galleries also losing funding. According to Brett Adlington, CEO of Museums & Galleries NSW, the unfunded regional galleries alone will result in 588 cancelled projects, 4982 unemployed artists and cultural workers, and a projected loss of 644,400 audience members.
Read: Regional galleries ‘not sexy enough’ for funding
Louise Croker is the Executive Director of South Coast Arts, and tells ArtsHub she and her peers are speaking up ‘about the importance of funding right across regional New South Wales. It’s not just about us.’
Having missed out on four-year funding, South Coast Arts has now applied for two-year funding from Create NSW and is expecting an outcome from that application in September. There is no guarantee that it and the two other RADOs’ new funding applications will be successful. Meanwhile, South Coast Arts services’ to Shellharbour, Kiama and Shoalhaven continues while its future remains uncertain.
‘It wasn’t our first choice to be speaking out, but when the four year funding results came out, our local artists started asking questions. They wanted to know why an organisation that was government-appointed and only just recently funded – after two decades of requesting a RADO be established on the South Coast – was suddenly in threat of being defunded,’ Croker tells ArtsHub.
‘So we are responding for and on behalf of the creatives in our region, who value what we do and who have waited a long time for a RADO to be established – and that’s the same across all of the state, particularly the other two [unfunded] RADOs, which have much more established infrastructure that supports and is supportive of the creators in their regions.’
Cultural infrastructure at risk
Croker’s concerns are echoed by Olivia Parker, Executive Director of Arts Mid North Coast, who tells ArtsHub: ‘The recent funding model change has removed guaranteed access to essential arts services in regional NSW and placed vital cultural infrastructure at serious risk.
‘Arts Mid North Coast is the peak body for the state’s most populated regional area. Without support, the Mid North Coast stands to lose its only dedicated arts development organisation after 27 years of continuous service.
‘This would leave over 326,000 people without regional arts leadership, without support for local artists, and without the programs that drive investment, jobs, and cultural visibility. Most critically, we risk silencing the voices, stories, and creative potential of our communities,’ Parker says.
Read: Sydney Writers’ Festival partners with State Library of NSW for new literary hub
In the case of South Coast Arts, the RADO continues to receive funding from three local governments, which ensures some stability.
Jenny Beath, Chair of South Coast Arts, said, ‘We’re incredibly grateful for the continued support from Kiama, Shellharbour, and Shoalhaven Councils. Their commitment to the arts demonstrates the value local government places on cultural development, and through it community wellbeing.’
In its two years of operation to date, South Coast Arts has shown clear results: a 93% increase in engagement in 2024, over $559,000 in leveraged funding, and sector-leading First Nations participation.
Its programs include individualised support for artists across the region to assist them with funding applications and similar needs, structured professional development programs covering a wide range of topics, youth mentoring, collaborative activities with other RADOs in the statewide network, and valuable networking opportunities, including online services, ‘which are really important for regional areas where you’ve got creatives operating across quite diverse areas and distances,’ Croker explains.
Projects in development include supporting creatives who are keen to engage with cultural tourism and the South Coast’s tourism sector, and a focus on supporting creatives’ mental health and wellbeing.
‘This is what regional investment makes possible. Withdrawing guaranteed funding now unravels all of that, and sets us (and the region) back years,’ Croker says.
Funding insecurity threatens the organisation’s ability to secure additional funding from other sources, and may also potentially impact on staff retention and morale, she adds.
‘My past history is in community services … and I’ve seen it time and time again that you lose critical staff due to job insecurity. People will jump rather than wait until the money runs out, which means you’ve got a constant risk of loss of people that are contributing amazing experience and knowledge to these organisations.’
Valuing regional connections and creativity
Croker recognises that Create NSW are in a bind. ‘They’re working in a difficult environment, and they’ve been affected by the funding changes internally as well. We all know that there’s going to be job cuts within Create NSW as well,’ she tells ArtsHub.
‘And when you’ve got a limited amount of money and you have people locked into funding contracts that go on and on and on, you have no space for new people to come into the game. So I can understand that … you’re opening it up to the best of the best getting funded, and you’re opening it up to new players coming into the game … but when it risks core infrastructure, like the RADO network, it risks [more than just our organisations].’
Nonetheless, she fears that by not properly funding South Coast Arts, Orana Arts and Arts Mid North Coast, Create NSW inadvertently risks hurting the thousands of regional artists the RADO network supports.
In response, Croker’s message to the NSW Minister for the Arts, the Honourable John Graham MLC, and to Create NSW is clear and direct.
‘Value the creativity that’s in the regions and provide the infrastructure that is needed to support that creative practice, because the regions have incredible talent, incredible arts practices – and all of the challenges that we face in the regions are mitigated by infrastructure that’s already working. And under this current structure, they’re at risk of losing that,’ she says.
Learn more about South Coast Arts and NSW’s network of Regional Arts Development Organisations.
