The once buoyant Victorian arts sector is braced for more bad news to come, after eight significant organisations – some of which have chosen not to go public with the news – unexpectedly lost their organisational funding in the December round of Creative Victoria’s Creative Enterprises Program.
Surprisingly – and concerningly – the same funding round saw numerous organisations funded for just two years, not the four years they were expecting and for which they’d applied.
While seven such organisations were offered the chance to negotiate an additional two years of operational funding thereafter, 14 organisations received no such offer.
Anne Virgo OAM, the CEO of Australian Print Workshop – one of the eight organisations abruptly defunded without warning – cautions that the last time some organisations had their core four-year funding reduced to two-year funding, it was ‘an off-ramp’ for the organisations in question.
‘[In a previous funding round] those … two-year funded organisations essentially were off-ramped. They were provided with – [Creative Victoria] didn’t advertise two-year funding. It was a four-year program, like it was again [in 2025]. They were basically given two-years funding as an off-ramp to defunding,’ she told this writer in a Three Triple R interview last week.
Creative Victoria has been approached for comment about this situation, but had not responded to ArtsHub’s questions at the time of writing.
Defunded Victorian arts organisations – quick links
Theatre Network Australia
The cumulative impact of declining or stagnating investment … has been evident for some time.
Amrit Gill is the CEO of national industry development organisation Theatre Network Australia, one of the organisations that received two-year funding in December’s Creative Enterprises Program round instead of four, with no reference to an extension beyond 2028.
‘While not having funding renewed is always a possibility in a competitive round, and the sector is well aware that Victoria is operating in a very difficult budget environment, the cumulative impact of declining or stagnating investment across organisations and independent artists has been evident for some time,’ Gill tells ArtsHub.
The ‘very difficult budget environment’ Gill references can be seen in tightened belts in Victoria across the board, including significant redundancies at Creative Victoria last year, as well as major cultural agencies such as Arts Centre Melbourne, ACMI and Museums Victoria being advised in 2025 that they can no longer expect the Victorian Government to bail out budget overspends.
Budgetary issues at Creative Victoria specifically were explored in an ArtsHub opinion piece last month, written by Andy Miller, previously a senior arts officer with Creative Victoria. Miller noted that the overall Creative Enterprise Program funding pool ‘has been reduced from $21.2 million in the 2022-25 period to $17.9 million for 2026-29. This significant contraction raises the question of the future of Victoria’s vital small to medium cultural sector.’
ArtsHub: Creative Victoria: backing or backing away?
Put simply, there is less money to go around than in previous rounds – and with significant and vital organisations such as All The Queens Men, Blak Dot Gallery, Find Your Voice Collective and Shepparton Art Museum entering the Creative Enterprise Program in December for the first time, the constricted funding pool is now shallower than ever.
In light of this, Gill says December’s grim funding news was not entirely unexpected. ‘A Creative Enterprises Program round where some organisations lost funding, others were reduced, and only a very small number saw increases is therefore not entirely without warning,’ she explains.
‘However, the timing of the decisions – notified only weeks before current agreements expired for many organisations – and the lack of clarity about alternative funding pathways have made this outcome particularly shocking and deeply destabilising, raising serious concerns for the 2026-27 state budget and future funding of creative industries in Victoria.
‘Unfortunately the funding precarity is having very real impacts on employment of artists and arts workers. The stress and uncertainty are impacting the health and wellbeing of people in the sector,’ Gill says.
Australian Print Workshop
The timing of this news bought incredible stress on everyone at APW.
The 45-year-old Australian Print Workshop, located in Gertrude Street in Fitzroy, Melbourne, was one of eight Victorian organisations to have its operational funding cut completely.
‘Just before the end of December last year, Australian Print Workshop received official notification that our long-held operational funding from the State Government of Victoria (through Creative Victoria) would cease as of 1 January 2026,’ Virgo tells ArtsHub.
‘The timing of this news bought incredible stress on everyone at APW – a time of the year when most arts organisations traditionally close for the annual end-of-year holiday period [and] a time usually set aside for celebrating with friends and family and looking forward to welcoming in the New Year.
‘For Australian Print Workshop, this devasting news has meant that our limited resources have been diverted to dealing with this emergency and managing the immediate impact of our funding loss – that has serious implications for our continuing operations,’ she says.
Ten weeks after receiving the devastating news, Virgo says the APW is still adjusting to their unfortunate new reality.
‘As we continue to work through what this sudden funding cut means for Australian Print Workshop’s future, there is no question that the implication of this unfathomable State Government funding decision has serious impacts on our much valued and loved organisation,’ she tells ArtsHub.
‘While Australian Print Workshop has been offered “6 months advanced notice funding” of $84,315, this timeframe and level of funding support is barely adequate to assist any organisation with emergency planning and/or restructuring. It is certainly does not provide real support or compassion for helping “off-ramp” a long-standing and highly regarded arts organisation.’
Virgo slammed Creative Victoria’s ‘short-sighted funding decision’ as being ‘yet another blow to the Australian cultural landscape, particularly in the State of Victoria that once proudly claimed to be the “Creative State”.’
She continues: ‘The small-medium, not-for-profit, visual arts sector and the artform of fine art printmaking are vital to our community and it is devasting that the Victorian State Government has decided to abandon its 44-year investment in this sector by withdrawing its support of Australian Print Workshop.
‘The arts sector is vital to the cultural identity and life of the State of Victoria, and we are deeply disappointed with the approach taken to defunding not just us, but other really significant cultural institutions in Victoria. It’s indeed a grim time for the arts in the State of Victoria,’ Virgo says.
Abbotsford Convent Foundation
The funding cut is especially shocking because there was no warning, no explanation and no lifeline extended.
Located four kilometres from Melbourne’s CBD and spread over 16 acres, Abbotsford Convent is Australia’s largest multi-arts precinct. Its 11 buildings, which are over 160 years old, are home to numerous artists’ studios as well as galleries, cafés, performance spaces, the Australian National Academy of Music, fine music station 3MBS and more.
The Abbotsford Convent Foundation, which manages the site, lost the entirety of its Creative Enterprises Program funding in December.
Justine Hyde, CEO of the Abbotsford Convent Foundation, says: ‘We were left reeling by the news, and the shock and disappointment has deepened as we face the difficult task of planning the year ahead with a serious gap in our funding.
‘The funding cut is especially shocking because there was no warning, no explanation and no lifeline extended. Until now all interactions with Creative Victoria had affirmed the value of the Abbotsford Convent as an arts and culture precinct and praised the strength of our programming. It’s bewildering to now be expected to operate Australia’s largest not-for-profit arts, learning and culture precinct while receiving no recurrent funding from any level of government.’
Now that the dust has settled, Hyde says the Abbotsford Convent Foundation is, ‘scrambling to find ways to fill the shortfall through philanthropy and other longer-term revenue streams, but that’s an uphill battle and $800,000 leaves a gaping hole in our budget.
‘We’re facing the heartbreaking decision to cancel or significantly scale back our events and programs, including low cost and free kids’ workshops, parts of our WinterLive festival and our First Nations cultural experiences. Also at risk are the Convent artists’ residencies that support emerging artists with studio space and modest stipends,’ she says.
Hyde adds: ‘A renewed funding agreement with Creative Victoria would sustain hundreds of creative jobs and pathways and help us activate and care for our unique heritage precinct.
‘Abbotsford Convent was saved by the community, for the community, and the loss of this funding undermines our capacity to deliver on that core purpose.’
Writers Victoria
I was shocked and numb when I first learned the news … I had made exciting big plans for this year. Suddenly they were obsolete.
Writers Victoria also lost the entirety of its Creative Victoria operational funding in December. Should it be forced to close, Victoria would become the only state or territory without a peak writers’ body supporting writers at every step of their creative path – an embarrassing fact given Melbourne’s status as a UNESCO City of Literature.
Jill Brown, CEO of Writers Victoria, tells ArtsHub, ‘I was shocked and numb when I first learned the news that fateful day. But once that wore off, I was gutted. I had only recently been appointed CEO, and I had made exciting big plans for this year. Suddenly they were obsolete and I could be out of work.
‘Creative Victoria’s rationale made some sense to me when we had our meeting with them, although now I wonder if there was actually a further, more political decision behind it. The focus on specifics in our application was masking something more ruthless. It does seem strange that the fundamental conditions of the CEP grant changed between submission and assessment, such as funding periods for some organisations dropping to two years. There was no hint of anything like that in the early workshops on preparing to submit. So, perhaps we’re collateral damage in some murky crisis within Creative Victoria and, by extension, the State Government,’ she says.
Brown is not alone. A recent article in The Guardian referenced sector concerns regarding ‘a lack of transparency to the funding process and a lack of meaningful feedback from Creative Victoria’.
The Guardian article went on to say: ‘Suspicions have also been building that the longstanding principle of arm’s-length funding, where peer assessors make recommendations to the minister about what should be funded, had been altered by Creative Victoria.’
ArtsHub has asked Creative Victoria when it will release details of how applications were assessed, including information about the role of peer advisers in guiding the process, the role of Creative Victoria in making decisions, and how funding was allocated. A response will be published once received.
Turning to Writers Victoria’s survival strategies, Brown says: ‘We have six months emergency funding (one of the lucky ones), so we’re running our first season of workshops and events as normal for now. We have embarked on a vigorous campaign to save the organisation, and we’ve been astonished and heartened by the depth of the goodwill towards us.
‘[Shadow Arts Minister] David Davis has taken up our cause and launched a parliamentary petition that calls for the full restoration of our funding. It requires 10,000 signatures to be tabled and, so far, we’re almost halfway there. In the long term, we’re working on how to be self-sustaining, if in a reduced form.’
Public Galleries Association of Victoria
Without PGAV, the Victorian gallery network loses its collective voice.
The Public Galleries Association of Victoria – the state’s peak body representing more than 75 public galleries – was also defunded by Creative Victoria.
This decision was made despite PGAV’s work being directly aligned with the Victorian Government’s Creative State 2028 strategy (where PGAV is cited twice) and a 34% increase in membership over the past four years, according to figures supplied by the organisation.
ArtsHub has been advised that without alternative funding, PGAV will be forced to close by the end of the year, removing the only organisation dedicated to advocating for and supporting the development of Victoria’s public gallery network.
The defunding of PGAV also signals a broader threat to Victoria’s visual arts landscape, with six public galleries – Castlemaine Art Museum, East Gippsland Art Gallery, Jewish Museum of Australia, Linden New Art, McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery and Shepparton Art Museum – due to see their Creative Victoria funding conclude in 2028, having only been funded for two years in the December CEP round. Were this to occur, it would further undermine regional and outer metropolitan access to the arts.
PGAV Executive Officer Anne Robertson tells ArtsHub: ‘Without PGAV, the Victorian gallery network loses its collective voice. The impact will be deeply felt by small and regional galleries already operating with limited resources. We urgently call on the State Government to reinstate PGAV’s funding and safeguard Victoria’s public galleries for future generations.’
‘Supporting the arts’: the Minister’s critics respond
On 18 February, ArtsHub published an opinion piece by Colin Brooks MP, Victoria’s Minister for Creative Industries, which touted Victoria as ‘our nation’s cultural capital’ and highlighted some of the recent cultural activity staged by organisations funded through the Creative Enterprise Program ‘for the first time’.
The Minister concluded the piece by saying, ‘Our government is, and always will be, dedicated to supporting the arts’.
ArtsHub: Victoria’s Creative Industries Minister responds to arts funding debate
Anne Virgo OAM takes exception to this claim, telling this writer she was, ‘gobsmacked, and I’ll say offended by what he had to say. I’m angry,’ during her interview with this writer on Three Triple R last week.
‘The last round [of the Creative Enterprises Program] was 78 four-year funded [organisations], representing about $80 million over the four-year horizon, and this time, it’s just under $50 million and it’s only 57 [four-year funded] organisations. So how is that “demonstrated support, State Government support for the arts sector”? It’s a decline in the small to medium sector,’ she says.
‘Some of the comments that we’ve been getting from people interstate going, “That’s so sad. We thought Melbourne was the place [to be], come to Brisbane, come to Sydney, move!” You know, it’s … a really bad moment.’
Janice Gobey, Chair of Writers Victoria, also responded directly to the Minister’s opinion piece, telling ArtsHub: ‘Minister Brooks has recently outlined the [Victorian] Government’s investment in literature initiatives and flagship organisations. We welcome the development of the Victorian Literature Strategy and acknowledge the vital role played by institutions such as The Wheeler Centre, the Melbourne Writers Festival, the Emerging Writers’ Festival, Express Media and Kids Own Publishing in Victoria’s cultural landscape.
‘However, this discussion is not about literature programming alone – it is about writers,’ she stresses.
‘Events, festivals and strategies are vital. But without sustainable pathways, fair pay and professional development for writers themselves, the ecosystem weakens at its core. Writers are the generators of the work that literature organisations present. To support infrastructure without directly supporting practitioners risks hollowing out the very sector the sector seeks to celebrate.
‘Writers Victoria works at the critical transition point: we support writers beyond study and into sustainable practice. This is the stage where many fall through the cracks,’ Gobey continues.
‘A Literature Strategy is welcome. But it must include practical, funded support for writers’ livelihoods – not merely programming, promotion and institutions.
‘We would welcome the opportunity to discuss how writer-centred investment can strengthen the entire Victorian literature ecosystem and have tried on several occasions to meet the Minister, but have not yet heard back,’ she concludes.
