Rescinded funding results in a far from Immaculate reception

The war of words between artist Casey Jenkins and the Australia Council has escalated, with high profile artists coming into bat for Jenkins.

In what has been described as an ‘extraordinary intervention’, the Australia Council for the Arts has rescinded a $25,000 grant for performance artist Casey Jenkins’ artwork IMMACULATE, citing ‘the potential legal risk [the project] presents’.

IMMACULATE – which has been misrepresented in some quarters as an attempt to have a child in the name of art – is described by Jenkins as a documentation of their attempt to conceive via self-insemination.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts