Defunding success in the arts: Small arts organisations play a critical role in the creative and cultural ecology of Australia. Many of them, like Australian Design Centre (ADC), have been around since the 1960s and 1970s nurturing creative practice, building careers and developing audiences. Agile and adaptable, these organisations have been quick to embrace social and technological change leading innovation and contributing to public discourse such as conversations and solutions around design and sustainability.
Read: Belly punch to craft sector lacks respect: ADC in potential freefall
In recent years governments have launched arts and cultural policies that purport to speak to the importance of the creative industries and cultural ecology.
As NSW Government’s Creative Communities: Putting Culture at the Heart of the State states: “At a time when social cohesion is fragile and costs are rising, Creative Communities accepts an obligation to find new sources of funding over time. Over the next decade, its ambition will be to see small and medium enterprises grow, and the existing cornerstones of cultural excellence strengthened.”
Organisations have had to pirouette once again to ensure that they are positioned to help deliver on this policy through their programming. Why? Because we believe in it and because we have been lured into thinking that these policies will finally deliver much needed funding.
This is clearly not the case, particularly for the visual arts encompassing craft and design. When the NSW Government makes statements like this in its arts policy, but rips core funding away from a cornerstone of cultural excellence that is ADC then we should all worry about this State Government’s intentions.
Defunding success in the arts: not walking the talk
At ADC’s 60th Birthday Party last year, NSW Parliamentary Secretary for the Arts, Julia Finn said: “ADC has created a community, and banding together creates vital opportunities to exhibit, collaborate and grow. The role the ADC plays is strongly aligned with our own arts policy, Creative Communities, which we launched in December. Communities like this will be crucial in navigating the threats and opportunities that come our way in the next 60 years of cultural and technological change.”
The following is from the Federal Government’s Revive policy: “The centrepiece of the National Cultural Policy will be establishing Creative Australia (a restored and expanded Australia Council for the Arts). The significant funding cuts to the Australia Council in 2014 after the Creative Australia policy was abandoned meant the Australia Council was never able to fully realise its ambitions to support artists and arts organisations. The ongoing negative impact of the cuts was around $11 million a year. This has severely limited the investment that it has been able to provide to artists and small to medium arts organisations… Revive both returns the funding that had been cut from the Australia Council and expands the functions of Creative Australia to provide greater strategic direction and engagement across the sector…”
The Revive policy has failed to deliver for the small to medium visual arts sector – a government adviser admitted this to me in a meeting just last week. Words are meaningless without practical support. It is disturbing and demoralising that the NSW and Federal Governments are happy to espouse these positive actions in their arts policies and in person, but then do the opposite by defunding a successful, long-standing cultural cornerstone such as ADC.
As a small organisation (currently fewer than five full-time equivalent staff) ADC’s funding has been eroded over the past decade. In 2016 our operational funding (money that keeps the lights on and the doors open) was cut by 51% and has remained static at $500,000 per year. This was made up of $200,000 from Creative Australia (2016-2024) and $300,000 from Create NSW (2016-2025).
From 1 January 2026 ADC will not receive a cent in operational funding from either the Federal Government or the NSW Government. Why? No good reason given.
Defunding success in the arts: misunderstanding value
Peer assessors recommended ADC for funding in both state and federal competitions, but our understanding is that there was not enough money allocated to fund this organisation that has for 61 years built so much creative capital.
There is insufficient funding because at the state and federal level there is a clear recklessness about how public money is being spent. They call it investment, but they do not seem to understand value – the value that clearly comes from organisations that are small organisations like ADC that support thousands of artists each year and connect them with audiences locally, nationally and internationally. The value that comes from giving artists a start before they go on to more prominent national and international platforms. The value that comes from showcasing artists in mid-career who may not be as ‘fashionable’ as they once were, but are still producing incredible and important work. And the value that comes from celebrating the extraordinary careers of exceptional crafts people and designers at the pinnacle of their careers.
We do it all at ADC. For over six decades we have supported and promoted countless artists and makers from around Australia, giving them national and international opportunities for their work to be seen, to sell their work in our retail Object Shop, and to connect with audiences and each other.
Here are just a few examples of the kind of work we do, from this year so far:
- In March this year ADC curated and sent work from a group of Australian jewellers with sustainable practices to show at the highly regarded Schmuck international jewellery fair in Germany.
- The three current exhibitions showing at ADC showcase the work of First Nations artists from NSW, WA and the NT, in partnership with the National Indigenous Art Fair, including Threads: Lore and Lineage.
- ADC has three touring exhibitions this year showing in cities and regional galleries around Australia, including the Sixty ceramics exhibition touring for four years and the upcoming Helen Britton The Story So Far, 10th in the Living Treasures series.
- Finalists were recently announced for the 2025 MAKE Award recognising the best in outstanding and innovative Australian design, established by ADC in 2023 as the richest non-acquisitive design prize in Australia.
I’ve been running ADC for nearly a decade with a Board comprising talented and passionate people who volunteer their time and expertise to make sure that this organisation continues to have exemplary governance. In my time we have supplemented government investment in operational funding with nearly $6 million from project grants, philanthropy and revenue generated though our retail and event activities. We have paid artists industry rates, we have sold their work across multiple platforms, we have employed them for public programming and on the team. Many, many people currently employed in senior positions in the arts sector have started their careers at ADC.
Defunding success in the arts: community support
Community support over the past week has been outstanding raising over $44,000, writing to government and taking to social media. In their words:
“Your government’s decision to terminate this funding to the Australian Design Centre represents nothing short of a betrayal of NSW’s cultural leadership and a devastating blow to the creative communities that have trusted you with their futures. This isn’t just poor policy; it’s a fundamental misunderstanding of what drives cultural and economic vitality in this state. You can’t claim to support the arts while axing four-year funding support for one of the most critically successful and audience generating arts organisations in the state.” – ADC donor.
“ADC has played a pivotal role in our development, offering us early opportunities, professional mentorship and a platform to share our work with wider audiences. Through their belief in our practice, we have been able to grow from a small independent studio to an award-winning business whose work spans exhibitions, public art, educational programs and national institutions.” – ADC artist.
Clearly ADC is a hugely successful and valued enterprise, that consistently delivers big results on a very small budget. It makes no sense that the government would risk throwing away this legacy for what is comparatively a very small annual investment.
After years of financial neglect and unfulfilled promises from successive governments before this final defunding action, we are determined to see these decisions reversed. If the government truly believes that art matters, as it keeps saying, it needs to find the funds to support and celebrate Australia’s outstanding and vibrant cultural communities.
