What happens when an arts organisation suddenly loses funding? For two small arts organisations that have recently lost their cash, after the crisis comes resilience.
Arts funding
My Cup Of Tea: New cultural roadmap, but will there be a soundtrack?
The arts year will be dominated by key themes: the announcement of the National Cultural Policy, the deflation of the music festivals bubble, and fraught times at many smaller companies.
Australia Council review secret and hopelessly compromised
Arts Minister Simon Crean’s review of the Australia Council is much needed. But it’s been hopelessly compromised already by the choice of the man leading it.
My Cup Of Tea: The painful waiting game for arts bodies on funding
How do you plan for the coming year when you don’t know whether your main source of income will arrive? Arts organisations face a difficult time waiting for their grant announcements.
My Cup Of Tea: The problem of being exceptional
Excellence. It might be a goal of our national cultural policy, but do we really know it means?
interactive 
Mapping the BBC cuts
The UK’s BBC is in crisis after announcing it will cut £700m in spending annually by 2016/17. Over 2000 jobs are expected to be cut in the next five years. The Guardian maps where the funds will be slashed.
NSW budget: razor gang takes to grassroots arts funding
The NSW budget papers contain a $2.8 million cut to small arts grants. In the small-scale end of the sector that is proverbially impoverished, these budget cuts will be felt keenly.
My Cup Of Tea: A political arts discussion with broad strokes
Arts Minister Simon Crean has released a discussion paper on the government’s forthcoming National Cultural Policy. He speaks to Crikey about the competing agendas and the budget belt tightening.
My Cup Of Tea: The costly disease in our backing orchestras
An Australia Council-commissioned report into Australia’s ballet and opera orchestras reveals an unsustainable business model. But where will efficiencies come from?
My Cup Of Tea: This Is Not worth funding, says Newcastle council, despite tourist draw
Newcastle City Council defunded the This Is Not Art festival despite championing it in the Council’s own Tourism Plan. Now councillors are questioning the decision.
My Cup Of Tea: Newcastle arts festival shortfall highlights grant discrimination
The loss of funding for innovative Newcastle festival This Is Not Art highlights the inconsistencies of cultural funding. The majority of grant dollars are not allocated competitively.
My Cup Of Tea: The perks (and toner) corrupting arts administrators
Last week it was Film Victoria’s $45,000 party, this week Arts Victoria is under fire for a $40,000 printer toner bill. The perks, and increasingly corporatised arts funding, is corrupting the provision of cash.
My Cup Of Tea: Picking through the scraps of budget arts funding
It’s been a generally positive federal budget for the arts and culture sectors. But the efficiency dividend will hit smaller cultural institutions hard.
NSW election: O’Farrell artsing about on policy, performers say
The NSW arts community is bracing for a grim future after both major political parties reneged on promises to release detailed arts policies during the state election campaign.
My Cup Of Tea: Hey Cate, you wouldn’t know a cultural heart if you planned it yourself
Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton are out of touch, argues Ben Eltham. From their state-sponsored ivory tower they can’t see where Sydney’s real cultural beats are played.
My Cup Of Tea: Taxpayer dollars head to Hollywood
In screen policy, an open-ended and uncapped tax subsidy is considered a good thing. The bigger the film, the larger the tax-payer contribution, writes Ben Eltham.
My Cup Of Tea: The plan to provoke a profound shake-up to the arts
A new report from the Australia Council has big implications for Australian cultural policy, says Ben Eltham. Its conclusions imply a profound shake-up in the current status quo.
The cultural revolution was online in 2010
The most important arts and “cultural” events of 2010 happened online, writes Ben Eltham, in his final My Cup of Tea column for the year.
Pomeranz: Don’t mix business with art
While wannabe sports stars gets thousands in government support and sponsorship, young Australian film makers struggle to make a living in Australia and that talent heads overseas, writes film critic Margaret Pomeranz.
graph pr0n Where does Australia’s arts funding go?
Last year Opera Australia received more funding than all the 781 other arts boards and projects combined. Marcus Westbury breaks down the Australia Council arts funding fiasco.
Theatre needs a true governing body to drive funding
Governments play a vital role in theatre funding, particularly in regional areas and for smaller theatre organisations. But how can the private sector be more involved? asks Troy Dodds.
Former arts minister: Artists are poor because they’re crap
Most artists don’t make a sufficient living from their art? Well derr, there are millions of Australians who consider themselves artists, but not millions of jobs. It’s called the free market, writes former federal arts minister Barry Cohen.
Cate Blanchett: Arts is far more than just an industry
There is a growing demand for the arts industry to ‘prove’ itself, with KPIs and profitability charts. We’ve proved ourselves. Now let’s stop thinkings of arts as a business, when its power is far beyond that, writes actress Cate Blanchett.
Arty farts in uproar: culture isn’t just in the eye of the benefactor
Art gallery directors are begging, pleading and quitting over the lack of funding being made by state governments to their state cultural institutions. With funds drying up and art seen as charity, we’re becoming a second-rate culture, writes John McDonald.
Guy Rundle: Windschuttle screams blue murder over Quadrant funding cut
Quadrant has had its Australia Council Grant cut by $15,000 and is screaming blue murder and about the fix being in, because every left wing magazine –- Overland, Meanjin(!), Australian Book Review (!!) — has seen its funding maintained or bumped up.
