The National Association for the Visual Arts highlights what’s needed and what’s at stake with the Arts and cultural investment statement.
Priorities for immediate investment:
- Introduce a substantial $500m recovery fund accessible to all arts and cultural organisations across all artforms and at all scales
- Establish an arts and culture working group to advise the National COVID19 Coordination Commission
- Harmonise income averaging arrangements between the ATO and Centrelink, so that artists can claim JobSeeker; extend JobKeeper for casuals who have been employed at least 3mo; extend JobKeeper to the end of January 2021
- Expand income support eligibility to local government and universities, noting that local government are Australia’s biggest owners of galleries (especially regionally) and their rare collections, while universities house Australia’s leading art schools
- Double the Australia Council’s grants budget so that artists and SMEs can be supported, noting that the Australia Council have jeopardised their future industry development capacities by cancelling all upcoming programs to repurpose funds into a small $5m emergency relief scheme
- Permanently double the Regional Arts Fund
- Increase the acquisitions budget of Artbank and the National Cultural Institutions so that they can invest in the work/livelihoods of living Australian artists, and remove the efficiency dividend
Read the full media release by Esther Anatolis, Executive Director, NAVA Prime Minister, this is your moment to create Australia’s future
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