The Australian Government Ministry for the Arts has released draft guidelines for the National Program for Excellence in the Arts for public comment. The Program was announced in the 2015 Commonwealth Budget.
The closing dates for comments on the draft guidelines is 31 July 2015. More information is available at: http://arts.gov.au/nationalexcellenceprogram
This follows the referral to a Senate Committee for an inquiry into the impact of the 2014 and 2015 Commonwealth Budget decisions on the arts. Under the 2015 Budget, the Australia Council for the Arts is standing to lose $104.7 million in funding over four years, some of which is to be reallocated towards the establishment of the National Program for Excellence in the Arts. Screen Australia is also seeing its funding cut by $3.6 million over the same period. This follows other substantial cuts in funding for the Australia Council and Screen Australia, and the arts more broadly, in the 2014 Budget.
The closing date for submissions to the Senate Committee inquiry is 17 July 2015. More information is available at: http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/Arts_Funding
