For the Australian art world, the big take-away from the 2023-24 Budget has to be the promise to spend $535.3 million over 4 years on nine of our National Collecting Institutions, such as the National Archives of Australia, National Portrait Gallery of Australia, Australian National Maritime Museum, Bundanon Trust and National Gallery of Australia. The Albanese Labor Government has said this is an important change “addressing the decade of chronic underfunding inflicted by the former Coalition Government.”
On the progress, Albanese said “I want all Australians to be able to visit, appreciate and learn from these institutions for generations to come. These are special places and we should be proud of them. They preserve, protect and celebrate Australia’s stories and history. My Government is committed to preserving, protecting and celebrating them. This is yet another example of my Government having to clean up the mess left behind by the former Coalition Government.”
$286 million will go towards Revive, the National Cultural Policy, $9 million is set to support education and creative training, and there will be significant funding towards the screen industry with $112.3 million allocated to attract international investment.
It’s a total spend of around $950 million.
Minister for the Arts Tony Burke said; “We’re bringing drive, direction and vision back to a $17 billion industry that employs more than 400,000 Australians – empowering our talented artists and organisations to thrive and grow so they can unlock new opportunities, reach new audiences and tell stories in compelling new ways.”
Going further to nurture a sustainable ‘arts ecology’, Australian media is also being supported with $1.1 billion in funding allocated for the ABC and $334.9 million for SBS, with an additional $72 million over the next 4 years for both.
Burke concluded “The culture wars from Government are over. Labor is delivering a new chapter in Australia’s cultural story – backed by record funding.”