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The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the
Government of Australia The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federalism, federal parliamentary system, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster system, Westminster-sty ...
. The council was announced in 1967 as the Australian Council for the Arts, with the first members appointed the following year. It was made a
statutory corporation A statutory corporation is a government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, thus, they are statutes owned by a government or controlled by national or sub-national government to the (in ...
by the passage of the ''Australia Council Act 1975''. The organisation has included several boards within its structure over the years, including more than one incarnation of a Visual Arts Board (VAB), in the 1970s–80s and in the early 2000s.


History

Prime Minister
Harold Holt Harold Edward Holt (5 August 190817 December 1967) was an Australian politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Australia from 1966 until his presumed death in 1967. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party. Holt was born in S ...
announced the establishment of a national arts council in November 1967, modelled on similar bodies in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. It was one of his last major policy announcements prior to his death the following month. In June 1968, Holt's successor
John Gorton Sir John Grey Gorton (9 September 1911 – 19 May 2002) was an Australian politician who served as the nineteenth Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1968 to 1971. He led the Liberal Party during that time, having previously been a l ...
announced the first ten members of the council, which was initially known as the Australian Council for the Arts. Economist
H. C. Coombs Herbert Cole "Nugget" Coombs (24 February 1906 – 29 October 1997) was an Australian economist and public servant. He is best known for having been the first Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, in which capacity he served from 1960 to 19 ...
became the first chairman of the body, while the other members included radio quizmaster Barry Jones, school principal
Betty Archdale Helen Elizabeth Archdale (21 August 1907 – 1 January 2000) was an English-Australian sportswoman and educationalist. She was the inaugural Test captain of the England women's cricket team in 1934. A qualified barrister and Women's Royal Naval ...
, magazine editor and state Liberal MP
Peter Coleman William Peter Coleman (15 December 1928 – 31 March 2019) was an Australian writer and politician. A widely published journalist for over 60 years, he was editor of '' The Bulletin'' (1964–1967) and of '' Quadrant'' for 20 years, and publi ...
, socialite Virginia Erwin (wife of federal Liberal MP
Dudley Erwin George Dudley Erwin (20 August 191729 October 1984) was an Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1955 to 1975, representing the Liberal Party. He was Chief Government Whip from 1967 to 1969, and played a role in ...
), architect
Karl Langer Karl Langer, Ritter von Edenberg (15 April 1819, Vienna – 8 December 1887) was an Austrian anatomist. He is known for his work in the field of topographical anatomy. He studied medicine at the Universities of University of Vienna, Vienna and C ...
, author
Geoffrey Dutton Geoffrey 'Geppie' Piers Henry Dutton AO (2 August 192217 September 1998) was an Australian author and historian. Biography Dutton was born into a prominent pastoralist family of Anlaby Station near Kapunda, South Australia in 1922. His grandfat ...
, theatre producer Jeana Bradley, arts patron Mary Houghton, and retired academic Kay Masterman. The council issued its first grants in December 1968, which were distributed via the
Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust is a theatre and performing arts company that was founded in September 1954, with the aim of establishing drama, opera and ballet companies nationally. Founding In 1954 the Australian Elizabethan Theatre T ...
as the council did not yet have its own financial apparatus. Gorton stated that the council "had adopted a principle widely accepted ..that high standards can best be achieved by a concentration of available funds, rather than by a thin spread over a wide area". The council subsequently received criticism from smaller professional and semi-professional companies, leading to the establishment of an Arts Special Projects Fund to assist smaller organisations. In December 1969, Coombs announced a new formula for grants whereby organisations could only receive a maximum of two-thirds of their budget from the council. In February 1973, Prime Minister
Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1977, he was notable for being the he ...
announced a new structure for the council whereby funding recommendations would be made by seven autonomous boards for different areas of the arts. Later that year, the council produced a report recommending that it be established as a statutory corporation.


Aboriginal Arts Board (1973)

The Aboriginal Arts Board (AAB) was created in 1973. Comprising
Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
artists, writers and performers, its purpose was "to stimulate Indigenous Australian arts and lead to the preservation of many art forms almost lost since the settlement of Australia by Europeans".
Dick Roughsey Dick Roughsey (ca. 1920 – 1985) was an Indigenous Australians, Australian Aboriginal artist from the Lardil language group on Mornington Island in the south-eastern Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland. His tribal name was Goobalathaldin, meaning †...
was the inaugural head of the board, followed by Yolngu artist and activist
Wandjuk Marika Wandjuk Djuwakan Marika OBE (1927 or 1930 – 16 June 1987), was an Aboriginal Australian painter, actor, composer and Indigenous land rights activist. He was a member of the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land in ...
. One of its earliest activities was the hosting of a seminar called Aboriginal Arts in Australia at the
Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...
, with around 800 attendees, with the intention of working out how government could best support Aboriginal culture and art in the future. When created, AAB had similar aims as the
Aboriginal Publications Foundation The Aboriginal Publications Foundation (APF) was a national Australian Aboriginal organisation that existed from 1970 to 1982, based first in Sydney, New South Wales, and later in Perth, Western Australia. It existed to promote and fund creative ...
(APF), leading to some duplication of work by the two bodies. From mid-1975, promotional work carried out by the APF was put under the control of the AAB, while the APF became a referral body for the AAB. The APF was wound down, with its main responsibility the publication of the quarterly journal ''
Identity Identity may refer to: * Identity document * Identity (philosophy) * Identity (social science) * Identity (mathematics) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film * ''Identity'' (2003 film), ...
'' until its closure in 1982. The Australia Council became the biggest consumer of
Aboriginal art Indigenous Australian art includes art made by Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including collaborations with others. It includes works in a wide range of media including painting on leaves, bark painting, wood carving ...
, as there was not much interest in it during those years. Works were bought directly from artists, and often sent to galleries in the US and Canada. The Board was later renamed the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board or ATSIA Board, and is the ATSIA Panel.


Change of name (1975)

After being given
statutory authority A statutory body or statutory authority is a body set up by law (statute) that is authorised to implement certain legislation on behalf of the relevant country or state, sometimes by being Primary and secondary legislation, empowered or deleg ...
in March 1975 by the ''Australia Council Act'' under the Whitlam government, it was renamed to Australia Council. The Council then incorporated other government projects, such as the
Commonwealth Literary Fund The Commonwealth Literary Fund (CLF) was an Australian Government initiative founded in 1908 to assist needy Australian writers and their families. It was Federal Australia's first systematic support for the arts. Its scope was later broadened to e ...
and the
Commonwealth Art Advisory Board The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in t ...
. The Visual Arts Board (VAB) existed during the 1970s and mid-1980s.


21st century

The Council's operations were independently reviewed in 2012, and the ''Australia Council Act 2013'' (the Act) commenced on 1 July 2013. In early 2014 federal Arts Minister
George Brandis George Henry Brandis (born 22 June 1957) is a former Australian politician. He was a Senator for Queensland from 2000 to 2018, representing the Liberal Party, and was a cabinet minister in the Abbott and Turnbull governments. He was later Hi ...
and Minister for Communications
Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Turnbull grad ...
told artists at the
Sydney Biennale The Biennale of Sydney is an international festival of contemporary art, held every two years in Sydney, Australia. It is a large and well-attended contemporary visual arts event in the country. Alongside the Venice and São Paulo biennales and ...
that they were ungrateful and selfish to protest about the role of Transfield in the Nauru immigration detention centre. In December 2014, Brandis withdrew a large portion of literature funding from Australia Council.InDaily, 24 October 2016
No minister, creative arts are not a "lifestyle choice"
/ref> In May 2015, Brandis cut $26 million a year for four years from Australia Council arts funding, a third of its arts funding, receiving significant criticism from the arts community. The money was reallocated to a new program, the National Program for Excellence in the Arts (NPEA). NPEA in turn was criticised by many artists and arts organisations for lacking the "arms-length" funding principles that had applied to the relationship between the government and Australia Council since its inception in the 1970s. These principles have traditionally had bipartisan support. Brandis was criticised previously for giving Melbourne classical music record label Melba Recordings a $275,000 grant outside of the usual funding and peer-assessment processes. Brandis's changes to funding arrangements, including the quarantining of the amount received by Australia's 28 major performing arts companies, were widely seen to disadvantage the small-to-medium arts sector and independent artists. Following
Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Turnbull grad ...
's successful
spill A spill occurs when the contents of something, usually in liquid form, are emptied out onto a surface, person or clothes, often unintentionally. Spill may also refer to: * Oil spill *Chemical spill *Data spill *Leadership spill *Spill (audio), wh ...
of the leadership of the Liberal party in September 2015, Brandis was replaced as arts minister by
Mitch Fifield Mitchell Peter Fifield (born 16 January 1967) is the Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations. He is a former Australian politician who served as a Senator for Victoria from 2004 to 2019, representing the Liberal Party. He wa ...
. In November Fifield gave back $8 million a year for four years to Australia Council, changed the NPEA to the Catalyst Fund, and stressed it would have a focus on smaller arts projects. The arts community was not impressed by the changes. As a result of the reduced funding, Australia Council cancelled project funding rounds for small groups and individuals in 2015 and then cut funding to over 60 arts organisations across the country in May 2016. Small arts organisations such as the
Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia The Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia (CACSA), formerly Contemporary Art Society (CAS), was an art museum and art space located in the Adelaide suburb of Parkside, in South Australia. In late 2016 it merged with the Australian Experimen ...
(CACSA),
Leigh Warren & Dancers Dance Hub SA, formerly Leigh Warren & Dancers or Leigh Warren + Dancers (LWD) and then LWDance Hub, is a contemporary dance company based in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Formed in 1993 by Leigh Warren, the company toured i ...
and many others were affected, forcing them to contract, merge or make drastic changes to their programs. The Visual Arts/Craft Board was renamed the Visual Arts Board around 2007–8.


Function and governance

The Australia Council for the Arts is the Australian Government's principal arts funding and advisory body. Its purpose is to promote and invest in Australian arts. It is "accountable to the
Australian Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the ...
, and to the Government through the Minister for the Arts".


Programs


Visual Arts and Crafts Strategy

The Visual Arts and Crafts Strategy (VACS), a partnership between the federal and all state and territory governments in Australia, was established in 2003, with the aim of "providing stability to Australia’s visual arts and craft sector". VACS delivers funding across all jurisdictions, with half provided by the Commonwealth and half by the states and territories. Its current policy framework runs from 2021 to 2024.


ACCELERATE

ACCELERATE was a leadership program for
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
people in the
creative arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...
, run jointly by the
British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...
and Australia Council, in partnership with state arts agencies, between 2009 and 2016. During that time, 35 people participated in the program, with many alumni going on to excel in their fields.


Awards


Australia Council Awards

The
Australia Council Award The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austr ...
s were established in or before 1981, with the numbers of awards awarded each year growing over time. there were eight categories for achievement in various types of arts, called: * Australia Council Don Banks Music Award *Australia Council Lifetime Achievement in Literature *Australia Council Award for Dance *Australia Council Award for Visual Arts *Australia Council Award for Emerging and Experimental Arts *Australia Council Kirk Robson Award for Community Arts and Cultural Development *Australia Council Ros Bower Award for Community Arts and Cultural Development * Australia Council Award for Theatre


Fellowships

Australia Council Fellowship The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austr ...
s, worth , "support creative activity and career development for mid-career and established artists". Past fellowship holders include:
Hetti Perkins Hetti Kemerre Perkins (born 1965) is an art curator and writer. She is the eldest daughter of Australian Aboriginal activist Charles Perkins and German Eileen Munchenberg, a granddaughter of Hetty Perkins, sister to film director Rachel Perkins ...
(2018), Lisa Maza (2017), Vicki Couzens (2016),
Brenda L Croft Brenda L Croft (born 1964) is an Aboriginal Australian artist, curator, writer, and educator working across contemporary Indigenous and mainstream arts and cultural sectors. Croft was a founding member of the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperat ...
(2015) and Reko Rennie (2015). They are awarded in the areas of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
arts; community arts and cultural development; dance; emerging and experimental arts; literature; music; theatre; and
visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...
.


First Nations Arts Awards

The annual National Indigenous Arts Awards (NIAA) were established by the Australia Council in 2007. Renamed as the First Nations Arts Awards in 2020, they include four categories, all restricted to Australian First Nations artists: *The Dreaming Award, established in 2012, "to support an inspirational young artist aged 18-26 years to create a major body of work through mentoring and partnerships", with Nakkiah Lui winning the inaugural award *The
Red Ochre Award The Red Ochre Award is an annual art award for Indigenous Australian artists. Background and description The Red Ochre Award was established in 1993 by the Australia Council for the Arts. It is awarded annually to an outstanding Indigenous Au ...
, established in 1993, a lifetime award for outstanding lifetime achievement in the arts, is awarded annually to both a male and female recipient *The First Nations Arts Fellowship, to support the creation of a major work *The First Nations Emerging Career Development Award, which supports two artists or arts workers to pursue their professional development The awards ceremony is held event is held on 27 May each year, on the anniversary of the 1967 referendum. At the event,
Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
who have been awarded Fellowships (in 2018–2019,
Vernon Ah Kee Vernon Ah Kee (born 1967) is a contemporary Australian artist, political activist and founding member of ProppaNOW. Based primarily in Brisbane, Queensland, Ah Kee is an Aboriginal Australian man with ties to the Kuku Yalandji, Waanji, Yidin ...
for visual art, and Ali Cobby Eckermann, for literature), and First Nations artists who received Australia Council Awards earlier in the year are also celebrated.


Controversy

In May 2020 the Australia Council awarded a grant to performance artist Casey Jenkins for a piece titled ''Immaculate'', incorporating a
live stream Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but no ...
of Jenkins self-inseminating. Following adverse media coverage, the council suspended the funding hours before the first performance on 19 August, and formally rescinded the grant on 21 September 2020. The council stated that the withdrawal of the grant was not due to negative media coverage, but followed legal advice about the organisation's liabilities if pregnancy resulted. Jenkins said that the council had "grossly and insultingly mischaracterised my artwork". Writer and social commentator Ben Eltham wrote that the council's actions might have a
chilling effect In a legal context, a chilling effect is the inhibition or discouragement of the legitimate exercise of natural and legal rights by the threat of legal sanction. A chilling effect may be caused by legal actions such as the passing of a law, the ...
on performance art in Australia.


References


External links


Australia Council for the Arts

Culture and Recreation portal

Australian Music Office
- Australian Government organisation aimed at promoting export initiatives for Australian artists and music companies * {{Authority control Organizations established in 1968
Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...
Commonwealth Government agencies of Australia Arts organisations based in Australia 1968 establishments in Australia