New Arts Minister Fifield plans to keep NPEA

New federal Arts Minister Mitch Fifield has indicated he plans to go ahead with former Arts Minister George Brandis’ National Program for Excellence in the Arts (NPEA).

In an interview with Radio National Fiefield said: ‘It is important to put into perspective what George [Brandis] was seeking to do. We are talking about $26 million a year that has been shipped from the Australia Council. The Australia Council still has an annual budget of $185 million, which is not insignificant.’

The NPEA, which takes $104.8m from the Australia Council’s operating budget over the next four years, was announced in the 2015-16 federal budget on 12 May.

Fifield said the final model of the NPEA would take on board feedback from over 300 submissions to a senate inquiry into the program, but is likely to be finalised prior to the senate’s report in November.

When pressed by the Radio National interviewer on whether the money for the NPEA would be returned to the Arts Council, Fifield said: ‘I’m not saying for a moment that money will return to the Australia Council. What I’m saying is that … the exact nature and design of the program outside the Australia Council is yet to be completely nailed down.’

Category: Local news