Budget confirms return of Catalyst funding to OzCo

The 2017-18 federal budget has confirmed the return of Catalyst funding to the Australia Council, first announced in March this year.

The budget papers show that the government is directing $80.2m in funding from Catalyst to the Australia Council over five years from 2016-17 to 2020-21, with the Australia Council also contributing $10m in its reserves to support the small-to-medium arts sector over 2016-17 to 2017-18.

The budget reveals no new funding or direction for the arts sector, with the Australian reporting that ‘the Coalition has shown no inclination to raise the base level of arts funding’, which ‘remains well short of the $220m high that followed Labor’s budget boost’; and ArtsHub commenting that the budget contains ‘no vision for how government will grow the sector’.

To view the 2017-18 Budget Papers for the Communications and Arts Portfolio, click here.

Category: Local news