No. 13

EXCELLENCE AND ACCESS IN THE ARTS CAPITAL 

Making the arts accessible to all Canberrans and promoting excellence in local cultural pursuits are the keys to making Canberra the Arts Capital, Minister for the Arts Jon Stanhope said today.

Funding of 14.2 million has been allocated in today’s Budget for arts activities that reach out to people where they live and work, enriching everyday life and creating a sense of excitement and occasion.

“The arts play a crucial role in the development of a truly inclusive community,” Mr Stanhope said today. 

“Here in the nation’s capital, people participate more enthusiastically in the arts than anywhere else in the country, and the Government has a role to play in supporting that involvement.

“The arts entertain, challenge and inspire.  They connect us to our past, help us understand the present and encourage us to dream of the future. These themes are explored further in the Government’s strategic arts statement, due to be released in coming months.” 

The Government will invest  $14.2 million in the arts in 2006-07. This includes:
•	funding for arts projects, organisations and awards supported through the ACT Arts Fund;
•	support for a network of community arts facilities;
•	greater support for public art;
•	funding for the community activities through the Australian National University Community Outreach Program; and
•	funding of the Cultural Facilities Corporation.

The Government will also provide matched funding to support the ACT Strategic Indigenous Arts Development Initiative and will send an exhibition drawn from the Canberra Museum and Gallery’s Studio One Print Collection to Nara, in Japan, as part of Sister-City activities.

“The ACT Arts Fund has been enhanced this year by the introduction of a new community arts funding category, the streamlining and simplification of application processes and modified funding categories,” Mr Stanhope said. 

“The ACT Poetry Prize will again continue to recognise and reward exceptional work. 

“We are expanding our network of arts facilities, with the scheduled opening in December of the Canberra Glassworks, based in the historic Kingston Powerhouse and continued planning work on enhanced performing arts facilities in City West and a new community arts centre on Lake Ginninderra, in Belconnen.

“Almost $500,000 has been earmarked for public art, and the Government has announced a new policy that will see public art budgeted for as a part of all Government capital works with a budget of more than $5 million.”

Other significant public art works to be completed this year include works for the Alexander Maconochie Centre, the Gungahlin Drive Extension, the Canberra Glassworks, the ACT Memorial, and the Ngunnawal artwork for City Walk.