Devastating day of reckoning for Australian arts as 62 organisations miss out on crucial operational funding.

Australian artists have faced many desperate moments over the past three years, particularly in the last 12 months following the 2015/16 Federal Budget announcement last May, which revealed devastating cuts to the funds distributed by the Australia Council. However, Friday the 13th of May 2016 is now a date that will be remembered in infamy by many as one of the blackest in Australia’s artistic history. Published this morning, the Australia Council have announced the list of 128 fortunate recipients of the highly sought after four-year funding grants. However, many unsuccessful applicants, including 62 organisations previously funded by the Australia Council, are now facing uncertain futures as their operational costs are no longer underwritten.

The number of organisations to receive funding is down by more than a third, to just 147 nationwide. The steep decline of funded organisations is a direct repercussion of the $60 million over four years cut from the Australia Council’s budgets by the Federal Government last year. Of that sum, $48 million over four years has been diverted to establish the Catalyst Fund – formerly the National Programme for...