Senator Brandis confirms that neither the Australia Council or the arts community were warned of changes to funding.

During his testimony before a Senate Estimates hearing yesterday, Arts Minister George Brandis, the architect of the recent major shake-up of arts funding in Australia, confirmed that he sought no consultation with the Australia Council, or any arts organisations before announcement in the 2015/16 Federal Budget that over $104 million would be syphoned from the Australia Council to fund a new government administered National Programme for Excellence in the Arts.

The first person to learn of the unexpected changes to the arts funding infrastructure was Australia Council Chair Rupert Myer, whom Senator Brandis called two hours before the Federal Budget announcement “as a matter of courtesy.” Beyond this single phone call, the Arts Minister confirmed on multiple occasions during the lengthy Senate hearing that no other sources outside of the government were consulted or forewarned about the major restructuring of arts funding.

This has quashed rumours that have persisted in recent weeks since the Budget announcement that certain major performing arts companies may have known about the planned changes before the Australia Council, and even that money from the new Excellence Programme...