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Administered items

Touring programs

Impact of funding

The Department's management of the national cultural touring programs is directed towards ensuring that audiences around the country, particularly those in regional and remote areas, have more opportunity to see and experience Australian artists and arts projects.

During 2005–06, the Minister for the Arts and Sport approved funding of more than $8.8 million for 50 performing arts tours supported through the Playing Australia program, 30 exhibition tours supported through the Visions of Australia program and 33 tours supported through the Contemporary Music Touring Program. The approved projects covered a range of art forms and styles, and supported tours to all states, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.

Some of the projects approved are set out below.

• Support of $300 007, through Playing Australia to Country Arts SA, enabled the Patch Theatre Company to tour its children's theatre production of Who Sank The Boat, based on the popular books by Pamela Allen, to 31 venues in Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia, the Northern Territory, New South Wales, Tasmania and Queensland. There were 94 performances in all.
• Support of $49 674, through Playing Australia, enabled Marguerite Pepper Productions to tour The Crate Show by The Leaping Loonies to 17 venues in Queensland, Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, with 42 performances in all.
• Musicians Rob Hirst and Paul Greene received $8800 through the Contemporary Music Touring Program to tour regional venues in Western Australia, supported by the emerging regional band The Oafs. The tour included workshops in each community on the itinerary (see case study, page 34).
• Arts Northern Rivers Inc., New South Wales received $42 000 through Visions of Australia to tour ConVerge, a touring exhibition of ceramic works by 20 emerging and established artists from the Northern Rivers region. The exhibition is touring to 13 venues across Australia, including regional and remote areas such as Bundaberg and Winton in Queensland, and Grafton and Port Macquarie in New South Wales.

The Visions of Australia program aims to provide more Australians, particularly in regional and remote areas, with the opportunity to access Australian cultural material. The funding also supports mentoring and skills transfer between organisations, particularly national organisations touring to regional and remote venues. Exhibitions funded under the program during 2005–06 toured to 88 venues throughout Australia.

The majority of 2005–06 acquittals received from funding recipients assessed the program as a highly valuable resource, building capabilities by assisting skills transfer, supporting education and public programs, and encouraging broader audience access through the diversity of exhibitions funded. Major publications, including exhibition catalogues accompanying exhibitions funded by Visions of Australia, also provide long-term benefits to the communities.

The Contemporary Music Touring Program provides touring opportunities for musicians and access to original Australian music for audiences, particularly in regional areas. A review of the program in October 2005 found that, without assistance from the program, 32 per cent of tours would not have proceeded at all and the remaining 68 per cent would have proceeded in part only, with many regional communities outside the regular touring circuits excluded.

Recognising the financial and planning demands of remote touring, special assistance guidelines were introduced in 2005–06 to assist applications for touring to remote areas.

With funding of $5.986 million in 2005–06, the Playing Australia program has been able to fund more tours to a broader range of communities across Australia, particularly in regional and remote areas.

Figure 2.1 Number of metropolitan (M) and regional (R) locations visited by touring exhibitions and productions in 2005-06

	ACT		NSW		VIC		SA		QLD		NT		WA		TAS
Program	M	R	M	R	M	R	M	R	M	R	M	R	M	R	M	R
Contemporary Music Touring Program	36		51	106	48	38	28	4	32	41	5	20	18	70	11	11
Playing Australia	13	0	17	76	36	95	9	6	15	79	12	13	9	33	15	17
Visions of Australia	3	0	5	36	10	23	7	8	9	14	3	3	6	13	8	7

In 2005–06, fifty productions were supported under the program, an increase over 2004–05 and 2003–04 when 47 and 32 productions respectively were supported. Playing Australia funding approved in 2005–06 will enable those 50 productions to present 1443 performances to 709 communities across Australia.

In addition to funding for tours, Playing Australia has continued to support the development of performing arts touring infrastructure, including providing funding to assist in managing the twice yearly national performing arts touring market (the 'Long Paddock').

The number of locations and types of tours funded across regions in 2005–06, set out in figure 2.1, demonstrates the broad impact and significance of the major touring programs.

The Australian Film Commission's Big Screen 2005 touring film festival visited 27 regional centres around the country, reaching 18 839 people. The festival achieved a significant expansion compared to the previous year when it reached 14 990 people in 18 regional centres. This brings the attendance for Big Screen events since 2001 to more than 101 000 people in 58 regional centres.

Films screened included the newly restored classic Jedda from the National Film and Sound Archive and new releases including Little Fish, The Proposition, Look Both Ways, Josh Jarman and Oyster Farmer. Many guests associated with the films attended screenings including Craig Monahan (director, Peaches), Bridget Ikin (producer, Look Both Ways) and actors Marcus Graham (Josh Jarman), Steve Bisley (Big Steal and Mad Max), Michael Caton (The Castle), Sam Worthington (Gettin' Square), Alex Dimitriades (Head On) and Nathaniel Dean (Somersault).

Funding for the 2005 Big Screen festival was funded by the Department through the Australian Film Commission in 2004–05. Funding for festival events from 1 January 2006 is provided from the Film Commission's appropriation.

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Regional cultural activities

Diversity of and access to cultural activities in regional areas

The Festivals Australia program is an Australian Government cultural funding program administered by the Department. It provides assistance to Australian regional and community festivals for the presentation of quality cultural projects. Funding is available to a festival to add a new or special sort of cultural activity that has not been undertaken before and could not otherwise be afforded.

In the 2005–06 Budget, the Government committed funding of $1.5 million over three years to establish Festivals Australia Regional Residencies, a new initiative that extends the Festivals Australia program. The Department is administering the additional funding which assists regional communities to develop and present an artistic expression of an Australian story relevant to that community or region. The program funds artists-in-residence to work with community members.

The Regional Arts Fund aims to encourage and support community-based cultural development in regional, remote and very remote and isolated communities throughout Australia and to increase access to information and to opportunities for skills development for regional artists. The Regional Arts Fund is providing $16.1 million over four years from 2004–05 for the development of cultural activities in regional areas. While the Department is responsible for the program, it is delivered in partnership with state and territory regional arts organisations representing hundreds of local regional arts councils across Australia. In 2005–06, the Department provided $3.983 million through the Regional Arts Fund for the support of regional cultural activities.

During 2005–06, funding of more than $1.7 million was approved by the Minister for the Arts and Sport for 62 cultural projects supported through Festivals Australia (see case study, page 37) and 38 projects supported through Festivals Australia Regional Residencies. A further 235 projects totalling nearly $2.48 million were supported through the Regional Arts Fund. The projects covered a diverse range of art forms across all states and territories.

Examples of the funded projects are set out below.

• Funding of $20 533 from Festivals Australia enabled the Outback Fringe Festival to build on its celebration of the arts and culture of the outback region of South Australia with a dance project, Movin' in the Outback. Four weeks of dance workshops for the youth of the area culminated in a series of site-specific dance performances.
• Funding of $35 000 from Festivals Australia Regional Residencies enabled Hobart's multi-art form festival, The Works, to hold its signature event Works on Wheels. The creation and presentation of mobile sculptures inspired by everyday wheeled vehicles culminated in an arena parade at the festival finale.
• Tales from the Yard is an oral history and script-writing community project based in Keith in regional South Australia. Funded through the Regional Arts Fund, the project has led to a dramatic re-creation of the school days of yesteryear by today's school children in partnership with aged members of the community.

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Arts training organisations

Efficient and timely administration of funding agreements

The Australian Government supports the national performing arts training organisations to provide elite level training that equips Australians for performance roles and for performance support areas such as direction and costume design.

Seven national performing arts training organisations received operational grant funding totalling $13.389 million in 2005–06. Funding is provided from the Cultural Development Program through comprehensive funding agreements which set out the outputs and reporting obligations of the organisations.

The following organisations were funded in 2005–06.

• Australian Ballet School
• Australian National Academy of Music
• Australian Youth Orchestra
• Flying Fruit Fly Circus
• National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association
• National Institute of Circus Arts
• National Institute of Dramatic Art

In addition, further funding of $4.2 million was provided to the following organisations.

• The National Institute of Dramatic Art was provided with $1.47 million for capital works on the National Institute of Dramatic Art building, which is owned by the Australian Government, and $31 848 for equipment to help to maintain, preserve and catalogue its archive collection.
• The National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association received $150 000 to assist with one-off relocation expenses and $200 000 for stage one capital works to provide interim accommodation for the college at its new premises at Mt Penang near Gosford, New South Wales.
• The National Institute of Circus Arts was provided with $2.3 million to assist it to complete the construction and fit out of its new training and performance venue.
• The Flying Fruit Fly Circus received $61 000 towards the purchase of a bus.

In 2005–06, all training organisations achieved results consistent with the terms of their funding agreements and acquitted their payments within the specified timeframes.

A total of 810 students were enrolled in the training organisations in 2005–06. Many graduates of the training institutions found work in their chosen fields, including with prestigious national and international companies. For example, 13 out of the 15 graduates from the Australian Ballet School have found employment with leading dance companies.

The Department supported a review commissioned by the Australian Government examining the performance of the Australian National Academy of Music and the Australian Youth Orchestra, and the possible future directions for elite training in classical music performance.

The review report made a broad range of recommendations to ensure the future success of the two organisations and the Department is working with the two organisations to implement them. The complex nature of the issues raised and the intersection with parallel reviews, such as the National Review of School Music Education and the Orchestras Review, caused a delay in finalising the report.

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Commonwealth and public companies

Efficient and timely administration of funding agreements and reporting arrangements

The Department administers annual grants to a small number of companies operating in the cultural sector. The funding allocated to these companies over the last three years is set out in figure 2.2 below.

Figure 2.2 Funding allocated to Commonwealth and public companies

Institution	2003-04 ($m)	2004-05 ($m)	2005-06 ($m)
Film Finance Corporation Australia	60.500	60.500	70.500
Film Australia Limited*	9.993	10.848	13.007
Austalian Children's Television Foundation	2.472	2.511	2.543
Ausfilm	1.023	1.047	1.321
Bundanon Trust*	0.150	0.490	0.847
Australia Business Arts Foundation*	1.665	1.652	1.651

* These entries include supplementation provided in 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 to cover expenses associated with implementing the government reporting requirements under the Budget Estimates Framework Review and supplementation for insurance provided by Comcover.

In 2005–06, all the companies met their respective reporting requirements and the majority of payments were acquitted within the specified timeframes.

The Film Finance Corporation Australia invested $75.8 million in a diverse slate of feature films, television drama programs and documentaries, which generated a total production value of $183.8 million. The Corporation's two-door funding policy is starting to show positive signs with several films performing well at the box office and receiving critical acclaim.

Film Australia Limited delivered 21 National Interest Program points consistent with its obligation to produce 100 program points under the five-year contract with the Department. It also commenced its history initiative—a 10-part series of high quality documentaries on Australia's history.

The Australian Children's Television Foundation's Kahootz educational multimedia project has continued to increase its penetration with sales to Australian schools and international education institutions. In addition, the Foundation's programs Noah and Saskia and Holly's Heroes won several awards and screened at prestigious festivals in 2005–06.

Ausfilm continued to promote and market Australia internationally as a destination for film-making. In 2005–06, four foreign feature films, three co-produced feature films, five foreign television productions and seven co-produced television drama productions were made in Australia.

There was continued strong growth in participation in Bundanon Trust's education program, with an attendance increasing by 12 per cent compared with 2004–05.

The Australia Business Arts Foundation exceeded planned targets in many of its program areas including new partnerships, adviceBank and boardBank placements, and levels of donation to the Australia Cultural Fund. The Foundation's state chapters and state managers have actively facilitated greater links between the arts and business sectors and have promoted the role of the arts in Australian communities.

During the year, the Department worked with relevant companies on the development of their respective corporate plans for the Minister's approval.

The Department provided ongoing advice and assistance to the smaller Commonwealth companies, the Australia Business Arts Foundation, Bundanon Trust and Film Australia Limited, on a range of issues including reporting and governance requirements, financial reporting and grant management.

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Cultural Ministers Council and related initiatives

The Cultural Ministers Council is the ministerial forum for the exchange of views on issues affecting cultural activities in Australia and New Zealand. It provides a forum for cultural cooperation between the Australian Government, Australian states and territories and New Zealand.

The council comprises the ministers responsible for cultural activities in these jurisdictions. Cultural ministers from Papua New Guinea and Norfolk Island, and a representative from the Australian Local Government Association have observer status on the council. The ministerial council is supported by a standing committee of senior officials from each jurisdiction. The Australian Government assumed the chair of the Cultural Ministers Council and the standing committee after the meeting in 2005 and will hold it until after the next meeting, scheduled for September 2006.

The 18th meeting of the Cultural Ministers Council was held in Cairns, Queensland on 5 August 2005. The Department provided secretariat support to the council, the standing committee and the Statistics Working Group, a subcommittee of the standing committee. In addition, the majority of council initiatives continue to be managed by the Department on behalf of the council. These initiatives can at times require significant investment of departmental staff resources. For example, the Department chaired and provided secretariat services to a number of council working groups and committees including the Major Performing Arts Working Group, the Orchestras Review Implementation Reference Committee and the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy Implementation Committee.

Key initiatives undertaken

On behalf of Cultural Ministers Council, the Department continued to manage the funding agreement with the Collections Council of Australia. The Collections Council finalised its first strategic plan and developed a vision for the collections sector. Its vision is for collections in Australia to be a source of knowledge, ideas, understanding, inspiration and creativity.

The Collections Council will work with partners and the community to see that collections are widely accessible, clearly defined, actively connected to the communities they represent, recognised for their significance, used collaboratively and managed for sustainability.

The Return of Indigenous Cultural Property program funds major state and Northern Territory museums and the National Museum of Australia to expedite the repatriation of Australian Indigenous human remains and secret sacred objects from their collections to Indigenous communities of origin. The Return of Indigenous Cultural Property program is designed to augment existing museum repatriation activities and is administered by the Department on behalf of the Cultural Ministers Council.

In August 2005, the Council agreed to establish a third round of funding from 1 October 2005 to 30 June 2007. There has been significant progress to date. At the end of round two (30 September 2005), 1134 ancestral remains and 377 secret sacred objects had been returned to Indigenous communities since the program began. In addition, ownership of 341 ancestral remains and 226 secret sacred objects had been transferred to Indigenous communities. These items are held by the museums for Indigenous communities.

Other successful outcomes of the program are that museums are now better informed about the size and nature of their collections and more communities are aware of these holdings. Despite the significant achievements made, due to the complex nature of the program and the need for extensive consultation with Indigenous communities on very sensitive issues, progress has been slower than anticipated.

During 2005–06, the Department continued to administer the contract for the delivery of the Collections Australia Network (formerly Australian Museums and Galleries Online) on behalf of the Cultural Ministers Council as an online resource for use across the collections sector.

The Department's secretariat support and financial contribution to the Statistics Working Group of the Cultural Ministers Council assisted in the ongoing production of core cultural statistics required for monitoring developments in the cultural sector. Statistics Working Group reports released in 2005–06 included:

• Cultural funding in Australia—three tiers of government 2002–03 ;
• A statistical framework for the music sector ;
• Social impacts of participation in arts and cultural activities ; and
• Cultural tourism in regions of Australia .

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Educational Lending Right and Public Lending Right schemes

Increased access to Australian books in public and educational libraries by providing support to Australian creators and publishers

The Educational Lending Right and Public Lending Right programs provide payments to eligible Australian creators (authors, editors, illustrators, translators and compilers) and publishers whose books are held in educational and public lending libraries. Both programs support the enrichment of Australian culture by encouraging the growth and development of Australian writing and publishing.

The Public Lending Right program was established in 1974 and is ongoing. The Educational Lending Right program was established in 2000 as a component of the Books Industry Assistance Plan. In the 2004–05 Budget, the Government announced funding of $44 million over four years to continue the Educational Lending Right program.

The number of titles registered with the Public Lending Right program that received a payment in 2005–06 was 22 977, and 36 025 titles were registered with the Educational Lending Right program. Payments were calculated from the results of the annual sample surveys of books held in public lending libraries and educational lending libraries.

There continue to be significant increases in new claimants under the Educational Lending Right program as it becomes more widely known and as publishing in the educational sector continues to expand in Australia. The Public Lending Right program, on the other hand, is a mature program that is well known among creators. Eligible claimants remain relatively constant, with new titles added to the program offset by older books falling below the minimum number of copies (50) required to attract payments.

Payments under the Educational Lending Right and Public Lending Right programs in the last three years are set out in figures 2.3 and 2.4.

Figure 2.3 Educational Lending Right payments

Number of payments made			Publishers	Total payments ($m)
	New claimants	Creators
2003-04	411	7981	304	10.230
2004-05	540	8681	314	10.377
2005-06	440	9423	355	10.408

Figure 2.4 Public Lending Right payments

Number of payments made			Publishers	Total payments ($m)
	New claimants	Creators
2003-04	403	8409	328	6.504
2004-05	412	8605	344	6.818
2005-06	392	8570	353	7.002

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Art Indemnity Australia

Australians have wide access to exhibitions of significant Australian and international cultural material

Art Indemnity Australia is the program through which the Australian Government indemnifies owners against loss of, or damage to, works loaned for exhibitions of significant cultural material. This indemnity by the Australian Government makes it possible for some of the world's greatest masterpieces to be brought to, and exhibited in, Australia.

In 2005–06, Art Indemnity Australia indemnified the following exhibitions:

• Dutch Masters from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam;
• National Treasures from Australia's Great Libraries;
• Constable: impressions of land, sea and sky;
• Cook's Pacific Encounters; and
• Picasso: love and war 1935–1945.

Over the past five financial years there have been no indemnity claims under the program.

Art Indemnity Australia aims to achieve an equitable geographic spread of exhibitions over time. In 2005–06, the program provided access to significant cultural exhibitions in a number of states and the Australian Capital Territory.

During the year, as shown in figure 2.5, the number of venues for, and geographic spread of, indemnified exhibitions were comparable to those for indemnified exhibitions in 2004–05.

However, it is anticipated that a broader geographic distribution of exhibitions will be achieved through exhibitions such as National Treasures from Australia's Great Libraries which will tour to every state and territory between 2005–06 and 2007–08. In addition, it is anticipated that a number of exhibitions proposed for indemnity in future years will also tour to venues in several states, so providing wider access to significant cultural works.

Figure 2.5 Art Indemnity Australia—number of venues and geographic spread

	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
ACT	2	1	3	2	3
NSW	1	3	2	0	0
VIC	2	3	2	3	3
TAS	0	2	1	1	1
SA	0	0	4	2	0
WA	1	1	2	0	0
NT	0	2	1	0	0
QLD	0	2	1	0	0
Total number of venues	6	14	16	8	7

Source: Art Indemnity Australia managing organisations.

Figure 2.6 Art Indemnity Australia—number of visitors to indemnified exhibitions

2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
591 000	647 000	397 994	474 253

As shown in figure 2.6, exhibitions indemnified under Art Indemnity Australia attracted over 474 000 visitors during 2005–06, an increase of approximately 19 per cent compared with visitor numbers for the previous year, although down from 2003–04 when the indemnified Out and About exhibition toured works of art from the National Gallery of Australia's collection to state and regional galleries. Rather than touring to a small number of venues, Out and About toured individual major works to a larger number of venues.

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Indigenous languages and cultures programs

Impact and range of activities funded to recognise, protect, and promote use of Indigenous languages and participation in traditional and contemporary Indigenous cultures

The Maintenance of Indigenous Languages and Records program and the Regional Arts and Culture Support program are funded by the Australian Government and operate Australia-wide. In delivering these programs (which before 2004–05, were delivered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services), the Department works cooperatively with the Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination and other agencies as part of a whole-of-government approach to Indigenous affairs.

The Maintenance of Indigenous Languages and Records program operates to support the revival and maintenance of Indigenous languages as living systems of knowledge shared by communities and passed down from generation to generation.

In 2005–06, forty-eight organisations were funded to undertake 82 activities at a total cost of $8.327 million. This included funding to 16 language centres and one peak body, the Federation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages.

The program also includes funding for endangered languages, that is, languages with fewer than 20 speakers. For example, the Kombumerri Aboriginal Corporation for Culture received $126 000 in 2005–06 to maintain 12 traditional languages of the Brisbane and Roma areas in Queensland through recording, archiving and promotional activities.

The program also contributed funding of $13 670 toward an innovative shared responsibility agreement with the Junee Correctional Centre to operate a language program for inmates that is supported by community elders.

The Regional Arts and Culture Support program operates to support the maintenance of cultural practice within Indigenous communities and the promotion of Indigenous cultures as dynamic and integral elements of Australian culture and identity.

In 2005–06, funding under this program provided $6.575 million overall to 132 organisations to undertake 147 arts and cultural activities. Activities included cultural awareness and revival programs, ceremonial and traditional practices, and community cultural activities such as festivals and performances.

For example, the program provided $98 450 to Kurruru Indigenous Youth Performing Arts Inc. to run youth workshops in singing, dance, drama, multimedia and cross-generational sessions of storytelling and cultural learning. The group conducts country and city projects. A performance highlight was Crossing Paths, which won Best Dance Performance in the 2006 Adelaide Fringe Festival. The program also contributed funding totalling $288 036 for 14 shared responsibility agreements around Australia to support community development and cultural exchange.

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Indigenous arts and crafts industry

Range of activities funded to recognise, protect and promote Indigenous arts and crafts

In 2005–06, the $4.379 million National Arts and Crafts Industry Support program continued to contribute to the growth of Australia's internationally renowned Indigenous visual arts industry by providing funding to 54 organisations to undertake 57 activities. Four of these organisations were provided with funding under shared responsibility agreements.

The program is a strategic industry development program. It provides direct funding support to Indigenous art centres, as well as to some arts support and advocacy organisations, with the overall objective of assisting Indigenous art centres to become stronger and thereby building a more sustainable Indigenous visual arts industry (see case study, page 47).

The backbone of the industry is the network of Indigenous art centres, mostly based in remote Indigenous communities. The art centres provide materials, space to work and technical assistance for artists, and linkages to national and international dealers, collectors and galleries, and they ensure that the artists are treated fairly.

To give added impetus to the industry, the Government has committed $4 million over four years for upgrading Indigenous art centre facilities, for marketing activities and for training of young and emerging Indigenous artists and art centre workers. In 2005–06, the second year of the initiative, $1 million was allocated to 13 organisations to undertake 16 activities across all the funding categories.

The success of the program is reflected in the continued growth of the industry, the vigour and innovation being demonstrated by the sector and its artists, and the sustained demand for development and seed funding. Activities included traineeships for young Indigenous people in New South Wales and Victoria, workshops for artists in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia, and upgrading art centre facilities in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Lands, the Gibson Desert, the Kimberley and on Mornington Island.

Document ID: 52566 | Last modified: 6 February 2008, 1:07pm