Bold new funding era delivers $7m for arts and culture in NSW

Round 1 of the new 2019/20 Arts and Cultural Funding Program has delivered nearly $7.2 million in funding across Annual Organisation, Project and Creative Koori Projects categories.
Ten newly formed Artform Boards assessed the first round of annual and project funding.
Minister for the Arts Don Harwin said he was thrilled with the range and quality of the recommendations from the new Boards in their first assessment under the new framework.
“We set out to deliver a simpler arts funding process with fewer barriers to entry, that provided stability and certainty to more organisations.
“With Annual Organisation applications up 71% on the previous year, and a 20% uplift on the amount of Annual Organisation funding compared with 2018/19, it’s safe to say this has been achieved,” said Mr Harwin.
“Across 141 diverse recipients the Boards have used their sector expertise to recommend many new organisations for annual funding including the Sydney Fringe Festival, the Tweed Regional Museum, and the Omega Ensemble, while delivering a broad range of annual and project recipients that make a key contribution to their artforms.
“I’m delighted Round 1 of funding includes $2.7m for regional NSW and $1.4m for Western Sydney individuals and organisations.”
Arts and Cultural Funding Program Round 1 2019/20 snapshot:
–  Annual Organisation funding of $4,803,935 (up 20% on 2018/19) will support 65 recipients across 27 regional, 24 metro Sydney and 14 Western Sydney- based organisations.
–  30% of annually funded applicants are new with 55% of these from regional NSW and Western Sydney.
–  Project funding of $2,119,587 will support 69 diverse activities including 25 regional and 10 Western Sydney-based projects.
–  Creative Koori Projects funding will support 7 major Aboriginal arts and cultural projects from organisations across regional NSW and Western Sydney.