Hello friends and arts philanthropy readers. I haven’t posted for a while as I have been doing a long research project. But, I noticed this week that there was not much commentary on one of the Budget items affecting the arts which is that Creative Partnerships Australia is to be subsumed into the Australia Council.

As a former staff member at the previous incarnation of Creative Partnerships Australia, the Australia Business Arts Foundation, I have an interest in how this plays out. In the past the Australia Council hosted ArtSupport Australia – which connected artists and arts organisations with philanthropists and Private Ancillary Funds (PAFs), while the Australia Cultural Fund sat with AbaF and now Creative Partnerships Australia – for artists to seek their own direct funding from individual donors while offering a tax deductible receipt.

Interestingly, the Australia Cultural Fund has its own deductible gift recipient status (DGR1) and can therefore be transported relatively easily to another governing entity. But what about the research, mentoring and matched giving which Creative Partnerships Australia has been providing? These aren’t functions which the Australia Council has historically engaged in with the wider arts community – and – will the Australia Council keep a representative or office in each state as Creative Partnerships has done, thereby maintaining a closer connection to the arts community?

While there are pros and cons for making changes in this space, to me, the idea of returning a national and relatively accessible organisation back into a centralised – and originally single purpose organisation – ie giving out grants based on a peer review process will raise some difficulties for an already under resourced sector.

Have a look at Jo Caust’s comprehensive coverage of this here.

and let me know your thoughts.