Craft Australia Defunded
The CCF/FCMA has learned our colleagues in Australia are facing dire funding cuts. In late October, the Visual Arts Board (VAB) of the Australia Council announced that it would defund Craft Australia, the national peak organization for the Australian craft and design sector.
Without this financial support, Craft Australia will be forced to close by December 2011 and its significant 40 year legacy will be lost. Craft Australia believes the decision by the VAB is unjustified and was made without proper consultation either with Craft Australia or the craft and design sector. The decision has not followed due process or due governance and is in breach of its own documented guidelines. Craft Australia is challenging this decision and is also seeking immediate interim funding from the Australia Council.
Without a national organization there can be no concerted advocacy position for the Australian craft and design sector. This could leave the sector vulnerable to further erosion of funding.
Thankfully, the CCF/FCMA is not currently facing the same cuts from our own national arts board (the Canada Council for the Arts), but were that to happen, we would face a similar fate as Craft Australia. The CCF/FCMA hopes that those invested in the development of Craft practice worldwide will support Craft Australia in their bid to regain funding.
Please sign the PETITION
Organized by the Canadian Arts Coalition, Craft was represented by Maegen Black of the CCF/FCMA and Rowena House of the Nunavut Arts & Crafts Association, who met with representatives from the office of Ryan Leed (Conservative MP from YK), Keith Ashfield (Conservative Minister from NB), and with Dennis Barrington (NDP MP from NWT).
Recognizing the Government’s goal to reduce Canada’s deficit by 2014, members of the Canadian Arts Coalition presented a more modest set of priorities than in previous years. Parliamentarians were asked to maintain investment in the Canada Council for the Arts, integrate arts and culture in the government’s foreign policy initiatives, and to maintain funding levels to key arts, culture and heritage programs delivered by the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Steering Committee members who met with Heritage Minister, James Moore reported a very positive dialogue. Moore assured the Coalition that the Government intends to find savings with minimal impacts to artists or the stability of the arts ecology, though the potential effects of future spending reductions remains an ongoing concern for the arts community. He was quoted as stating: “Supporting culture isn’t a left wing issue or a right wing issue, it’s the right thing to do”.
At the same time, the potential effects of future funding reducations remain an ongoing concern for the arts sector. The Coalition will continue to be watchful of forthcoming government decisions, working with MP’s across all parties in support of increased investment in arts and culture.