Richard Watts, Queensland Budget delivers $173 million for the arts, ArtsHub, 14 July 2015
Premier and Arts Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk said her Government ‘has vowed to return [the] arts back to its rightful place’.
The Queensland Budget for 2015-16, handed down today, has restored funding cuts by the previous Newman Government and introduced a range of new initiatives and funding over the next four years …
Premier and Arts Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk said the new Budget would invest in the future of the arts, work to restore arts funding, and protect the heritage value of the state’s cultural institutions …
The government will provide a state contribution of $172.8 million in 2015-16 to the operating expenses of the Arts Portfolio including the arts statutory bodies – Queensland Museum, Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Screen Queensland and Queensland Theatre Company.
Brisbane’s Cultural Precinct will receive additional funding for upgrades to essential services.
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Vanessa Goodwin, Talking Point: Future is bright for arts sector in Tasmania, The Mercury 14 July 2015
…This year’s Budget … sees a considerable boost of $1.2 million for the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, our state’s premier cultural and tourism destination.
In addition to much need capital funding of $460,000, we will provide additional operational funding of $500,000 in 2015-16 and $250,000 in 2016-17 to support TMAG in the implementation of changes that will ensure the long-term sustainability of this important cultural attraction.
Last year TMAG’s Board of Trustees took action to address significant budget overruns of an average of $1 million per year each of the last five years up until 2013-14. The Government supported the Trustees’ commitment to addressing this unsustainable annual cost overrun.
The former Labor-Green government’s failure to adequately address TMAG’s operational budget, despite the $30 million redevelopment, has been a significant impediment to TMAG returning to financial sustainability.
