Australia Council invests $2.4 million to support recovery of creative industries 

The Australia Council has announced the recipients of its investment in initiatives to support the recovery of the nation’s cultural and creative industries.

The investment through the Re-imagine: Sector Recovery Initiatives fund includes strong support for First Nations arts and cultural organisations (including Ilbijerri, KALACC, Aboriginal Art Centre Hub of WA, Tranby, Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, Gujaga, Digi Youth Arts) and organisations working with people with disability (including Arts Access Australia, Dirty Feet and Studio A).

A total of 39 applications were supported through two streams: Cultural and Creative Solutions and Industry Collaborations. 

Cultural and Creative Solutions will support artists and organisations to re-imagine practice and operations in light of the pandemic impacts. 

The Industry Collaborations stream is designed to support cross-industry collaborations across and beyond the cultural and creative industries. 

Artists and organisations were asked to respond to key priority areas for recovery (including equity and justice, mobility and exchange, resilience, health and wellbeing, leadership and digital) aimed at building a more resilient, sustainable and equitable future for the cultural and creative industries.

Australia Council Head of Sector Development, Jade Lillie commented “Australia’s creative and cultural industries are vital to our recovery from the impact of COVID-19, supporting our wellbeing, contributing to domestic tourism and supporting the economy. 

"This investment will support new ways of working, refreshed business models and significant cross-industry collaborations for social, cultural and environmental impacts. It is a timely and strategic investment to ensure a resilient, thriving future for Australian creativity and culture.”

The investment will support initiatives including:

• Aboriginal Art Centre Hub of Western Australia - the peak body for art centres across Western Australia will use new technology and software to connect arts centres across Australia to promote best practice and help meet demand for authentic First Nations art products.  
• Digi Youth arts - Queensland based not-for-profit will create new mentorship opportunities for young and emerging First Nations music programmers and creative producers as part of a broader initiative aimed at increasing the number of First Nations Music Programmers and Producers in Australia.
• Creative Recovery Network - based in Queensland, will build on its work supporting communities impacted by natural disasters with creative initiatives that support wellbeing and recovery. This project includes plans to establish a new taskforce that would play a role in national emergency management.
• Studio A - a Sydney based arts company providing professional development for artists with intellectual disabilities. The project will involve developing new educational resources for schools, offering the opportunity to further showcase the talents of artists with disability. 
• Regional Arts Australia - supporting the digital transformation and delivery of Australia’s largest regional and remote arts gathering, Artlands.
• ArtsPay - a new technology startup which will divert profits back into the arts. This initiative will support a collaboration between ArtsPay, artists and experts in social enterprise aimed at building innovative new artist-led and sustainable funding sources for the arts.
• Sydney Review of Books - for Works Cited: a weekly online literary newsletter that will aggregate new non-fiction, including works published in other Australian literary journals, and give them an additional platform. This project will circulate reviews and features by and about Australian writers, providing the opportunity to showcase Australian literary culture to new audiences.

The Sector Recovery Initiatives are supported by the Sidney Myer Fund.

Click here for more information on the Australia Council website.