Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 12—Culture and recreation 555
C10.4 GOVERNMENT FUNDING OF THE ARTS(a), By Artistic Purpose, Australia—1991–92 to 1998–99
1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99
$m $m $m $m $m $m $m $m
Artistic purpose
Literature and
publishing 15.1 14.3 13.7 13.6 15.5 14.5 16.8 17.3
Visual art, craft,
photography 22.0 20.6 25.4 26.2 31.4 28.7 29.6 29.8
Art galleries 92.9 74.9 87.1 109.6 119.6 122.9 121.8 129.5
Music (excl.
opera) 28.7 25.0 25.1 29.2 34.2 40.2 64.9 67.7
Theatre, opera,
dance 65.1 72.2 73.8 76.8 89.4 89.9 92.3 100.8
Performing arts
venues 83.7 92.5 120.9 137.5 134.9 188.3 160.8 168.4
Community arts 39.3 37.6 44.2 50.9 59.6 51.1 57.6 65.9
Film and video 105.3 104.0 99.6 102.4 106.9 127.1 121.2 117.5
Multimedia — — — 48.5 1.8 6.0 7.5 4.4
Total 452.2 441.1 489.8 594.7 593.3 668.7 672.5 701.3
(a) Including Commonwealth, State/Territory and local government funding.
Source: Derived from data contained in Cultural Ministers’ Council, Cultural Funding in Australia (various years); Hans Hoegh
Guldberg, The Arts Economy: 1968–98 (Sydney: Australia Council, 2000); and data supplied by National Centre for Culture
and Recreation Statistics, ABS, Adelaide.
C10.5 RECURRENT AND CAPITAL ARTS FUNDING(a), By Artistic Purpose, Australia—1998–99
Recurrent Capital Total
$m % $m % $m %
Artistic purpose
Literature and publishing 15.8 91 1.6 9 17.3 100
Visual art, craft, photography 28.2 95 1.6 5 29.8 100
Art galleries 110.6 85 18.9 15 129.5 100
Music (excl. opera) 67.6 100 0.1 0 67.7 100
Theatre, opera, dance 100.2 99 0.6 1 100.8 100
Performing arts venues 100.8 60 67.5 40 168.4 100
Community arts 68.8 104 –2.9 –4 65.9 100
Film and video 101.8 87 15.7 13 117.5 100
Multimedia 4.4 100 0 0 4.4 100
Total 598.2 85 103.1 15 701.3 100
(a) Including Commonwealth, State/Territory and local government funding.
Source: Derived from data in National Centre for Culture and Recreation Statistics, Cultural Funding in Australia, 1998–99.
This article has focused on direct support for the
arts by the public sector, but it is important to note
that some significant private sector funding of
artistic activities in Australia has also occurred over
the years, as we observed earlier in regard to
bequests of money and artworks to the nation’s art
galleries. In the current period, private support for
the arts has come via business sponsorship, which
yields a payoff to the sponsor through marketing,
advertising, promotion of brand image etc., and via
philanthropy, where individuals, corporations or
foundations donate funds without seeking a
tangible return. Several schemes have been
introduced by successive Commonwealth
governments which provide taxation incentives to
donors in an effort to stimulate the flow of funds.
The positive outcome of such programs is to
leverage new money for the arts; the
downside for any government has to do with
loss of control over the direction of this
funding, and hence some potential for
dilution of the strength of public cultural
policy. Estimates of the amounts of funds
flowing to the arts from the private sector are
difficult to make; one study in the early 1990s
put the amount of direct support enjoyed by
the arts as a result of bequests and donations
(not including business sponsorship) in
1992–93 at about $90m, or about 15% of total
support. 16 The cost to Treasury of such an
amount, measured in terms of revenue
forgone, is likely to have been around
$30–40m, depending on the marginal tax rates
assumed to apply.