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Not sure what funding is available to you during COVID-19? We have broken down the available options and will continue to update this page:
Federal Government Announces $250 million JobMaker plan
The Federal Government has announced a $250 million JobMaker plan. Thousands of jobs across Australia’s arts industry will be backed with the new targeted package to help restart the creative economy and get the entertainment, arts and screen sectors back to work, as they rebuild from the impacts of COVID-19.
Regional Arts NSW announces 2020-2021 RAF and RAF Recovery Boost Guidelines for NSW
Regional Arts NSW has begun the delivery of this year’s Regional Arts Fund (RAF) program, and announced that the guidelines for 2020 – 2021 are now available for you to review, ahead of applying for funding. This year, The Regional Arts Fund will also deliver The Recovery Boost – an additional and one-off funding amount of $10million as part of the Australian Governments’ Relief and Recovery Fund.
RAF Recovery Boost will be offered in three phases, to provide short (Relief), medium (Recovery) and long-term (Renewal) support to regional artists, arts organisations and communities heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
$50 million COVID-19 Rescue and Restart package announced for NSW arts and cultural sector
The NSW Government has announced a $50 million rescue and restart package for NSW arts and cultural organisations to ensure the sector continues to make an important contribution to the NSW economy during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Create NSW COVID-19 support for NSW small-medium arts and screen sector
Create NSW has announced new funding initiatives and the repurposing of existing funding totalling $6.34 million to support independent artists and small to medium arts, screen and cultural organisations impacted by COVID-19. Create NSW has also partnered with the Australia Council, other state funding bodies and independent research consultants Patternmakers and WolfBrown to fund a research project investigating impacts of COVID-19 on the arts and cultural sectors. The study’s findings will be shared with the sector to help inform response and recovery.
Read the key elements of the COVID-19 measures here.
Australian Government Economic Response to the Coronavirus
On 30 March, the Government announced the $130 billion JobKeeper Payment to help keep Australians in jobs as we deal with the significant economic impact from the Coronavirus. For more information, please see the JobKeeper Payment factsheet. The Government’s $130 billion JobKeeper scheme has been passed with the support of both sides of Parliament. This is how it’ll work. The Government’s economic response targets three areas:
Supporting Individuals and Households – providing financial assistance to Australians to support them through the Coronavirus. This assistance includes income support payments, payments to support households and temporary early releases of superannuation.
Support for businesses – supporting Australian businesses to manage cash flow challenges and retain employees. Assistance includes cash flow support to businesses and temporary measures to provide relief for financially distressed businesses.
Supporting the flow of credit – ensuring the flow of credit in the Australian economy. Timely access to credit is vital for businesses to manage the impacts of the Coronavirus.
Targeted Support for Indigenous Arts, Regional Arts and respected charity Support Act
The Morrison McCormack Government is committing $27 million in targeted support across three particularly vulnerable areas of specific need.
The Government is providing $10 million to help regional artists and organisations develop new work and explore new delivery models. The funding will be delivered through Regional Arts Australia’s Regional Arts Fund.
To support Indigenous artists and arts centres, the Government is providing $7 million in additional funding. The funding will be delivered under the Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support program.
The Government is providing $10 million to Support Act, to enable it to extend its important work across the arts sector.
These targeted measures come on top of the Government’s JobKeeper initiative and expanded JobSeeker payment.
“Regional Australians are resilient and we will get to the other side of this crisis together.”
Copyright Agency releases $375,000 and brings forward $1.8m in Cultural Fund grants in COVID-19 support
Copyright Agency has announced a program of support for writers, visual artists and publishers in the face of the severe challenges they face as a result of COVID-19. Application forms to apply for the funding will be available shortly. Under this program, Copyright Agency will provide an additional $375,000 in grants to creators, as well as bringing forward to the first quarter of next financial year the forecasted annual $1.8 million of grants under the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.
Copyright Agency has incorporated feedback from its key stakeholders and directly addresses the fundamental challenges they face at this critical time. It includes a number of elements that will provide significant support to members in the coming months. Information on the new guidelines and timelines under the initiative is available on the COVID-19 Emergency Funding page.
Australia Council $5M Resilience Fund to provide immediate relief to the Australian arts sector.
The 2020 Resilience Fund is designed to provide emergency relief to support the livelihoods, practice and operations of Australian artists, groups and organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are three streams you can apply for:
Small grants for individuals, groups and organisations to offset or recoup money lost due to cancelled activity. |
Grants for individuals, groups and organisations to adapt their arts practice and explore new ways of working. |
Grants for individuals, groups and organisations to continue to create artistic work and/or develop creative responses in this time of disruption. |
Indigenous Art Code release COVID-19 Financial Support Options Paper
This options paper/information sheet provides some information about federal financial support already available to Indigenous arts collectives, centres, and individual Indigenous artists across Australia. These supports may be added to over comings weeks and months. In addition, some state and territory governments are announcing other assistance packages that could help the Indigenous art sector and these are not included in the document.
Service NSW Grants, Loans and Financial Assistance
This page includes information on:
Small Business Support Grant
JobKeeper payments
Small and medium enterprise (SME) guarantee scheme
Access to superannuation for sole traders
Expanded access to JobSeeker payments
Electricity and gas network relief package
Financial institutions
Facebook small business grants program
Creative Opportunities
Check out our What’s On for a guide to current opportunities available.
Each month we send our subscribers a guide to events, exhibitions, opportunities and workshops to keep our community inspired, creative and connected – check out our latest issue here
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Image: Biennale of Sydney | Brought to you through a series of digital activations and experiences.