Canberra Glassworks and Craft ACT were the big Canberra winners in Friday's announcement of the latest round of Australia Council funding, with both receiving funding for the next four years.

But the local arts community is reeling at the news that Canberra Contemporary Art Space was not successful, and will now have to look elsewhere for crucial funding in the coming years.

Director David Broker said CCAS was shocked to lose almost $70,000 a year in funding, even though arts organisations should never be too reliant on government money.

"With funding, one is always prepared for any eventuality, so you never take it for granted, and I think always have a plan B, basically," he said.

"But yes, I think it was a shock, I do really think that we serve the Australia Council's priorities actually really well."

He said the organisation, which has gallery spaces at Gorman House, Manuka and Civic, faced some "unpalatable" decisions in the coming weeks, including the loss of its studio residents' program for emerging artists.

"We're [also] going to lose the international residency exchange program, and we will have to reduce our programming and…rethink the entire operation, in a sense."

But he said the loss of funding was also an opportunity to revitalise the art space.

"We're looking at it very positively, as an opportunity to actually do some of the things that we've always to do that we may not have been able to do with recurrent funding," he said.

"In a sense, we're free. I don't want governments to think it's an advantage not to be funded, because it's not. However, there is an advantage in, I guess, staying fresh and not just following along the recurrent funding lines…

"I'm looking at rebuilding the program in a different way, and in a sense we're starting from scratch, and that is actually quite exciting."

Meanwhile, Canberra Glassworks general manager Beverly Growden was overjoyed that the organisation would be receiving its first round of multi-year funding - $495,000 in total or $123,750 a year.

The Glassworks, which celebrates its ninth anniversary next week, was peer assessed in the lead-up to the announcement, and Ms Growden said it could now position itself on a national stage.

"[The funding] acknowledges our national significance and reach and is a testament to the amazing contemporary glass artists who are working from here, and to the staff, board, volunteers and all of our stakeholders who have supported getting this organisation to this stage," she said.

Newly appointed chief executive of Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre Rachel Coghlan said the fact that Canberra's two main funding recipients are craft-based meant there was a growing recognition for the sector.

"There's a lot of potential and a lot of interest, so we're really excited to be part of that renewal," she said.

"Having the security of four-year funding just changes our whole outlook. We can now make some really secure commitments going forward…Longer-term funding just makes it easier to maintain the dynamism and take some risks, but also build the networks and marketplace connections."

Canberra-based national arts magazine Art Monthly Australia will receive almost $365,000 in funding over four years, while national dance organisation Ausdance, also based in Canberra, missed out.

Acting chief executive of Ausdance Neil Roach said the loss of funding would put the future of the Australian Dance Awards at risk.

"The loss of funding from the Australia Council will cripple the organisation, which has a 40-year legacy of supporting professional dance, dance teaching, and dance development and research projects," Roach said.

"The voice of dance will be diminished by a federal government policy that concentrates arts production in existing companies, and subjects it to a political influence through Catalyst funding."

Other high-profile losses include the long-established literary journal Meanjin, the National Association for the Visual Arts and the Centre for Contemporary Photography.