Arts funding in the ACT will grow as part of a government overhaul of the way organisations access grants, which is designed to make the system more transparent.
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The government will also set out guidelines for paying artists and arts workers to ensure people are paid fairly for the creative work they produce in a move the Arts Minister hopes will set a new standard for the way the private sector engages with artists in the capital.
Tara Cheyne will unveil the new arts funding arrangements on Thursday, which she said would have clearer funding objectives and provide opportunities for new arts organisations to access grants to help them become established.
The government will also release an 82-point arts capital action plan, which includes expanding arts events, improved ticketing systems, and enhancing partnerships with the national cultural institutions.
The new funding model will have three grant streams, providing funding of between $100,000 and $1 million.
Arts centre investment grants will offer five-year funding arrangements of between $100,000 and $1 million annually to organisations managing government-owned arts centres to cover operational, maintenance and program costs.
Four-year funding agreements worth between $100,000 and $600,000 annually will be available to arts organisations, while a new series of grants will be available to "emerging arts organisations" to guarantee funding for two years up to $100,000 annually.
The new emerging organisation funding is designed to help new organisations develop programs and build sustainability, and organisations will be able to access a further two years of funding if they meet their obligations under the grant agreement.
Organisations receiving any of the three funding types will also be eligible for one-off opportunity grants worth up to $30,000 which will have a focus on supporting "collaborative or innovative activities to develop an artform and/or expand into new markets".
Ms Cheyne also confirmed ahead of next week's territory budget the total annual amount of funding available to the ACT would grow by 10 per cent to $7.9 million.
"We were funding different projects and organisations but there was a lack of a defined, or at least a refined, answer to the question recently of what is it for? And who do we want to be as a city? And because we didn't have that clearly answered, I think that bore out questions of, 'Why is that organisation getting that funding compared to this organisation getting this funding?'," Ms Cheyne said of former funding arrangements.
"That's not to say at all that how we fund organisations or what we've funded hasn't been worthy, but I think it has not had the degree of focus or coherence as it relates to what the government is trying to do."
Ms Cheyne, who released a broad "statement of ambition" for the ACT's arts sector in September last year, said it was achievable for Canberra to be recognised as Australia's arts capital, and the new funding arrangements would provide a path to this goal.
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The Arts Minister also said it was important for the government to set a standard on the way it interacts with artists and creative sector workers.
"[This is] putting our money where our mouth is as a government as a whole and demonstrating to the community that arts and arts work and arts workers are valued and that work that they do does attract a price. This is not by any means that I think there is an issue within government at all - not at all - but what I think we're signalling with this document and making it public is what our commitment [is] to artists and what they should expect when they're engaging with government through any directorate," she said.
Ms Cheyne also said it would be important for the government to work with and support First Nations artists in the territory. The government will work to help establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts space at the forthcoming Kingston Arts Precinct, along with ongoing efforts to enhance First Nations cultural and artistic practices.
"I think we're very clear that this is not just an afterthought; this is a primary focus," she said.
Arts organisations will be able to apply under the new funding arrangements from Thursday, with support from artsACT, in time for new funding agreements to be in place from the start of 2023.
The Canberra Times understands the ACT government will also announce additional funding for the redevelopment of the Canberra Theatre on Thursday.
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