NSW Government announces $85 million arts and live music funding

The New South Wales performing arts and live music sector will receive $85 million in state government funding to help kick-start COVID-19 recovery, it was announced today.

NSW Minister for the Arts Ben Franklin said the $85 million package includes an $80 million extension to the Performing Arts Relaunch package.

The additional funds would be provided to music charity Support Act, to allow them to continue supporting individual artists and crew members.

“The additional $5 million grant that we are providing to Support Act as part of this package will help to bridge the gap for assistance for those not eligible under other government funds and ensure our state’s artists are not left behind as a result of disruptions caused by the pandemic,” Minister Franklin said.

Applications for the Performing Arts Relaunch package are open to eligible NSW venues, promoters and producers to relaunch performing arts activities until Saturday, 30th April.

The announcement was welcomed by ARIA and PPCA CEO, Annabelle Herd, who said the package would make a “huge difference” to artists across NSW.

“Moreover, it is an important step in recognising the economic and cultural value of a sector that has been long suffering as a result of the pandemic,” she said.

“It is my hope this will provide a major confidence boost to artists, performers, promoters and industry professionals, allowing us to begin the long road to rebuilding NSW’s live music scene.”

The package has been announced in addition to the Event Saver Fund announced last month, which aims to support any major NSW event that was cancelled, or significantly disrupted, by COVID-19.

“While this is a critical step forward for NSW, I encourage all levels of government to consider how further support may be provided to boost confidence in returning live music touring at a national level and help get musicians back to doing what they love across the country,” Ms. Herd said.

The announcement comes just in time for Support Act.

The charity, which gives crisis relief to those unable to work due to sickness, injury, mental health crises or an issue like COVID-19, had mostly spent the $40 million in federal government funding it received to help people through the pandemic, CEO Clive Miller told ABC.

“It’s been absolutely critical to enabling us to provide and distribute more than 15,000 crisis relief in grants valued at more than $35 million to help people who work in music and live performing arts to make sure they can pay for rent, medical expenses and put food on the table,” he said.

The ABC reported artists like The Rubens’ Sam Margin had needed assistance from the organisation.

“We’ve had great success in that we’ve been able to do this for a living for 10 years — that said, we still rely on touring to be able to live and only do that as a job,” he told the outlet, explaining that limited capacities had meant it wasn’t financially viable to tour at all.

“So we were living week-to-week and Support Act’s little bonus just helped us pay some bills and stuff really… Once you get to that point, where you are looking at your repayments and it’s not looking good, anything is really wonderful, so [I’m] very grateful.”

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.