News

Fighting on in the shadow of Black Friday

Tenacious arts companies are hanging on but six months after the loss of Australia Council funding the sector has been forced through a massive re-calibration.

4 Oct 2016 12:00

Richard Watts

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Writing and Publishing

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Friday 13 May 2016 was a dark day for the Australian arts sector. Following the 2015 raid on the Australia Council for the Arts by then Arts Minister Senator Brandis, we all knew that Council, now operating with a significantly diminished budget, would have to make cuts somewhere in its funding programs – but the result was worse than expected.

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Richard Watts

Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts