‘In Anxious Anticipation’ by © Aaron Tilley / Kyle Bean ©
Friday 13th was a dark day for the arts. More than half the applicants failed to receive organisational support from the Australia Council’s four-year funding round, and 65 previously-funded organisations no longer have Federal funding.
The sector is bruised and many organisations are devastated. Companies that have been around for decades and shaped the cultural fabric of the Australian arts sector may no longer retain their assumed permanence. Projects will be paired back, organisations downsized, and diversity of work will suffer.
During such bleak circumstances, it’s near impossible to look for a ‘silver lining’, but there are steps, however small, that we can take to support each other. To uncover them, we approached arts business consultants and advocates to share advice on what to do next.
We know the sector is already punching about its weight, thinking outside the box on a daily basis, as well as looking to ‘innovate’ and collaborate where possible, so the following suggestions are an attempt to depart from futile or unrealistic recommendations and instead serve as a reminder that the work we do is important.
In such times of uncertainty, it’s important organisations avoid spreading themselves to thin, instead tap into a reserve of resilience to put up a fight and above all, support each other’s art.
1. Don’t hide that you are bruised
Fear of job losses, reduced capacity, paired back operations, company closures, disappointment and dismay. There is a very real reason to feel angry and knocked about by decisions that have decimated the funding pool in Australia. Show your bruises so the impact of such decisions can be seen. This is where we fight back.
2. Know it’s not a personal failure
‘We would urge you to remember that an unsuccessful outcome to this funding round this is not a personal failure but a situation that has arisen because of political circumstance. Don’t be defined by it, and be angry in a beautiful way,’ Theatre Network Australia reminded the sector before the Australia Council funding announcements.
Read: Help when AusCo cuts bite next week
3. Do not pass stress onto workers
Continuing to run insufficiently funded programs or spreading resources too thin only contributes to stress and burnout for staff. This is a time to address systemic issues in the arts including unsustainable workloads.
Read: Burning out? It’s not you who needs fixing
4. Adjust expectations
Instead of cutting resources and staff, look at adjusting expectations from a leadership, board and stakeholder level.
5. Voice your concerns
Australia needs to know the impact these funding decisions will have on arts and culture as a whole – let your voice be heard.
Read: Shock and anger as sector responds to funding crisis
As well as serving advocacy purposes, this may lead to partnership opportunities as other organisations are aware of your situation and may reach out to help get your through a non-funding period.
6. Remember the unity and resilience of the sector
It’s been a tumultuous year, but one that has shown the incredible camaraderie and determination of the sector. ‘The arts sector has demonstrated its extraordinary capacity for unity and resilience in the face of a turning political tide that has seen enormous upheaval to arts funding in Australia,’ said Theatre Network Australia.
7. Go back to your business plan
Now is perhaps a forced yet appropriate time to re-examine the way your organisation operates. Go back to your business plan and ask questions about whether it is robust and test for gaps that could have contributed to your loss of funding.
8. Make a survival list
Take time over the coming days to make a list of performers and artists you work with, colleagues from other companies, presenters, agents, education partners, sister organisations and so on to build a support network, and foster potential partnerships and new revenue streams.
9. Don’t compare your organisation to others
There can be complex emotions when it comes to celebrating success of others while grappling with your own loss. Avoid comparing your own organisations to others.
‘We are a tight-knit and strong community and we are all here to help each other in difficult times. It is super important to remember to be kind and support each other through this period, and that grace and generosity of spirit will go a long way,’ advised Theatre Network Victoria.
10. Keep your messaging consistent
Theatre Network Australia also suggests drafting a media release or e-news and social media material to clarify your funding status and express your organisation’s concern over the vulnerability of federal arts funding. Be sure to delegate a media spokesperson.
11. Ask key questions
There are several questions you can ask that can help you find clarity and focus. How might your organisation’s role shift now? What’s your legacy? What’s your niche? What are you currently doing that no longer makes sense? What’s important to adapt to, what do you need to keep the same? What else is on the horizon?
12. Consider other means of support
Grants are just one part of the funding makeup for arts organisations. Fiona Menzies, CEO, Creative Partnerships Australia encourages organisations to assess their current range of funding sources. When a major stream such as federal funding is cut, start by looking at other key supporters to seek additional support at this time.
13. Ask what else are you eligible for?
While they do not provide the same security of four year funding, project funding, state funding and local council grants can be useful. ‘Organisations need to look at how they can restructure to take that into account other funding sources,’ said Menzies.
14. Forget the administration struggle
Earlier this year, Melbourne Festival Artistic Director Jonathan Holloway inspired the arts industry to be exceptional with an anecdote about how an organisation survived when its funding budget was cut by Arts Council England. ‘What we realised is we could do more things we cared about and spend more time marketing instead of acquitting.’
If searching for alternative government funding models sounds exhausting, consider freeing up resources to pour into marketing and collaborations rather than proposals and acquittals.
15. Reach out to your closest supporters
Your keenest and closet supporters are the ones that are easiest to go to when things are tough, said Menzies. Share your concerns and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
16. Merge or work with another organisation that has similar goals
Larger organisations are opening up their spaces, programs and resources to support small-to-medium arts organisations. If you have something to share or see a fit, reach out.
Read: From major to minor: the new resource exchange
17. Share services
Similarly, rather than cutting staff consider how you can share resources and divide the costs of a salary with organisations that have similar needs.
18. Put yourself up for adoption
Menzies also suggests approaching larger organisations to see if they can partner with you or help to halve administrative costs so you are able to focus on delivering projects.
Read: How to make your office a co-working hub
19. Talk to your board about strategy
Funding losses often mean big decisions by the executive team and boards. Menzies forewarns such decision-makers ‘not to do anything rash.’
‘I think you need to be very measured and thought through in how you approach such cuts. The job of the board is strategy and governance and that obviously includes making sure you are resourced to do what you want to achieve. If you need to, adjust your strategy and what you are going to do deliver in a year.’
20. Have some breathing room
Letting the news sink in, communicating with the sector, reassessing, strategizing and listening takes time and needs space. Provide your team with breathing room and make sure everyone’s perspective is heard.
21. Do not make decisions in isolation
Communication is key. Talk to each other and other organisations about the next step. If need be, reach out to business consultants for advice – an objective look at your current operations can often help you see past the current fog.
22. Look to what other organisations are doing
There is a myriad of ways to approach being defunded and looking to what other organisations have done in the past or are currently doing can provide useful insight.
‘I think if you are able to get your head up above the feeling of desperation you can look around and see who else is doing things and how are they doing it,’ said Menzies.
23. Check for old habits and tired processes
When you are immersed in your project or the day to day process of running an arts organisation, it can be easy to fall into habitual approaches because ‘that’s how it’s always been done,’ explained Menzies. Pay attention to anything that might be a bad habit and attempt to shake things up.
24. Try to balance shock with a positive attitude
Finding a balance between feeling dismayed, upset and shocked and regaining optimism is a big ask, but the sooner a positive attitude can be adopted, the easier it is to pick up momentum, support others and enact changes.
‘I think it’s okay to be upset if you are defunded, but then you have to move on from that and work out what you are going to do next,’ said Menzies.
25. Seek consultation
When it comes to implementing changes, seek consultation with partner organisations, sister companies, or experts. ‘Don’t ever think you are the only one who knows it all or has all the good ideas – you never know what might come from those sorts of conversations,’ added Menzies.
26. Don’t get stuck in one mindset
Creative Industries Consultant Caroline Sharpen advises organisations to avoid a ‘hunkering down mindset’.
‘When times are tough you have to come out swinging and that means having a vision about how the world is a better place because your organisation is alive and thriving and then having the plan that matches that.’
27. Think big
As you approach new funding bodies or create new strategies to raise funds, think beyond simply surviving day to day.
‘It’s often easier to raise a lot of money than it is to raise a little,’ said Sharpen. ‘Your audience is going to be more excited, enticed and enchanted by a vision that is big and audacious than someone coming to ask for small amounts of money to simply survive.’
28. Go back to what you do best
It’s easy to get excited about new ideas and initiatives – it’s what the arts is renowned for doing – but during times of change, come back to why you are in business in the first place.
‘You have something unique and exciting to say and you have an audience for that, so it’s going back to basics and looking at the art you create and how you can find new ways to talk to people and new audiences,’ said Sharpen
29. Run a ‘challenge grant’
Combine crowdfunding and philanthropy by creating a ‘challenge’ grant where a donor can match what you raise, suggests Sharpen.
30. Leverage off the ‘innovation’ push
While the cuts to Australia Council funding appear to be a contradiction to Malcolm Turnbull’s innovation agenda – after all artists are the true innovators – there’s opportunity to milk these platitudes of all their worth.
Arts workers possess a unique perspective, mindset and ability to stretch resources, such skills that can be pitched to the business sector. ‘Corporations are struggling with creative strategy so there is a real role for outliers at those board room tables,’ said Sharpen. ‘They have this unique ability to distill really complex ideas – they know how to identify patterns and what it is to give and receive criticism.’
31. Don’t cut costs
The first thing many leadership teams or boards will look at doing is cutting costs, but as Sharpen points out, ‘no arts organisations has ever saved its way to safety.’
‘If anyone knows about stretching resources it is arts organisations – it’s never a spending problem it’s a revenue problem.’
‘When you start to cut costs you are cutting into your capacity to earn income… and your work becomes less exciting and less accessible because fewer people know about it.’
32. Take the parachute
This may sound counter-intuitive, but deciding when to pull the plug can be a proactive response to your new set of circumstances, explained Sharpen.
‘You may emerge with something new down the track – or this may be goodbye.’
Make sure you go out with a bang, have a party and genuinely celebrate the contribution your company has made, added Sharpen.
33. Remember government funding is nice to have, not essential
Monica Davidson of creative + business told ArtsHub she views funding as ‘nice to have, but not the essential part of being a creative practitioner.
‘You can’t rely on funding and I don’t think you ever have been able to – but it’s even more the case now when funding has been slashed.’
34. Rethink sponsorship
Sponsorship isn’t within reach for all arts organisations when numbers and eyeballs are a key determiner, but try to make the most of your niche. Companies often look for social cache and ability to speak directly to the right people.
It can also be a lot more straightforward than funding applications and acquitting. ‘Applying for funding can sometimes feel like you are tap dancing for an audience you can’t see – you don’t know what they want, and you are always trying to work out how to make them happy when you have no idea how to,’ said Davidson.
35. Build more efficiency
Spend time assessing inefficiencies rather than jumping straight to cost cutting. ‘I wouldn’t say organisations can cut costs, but internally put more efficiencies in place – there can be a lot of messiness and inefficiencies that take up time and money,’ said Davidson.
36. Create a new role
One response to funding cuts would typically be to bring in more volunteers, but this can exacerbate inefficiencies, or as Davidson describes, create more holes in a ship. Hiring a coordinator can save time and money and keep processes running smoothly.
37. Maximise your fee-for-service
Find ways to take what you are doing into the world – build services, products, workshops, seminars, and strategic models that people would pay for. Davidson recommends creating an educational offering, entertainment offering or a way to make an organisation fund itself.
38. Take stock
Take stock and determine whether projects are still viable, said John Paul Fischbach or Auspicious Arts Incubator.
‘For us, viability means two things: do you still want to do it, and is there a market for it? If you still want to do it an there is a market for it, then carry on because it’s not about the government giving you permission, it is about you reaching your audience.’
39. Speak to your audience
You need to get close to your customers and find out what they want, said Fischbach.
‘The market is security, so you need to start talking to them – why do they love what you do, why do they want what you do, how could you change what you do?’
Organise focus groups, coffee chats, surveys, connect online and get close to your audience.
40. Understand disruption
In Australia every art form has been disrupted, said Fischbach. ‘You don’t need the galleries anymore, you can exhibit on your own. You don’t need the publisher anymore, you can self-publish, and so it might be an interesting place to establish the business.
‘So carry on. Say to yourself, the thing I want to do is viable, I still want to do it, I met with audiences, I know why they love us and what they want, so now I can design some products and services that meet their need and I don’t need anyone’s permission, I don’t need any enablers, I can do this, because we live in this time of disruption.’
41. Turn a crisis into an opportunity
Once you have acknowledged the devastation and anger and feel supported, see if you can reframe the crisis. ‘We can either say it’s a crisis or say it’s an opportunity and grow,’ said Fischbach.
‘The most important thing is your mental framing – you can have the mental frame of lack, fear, scarcity and desperation, that’s your choice, or you can have the frame of love, gratitude, abundance, joy, what is going on in your mind is up to you.’
42. Be inspired by survival stories from the past
The arts is accustomed to setbacks and rejection. ‘It’s part of the business we are in,’ said Fischbach. When it comes to funding cuts, history is repeating itself. We have been here before in the 1980s.
‘The art didn’t stop,’ pointed out Fischbach. ‘Governments are going to come and go, and the funding is going to increase and decrease, increase and decrease that is just the cycle.
‘So when it is plentiful, scoop it up and make amazing things that will last forever. When it is tight and being cut up, change – it’s not about having to shrink or diminish.’
43. Remember why you are doing this
It can be empowering to remember how and why your organisation started operating in the first instance. ‘You don’t create art because the government gives you an opportunity, you create art because you have the passion and the vision,’ said Fischbach.
44. Get feedback on your application
Don’t jump to conclusions or play the guessing game – seek feedback as to why your funding application was not successful. Yes there was a smaller pool, but is there are useful feedback?
45. Go it alone
To re-quote composer and lyricist Casey Bennetto, of Keating! fame, when all else fails, do it yourself:
‘What to do when you’re defunded,
ev’ry dream and plan is plundered,
balances and cheques are sundered –
laugh or cry? I’ve often wondered.
Here’s the only real solution:
Fund the thing in execution.
Don’t depend on prostitution
(governmental contribution).
It’s not a rule I follow, true.
Do as I say, not as I do.’
…and to show support for others
46. Be sensitive to the range of experiences
If you are relieved, it will be at the cost of another organisation and if you are devastated there will be a peer who has your funding. Offer support and sympathy but recognise it is a sensitive time and people may not be ready to talk.
47. Show your support as an individual
Everyone can make a difference – subscribe to literary journals, see local productions, buy books by local authors, join local arts organisations, commit to the arts every week. Go and see some art.
48. Speak out and push for an inquiry
Your application may have been successful, but these cuts to the arts will have a ripple effect on the whole industry. Join the voices who are speaking out and standing up for the arts.
49. Share your resources
Be open to partnering with organisations and sharing resources or space with smaller organisations.
50. Come together
Theatre Network Victoria has set aside a day on the 12th July for the sector to come together to process the impacts of the funding decisions and plan for the future – individually, organisationally and as a sector, and we hope this will be a starting point for consideration and motivation of new possibilities.
Regional Arts Victoria and Footscray Community Arts Centre are also co-hosting an Arts Gathering that is an opportunity to check in on how people are doing, on Thursday 12 May from 530pm-7pm at RAV offices, Level 3, 370 Lt Bourke Street, Melbourne.
