From the AMPAG archive — restored from the original media release of March 2013, when the Gillard Government released its National Cultural Policy Creative Australia.
AMPAG welcomed the federal Government’s National Cultural Policy Creative Australia on its release on 13 March 2013, along with the $235 million attached to it, and the recognition by the Minister for the Arts, Simon Crean, of the need for certainty of continued funding for the major performing arts companies.
The policy committed the Government to a sustained funding framework for the major performing arts sector, formalised the role of the major companies as anchor cultural institutions, and articulated a national policy commitment to artistic excellence, diversity, indigenous arts, and access for regional and remote audiences. AMPAG’s chair, Derek Young, said at the time: “We welcome the Minister recognising the need for certainty of continued funding to the major performing arts companies that will ensure they can provide ongoing excellence in performance and community engagement.”
What the policy did for the majors
The policy preserved the Major Performing Arts Framework — the funding mechanism that had supported the major companies since the 1999 Nugent Review — and adjusted the base funding of six companies previously judged under-funded (Circus Oz, Bangarra, Belvoir, Malthouse, West Australian Ballet and Black Swan State Theatre Company) by a total of $9.3 million. It also brought new money for elite training institutions and $14 million for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. AMPAG also welcomed the extension of the partnerships with the states through a new “excellence pool” for the major companies with state/federal matched funding.
Why this matters in the longer arc
Read in 2026 hindsight, the Creative Australia policy is the high-water mark of bipartisan federal commitment to the major performing arts sector. The 2015 Brandis Catalyst Fund redirection redirected $105 million from the Australia Council to a Minister-controlled fund and unsettled the framework Creative Australia had stabilised; $32 million of it was returned to the Australia Council in November 2015, and a Senate inquiry recommended that the rest be returned; and the 2023 announcement of Revive — A Place for Every Story, A Story for Every Place rebuilt the cultural policy framework from the ground up under different assumptions, including the rebranding of the Australia Council as Creative Australia.
Original release: AMPAG (13 March 2013), “National Cultural Policy creates certainty for majors”. Restored from the archived release on the Wayback Machine.
Correction, 8 November 2026: We corrected this archive post against the original AMPAG release. An earlier version attributed a quotation to the then-CEO that the release does not contain; the quotation now given is the release's own, from AMPAG's chair.
