ARTSHUB – 5 MAY 2026:
“Victoria’s new Creative Industries Minister, the Hon Vicki Ward MP for Eltham, urgently needs to reverse the funding cuts to arts organisations recently instituted by Premier Jacinta Allan and the previous Creative Industries Minister Colin Brooks.
Even the Footscray based Snuff Puppets have had their modest $112,000 annual support snuffed out.
These are not just minor cuts but massive blows to arts institutions that have defined Victoria’s creative identity.
Arts organisations with small funding commitments are now seen by Labor as expendable.
This is a sector that defines Victoria’s cultural identity, and contributes more than $40 BILLION annually to the Victorian economy.
The Opposition has also submitted a FOI to Creative Victoria to interrogate some of these inexplicable arts funding decisions.
So far, Creative Victoria has refused to provide us with these documents, and we have referred the matter to VCAT.
We are currently awaiting a directions hearing.
What process did the Allan Government go through to arrive at these savage and gratuitous cuts?
The Opposition has strongly opposed these cuts.
A Jess Wilson Government recognises the importance of the arts and creative industries, both for the soul of our state and for our economy.
Short-sighted cuts that leave our state poorer, in every sense, need to be strongly resisted.
We now call on the new Creative Industries Minister to reverse them before further cultural and economic damage is done.
Ward has her work cut out for her and must stand up for the arts and creative industries inside the Allan Government.”
– Victoria’s Shadow Minister for Arts & Creative Industries, the David Davis MP
