Arts and cultural support for flood-affected communities
Flood-impacted arts and cultural organisations, screen practitioners, individual artists and collaborative groups in NSW will soon be able to access funding to support the immediate recovery of arts and cultural activities in their communities.
Minister for the Arts Ben Franklin said the NSW Government has committed an initial payment up to $435,000 to deliver financial support for the arts in flood-affected areas in the Northern Rivers region.
“The floods have had a widespread and devastating impact on the arts and cultural community, and includes the loss of studios, works in progress, equipment, and many priceless collections,” Mr Franklin said.
“The Northern Rivers region has the highest number of creative practitioners per capita in NSW, and while we know the full extent of the damage is still being assessed, it is critical we support affected communities in their recovery as quickly as possible.
“The NSW Government, through Create NSW, has worked in consultation with leading arts and cultural organisations in the region to develop the support package, which includes a $70,000 funding program to be administered by Arts Northern Rivers to deliver micro-grants of up to $1,000 to local artists and art groups.
“We’re also providing $70,000 funding to Screenworks to deliver micro-grants of up to $5,000 to support screen practitioners in the Lismore and other flood affected areas.
“In addition, to support other creative practitioners, organisations and groups across NSW, Create NSW will deliver a $200,000 Recovery Grants for NSW Creatives program, with grants of up to $30,000 available for eligible organisations and up to $10,000 for individuals and groups.”
Minister for Emergency Services and Resilience and Minister for Flood Recovery Steph Cooke said the targeted funding will provide urgent support to the arts and cultural community in the Northern Rivers region in the short to medium term.
“This financial support is in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars committed by the NSW Government to clean up our flood-affected communities, provide temporary accommodation, support families, farmers and businesses, and help councils fix damaged infrastructure,” Ms Cooke said.
The Recovery Grants for NSW Creatives are designed to provide targeted support to individuals and groups in the small-to-medium arts and cultural sector in flood and/or extreme weather-affected NSW communities.
Applications are open until Wednesday 20 April 2022.
For more information and to apply, go to: www.create.nsw.gov.au