Disability Arts History Australia

Items

• "The Australian Council for the Arts established in 1968"
  The Australian Council for the Arts was established in 1968. This came after a push during the late 1960s for better support of the arts in Australia. The Council replaced the Elizabethan Trust as Australia’s main arts body, although the Trust continued to receive funding from State governments. The Council was later given statutory authority in 1975 and called Australia Council. Prime Minister Gough Whitlam is recognised as a key political supporter of the arts. The election of Whitlam (serving from December 1972 to November 1975) gave unprecedented and considerable attention and funding to an arts policy which would establish an Australian cultural identity raising international awareness. The Australian Council for the Arts received an unprecedented $14 million in funding in the 1973/74 budget. This was “more than double the allocation the bodies out of which it evolved had received the year before. The Council’s allocation was increased by a further 50 per cent in the 1974/75 Budget."
• "Australian Film Commission created"
  In 1975, the Australian Film Commission was created, providing grants for film and television projects.
• "The Australia Council establishes the Community Arts Committee in 1973 and the Community Arts Board in 1978"
  The Australia Council established the Community Arts Committee in 1973 and the Community Arts Board in 1978. The purpose of the latter was to encourage wider participation in the arts, especially for groups with little social capital. The Board was “the first funding body to identify the community arts phenomenon and respond with definition and policy." This occurred under the directorship of Rosalie Bower, the first director of the Community Arts Board, who wrote in a paper entitled 'The Case for a Community Arts Centre': “The activities within a centre should be accessible to children, aged people, the physically handicapped, ethnic groups and those whose time is severely restricted by work and family ties. The activities supplied by the centre should be conducted free from competitive elements which otherwise might discourage people from participation, and they must be inexpensive and accessible at almost any time. They must not pre-suppose education or income levels which would cut them off from any section of the community.'" (Australia Council 1979/1980 Annual Report, page 32)