The Wollongong Art Gallery, Circus Monoxide and the Bundanon Trust will share in $160,000 of state government funding set aside to help arts and cultural organisations.
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Minister for the Arts Don Harwin announced 53 not-for-profit organisations around the state would be supported with $4,030,000 through Create NSW’s Arts and Cultural Organisations Program to assist them throughout 2019.
The gallery will receive $70,000, the Shoalhaven trust $60,000 and the Fairy Meadow circus training organisation $30,000.
Circus Monoxide manager Jonathan Christley welcomed the grant which will assist in providing greater access to the arts and fitness.
“We’ll be using the funds to support access for people with a disability, people who have left school early, disadvantaged learners and artistically supporting a youth performance troupe to do a local production,” Mr Christley said.
A spokeswoman for Wollongong Art Gallery also welcomed the funding but declined to divulge to the Mercury where the money would be spent.
The aim of the grants are to improve the quality, innovation, excellence and development of arts and culture; increase access and engagement with diverse artists and audiences; increase employment in the sector; and sustain arts and cultural organisations and infrastructure.
“This investment will help a broad range of NSW arts and cultural organisations stage a huge variety of annual programs of events, exhibitions and performances for the State to enjoy year-round,” Mr Harwin said.
“This significant annual funding will help local organisations to improve on their offering, contribute to local employment and just as importantly, increase the number of opportunities for audiences to access and enjoy arts and culture.”
To apply for annual program funding, an applicant must meet certain criteria to be eligible. A Create NSW spokesman said many of the same clients regularly applied though the number has fluctuated over the past three years: “due to the nature of clients requiring program funding or applicant eligibility”.
In addition to the above recipients, multi-year funding has already been flagged for the South Coast Writers' Centre, Illawarra Performing Arts Centre Ltd and Wild Rumpus until 2020.
Meanwhile, the recently introduced Creative Kids voucher can be used to subsidize classes at Circus Monoxide.
The voucher is available per school-aged child in NSW – on top of the Active Kids rebate – meaning a family with four children could potentially save $800 on various activities and lessons.