Illawarra On Pointe artistic director and chief conductor Ryley Gillen, 26, is one of 82 movers and shakers in the arts that will make up 10 newly establish boards that replace five-person peer-reviewed panels.

Mr Gillen originally applied for the position because he felt he could be a "voice" for young musicians, the Illawarra and south coast.

"It has the potential to really make a big difference," he said. "It's going to allow a lot more things to come to life and not slip through the cracks."

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Mr Gillen sits on the classical music board while other groups have been created to address theatre, opera, museums, visual arts and dance and help judge the merits of funding applications.

From October they will begin considering funding applications specific to their area and forward recommendations to the Arts Minister.

"Nearly 40 per cent of our board members are from regional NSW and Western Sydney," Minister for the Arts Don Harwin said.

"From focused Aboriginal perspectives to live music experts and publishing excellence, philanthropy, visual arts and international business prowess, our leaders have a tremendous amount of knowledge to share."

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One-quarter of all appointments come from major art institutions, such as the Sydney Opera House and MusicNSW.

The new funding model combines 14 funding categories into two open rounds per year for all project and annual funding programs administered by Create NSW.

Assessment criteria will be pared back to three categories. Applicants will need to establish the artistic merit of their work, its viability with a realistic budget, as well as demonstrate the cultural, audience, operational or social impact of their project.

The funding changes, the biggest in more than a decade, had come about, the minister said, because of unhappiness in the arts sector with the way Australia Council and Create NSW processes had been working since they went to peer assessment.

"Every panel was different and it was difficult to anticipate what assessors expected to see in applications. It's not that we want predictability, it's we want high-quality, consistent assessment processes," Mr Harwin told the Sydney Morning Herald.

- with Linda Morris SMH

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