art & australia

So you may have heard the horrible news that our government has cut funding from the Australian Council for the Arts and they've received $23 MILLION LESS than expected for the remaining 2015 and 2016 grants.  What does that mean for artists?  It means the June grants have been cancelled for a start, of which I was about to send in application.  It didn't really sink in at first but when you read the statement on Ozco's website it hits home how badly this is going to affect artists.  The changes include;

• the Australia Council June grant round, including government programs, will not proceed
• existing applications can be assessed within the September round, which will include multi-year project support for individual artists and arts organisations
• the six-year funding for organisations program is suspended
• the Australia Council will honour the current contracts of multi-year funded organisations until their conclusion at the end of 2016
• the ArtStart, Creative Communities Partnerships Initiative and Artists in Residence programs will not be offered in the future.

I'm at a bit of a loss really...  It takes so much work to write a grant application and get it ready, and the odds aren't great to begin with.  And now they're even less!  I'm working on the hugest project of my life This Wild Song, and it will probably become a lifelong project.  I believe in it, it's important, I feel driven to support and promote women in the arts yet I'm going to need help to realise it.  But who is going to help me?  I'm determined that TWS is getting made despite these cuts.  I'll keeping applying for whatever grants are left and probably crowdfund to get it started as well, I'll make it happen no matter what!