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'They are completely wrong': Senator George Brandis responds to arts reform criticism

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Senator George Brandis
Senator George Brandis says the new arts funding structure will support both traditional and experimental art forms.()
Senator George Brandis
Senator George Brandis says the new arts funding structure will support both traditional and experimental art forms.()
The debate around the future of arts funding in Australia continues to simmer, with high profile arts figures critical of the creation of a new National Program for Excellence in the Arts. Speaking to Books and Arts, Arts Minister George Brandis again dismissed suggestions that future funding will only be allocated to high art.
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Federal Arts Minister George Brandis has roundly rejected accusations he is attempting to politicise arts funding.

People have suggested that this is about my own personal taste. It is not.

Senator Brandis has been criticised by some members of the arts community over recent changes to the structure of arts funding, who labelled the reforms 'deeply disturbing'.

'They are completely wrong. They are completely wrong,' said Senator Brandis.

'This is about the best allocation of public money.'

Senator Brandis said his office had received 80 submissions since the draft funding guidelines for the newly created National Program for Excellence in the Arts (NPEA) were released.

'There are a variety of views,' he said.

'There are those who celebrate it and understand the point of it, and there are those who are committed to the status quo who don't want to see any sort of reform at all.'

The 2015-16 Budget was criticised by a number of senior arts figures, who expressed concern over the diversion of $104.7 million over four years from the Australia Council for the Arts to fund NPEA, which will be administered by Senator Brandis' ministry.

Some commentators have suggested that arts funding will now be more closely aligned with Senator Brandis' own taste for traditional high art forms such as opera.

But speaking to Books and Arts, Senator Brandis once-again dismissed the inference that the NPEA would not support emerging and experimental art.

'People have suggested that this is about my own personal taste. It is not,' he said.

'My commitment to excellence is not code for anything; it's a commitment to excellence.'

Instead, he suggested sections of the arts community are merely grappling with the broader concept of change.

'The problem is that people get so wedded to the status quo that they find it impossible to think that things could be done better.

'You always have to overcome the understandable fear of people with a vested interest in the status quo.'

Feedback on the draft guidelines for the National Program for Excellence in the Arts closes Friday July 31.

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Books and Arts explores the many worlds of performance, writing, music and visual arts, and features interviews with local and international authors and artists.

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Arts, Culture and Entertainment