This four-year funding round included a dramatic increase for arts and cultural festivals, with more than $1.9 million committed in 2026 and beyond. Four new First Nations organisations were successful, and three regional galleries: Murray Art Museum Albury, Ngununggula/Southern Highlands Regional Gallery and Lismore Regional Gallery.
Brett Adlington, chief executive of Museums and Galleries NSW, said the latest funding round equated to a $1.2 million drop in funding to public galleries.
“The small to medium public gallery sector is often the lifeblood of regional communities, providing not just quality exhibition programs but also a whole range of initiatives bringing connection to diverse communities,” he said.
“We fear that programs such as art and dementia, children’s programs and access programs could be the first to be cut.
“Additionally, these organisations are often the ones providing early career opportunities for artists of the region, as well as metropolitan-based artists, providing platforms for their work.
“We have heard from many organisations that will now be winding back artist commissions and the curating of new and locally relevant programs.”
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Time is running out for Cahill, who has so far raised $40,000 from the design centre’s public appeal. No option is off the table, including potential part-acquisition or partnership, with the ADC board to decide if the centre has a future later this year. Sydney Craft Week in October for designers and craftspeople may be ADC’s ninth and final citywide event unless a guardian angel arrives.
Industrial designer Rina Bernabei is working with ADC on an international project for work that will be exhibited at Design Miami. “As a designer and maker, there is no other leading state organisation for design and craft. It is vital to these fields,” Bernabei said. “It is our only voice and our future.”
Post-pandemic, it was a critical time to support and strengthen the small to medium sector, which continued to face precarious conditions, said National Association for the Visual Arts executive director Penelope Benton.
“Funding decisions need to consider the broader picture. It’s not just about which individual applications are strong on paper, it’s about what’s needed to keep the whole arts system going,” she said. “That means backing organisations that support artists over the long term – and make sure people across NSW, not just in major cities, can access the arts.”
A Create NSW spokesperson said the next new two-year funding program was at the assessment stage. The full funding profile of support for regional galleries would be available following that.
“The NSW government recognises the significant contributions made by regional art galleries to the arts and culture ecology across regional NSW,” they said.
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