ADC’s funding crisis was triggered in January when it lost $200,000 in annual federal funding, and on Easter Thursday it was notified that it had also missed out on four-year state operational funding of $300,000 a year, despite being recommended by peer assessors.
In a more recent two-year funding round, Create NSW awarded it $150,000 for each of the next two years, but it has been unable to find new sources to make up its lost funding.
The news of its closure comes in a week in which the Herald revealed that an investigation was under way into allegations of serious wrongdoing around the hiring and procurement practices of the highly funded Powerhouse museum.
The Australian Design Centre in Darlinghurst.Credit: Sam Mooy
Additionally, Greens MP Cate Faehrmann raised questions in parliament last month about two recent museum hires alleged to have been paid $2100 and $1000 a day, contracted on combined pays equivalent to what the ADC needs annually to keep its doors open.
“It feels like my heart is being ripped out of my body – the thought of that body not being part of the infrastructure of creative practice is devastating to many people,” said Mel Young, one of two artist representatives on the board. “Without philanthropy or reconsideration of government funding, that’s going to happen.”
The ADC was luckier than 17 other organisations – 10 in regional NSW, five in metropolitan Sydney and two in western Sydney – that were unsuccessful in the same highly competitive Create NSW funding which had been previously funded to the tune of $2.5 million.
But the erosion of its core funding base, while it exists on ever finer margins, was the final straw, said executive director Lisa Cahill.
“It means a lot to people to work at the ADC, which has such a long history of supporting the creative community,” she said. “People are very sad and disappointed we can’t see a way forward after June next year.”
ADC champions designers, makers and craftspeople who tend to fall between the cracks in the visual arts scene. Last year, the ADC reported it had supported 1000 artists and generated $542,831 for its makers while hosting 333 exhibitions and events.
Young, a craft person working in jewellery and textiles, said that for designers mid-career, established audiences and the whole community, the decision to close was “utterly devastating”.
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“It feels like someone is about to die. I’ve been involved in this organisation my entire career. I first started going there with my parents as a child – it was my first job in the industry, the first place to show my work as an emerging maker.
“I’m one of thousands of people who have got their break as a craftsperson. Its influence is not just confined to Sydney, this is an organisation with serious national impact.”
Penelope Benton, executive director of the National Association for the Visual Arts, said the ADC was a confronting example of the precarious state of funding for the arts across the country.
“The consequences for artists, creators, arts workers and audiences are far-reaching and deeply concerning,” she said
NSW Arts Minister John Graham and Creative Australia were contacted for comment.
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