Cultural funding to drive Western Australia’s creative culture
January 6, 2016
The Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund has given $95,000 to five creative projects in Western Australia and more than $933,000 to projects nationally in its latest grants round.
Western Australian initiatives include: $10k to Arts Margaret River for the Margaret River Reader and Writers Festival; $10k to writingWA for the Singapore-Western Australia Book Industry Trade Summit; $10k to Perth International Festival for the 2016 Perth Writers Festival Inspired Learning Program; $5k to the Westerly Centre for the Westerly Magazine’s Writer Development Program; and $60k over three years to The Literature Centre Inc for the Regional Talented Young Writers Program.
The Regional Talented Young Writers Program will be presented by seven leading Australian authors to Year 6-12 students in Albany, Bunbury, Busselton and Geraldton between March and October 2016.
The authors are: Catherine Bateson (VIC), A J Betts (WA), Isobelle Carmody (QLD), Scot Gardner (VIC), Phillip Gwynne (SA), Barry Jonsberg (NT) and Dianne Wolfer (WA).
The novelists will mentor some 600 students each term from 40 government, independent and catholic schools. Students from these regional areas would not typically have access to such programs.
Chief Executive of the Copyright Agency, Adam Suckling, says the Cultural Fund has given $20m to Australian creative organisations and individuals such as authors, teachers and visual artists in since it began in 2004.
“In this round of funding there is strong support for all forms of Australian creativity including journalism, Indigenous storytelling, children’s literature and enhancing Australian literacy,” Mr Suckling says.
“The Copyright Agency’s members generously give 1.5 per cent of annual revenue from their copyright royalties to provide opportunities to Australian creative organisations to develop new programs and engage audiences. This support is critical to Australia’s vibrant cultural life,” Mr Suckling says.
Submissions for the next round of the Cultural Fund are invited until 26 February, 2016.