Opposition arts spokesman, Mark Dreyfus, has publicly promised that if Labor is elected next year, it will restore the funding that was removed in this year’s Federal Budget.

Quoted in The Australian newspaper, he said the cuts have been “a disaster for the arts”.

This commitment from Labor is in large part due to the public campaigning by artists and arts organisations, big and small, since the announcement in May.

More than 12,300 of you signed the Australians for Artistic Freedom petition co-ordinated by MEAA, Overland magazine and Theatre Network (Vic).

Thank you to everyone who donated to the fighting fund for the campaign. Those funds have been allocated to the printing and distribution of campaign posters that you will soon begin seeing in cities around Australia (pictured above).

Other campaign events have included:

• Thousands participating in simultaneous ‘dance off’ protests in every capital city;
• A national summit in Canberra to lobby support from Labor, the Greens and crossbench senators;
• And, most importantly, more than 2000 submissions to the Senate inquiry into the cuts.

Unfortunately, Arts Minister George Brandis is refusing to reconsider the cuts, and is proceeding with his new funding organisation, the National Program for Excellence in the Arts.

Representatives of arts organisations have also shared their concerns about the impact of the cuts at Senate hearings in Melbourne, Perth, Hobart and Brisbane.

We look forward to further constructive dialogue with all political parties about policies for the arts and creative industries, and will be campaigning on these issues in the lead-up to the next election.

This campaign is not over, but we can be proud of the impact we have had so far.