WHAT'S HAPPENING IN VICTORIA?

19 October 2026

Next week, I head to Victoria for my first Board meeting with Malthouse Theatre. It does seem somewhat ironic to join a Board (I had been saying “never again” a lot recently) in Melbourne (yes, I will be subsidising some of my own travel) of a theatre that was always seen as a competitor to Melbourne Theatre Company. But I admire their current leadership team, Dean Bryant and Vivia Hickman, have always been an audience member at Malthouse and it gives me a good excuse to get back to Melbourne to see MTC shows. 

However,  I’m rather worried about the world I’m heading to. In an article called “Portrait of an arts scene on fire” by Gabriella Coslovich, there’s a list of Victorian arts organisations that have lost state government funding in the last year:

-          Writers Victoria

-          Australian Print Workshop

-          Abbotsford Convent

-          Public Galleries Association of Victoria

-          Snuff Puppets

And then there are the 15 organisations that only have two year funding which barely enables one to plan a program:

-          McClelland Sculpture Park

-          Shepparton Art Museum

-          Castlemaine Art Museum

-          Castlemaine State Festival

-          East Gippsland Art Gallery

-          Express Media

-          HotHouse Theatre

-          Jewish Museum of Australia

-          La Mama Theatre

-          Linden New Art

-          Open House Melbourne

-          Rawcus Theatre Company

-          St Martin’s Youth Arts Centre

-          Theatre Network Australia

-          Theatre Works.

With the exception of one gallery and one association, I have visited or seen work by or even worked with each of those organisations.

Why has the Victorian Government, with all it claims to Melbourne as the nation’s arts capital, decided that its community doesn’t need or value these cultural companies? Sure, governments are facing increasing financial pressure in the face of rising service and infrastructure costs. But just imagine the state of the arts in Victoria in the $15-30 billion lost to corruption and criminal misconduct (according to an independent investigation) by the Victorian government in the Big Build projects had been spent on the Arts instead? It’s hard to imagine because that increase would be massive. The State Government does invest, according to the Creative Industries Minister Vicke Ward, “$1 billion to support our artists- from grassroots creators through to major cultural institutions like the NGV.” Although how much of that  is going to infrastructure (always beloved of politicians) such as the NGV Contemporary which has already blown out to a potential total of $2 billion)? In reality only $75.8 million goes to small to medium companies (but MTC is also funded out of that pot) with $77 million going to what are called the eleven “portfolio agencies” such as Arts Centre Melbourne and the State Library. 

Arts Centre Melbourne

A while back I did an exercise looking at the decrease in real arts funding over the last few years. Covid obviously had an impact but starting in 2019 and comparing it to 2025 provided some depressing results. Most arts companies that I looked at hadn’t have cash increases let alone real increases over that period. As an example, Malthouse’s cash grant from the State government has decreased by $145,787 and in real terms, that’s a decrease of $425,000 from their 2019 grant i.e. a reduction of over 30%.

I haven't reviewed MTC's grant situation but I do know that 10 staff, including some who had worked for the company for nearly 20 years, have recently been made redundant.

I appreciate that Victoria’s new premier Ben Caroll is facing not just a $200 billion debt but also an election in November. But as one arts manager says in the Coslovich article, it “feels as though the arts sector has borne the brunt of Victorian Labor’s financial mismanagement.”

I’ve always claimed that it doesn’t matter which party is in power. It matters whether anyone in a position of power, usually the Premier or Prime Minister, values the arts. Because doubling the investment in the arts would barely be noticeable on a budget ledger.  But it would seem at the moment Australia doesn’t have someone like that -  apowerful person who cares.. And god save us if One Nation has any influence on our future governments, state or federal. They haven’t bothered to put out an arts policy per se but their approach is simply to reduce funding for arts and multicultural programs as part of their “government waste reduction” plan.