National | Fund the Arts

First Tier launched Fund the Arts in September 2021 in the lead up to the 2022 federal election after decades of neglect, cuts, and drift in the arts sector.

Fund the Arts was an outside campaign that cohered significant arts practitioners, the art loving public, and reframed the way arts had been depicted, as an enterprise integral to everyone’s lives rather than some fringe pursuit.

We turned to arts academics, like Dr Ben Eltham, to scorecard parties and independents on their arts policies, garnered the support of big names, ran a very strong traditional, social, and digital media campaign, and a strong ground and stakeholder campaign.

We helped shape the arts policy of several successful federal candidates and helped win funding and policy reform. These commitments encompassed bolstering ABC funding, winning a commitment to local content quotas for Australia’s screen sector, advocating support for First Nations arts practice, and funding for regional arts.