This year’s Budget was a mixed bag for the broader music and cultural industries with the Australian Government prioritising whole-of-economy incentives that may provide some benefit to the broader sector. Most COVID funding distributed over the last two years largely stops and provides context to the big drop in funding for the arts sector in the forward estimates. Items include:
Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund: An additional $20m for RISE. This funding will be rolled out by September 2022 and application dates made available on the Office for the Arts website.
Live Music Australia Program: No new money for the Live Music Australia program which supports venues to host live Australian music, but this program which distributes $5 million per annum continues until the end of 2023/24 Financial Year.
Other Cultural Funding: Funding for cultural institutions including the Australia Council and Screen Australia have remained largely static.
Small business skills and training: small to medium businesses will be able to deduct an additional 20 per cent of expenditure incurred on external training courses provided to employees.
Small business technology investment: small to medium businesses will be able to deduct an additional 20 per cent of expenditure (capped at $100,000) incurred on business expenses and depreciating assets that support digital adoption.
Tourism investment: Around $146.5 million to support the recovery of the Australian tourism sector in response to the pandemic impact which may have some flow on to the broader live music and events sector. Almost half of the budget allocation for tourism will be rolled out globally.