Page 136 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 9 February 2022
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some of these include the $2 million having been allocated in the most recent budget for the upgrades to the Tuggeranong Arts Centre theatre space. This new project will commence this year and will provide work for local project managers, contractors and suppliers.
In October I also released my statement of ambition for the arts, aiming to make Canberra Australia’s arts capital, and it will be the framework to guide the development of an arts policy and an arts organisational funding model. As a first step to realising this ambition, we announced more than $13 million in additional funding in last year’s budget to provide support to local artists, arts organisations and cultural facilities, some of which I just mentioned.
We also recognise that creative and cultural sectors go beyond simply music, dance, theatre and visual art, and to better understand the wider creative industries and their contribution to social and economic wellbeing we have commissioned a research project jointly funded with the University of Canberra. It is data based and empirically led and it will identify the creative industry growth areas for us. But of course we have already seen that growth in the ACT.
We have demonstrated potential in television series and feature film productions, with successes like Secret City, Total Control, Blacklight. Screen Canberra is the primary channel the government uses to develop and grow the screen industry in the ACT and it does have a track record of building local screen industry capability. We have committed continued operational funding for Screen Canberra so that it can deliver on a range of priority initiatives. That includes the Screen Investment Fund and the Screen Attraction Fund. The Screen Investment Fund is expected to generate up to $30 million in local screen production. And that means jobs. The Screen Attraction Fund is aimed at attracting large national and international productions that can demonstrate they will be spending over $2 million in the ACT.
As members are aware, in January 2021 Hollywood came to Canberra, with the production of Liam Neeson’s Blacklight injecting approximately $2 million into the ACT economy and providing employment for roughly 100 Canberrans. It is set for its cinematic release in the coming weeks, and Canberra will be presented on the world stage as a great option for big budget productions.
We have also invested in future production infrastructure by contributing more than $800,000 to the Academy of Interactive Entertainment and their new state-of-the-art facility for film and virtual production, meaning that Canberra is a great place to develop capability and production.
As restrictions continue to ease, our beloved events calendar for this year is filled with a range of COVID-safe activities. Our budget provided over $10 million for expenditure in the delivery and support of major and community events. To support the events sector, last year we undertook a review of the Events ACT application and funding processes to make it easier for applicants to apply. This resulted in the streamlining of the application and funding categories. We also continue to work with successful applicants who have secured funding to ensure that we are flexible to the COVID situation and its changing requirements. Members may be aware that we
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