Shepparton arts community receives more than $1.4 million in grants

These payments will provide ongoing support to the organisations over the next four years, with annual payments of $250,000 to Kaiela Arts and $100,000 for Shepparton Arts Festival.

State Member for Shepparton Suzanna Sheed said these annual payments were the best way to ensure the region’s arts community kept thriving.

“While one-off grants are always welcome, recurrent funding of these organisations is important to ensure their ongoing viability and continuity within our community,” Ms Sheed said.

“To have the assurance of funding for several years in advance is welcome and particularly in the environment that has been extremely challenging over the course of the last two years.”

Shepparton Arts Festival general manager Louise Tremper said these grants were a big win for the city’s arts community.

“This allows us to get out of crisis mode and gives us the stability to focus all our energy on delivering an amazing festival for 2022 and beyond. By allowing us to retain awesome staff, this ensures we pump every other dollar we get straight to artists and the many other businesses that support us,” she said.

Ms Tremper said the funds would go towards supporting operations for the festival and more staffing.

Kaiela Arts chairperson Bobby Nicholls said the grants arrived at a good time following the hardships that came with COVID-19 lockdowns.

“Kaiela Arts is delighted in the funding that Creative Victoria has announced for the next four years. This funding will help sustain our current operations and help support our aspirations,” he said.

“The funding will help expand the types of artworks, the ambition of our artists (such as one-off architectural pieces) and employment opportunities.”

Mr Nicholls said the funding would offer support in building on the development of local Indigenous artists.

“We want to help more locals become more self-sustaining artists and grow the reputation of the local community,” he said.