News
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CASP funds record 154 projects for 2003 Regional Arts NSW has announced grants for a record number of new arts projects in regional and rural New South Wales under the Country Arts Support Program (CASP) for 2003. A total of 154 projects will receive a share of $200,000 in funding devolved from the New South Wales Ministry for the Arts, following a doubling of the Government's commitment to the program. With grants of anything between $200 and $3,000 to pay artists' fees, dozens of community based groups now have a raft of new CASP funded arts projects lined up for the coming year. The list includes workshops in theatre, dance, music, writing, photography, sculpture and painting; artists' and writers' residencies; jazz, bluegrass and folk music festivals; a range of public art works including murals and sculptures; classical music performances; touring plays and shows; seminars and forums; publications; exhibitions; film and video projects and more. [link to full list below] "The Country Arts Support Program dramatically demonstrates how a relatively small amount of funding can have a major impact in regional areas," said Regional Arts NSW CEO, Victoria Keighery. "Literally thousands of people stand to directly benefit from the many projects CASP funds," she said, adding, "Most of these projects simply wouldn't be going ahead without a CASP grant." CASP provides small but indispensable grants to assist with locally developed projects for regional areas in New South Wales. Priority is given to small, isolated communities and to initiatives that are innovative, that develop skills and have ongoing benefits for their community. Recommendations for funding are made in each region by a local CASP panel which are then endorsed by the state CASP panel. Funding is spread evenly across the state, with each of the thirteen Regional Arts NSW regions having the same sized bite of the pie, and special allocations for regions not serviced by the network such as the Illawarra/Shoalhaven and Griffith/Leeton. Last year there were 136 projects funded under CASP from a total pool of $150,000 (which included $50,000 in funding from the Year of the Outback). Additional funding for the program has meant both an increase in the number of projects and an increase in the maximum amount of funding available per project (from $1,000 to $3,000). By the same token, however, competition for funding under the program has intensified. With $342,710 requested by applicants from an available $200,000 the success rate for 2003 was 58%. Last year's figure was 67%. The trend lends weight to the recent CASP Panel decision to commit funds to the provision of grant-writing workshops in under-represented areas of the state. Last year Regional Arts NSW delivered three grant-writing workshops in the Shoalhaven, Northern Rivers and Orana regions with the result that all three areas showed both an increase in the number and quality of applications for this year's round. The list of 2003 CASP grant recipients is available from the link below. There are nine projects in the list which have strong Indigenous arts components and over one quarter of the successful applications were for projects targeted at youth. The most popular artform amongst the successful applicants continues to be the visual arts and crafts, which received 21.5% of funding, followed by music (17%), theatre/performance/circus (15%), public art (10%), writing (9%), events within festivals (8%), film/photography (7%), dance (4%), Community Cultural Development workshops (3%) and mixed media projects (2%), with 3% of total funding going towards Guarantees Against Loss for touring shows. Look out for a CASP project in your area!
Media enquiries The Country Arts Support Program is
made possible with funding devolved
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For the full list of 2003 CASP grant recipients click [