History

Australia’s Arts Councils grew out of the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA), founded by Dorothy Helmrich in Sydney in 1943, after a movement founded in Britain some four years earlier which toured performing and visual arts to boost morale and employ artists during World War Two.

These movements followed on from the establishment of the School of Arts and Mechanics Institutes which had a moral purpose in the application of the arts to the ‘civilisation’ of the working man and woman. It is interesting to note how the emphasis has shifted today to communities setting the agenda by requesting particular products and creating new work locally.

It was 1961 before Queensland Arts Council (now trading as Artslink Queensland) finally took root. The inaugural President was Dr Gertrude Langer.

It was a state government grant of 500 pounds from the Department of Education which gave the organisation some tenure. In 1965 Bryan Nason was employed as tour director and the first bus was purchased with 5,000 pounds donated by The Courier-Mail.

Touring became the mechanism for bringing life changing arts experiences to regional and remote areas. However QAC’s activities have always been far broader than touring. It is the company’s roles as producer and as a catalyst for community cultural development which now provide an animating sense of purpose.

During its time of operation QAC has demonstrated its role as a catalyst for the development of many activities and organisations we take for granted today:

• The network of NARPACA venues have been established almost universally by strong and dynamic Local Arts Councils working for many years in fund-raising and advocacy to achieve the establishment of the network of venues

• The Queensland Arts Council Opera Company has Opera Queensland as its legacy today

• The Macgregor Summer School had its beginnings as the Queensland Arts Council Annual Vacation Schools for Creative Arts 1962-1977

• Touring of major arts companies beyond their metropolitan bases has been made possible through the network and resources of QAC and indeed, many performing arts companies have been mentored and founded with QAC support

• QAC has administered the Regional Arts Fund annually on behalf of the Australian Government, in 2010 providing over $300,000 of funding to regional community arts projects

• QAC also hosts ArtsYakka, an online resource providing information to artists, arts workers and the general public with regard to coordinating and hosting regional events, applying for funding and engaging communities in the arts

• In 2006 QAC staged the largest ever Regional Arts Australia National Conference, The Pacific Edge, in regional Mackay

• Also in 2006 QAC and Heritage Building Society won the prestigious Toyota Community Award at the 2006 Australian Business Arts Foundation (AbaF) State Awards for best practice in business arts partnerships delivering broad community benefits in Queensland

• From 2008 to 2010 QAC ran the community arts project Reconnect@Normanton, working with elders and young people to create connections in the Indigenous and isolated community of Normanton

• In 2009 QAC approached the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation for philanthropic support for the Youth Program and Exhibitions program and a mutually successful partnership was born that has provided QAC with program funding to 2013

• In 2010 QAC won the tender to run the peak tour coordination program, arTour on behalf of the State Government, following on from extensive adult touring experience with ARTS, Arts in Transit and Ontour Onstage  

• Also in 2010, QAC won the Creative Generators South East Queensland contract from Arts Queensland and the Australia Council for the Arts, a new model to promote and support community arts and culture, and to build the capacity of artists and communities

• Since launching in 2010, QAC’s network of Associate Member arts organisations has grown to almost 200; a network represented on QAC’s website, intended to become the ‘one stop shop for regional arts in Queensland’

• In 2011, in response to the severe weather events of that summer, QAC initiated a Music Arts Dance and Drama Camp (MAD Camp) for flood effected young people to participate in a weeklong camp at the Ipswich Girls Grammar School. With workshops, events and day trips to the Gallery of Modern Art and QPAC the event was extremely successful and would not have been possible without the generous support of the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation

• In 2011 our nomination for Mr Tim Fairfax for the 2011 Goldman Sacks Philanthropy and Leadership Award was successful and Mr Fairfax received the award at the 2011 Australian Business Arts Foundation (AbaF) National Awards in October

• In 2012 Queensland Arts Coucil changed its trading name to Artslink Queensland