Ahead of Thursday’s ministerial reshuffle, artists appeal to the new PM to reverse arts funding cuts.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott may not be the only political casualty of this week’s Liberal Party leadership spill which saw Malcolm Turnbull dethrone Abbott to become Australia’s fourth PM in five years. Many within the arts community have rallied to lobby the new Prime Minister to dismiss Senator George Brandis as the Minister for the Arts and reverse the drastic changes to the arts funding infrastructure instituted by the Minster in the Federal Budget. This includes cancelling the creation of the new National Programme for Excellence in the Arts (NPEA) which has syphoned over $104 million from the Australia Council.

The Australian reported that Senator Brandis was among 14 Liberal frontbenchers who backed Turnbull’s successful challenge of Tony Abbott for the country’s highest office. However despite this allegiance arts leaders have called upon the newly sworn-in Prime Minster to return the reallocated funds to the Australia Council for the Arts.

Ahead of the cabinet reshuffle announcement expected tomorrow, which could see Senator Brandis dumped as Arts Minister, an email from the #FreeTheArts movement urged those in the arts community to write to the...