The state’s new arts funding policy has been developed after a year of consultation with the sector.

Given the string of gouging cuts Australia’s creative industries have suffered in the past 12 months, and with the 2016/17 Federal Budget on the horizon, the arts community are once again braced for bad news. In Victoria, however, a new cultural policy announced this week by the Andrews government is cause for celebration.

A pledge of $115 million investment in arts and culture initiatives over the next four years will support a range of different activities including the biggest losers of the NPEA (rebranded the Catalyst Fund), games development and film and television projects.

The bolstered funding platform is in response to a year of consultation with artists and members of the public resulting in a Creative State strategy which will introduce a number of reforms. Among the most significant provisions will see the commissioning of “landmark works” that will be “ambitious and groundbreaking.” These new works will premiere in Victoria, but will have the potential to tour interstate and overseas. In an apparent response to the devastation wrought by the NPEA, a particular focus on funding will be aimed at the...