In addition to the two companies mentioned in our last report on dance grants, another company had its funding withdrawn by the Australia Council (AC).
Buzz Dance Theatre, a youth company based in Perth, disappeared from the Key Organisations category, which guarantees companies receive funding for a three-year period. The company had been receiving $136,000 p.a. under this category.
According to general manager Pippa Davis, the AC advised her that Buzz might be better off applying under the Community Partnerships section of the funding body.
“Our issue with that is that such partnerships tend to push a message or a social justice issue. Although a lot of our work is based around that sort of thing, we find that with these partnerships the project becomes more about the message rather than the dance. We end up being forced to work in a certain way and constrained in terms of our artistic ability.”
Davis says Buzz was “on notice” from the AC when she took the reins in 2009, because its had lost its reserves of $78,000 as well as gained $15,000 in debt. Since then she has turned the finances around so the company now has a healthy reserve.
Buzz Dance Theatre was established in 1985 as 2 Dance. It presently has a core team of four dancers led by artistic director Cadi McCarthy, and stages performances and workshops in schools, as well as travels to Indigenous communities in the state. It has expanded its reach from 19 high schools in 2009 to 47 in 2011, with 33 per cent of high schools in Perth last year attending the company’s double bill performance. (The company also receives $282 p.a from the WA Department of Culture and Arts and additional funding from Healthways.)
The company intends to continue with its program in 2012 and will seek funding from other sources.