IFACCA is delighted to release D’Art report no. 38, Multidisciplinary Arts: Approaches to Funding, prepared by MDR Burgess Consultants on behalf of the Canada Council for the Arts.
The report, which summarises the findings of a D’art question developed and conducted by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Australia Council for the Arts, notes that definitions of multidisciplinary arts are broad and inclusive, with an emphasis on the presence of more than one discipline, which may extend beyond the arts. Some funders are interested in developing sustainable communities, and encourage indigenous and community arts practices, such as Maori or Malay arts or circus arts. Most funders responding to the survey indicated that they use peers to assess funding applications. Assessment criteria can be either specially tailored to multidisciplinary arts, or be more general. Among responders who reported on their resource allocations, resources earmarked for multidisciplinary arts range from 3 percent of total granting budgets to 11 percent. Some funders cautioned that resources allocated to multidisciplinary arts may be greater than reported amounts, which should be considered as conservative.
The report includes a detailed bibliography and a guide to relevant resources and background information on the topic. As well as Canada and Australia, respondents to the survey included agencies in England, Finland, New Zealand, Burundi, Cuba, Singapore, Colombia and Sweden.
The report is currently available in English and French. It will be translated into Spanish in early 2010.
We thank all respondents for their contribution to the research.