Industry Welcomes Changes To RISE Fund Criteria & Payments

As the national music industry sits in limbo with ongoing COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns, it's been announced that changes to the Federal Government's RISE Fund have been made to ensure the program reaches more businesses and workers across the live music spectrum.

With the live sector welcoming some much needed support via the RISE Fund back in July and again in September, the program's fourth and fifth batches sought to tailor the funds better to suit the unique needs of the music industry. 

As shared by the Australian Live Music Business Council (ALMBC) this week, feedback from around the industry and beyond has resulted in some extremely welcome changes to the RISE Fund, revealed by correspondence to the ALMBC from the Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts of Australia Paul Fletcher and the Office for the Arts.

In the correspondence shared ALMBC to its members, Fletcher thanked the ALMBC Board: "I’d like to thank you for continuing to providing us with feedback on the RISE Fund, how it’s working, and in some instances, not working for you, so we can look to make improvements to better support the sector," said Fletcher.

Fletcher also highlighted that at the time that the Government announced an additional $125 million for the RISEFund, "it also committed to work with the sector to update the RISE Fund Guidelines". And, following the consultations with the ALMBC and others in the music sectors, the Government updated RISE Fund guidelines and published the changes in May of this year, clarifying that:

• Multiple businesses and organisations could access the program, including for pre-production support and the retention of skills in the sector, e.g. subcontractor entities of eligible tours and events and hiring of labour for an event
• The recommended grant request amount was lowered from $75,000 to $25,000
• Information in the guidelines and in grant agreements stipulated a requirement that grant funds be paid to third parties, such as artist and suppliers prior to the staging of events, rather than withholding payments until after that event

Beyond the above changes published in May, Fletcher has also this week confirmed his support that the current RISE Fund grant agreement be amended in response to concerns raised recently by the industry regarding delays in events going ahead. These amendments include:

• 33% of the total amount of a RISE grant that is due to a supplier is required to be paid within 30 days of the grant recipient receiving their grant payment. The remainder of the grant is to then be paid at the grantees discretion, as per usual contracting arrangements
• If the grantee has not contracted suppliers at the time the grant money is paid to the grantee, they will be required to pay 33% to suppliers within 30 days of the date the supplier is contracted
• reporting requirements will also be updated to more explicitly state that, if requested by the department, the grant recipient is to provide details of payments made to third parties such as artists and other suppliers, during the course of the funding agreement. This would usually not be required until a grant is acquitted

The above changes will apply to all new grant agreements, with Fletcher's correspondence also noting that "if there is a request or need to vary an existing grant agreement, the department will propose these new clauses being included. However, we note that these are new terms, and may not be accepted by the grant recipient."

The ALMBC shared Fletcher's correspondence in full marking the above amendments, while also commending Fletcher and his office for "continuing to engage with the sector and incorporating our feedback in this way".

The RISE Fund is investing $200 million over two years as part of the Australian Government's Arts and Cultural Development Program that supports participation in, and access to, Australia's arts and culture through developing and supporting cultural expression. 

Funding applications for the RISE Fund opened on 31 August 2020 and will remain open until all funds are allocated. For more information, head here.