These are bleak days for arts institutions and organisations, which depend on public and private funding to survive.

Many still struggle post-COVID with costs that have outstripped funding as governments turned increasingly scrooge-like on support. And the once steady stream of philanthropic backing has so dried up that there is an urgent need to review the model for funding all arts.

Government patronage of museums and galleries certainly helped turn Sydney into a celebrated cultural destination. But new entrance fees at some venues, the axing of creative arts programs at universities, $50,000 arts degrees and the crisis confronting live music are manifestations of changing political attitudes to creativity and curiosity. The cacophony of voices raised over the cost of living, interest rates, and a housing crisis has clearly made governments slightly deaf to the crisis confronting our cultural institutions.

But who should pay for........

© The Sydney Morning Herald