After one of Canberra’s oldest theatre organisations announced it was letting go of staff and cancelling programs, the Greens are pressuring the government to double arts funding from $9 million to $18 million a year.

The Canberra Youth Theatre, based at the Gorman Arts Centre in Braddon, has provided young people aged six to 25 the opportunity to perform on stage and hone their acting, dancing or musical skills through a variety of programs since 1972.

But CEO Luke Rogers announced last week that 2025 “is going to look different”.

“It is no longer possible for us to provide the breadth of artistic opportunities and programs we have been celebrated for with our current resources,” he said in a statement.

Staff will be cut from across all areas of the organisation, and no more theatre productions will be staged for the foreseeable future.

Mr Rogers subsequently told Region the theatre has struggled to make ends meet since the Federal Government cut funding to the Australia Council for the Arts (now Creative Australia) in 2015.

The remaining amount they get from the ACT Government through ArtsACT, as well as donors and partners, “barely covers our costs”.

He said he was “not optimistic, but hopeful” the next 12 months may bring about change so the theatre is able to return to its former glory.

“We’re taking this action now so we don’t get to having to close the doors in two years’ time.”

The Canberra Youth Theatre’s production of ‘Work, But This Time Like You Mean It’. Photo: Andrew Sikorski.

ACT Labor – which previously set out an aspiration for Canberra to become the “arts capital of Australia” in 2021 – went to the election in October with a promise to boost funding to the arts sector by 25 per cent over the next four years, taking it to about $11.25 million per year.

An ACT Government spokesperson told Region that newly-minted Arts Minister Michael Pettersson was “disappointed” to hear about the Canberra Youth Theatre and plans to meet with staff “shortly” to discuss the predicament.

“The Barr Labor Government recognises the importance of making the arts accessible to young people and is committed to delivering an ambitious arts and creative industries agenda this term,” the spokesperson said.

“Minister Pettersson looks forward to meeting with the Canberra Youth Theatre shortly to discuss these matters.”

The government confirmed the theatre currently receives $300,000 per year through the ‘Arts Organisation Investment’ program.

But the ACT Greens have called for them to go further and “urgently double” arts funding.

“This would mean going from an already very small $9 million a year to the arts sector to a reasonable $18 million so the sector can get a well-deserved reprieve and continue to deliver entertainment for thousands of Canberrans,” ACT Greens MLA Jo Clay said.

“Let me be clear, this is not a one-off incident. If this government does not inject more money into the arts sector urgently, we will continue to see community-based arts organisations drop off the radar as they go insolvent.”

Canberra Youth Theatre CEO Luke Rogers. Photo: Canberra Youth Theatre.

Mr Rogers said Labor’s current policy is “not enough to meet the demand of the entire sector” but also stopped short of throwing support behind the Greens.

He said the arts should be treated as important as any other portfolio – like city services – and recognised for its contribution to other fields such as education, business and tourism.

“I’m also not asking for the ACT Government to bail us out,” he said.

“I would like to see the government as a whole have more cross-portfolio investment into the arts and culture of the territory as a whole … realising the impacts of organisations like ours to community services and youth and education.

“Arts organisations shouldn’t just be funded by arts money.”