Arts Queensland’s operating budget falls to $179.4 million in 2026-27, with screen the only new arts measure.

Queensland’s 2026-27 Budget, handed down on 23 June, contains no new funding for live music, and the numbers show the state’s overall arts allocation heading in the wrong direction.

The Service Delivery Statements reveal Arts Queensland’s controlled expenses will fall to $179.4 million in 2026-27, down from a 2025-26 budget of $193.3 million and an estimated actual of $212.1 million.

That is a reduction of roughly $14 million against last year’s budget, and over $30 million against what was actually spent.

The only new arts measure flagged in the budget highlights is the continuation of the Screen Industry Attraction and Development Fund with additional funding over two years, alongside $30.5 million in capital for continued asset renewal, replacement and delivery of Arts Queensland assets.

For context, last year’s budget was marketed as a $75.8 million Arts Budget with $42 million for screen incentives, $24.4 million over four years for the Cultural Centre, QPAC, State Library and Queensland Museum Tropics, and $9.4 million for regional arts experiences. This year there was no equivalent arts headline announcement at all.

To be fair, existing live music programs continue to roll out from prior commitments. Round two of the Growing Gigs Fund and Live Music Venue Business Grants delivered almost $1 million to fifteen venues from Atherton to Kawana Waters, and the $39.2 million Organisations Fund 2026-2029 supports 53 arts and cultural companies over four years. These are genuinely useful programs, and Queensland venues should keep applying. But they were funded in earlier budgets, and this one adds nothing new to the pool. Government of QueenslandGovernment of Queensland.

Alongside this, recent changes to Arts Qld funding to focus on volunteering and new work only, leave huge chunks of Qld’s creative industries asking why they are ineligible for funding.

With Brisbane 2032 just six years away, the grassroots live music sector that will soundtrack those Games deserves better than a shrinking arts budget. The ALMBC will continue to make that case to the Queensland Government, while we wait for the promised Qld Nightime Commissioner report, yet to be released.