More than $100m will be reallocated from the Australia Council to the Ministry for the Arts in order to establish a national program for excellence.

The program, announced in Tuesday’s budget, will focus on attracting private sector support for the cultural sector and will be used to fund endowments and international tours.

Further emphasis on attracting private funding for cultural projects will come through the continuation of the Plus1 matched funding program run by Creative Partnerships Australia at a cost of $5.3m over three years.

The arts minister, George Brandis, said these programs “will make funding available to a wider range of arts companies and arts practitioners, while at the same time respecting the preferences and tastes of Australia’s audiences”.

Tamara Winikoff, executive director of the National Association for the Visual Arts criticised the redistribution of funding. “While it’s a relief that the arts budget has not been cut, the Australia Council’s funding has been raided to enable the arts minister to realise his ambition to have direct decision-making power over what gets funded, something he tried but failed to achieve when the Australia Council Act was revised last year.”

“This subverts the long-defended arm’s-length principle and politicises arts funding. Funnelling support to focus on conservative populist programs like festivals, touring and the tried and true, inevitably impacts negatively on the new generation of artists and the small to medium arts organisations which are the engine room of experimentation, innovation and critique. What we need is an investment in the future, not just the past.”

Responsibility for the programs Visions of Australia and Festivals Australia will return to the Ministry for the Arts, having been transferred to the Australia Council under the previous government. The major festivals initiative will also be transferred to the ministry, with funding doubled to $1.5m.

On top of the money redirected to the excellence program, the Australia Council will lose $7.2m of funding over four years through “efficiencies”. Screen Australia, the national film funding body, will lose $3.6m over the same period.

Brandis’s statement assured Australians that the lower level of funding for the Australia Council would not lead to any reduction in its funding to the 29 major performing arts companies.

Funding for the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum, the National Library, the National Film and Sound Archive and the National Maritime Museum will remain roughly at previous levels.