Two of Australia's leading private arts donors have accused Arts Minister George Brandis of neglecting the arts community and politicising the funding of the sector.

Neil Balnaves, founder of The Balnaves Foundation which disperses $2.5 million of funding annually to arts organisations and education initiatives, told the ABC's The Mix program that the relationship between the Government and the philanthropic arts community has deteriorated since Senator Brandis announced the establishment of a new National Program for Excellence in the Arts, to be administered directly by the ministry.

The program announced in the May budget is funded by the reallocation of $104 million from the Australia Council for the Arts' four-year budget, a move that has been widely criticised by the arts community.

The move has also taken the philanthropic community by surprise.

Former chair of the Sydney Biennale and long-time arts donor, Luca Belgiorno-Nettis, said he is disillusioned that there is no longer a clear common objective for arts funding in Australia.

"The way that the Australia Council cutbacks have occurred are not very healthy," he said.

The Australia Council has had its funding cut for a second year in a row. It lost $28 million in 2014 and must now find $23 million in savings in 2015/16.

"With all due respect to the Federal Government, the Australia Council was established for the purposes of spending, dispensing the arts monies as an independent body and they're the ones that are best placed to determine which are the arts recipients to best get the money, so why is the Government now looking to do it themselves?" Mr Belgiorno-Nettis said.

The Ministry for the Arts this month released its draft funding guidelines for the National Program for Excellence in the Arts, which aims to encourage more private sector support for the arts.

Mr Balnaves, who was a major donor towards the Australian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, said the Government has a responsibility to safeguard Australian culture and should not put the funding onus on the private sector.

Arts donors Neil Balnaves and Luca Belgiorno-Nettis say the Government's relationship with the arts philanthropic community has deteriorated (L-R). ( ABC )

"I have a very strong view that the arts is really the soul of the country. It's part of our cultural background, that's the essence of who we are, that's what makes us different from other countries," he said.

"I just think it's a very ill-conceived and [a] stupid idea that private philanthropy is meant to pick up the slack. The Government cutbacks have been horrendous."

The Ministry is yet to allocate any of the $20 million earmarked for the National Program for Excellence in the Arts 2015/16 grants.

Application rounds will commence once the guidelines have been confirmed.

The Ministry is calling for feedback from the arts sector and broader community before July 31.

Mr Balnaves said he is concerned the Ministry lacks the expertise to assess arts applications and sees attempts to do so as political interference in the arts.

"There are plenty of people in this community that are more qualified than anybody in Canberra," he said.

A spokeswoman for Senator Brandis said the Ministry "will publicly advertise for external assessors".

"The criteria for assessors will include people with experience in philanthropy and fundraising to provide the relevant expertise for the endowment incentive stream," she said.

Watch The Mix's interview with Neil Balnaves and Luca Belgiorno-Nettis on Saturday at 7:30pm on ABC News24 or Sunday 1:30pm on ABC.