Force Majeure and Ausdance, the country's peak body for dance, are two of the victims in the latest round of Australia Council funding announced on Friday. NORPA's My Radio Heart: The Lismore-based theatre company failed to receive four-year funding from the Australia Council. Credit:Kate Holmes Executive producer Colm O'Callaghan said the company, based at Carriageworks in Eveleigh, had been "completely de-funded". "We applied for $234,000," he told Fairfax Media. "We are assessing what the loss means at this very moment, but it will most certainly mean a scale down."

Funding cuts an election issue The loss of arts funding is threatening to turn into a major election issue, with O'Callaghan blaming the situation on a rash decision to siphon $105 million from the Australia Council in the 2015 budget (later partially restored by new Arts Minister Mitch Fifield). "A most bittersweet day for all," he said. "Delighted for our colleagues who got funded, devastated for those who didn't. And all this was completely unnecessary financially - caused by a rash decision by former Arts Minister and the current government." "Outrageous": Michael Lynch. Force Majeure's chairwoman Jo Dyer said comments made on Friday by Australia Council boss Tony Grybowski were "frankly insulting".

"I have a lot of respect for Tony Grybowski and many of the staff of the Australia Council but it is frankly insulting to say on this day of devastation that no companies have been cut or defunded as a result of this process," Dyer said. "Many fine companies, including ours, have gone from having stable, multi-year funding to having to apply for reduced, one-off, project-based funding in hyper-competitive rounds. They've been defunded." Other arts organisations that missed out on four-year funding from the Australia Council for the Arts, announced on Friday, include the National Association for the Visual Arts, the literary journal Meanjin and the Centre for Contemporary Photography. A number of NSW arts companies also missed out on Australia Council funding including Legs on the Wall, PACT Centre for Contemporary Artists and the Lismore-based Northern Rivers Performing Arts. 'Horrible day for the arts'

The executive producer of Legs on the Wall, Kath Melbourne, said it was a "horrible day for the arts". She said the physical theatre company could not make up the funds previously provided by the Australia Council and was unlikely to survive in its current form. "We had previously been on $178,000," she said. "We did not get a little shaved off our previous grant, or even our ask halved, we were simply awarded zero dollars by the panel." NORPA's general manager Patrick Healey said the company, based in northern NSW, had expanded after being invited by the Australia Council to apply for six-year funding, which after the 2015 budget was replaced with four-year funding, which it has not received. "We are now in a situation where we may face a budget shortfall at a critical time in our evolution, having recently achieved national success with locally produced works including Railway Wonderland and with more new works currently in development," he said. Healey suggested the federal government had favoured large, city-based arts companies at the expense of NORPA, which is situated in the federal seat of Page held by The Nationals' Kevin Hogan.

"The Catalyst funding, deemed necessary to counteract the loss of funds provided to the Australia Council, was expected to create greater opportunities for organisations like NORPA," Healey said. "However it appears to have over-spent its budget allocation by expanding federal government support to already heavily-subsidised companies such as The Australian Ballet." Dance Awards at risk National dance organisation Ausdance also missed out on funding, which has put the future of the Australian Dance Awards at risk. Ausdance had been operating with annual Australia Council funds of $261,066, which allowed for an operating budget of $427,740 for 2016, according to acting chief executive Neil Roach. "The loss of funding from the Australia Council will cripple the organisation, which has a 40-year legacy of supporting professional dance, dance teaching, and dance development and research projects," Roach said.

"It will have to seriously consider the future of the Australian Dance Awards and other projects as it looks to survival, and the voice of dance will be diminished by a federal government policy that concentrates arts production in existing companies, and subjects it to a political influence through Catalyst funding." Arts Party leader PJ Collins said the grants distributed by the Australia Council were "an insult to community and Not-For-Profit organisations everywhere". "With a federal budget worth over $470 billion announced last week, the Australia Council has only $28 million to spread across the entire country and cover theirfour-year funding program for cultural work." Hundreds of job losses are predicted as a result of the funding cuts suffered by small and mid-sized arts companies. The Confederation of Australian State Theatre Companies, meanwhile, has issued a statement calling on the federal government to review its budget cuts to the Australia Council after the announcement that 62 arts organisations will be defunded after failing to secure key organisation core funding.

"These cuts have an impact just as dramatic and negative as the arts industry has feared and will cause irreparable damage across the sector – one that contributes over $4.2 billion to GDP in Australia," the CAST Executive Council said. But Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations appear to be winners from the grants round with 17 organisations funded, while regional and remote organisations reportedly received 25 per cent of the funding on offer. News of the funding cut for Force Majeure comes as the company prepares to embark on a national tour of Never Did Me Any Harm, its co-production with the Sydney Theatre Company. The contemporary dance company is also preparing to premiere new work Off The Record at Carriageworks in August, where Force Majeure is a resident company.

Carriageworks' Director Lisa Havilah says: "Force Majeure consistently makes extraordinary Australian dance theatre."