Hey, I've been a professional musician since I was 16, married to an artist/art director, my sister is a musician and her daughter a licensed music therapist. I've been deeply involved in the "fringe" art scene for most my life (mid-60s now) and know many artists that depend on govt. grants for their work. I know how important this stuff is and I do a fair amount of freebee work for arts groups, even now. You don't need to beat me into submission. I get it.

I read up a bit on what the council does and they seem to be more of a think tank, a private/public artist programs liaison, and couldn't find much else they did directly. The programs they facilitated, like Turnaround, all run on their own under the auspices of the NEA&H or other agencies and the private sector. I could be wrong...

OT, but have you ever seen 'Utopia', the Aussie TV show about a fictional "Nation Building" AU government agency? It's very funny and uses corporate-government-speak to great comedic effect. Reading the councils website reminded me of it and I figured I'd recommend it to you.

Always enjoy your insight and commentary. Have a good one...