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Arts Tasmania provides arts grants and loans to arts organisations and individual artists in all art forms and regions of Tasmania. This funding provides support for infrastructure and arts activities. A number of the larger arts companies also receive Commonwealth funding through the Australia Council.

Funding programs are distributed by three main panels which provide advice to the Tasmanian Arts Advisory Board which, in turn, recommends assistance to the Minister for the Arts:

• The Assistance to Organisations panel - advises on arts activities by organisations that employ professional artists and engage the community in arts activities. These activities may be as diverse as exhibitions, plays, concerts, festivals, literary magazines, publications or community cultural development projects. The Panel's membership consists of practising artists from a number of art forms.

• The Assistance to Individuals panel - provides recommendations on funding to individuals, partnerships and other unincorporated bodies working in any art form with a view to achieving a higher level of practice for those artists. Assistance can be given to collaborations and groups of artists such as rock bands which are not legally constituted organisations, actors, arts administrators, choreographers, composers, craftspeople, dancers, designers, musicians, writers and visual artists.

• The Small Museums and Collections panel - recommends grants and loans to assist curatorial and collection management practices of smaller public and private collections and museums. The Panel is particularly focussed on improving public access to, and information on, collections and on enhancing curatorial practice and collection management. This panel consists of three museums' specialist practitioners from around the State.

• Following an agreement between the State and Commonwealth Governments arising out of the Major Performing Arts Inquiry (the Nugent Inquiry) the state provided an allocation of additional funds to cover a change to the funding ratio by the State and Australian Governments to the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. The State Government also increased its allocation to the Orchestra to ensure that the value of its contribution is not eroded over time.

• Increased funding was provided to the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery.