One of federal Labor's arts spokesmen was quick off the mark to seek money from a new ministerial fund that takes millions of dollars away from the Australia Council.
Just two days after the budget revealed Arts Minister George Brandis was taking $105 million from the council to create an in-house excellence-in-arts program, Michael Danby sought funding for a concert of Jewish religious chants.
"That wasn't something that would have been available through the Australia Council," Senator Brandis told a Senate committee in Canberra on Wednesday.
The council learned of its funding cut only hours before the budget was handed down a fortnight ago, when Senator Brandis phoned chairman Rupert Myer as a courtesy.
"The news came as a surprise to us," council chief executive Tony Grybowski told the committee when asked if the organisation had anticipated funding cuts.
Money from the new fund will be distributed to endowments, strategic projects, and international touring and cultural programs.
Guidelines for grants, expected to be released within weeks, are still being developed with the first round starting early in the new financial year.
Senator Brandis said he had no concerns about the council's independence or the way it had conducted itself, but did have concerns about some of its individual decisions and projects that it funded.
"But that being said I think it would be quite invidious and wrong for me as the minister to critique particular decisions," he said.
Senator Brandis won't be one of the assessors choosing projects under the new program, nor will any of his staff.
Nevertheless, he was putting one possibility high on the agenda.
"I myself quite like cantorial music and I hope the department will look with favour upon the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation's application," he said.
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