artists in residence and gain access to performance facilities, as well as providing other services such as educational programs and teacher development. For example, the Australian School of Performing Arts (ASPA) are a prominent organisation for promoting performing arts education especially through their personal development programs for teachers. These programs help equip teachers with the knowledge, skills and resources to deliver exciting and meaningful performing arts programs in their schools. New South Wales and Victoria are the only states in the country to have a funded department to support the arts. The ‘Arts Unit’ supported by the NSW State government provide statewide infrastructure and run programs for students inside and outside of school hours for all aspects of the arts. Each year over 44,000 students and 6,000 teachers are directly involved with programs run by the Arts Unit. The ‘Arts Unit’ also run the ‘Schools Spectacular’ annually, which is a performing arts show held at Qantas Credit Union Arena, to showcase the students talents from New South Wales public Schools. The show includes a cast of over 2300 dancers, a 2500-person combined choir, an 80-piece orchestra as well as a 25 piece stage band. The ‘Performing Arts Unit’ supported by the Victorian government helps give students of Victorian public schools the opportunity to participate in programs to do with dance, music, drama and visual arts. Over 20,000 students have been involved in educational experiences run by the Performing Arts Unit. Similarly to NSW, this unit also have a ‘Schools Spectacular’ showcase each year. Funding to providers Performing arts in Australia is provided in schools, tertiary institutions as well as other specialist institutions. State governments are responsible for providing funding to both primary and secondary schools as well as community organisations that teach the performing arts. While tertiary institutions also do receive some funding from state governments, 2020 reforms by the federal government led the price of arts degrees, in particular creative arts, increasing by 13%. The ARTS8 The federal government provides funding support to the performing arts through the Office for the Arts. There are eight specific "national elite training organisations" which the government have funded for the past 30 years that aim to encourage "artistic and cultural excellence", making up the Australian Roundtable for Arts Training Excellence, or ARTS8'''. They are: - Australian Ballet School: The Australian Ballet school, located in Southbank Victoria, is the national centre for elite