The axing of $1.8 million in federal funding for the Adelaide Festival Centre’s Asian cultural activities is disappointing and represents an “opportunity lost”, says centre CEO Douglas Gautier.

However, he said it would not result in the cutting of existing programs run by the centre, such as the popular OzAsia Festival.

The 2014-15 Federal Budget announcement effectively terminates the Adelaide Festival Centre’s Asia Pacific Centre for Arts and Cultural Leadership, an initiative announced last year by SA Senator Penny Wong. It was set up to fund arts administration and exchange programs between SA and Asia, with the aim of making the state an international epicentre for cultural and arts management education.

“The announcement is cutting money that the AFC had not yet received but would have allowed us to take our activities to a greater and better level,” Gautier said in a statement.

“The cut represents an opportunity lost rather than a scaling back or cutting of existing programs.”

Ending support for the program will save the Federal Government $1.8 million over four years – money it says will be redirected “to repair the budget and fund policy priorities”.

Gautier said the Adelaide Festival Centre had built a reputation for its focus on Australian-Asian cultural engagement, based on events and activities such as the OzAsia Festival, pop-up festivals in Asia, and reciprocal training and exchanges of arts administrators.

He said SA would continue to be a national hub for Asian-Australian cultural engagement, and the Festival Centre would “continue our conversations with the Federal Government”.

Commenting on the funding cut on The Conversation yesterday, Jo Caust, Associate Professor in Melbourne University’s School of Culture and Communication, said it seemed that any understanding of “soft diplomacy” through culture was neither understood nor valued by the government.

The article features comments from four academics on the impact of the Federal Budget on arts and culture. The budget also includes a funding reduction of $87.1 million over four years for arts programs run by the Attorney-General’s Department, the Australia Council and Screen Australia, and funding cuts of $43.3 million over four years for the ABC and SBS.

Caust said the loss of $28.2 million in “uncommitted” funding for the Australia Council would affect mostly individual artists and smaller arts organisations that were not currently on triennial or annual funding agreements.