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Articles on Arts funding

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As thrilling as they are for audiences, Australia’s musical theatre scene is dominated by productions honed on the West End and Broadway. PAUL MILLER

Where are the new Australian musicals? Waiting in the wings

Musical theatre nominees at the 2017 Helpmann Awards are dominated by overseas productions. Our own productions need way more support to compete on the world stage.
Writing has never been easy, but sending writers out to find new ideas and people might be one way to help. Shutterstock.com

The best way to support writers is to feed them new ideas

Writers like Frank Moorhouse and Ben Eltham have proposed new long-term fellowships to support writing. But a better way may be more smaller grants, offering opportunities for travel.
George Brandis in 2014: instigator of the Catalyst mess. Lukas Coch

The end of Catalyst: four ironies

An oft-occurring phrase in Peter Temple’s award-willing crime novel, Truth, is “moving on”. Characters say it when they want to change the subject, or there doesn’t seem much more to say about a subject…
Performers protesting the Brandis decision outside the Sydney Opera House in 2015. Paul Miller/AAP

After the Catalyst arts funding mess, many questions remain

The arts sector lobbied hard against the Catalyst funding model, which the ALP had labelled ‘a ministerial slush fund’. But will the money returned to the Australia Council go to those who need it?
A termite mound in Cape Range National Park: WA’s geography has helped shape its writers. Susanna Dunkerley/AAP

From Tim Winton to Gail Jones: why writing matters in WA

With its dramatic landscape, relative isolation and vibrant counter culture, Western Australia has a thriving writing scene. But government funding cuts are biting.
Sydney Opera House during this year’s Vivid Festival: now, more than ever, we need artists to tell us the truth. Tibor Kovacs/Flickr

Friday essay: the arts and our still-born national identity

There was once a sense of excitement about creating a genuinely Australian culture and making our own way in the world. What’s happened to that optimism?
David Bowie was the master of reinvention. Can the arts sector follow suit? Brandon Carson/Flickr

Can the arts sector reinvent itself?

A culture of ‘managerialism’ has bled the arts of originality and purpose. We need a changed mindset and an arts and culture think-tank that is separate from the Australia Council.
More than 50 arts training programs across the nation, including circus, may no longer be supported by the federal government. Julian Smith/AAP

Arts training is an essential part of an innovative nation

The past two years have not been happy ones for the arts sector in Australia. It all began in early 2014 with federal Ministers Brandis and Turnbull telling artists at the Sydney Biennale that they were…
The Record – a genre-less, story-less dance piece – would never fit into a standardized category. Maria Baranova

Why a scorecard of quality in the arts is a very bad idea

Modern society has become addicted to ratings and league tables. But a new scorecard, which aims to give ‘good art’ a numerical ranking, is utterly wrong-headed.
Justin Trudeau sees the artistic and creative industries as drivers of Canadian innovation. vl04/flickr

Art for innovation’s sake? Lessons from our Canadian cousin

Canada, a country with a similar demographic and economic profile to ours, has a very different approach when it comes to arts funding. Under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, there is a renewed sense of vitality in the arts.
Why can’t an artist offer advice to politicians in the same way a scientist can? David Gray/Reuters

Why Australia needs a Chief Artist

In one of those abyssal silences that punctuate official Thinkfests when artists have to come up with new policy ideas that don’t involve asking governments for more money, I once facetiously suggested…
Bangarra Dance Theatre has been very successful at building relationships with donors. AAP/Bangarra Dance Theatre, Edward Mulvihill

Where to next for arts philanthropy in Australia?

From crowdfunding to giving circles, the arts philanthropy landscape is rapidly changing. But could governments be doing more to emulate overseas policies that foster a culture of giving?
The Mexican artist Diego Rivera was an early contributor to the Pago en Especie program, which allows artists to pay tax with art. Detail of the Rivera mural El hombre en cruce de caminos (1934). Wikimedia Commons

Should artists pay their taxes in art?

Many Australian artists eke out a living, yet government funding is generally heading backwards. Can we learn from Mexico, where artists are allowed to pay tax in paintings or sculptures in lieu of cash?

The Rise of the Joyful Economy

The relationship between the art world and the market economy has long been one of Sturm und Drang. Deep down, a battle of weltanschauung plays out between light and dark, sky and earth, imagination and…

No (is a one word poem)

In the words of Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger, “the injustice of it is almost perfect”. Last week, Jason Potts argued here that the cuts made to around 60 cultural organisations under the Australia…

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