tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/australia-council-9446/articles
Australia Council – The Conversation
2023-02-08T02:07:22Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/198871
2023-02-08T02:07:22Z
2023-02-08T02:07:22Z
A story for every place, not jobs and growth: Revive reflects global trends in policy – cultural and otherwise
<p>Federal Labor is engaged in urgent reform, making up for the “lost decade” under the Coalition. The Voice, industrial relations, climate change, universities, health, Asian-Pacific diplomacy, research and development are all undergoing significant policy review. We can now add the new National Cultural Policy, <a href="https://www.hawkerbritton.com/blog/2023/01/30/national-cultural-policy-revive/">dubbed Revive</a>. </p>
<p>The reference points since the launch of the policy have been Whitlam and Keating, both for their reforming energies and their love of the arts. But it is worth putting this into an international context. </p>
<p>Australia’s lack of a cultural policy was often seen as a throwback to some philistine past, provoking a toe-curling culture cringe at the thought of how this might look overseas. But the Coalition was in fact adopting a right-wing politics that began with the <a href="https://www.griffithreview.com/articles/blue-wedge/">mid-1990s US Republican Party</a>, then picked up in the United Kingdom, across the European Union and beyond.</p>
<p>If party lines in culture were string quartets versus some pop-modernism combo, the new conservative dispensation was happy to reject art. </p>
<p>In doing this they could pose as populists, setting the huddled masses of the suburbs against the metropolitan elites. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/arts-are-meant-to-be-at-the-heart-of-our-life-what-the-new-national-cultural-policy-could-mean-for-australia-if-it-all-comes-together-198786">'Arts are meant to be at the heart of our life': what the new national cultural policy could mean for Australia – if it all comes together</a>
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<h2>A creative nation</h2>
<p>Labor’s new cultural policy harks back to the ill-fated 2013 <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/documents/creative-australia-national-cultural-policy-2013">Creative Australia</a> and to 1994’s fondly remembered <a href="https://theconversation.com/paul-keatings-creative-nation-a-policy-document-that-changed-us-33537">Creative Nation</a>.</p>
<p>Creative Nation set an international benchmark for a new kind of cultural policy thinking, embracing commercial popular culture alongside the arts. This combination was seized upon by UK New Labour for its creative industries <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/sda/1175/audioclip-transcript-ccut.pdf">rebranding in 1998</a>.</p>
<p>Flagging by the time Conservatives got back into power in 2010, the whole idea was briefly revived after Brexit. </p>
<p>The head of the UK Arts Council, Peter Bazalgette, got creative industries inserted into Theresa May’s 2017 industrial policy, and the British Council actively courted China as a growth non-EU market. “Getting Brexit done” and the pandemic <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/jan/19/muddled-policies-putting-uks-lead-in-creative-industries-at-risk-peers-warn">put an end to all this</a>.</p>
<p>In 2013, still in the post-financial crisis doldrums, Creative Australia was a policy wonk document with little to set the blood racing. </p>
<p>Revive addresses a cultural sector that feels battered and unloved with grace and aplomb. The arts are essential to a democratic society, and they are for everyone. </p>
<p>First Nations First is the most significant new addition, marking where we have moved even in a decade. </p>
<p>There is money, not <a href="https://theconversation.com/arts-are-meant-to-be-at-the-heart-of-our-life-what-the-new-national-cultural-policy-could-mean-for-australia-if-it-all-comes-together-198786">transformative</a> but <a href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2023/01/31/albanese-government-arts-culture-policy/">significant</a>, and a set of new agencies. The absence of economic justification stands out, as does the way creative industries has dropped out of the big picture rhetoric. </p>
<p>A story for every place, not jobs and growth. </p>
<p>This too reflects a global trend. Jim Chalmers’ essay in <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2023/february/jim-chalmers/capitalism-after-crises">The Monthly</a> placed the nation squarely at the heart of a post-neoliberal world. </p>
<p>Investment in health, education and social services, along with the green transition, will require a more active, even entrepreneurial state. </p>
<p>This is of a piece with the post-pandemic centre-left, from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/nov/06/inflation-reduction-act-climate-crisis-congress">US President Joe Biden</a> and his <a href="https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/french-foreign-policy/economic-diplomacy-foreign-trade/promoting-france-s-attractiveness/france-relance-recovery-plan-building-the-france-of-2030/">French counterpart Emmanuel Macron</a>, to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/feb/18/keir-starmer-post-covid-plan-for-britain-key-points">UK Labour leader Keir Starmer</a> and the <a href="https://www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de/en/germany-and-europe/europes-green-deal">German Greens</a>. </p>
<p>In Europe these “green new deals” have come with promises of greater funding for culture, other than in those with a strong right-wing contingent such as Italy, Sweden and many former Eastern bloc countries. In the austerity-headed UK <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/nov/22/arts-council-england-cuts-are-cultural-vandalism-says-juliet-stevenson">cultural funding</a> is set to be cut, while the US is <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/01/11/us-considers-rejoining-unesco-despite-616m-membership-debt-and-israel-palestine-controversies">talking about rejoining UNESCO</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/humanising-capitalism-chalmers-new-version-of-an-old-labor-project-198763">Humanising capitalism: Chalmers new version of an old Labor project</a>
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<h2>Facing inequalities</h2>
<p>In September 2022 UNESCO, the UN’s lead body on culture, held a <a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/mondiacult2022">cultural policy conference</a> in Mexico City. They saw a world marked by:</p>
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<p>climate change and biodiversity loss, armed conflicts, natural hazards, uncontrolled urbanisation, unsustainable development patterns, as well as the erosion of democratic societies – [leading] to an increase in poverty, inequalities in the exercise of rights and a growing divide in access to digital technologies.</p>
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<p>This is no longer the exciting, globalised marketplace in which a dynamic creative economy was going to float all boats. The new vision was “culture as a global public good” and for the UN to pursue a cultural goal in addition to the 17 <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">Sustainable Development Goals</a> adopted in 2015. </p>
<p>The next steps for UNESCO are not clear. “Global public goods” can mean a commitment to a revived and robust public culture, or to the kind of state-led investment in skills, infrastructure and accessible finance that has underpinned the global creative industries policy script for two decades.</p>
<p>Revive’s visionary talk is about art and storytelling, connection to country and culture, but the rebranded Australia Council, Creative Australia, is straight out of the neoliberal playbook. </p>
<p>Creative Australia has an expanded remit to engage with the commercial and philanthropic sector, just as Chalmers sees an expanded social services delivered by ethically motivated “impact investors”. The grounds on which this enlargement will take place are not addressed, although chief executive Adrian Collette was very enthusiastic about creative industries in the post-launch Australia Council seminar. </p>
<h2>The first step</h2>
<p>The cultural sector long abandoned the utopian promise of creative hubs and Macbook-driven start-ups. </p>
<p>Rather than creative entrepreneurship, workers in the sector are now talking about <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10286632.2022.2064459">co-operatives</a>, unionisation, <a href="https://www.smart.coop">gig worker platforms</a> and other forms of collective organising. The pandemic radically shifted debates on the social function of culture and the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10286632.2021.1938561">welfare of artists in East Asia</a>. </p>
<p>The new <a href="https://theconversation.com/pay-safety-and-welfare-how-the-new-centre-for-arts-and-entertainment-workplaces-can-strengthen-the-arts-sector-198859">Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces</a> looks set to be a site of contest, as the reality of exploitation in both the subsidised and commercial sector is given a new visibility.</p>
<p>The curtain has been drawn on neoliberalism but, as economist <a href="https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/zombie-economics">John Quiggin</a> made us all aware, its zombie form still lives on. </p>
<p>Revive is the first step into a new global landscape for which we barely have a language. This has to come not from government but from those working in the cultural sector itself. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pay-safety-and-welfare-how-the-new-centre-for-arts-and-entertainment-workplaces-can-strengthen-the-arts-sector-198859">Pay, safety and welfare: how the new Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces can strengthen the arts sector</a>
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<p><em>Correction: an earlier version of this story misnamed the CEO of the Australia Council. It is Adrian Collette.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198871/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justin O'Connor receives funding from the Australia Research Council</span></em></p>
Revive is the first step into a new global landscape for which we barely have a language.
Justin O'Connor, Professor of Cultural Economy, University of South Australia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/195646
2022-12-07T19:05:10Z
2022-12-07T19:05:10Z
Female artists earn less than men. Coming from a diverse cultural background incurs even more of a penalty – but there is good news, too
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499131/original/file-20221206-18396-u0gxsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C7%2C5168%2C3624&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kazuo ota/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Artists all over the world, regardless of their gender, earn <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/handbook/handbook-of-the-economics-of-art-and-culture">considerably less</a> than professionals in occupations requiring similar levels of education and qualifications. </p>
<p>But there’s an additional income penalty for artists who are female. </p>
<p>In an analysis of gender differences in the incomes of professional artists in Australia that <a href="https://australiacouncil.gov.au/advocacy-and-research/the-gender-pay-gap-among-australian-artists/">we undertook in 2020</a>, we found the creative incomes of women were 30% less than those of men. </p>
<p>This is true even after allowing for differences in such things as hours worked, education and training, time spent in childcare and so on. This income penalty on women artists was greater than the gender pay gap of 16% experienced in the overall Australian workforce at the time. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/screen-australia-celebrates-its-work-in-gender-equality-but-things-are-far-from-equal-122266">Some sectors</a> of the arts have tried to redress this problem. However, women continue to suffer serious and unexplained gender-based discrimination in the artistic workplace.</p>
<p>Cultural differences are <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w27725">also known</a> to influence pay gaps in many countries. </p>
<p>In new research <a href="https://australiacouncil.gov.au/advocacy-and-research/culture-and-the-gender-pay-gap-for-australian-artists">out today</a>, we considered whether cultural factors might also affect the gender pay gap of artists in Australia. In addition, we analysed the gender pay gap for remote Indigenous artists for the first time.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-the-gender-pay-gap-in-the-arts-so-large-widespread-discrimination-is-the-most-likely-cause-149626">Why is the gender pay gap in the arts so large? Widespread discrimination is the most likely cause</a>
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<h2>A larger gap for women from a non-English speaking background</h2>
<p>In our <a href="https://australiacouncil.gov.au/advocacy-and-research/making-art-work/">2016 survey of 826 professional artists</a> working in metropolitan, regional and rural Australia, we asked participants if they came from a non-English speaking background. </p>
<p>Only a relatively small proportion of artists – 10% – came from a non-English-speaking background, compared to 18% for the Australian labour force as a whole. </p>
<p>A non-English-speaking background appears to carry an income penalty only for women artists, not for men. </p>
<p>We found the annual creative earnings of female artists from a non-English-speaking background are about 71% of the creative incomes of female artists whose first language is English. But there is little difference between the corresponding incomes of male artists. </p>
<p><iframe id="Nur29" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Nur29/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Within the group of artists from language backgrounds other than English, the annual creative earnings of female artists are about half (53%) those of their male counterparts. </p>
<p>By contrast, the ratio of female to male creative earnings among English-speaking background artists is 73%. </p>
<p>These results suggest that women artists from a non-English-speaking background suffer a triple earnings penalty – from being an artist (and hence as a group earning less than comparable professionals), from their gender, and from their cultural background.</p>
<p>Despite this earnings disadvantage, 63% of artists who identified as having a first language other than English thought their background had a positive impact on their artistic practice. Only 16% thought it had a negative impact. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499196/original/file-20221206-18-2xepib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two dancers in a studio" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499196/original/file-20221206-18-2xepib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499196/original/file-20221206-18-2xepib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499196/original/file-20221206-18-2xepib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499196/original/file-20221206-18-2xepib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499196/original/file-20221206-18-2xepib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499196/original/file-20221206-18-2xepib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499196/original/file-20221206-18-2xepib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Both male and female artists from non-English speaking backgrounds saw their heritage as important to their art.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Henrique Junior/Unsplash</span></span>
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<p>When artists were asked whether being from a non-English speaking background was a restricting factor in their professional artistic development, 17% of women answered “yes”, compared to only 5% of men from a similar background. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, like their male colleagues, these women artists continue to celebrate their cultural background in their art. They contribute to the increasingly multicultural content of the arts in Australia, holding up a mirror to trends in Australian society at large. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/screen-australia-celebrates-its-work-in-gender-equality-but-things-are-far-from-equal-122266">Screen Australia celebrates its work in gender equality but things are far from equal</a>
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<h2>No gender gap in remote Indigenous communities</h2>
<p>For First Nations artists working in remote communities, a different picture emerges. </p>
<p>For this research, we used results for remote communities in three regions of northern Australia drawn from our <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/257301">National Survey of Remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Artists</a>.</p>
<p>The gender gap is not replicated among remotely practising First Nations artists. </p>
<p>There are some minor variations in this finding for subgroups in different regions, depending in part on differences in the mix of visual and performing artists in the population. But whatever other differentials may exist between female and male earnings, they do not appear to be attributable to the sorts of systemic gender-based discrimination that affects the residual gender gap for other Australian artists.</p>
<p>A possible reason relates to fundamental differences between the cultural norms, values and inherited traditions that apply in remote and very remote First Nations communities. </p>
<p>Gender roles in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have been <a href="https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/can.1992.7.2.02a00020">described</a> by researchers as distinctively different, rather than superior or inferior. The importance of both women and men as bearers of culture has been clearly articulated. </p>
<p>The unique cultural content of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music, dance, visual art and literature is an essential feature of the work of these artists. These characteristics pass through to the marketplace, and there does not appear to be any obvious gender gap in the way the art from these remote communities is received. </p>
<p>There is always differentiation between the art produced in different remote regions of Australia which varies depending on the complexities of different inherited cultural traditions. But there is no indication of any gender-based discrimination associated with these regional differences.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bark-ladies-how-womens-yolnu-bark-paintings-break-with-convention-and-embrace-artists-strong-personalities-174340">Bark Ladies: how women's Yolŋu bark paintings break with convention and embrace artists' strong personalities</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195646/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Throsby receives funding from the Australia Council for the Arts , Australian Research Council (ARC), and from the Commonwealth, WA, NT, SA and QLD governments.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katya Petetskaya receives funding from the Australia Council for the Arts, Australian Research Council (ARC), and from the Commonwealth, WA, NT and QLD governments. She is affiliated with NAVA. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sunny Y. Shin receives funding from the Australia Council for the Arts. </span></em></p>
Women artists from a non-English-speaking background suffer a triple earnings penalty. But there is no gender pay gap among remote Indigenous artists.
David Throsby, Distinguished Professor of Economics, Macquarie University
Katya Petetskaya, Research Project Director at the Department of Economics, Macquarie University
Sunny Y. Shin, Lecturer, Macquarie University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/181485
2022-05-17T20:01:20Z
2022-05-17T20:01:20Z
‘Where have all you Australians gone?’ Australia’s shrinking role in cultural diplomacy
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463161/original/file-20220516-65142-iuuv5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C0%2C4397%2C2476&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Almost all governments today support some funding towards promoting their international political and economic agendas through cultural activities overseas: commonly referred to as part of “cultural diplomacy” or “soft power”.</p>
<p>Cultural diplomacy is not new. Julius Caesar brought <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1284496/Skeletons-80-gladiators-slaughtered-crowds-unearthed-York.html">gladiatorial performance</a> to Britain, not so subtly suggesting Rome’s power. James Cook <a href="https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/oceania">presented gifts</a> to the Pacific island chiefs – albeit insubstantial ones in return for the highly prized objects he received, now in European collections.</p>
<p>The British Council was established <a href="https://www.britishcouncil.org/about-us/history">in 1934</a> to stem the force of Soviet cultural diplomatic success. The Japan Foundation was founded <a href="https://www.jpf.go.jp/e/about/result/ar/2010/pdf/ar2010-01.pdf">in 1972</a> to create a more sophisticated view of a Japan emerging from the second world war.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463510/original/file-20220517-24-m3mi19.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463510/original/file-20220517-24-m3mi19.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463510/original/file-20220517-24-m3mi19.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463510/original/file-20220517-24-m3mi19.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463510/original/file-20220517-24-m3mi19.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463510/original/file-20220517-24-m3mi19.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463510/original/file-20220517-24-m3mi19.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463510/original/file-20220517-24-m3mi19.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The British Council – photographed here in Washington DC – was established in 1934.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Australia’s efforts have always been paltry. </p>
<p>We have never had an international cultural agency, and the Federal government avenues we do have for supporting international artistic projects, the Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Australia Council, have <a href="https://currencyhouse.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/NPP2-Caust-Discussion-Paper-download.pdf">shrinking funds</a>.</p>
<p>In the 2000s, I was a member of DFAT’s Australia Indonesia Institute. Our small fund supported almost all the official cultural engagement between the two countries, and even it decreased before our eyes. It didn’t surprise me when leading curator Jim Supangkat asked me in Jakarta: “Where have all you Australians gone?” </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cultural-intelligence-key-to-future-of-australia-indonesia-relationship-29080">Cultural intelligence key to future of Australia-Indonesia relationship</a>
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<h2>‘Regionally inactive’</h2>
<p>In 2021/22, in admittedly difficult COVID times, just one cultural project – the Ubud Writers Festival – <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/people-to-people/foundations-councils-institutes/australia-indonesia-institute/grants/2021-2022-australia-indonesia-institute-grants">was funded</a> through the Australia Indonesia Institute’s tiny A$450,000 allocation for all people-to-people projects between us and our so-important neighbour.</p>
<p>It does not help that the Australia Indonesia Institute, like most of the DFAT bilateral agencies with these precious country colleagues, now has no specialist arts person <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/people-to-people/foundations-councils-institutes/australia-indonesia-institute/management/board-members">on its board</a>.</p>
<p>Most Commonwealth government funding and capacity in the area is allocated to individual applicants by the federal arts agency, the Australia Council. </p>
<p>The application forms for funding from DFAT, bilateral agencies like the Indonesia Institute, and the Australia Council are particularly onerous, as is the ensuing reporting of how funds are spent. There are smarter ways all round.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-values-the-new-buzzword-in-australian-foreign-policy-hint-it-has-something-to-do-with-china-143839">Why is 'values' the new buzzword in Australian foreign policy? (Hint: it has something to do with China)</a>
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<p>The diminishing role of Australia’s cultural diplomacy has been known for a long time, but there has been a change recently of senior arts and diplomatic figures speaking out. </p>
<p>Former Ambassador to China, Geoff Raby writes in his <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/books/chinas-grand-strategy-and-australias-future-in-the-new-global-order-paperback-softback">2020 book</a> on our general relations with China that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>over the last two decades, Australia has been seen to be regionally inactive. [To change that] active engagement with China in cultural diplomacy should be another essential element of Australia’s statecraft. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Carrillo Gantner’s 2022 book, eloquently titled <a href="https://publishing.monash.edu/product/dismal-diplomacy-disposable-sovereignty/">Dismal Diplomacy</a>, written from his 40 years working particularly in cultural projects with China, pleads for better and more sophisticated relations all round.</p>
<p>In 2018, John McCarthy, former Ambassador to Indonesia (and other places) <a href="https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/strangers-next-door-indonesia-and-australia-in-the-asian-century/ch3-perceptions-and-the-capacity-to-persuade">wrote</a> public diplomacy has “always been the poor relation in Australian foreign policy implementation”:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Canada spends more on public diplomacy than Australia spends on the whole of its foreign service. Excluding public broadcasting, France spends an estimated A$1.9 billion, Germany A$1.6 billion, the UK A$350 million, and the Netherlands A$100 million. Australia spends A$12 million, of which, in most years, our Indonesia program will receive about A$1 million.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Cultural diplomacy comes under the umbrella of the broader public diplomacy described by McCarthy. </p>
<p>The Australia Council’s International Engagement Strategy has had an annual budget over the last five years averaging $2.7 million, while DFAT’s Australian Cultural Diplomacy Grants program currently has an <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/people-to-people/public-diplomacy/acdgp/grantees/2021-acdgp-grantees">allocation</a> of $400,000. There are other programs here and there that loosely come under the cultural diplomacy tag, so let us average up this figure to around $5 million. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463162/original/file-20220516-17-k3jes2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463162/original/file-20220516-17-k3jes2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463162/original/file-20220516-17-k3jes2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463162/original/file-20220516-17-k3jes2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463162/original/file-20220516-17-k3jes2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463162/original/file-20220516-17-k3jes2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463162/original/file-20220516-17-k3jes2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463162/original/file-20220516-17-k3jes2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Goethe-Institut, pictured here in Singapore, has an annual budget of around A$400 million.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Comparisons are hard for specific cultural activity because each country includes different areas, but Australia’s contrast with the specialist Goethe-Institut and British Council are stark. The Goethe-Institut has had fairly stable funding of A$400 million per annum over recent years, and the British Council A$320 million. </p>
<p>On these figures, they spend A$4-5 per capita on cultural engagement and diplomacy, and we spend 20 cents.</p>
<p>Another calculation is through activities. The Arts and Cultural Program described in the Japan Foundation’s <a href="https://www.jpf.go.jp/e/about/result/ar/2019/pdf/dl/ar2019e.pdf">recent annual report</a> counts audiences of over five million attendances for 2,300 events it has “organised or supported”.</p>
<p>We are nowhere in that ballpark.</p>
<h2>‘How to win friends’</h2>
<p>As Jo Caust writes in her <a href="https://currencyhouse.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/NPP2-Caust-Discussion-Paper-download.pdf">recent paper</a>, “support for the arts is not primarily a question of economics. It is a question of values.” </p>
<p>Assessment of the importance of international activities is a bigger issue than straight numbers. </p>
<p>The appreciation of the British Council <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2021-06-08/debates/25D780FC-924C-438F-A181-4AB111C5B9E6/BritishCouncil">merited debate</a> recently in the House of Commons, concluding the program provided the United Kingdom with </p>
<blockquote>
<p>an object lesson in how to win friends and influence people. […] We intend to continue to ensure that global Britain is a world leader for soft power.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is an argument Australia needs cultural diplomacy more than others. </p>
<p>We carry the stain of our settler founding, increasingly clearly articulated. The racist White Australia Policy rescinded relatively recently (in 1966) is well known by our neighbours. Our position in the region has always been debatable, something sensed by our neighbours as much as known. Are we in “in” or “out” of Asia? To many, we have a <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/voices/culture/article/2016/11/21/comment-crisis-identity-australia">confused cultural identity</a>: one that needs all the help it can get.</p>
<p>We can look to the German and Japanese examples, equally recognising their need to be proactive in their international imaging after events of the last 100 years. They have created serious, professional, cultural diplomatic agendas.</p>
<p>Australia’s cultural diplomacy should be done better, more effectively and with more confidence. The best way forward is to give the running to a central, nuanced, specialist body well equipped to tackle it.</p>
<p>We’d all be better served. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-to-reset-new-zealands-cultural-diplomacy-in-the-pacific-100454">Here's how to reset New Zealand’s cultural diplomacy in the Pacific</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181485/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Carroll does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Germany and England spend around A$4–5 per capita on cultural engagement and diplomacy. We spend 20 cents.
Alison Carroll, Senior Research Fellow, Victorian College of the Arts, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/179476
2022-04-03T19:57:55Z
2022-04-03T19:57:55Z
Australian writing and publishing faces ‘grinding austerity’ as funding continues to decline
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455717/original/file-20220401-25-kfap6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tom Hermans/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It was a grim federal budget for arts and culture on Tuesday night.</p>
<p>With the end of the Morrison government’s pandemic stimulus program for culture, <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/funding-and-support/rise-fund">the RISE fund</a>, there will be a rapid withdrawal of federal support for cultural production.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-arts-and-culture-appear-to-be-the-big-losers-in-this-budget-180127">Why arts and culture appear to be the big losers in this budget</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The arts portfolio budget line will contract by 19%, or around A$190 million, this year. A number of funding programs and cultural institutions also have their funding cut in the budget’s forward projections. There are cuts to programs for regional arts, community broadcasting, contemporary music, Screen Australia and the National Library of Australia. </p>
<h2>No love for literature</h2>
<p>In such an austere environment, it should be no surprise there was no love for publishing or literature in the budget. There were no new announcements to support writing. Funding is slightly increasing for the Australia Council for the Arts and the crucial <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/funding-and-support/lending-rights">public lending right subsidy</a>, which supports authors and publishers whose work is borrowed in libraries and schools. However, these small increases are well below inflation, forecast to run at 4.25% this year, so they amount to cuts in real terms. </p>
<p>The cuts to the National Library of Australia in the 2022 budget are quite significant. The Library goes from $61 million funding this year to just $47 million in 2025-26. The National Library is a critical foundation stone of Australia’s public sphere. It holds priceless artefacts, letters and records. It is required by law to collect every book published in Australia. It also supports valuable research infrastructure, such as its award-winning <a href="https://theconversation.com/treasure-trove-why-defunding-trove-leaves-australia-poorer-55217">Trove</a> database, which served 18 million browsers in 2021. These cuts will inevitably erode the Library’s capacity, and will probably result in job losses for librarians in future years. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A light projection across the National Library walls at night, with people looking on" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455689/original/file-20220331-12-17497o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455689/original/file-20220331-12-17497o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455689/original/file-20220331-12-17497o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455689/original/file-20220331-12-17497o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455689/original/file-20220331-12-17497o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455689/original/file-20220331-12-17497o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455689/original/file-20220331-12-17497o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">National Library of Australia at Enlighten, 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Graemec/Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the treatment of the National Library is consistent with a history of ongoing neglect for written culture in Australia. When it comes to public funding, literature has long been the poor cousin of the arts. </p>
<p>Unlike the performing arts, which benefit from a dedicated funding stream inside the Australia Council, literature enjoys very little federal support. In 2020-21, the Australia Council gave out <a href="https://www.transparency.gov.au/annual-reports/australia-council/reporting-year/2020-21-9">just $4.7 million</a> in grant funding to literature – 2.4% of the total funding pool last year. In contrast, the major performing arts organisations received $120 million. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-why-libraries-can-and-must-change-83496">Friday essay: why libraries can and must change</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Declining funds for writing and publishing</h2>
<p>Funding for writing and publishing is not just low: it’s also declining. In 2014, Australia Council funding for literature was $8.9 million, nearly double what it is this year. In that year, <a href="https://australiacouncil.gov.au/news/media-releases/more-reasons-to-get-reading-in-2010/">Get Reading!</a>, a $1.6 million program (originally named Books Alive!) dedicated to promoting reading, especially among children, was abandoned. Industry observers point to the demise of the artform boards of the Australia Council after Gillard government reforms in 2013, which saw the agency’s specialist Literature Board wound up. There was no dedicated funding program for literature to replace it. </p>
<p>The federal lending rights schemes are important. They will distribute $23 million this year, a valuable subsidy for authors and publishers. But the program is slowly losing relevance as – astonishingly – it doesn’t cover electronic lending or e-book borrowing. The Australian Society of Authors and publishers <a href="https://www.asauthors.org/news/why-we-need-digital-lending-rights-now">want the scheme expanded</a> to digital lending. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455718/original/file-20220401-23-h591a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455718/original/file-20220401-23-h591a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455718/original/file-20220401-23-h591a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455718/original/file-20220401-23-h591a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455718/original/file-20220401-23-h591a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455718/original/file-20220401-23-h591a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455718/original/file-20220401-23-h591a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">While federal lending rights subsidies are important, astonishingly, they don’t cover electronic lending or e-book borrowing. Pictured: State Library of Victoria, La Trobe Reading Room.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Gawthrop/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Policy neglect like this is a long-running problem for the literature sector. During the Coalition’s first term of government, then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott promised to set up a special body to support and fund Australian publishing, to be called the <a href="https://www.artshub.com.au/news/news/ozco-cuts-will-fund-book-council-246752-2345635/">Book Council of Australia</a> and given an initial budget of $6 million annually. </p>
<p>But the new agency was never created. With the Book Council killed off in proposal stage, the promised funding for publishing never eventuated either, vanishing in a puff of smoke in the 2015 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook.</p>
<p>In 2018, as part of the Turnbull government’s media reforms, Senate cross-benchers struck a deal to secure $60 million funding for regional publishers and media organisations. Of this, $16 million went to small regional media organisations under the <a href="https://www.acma.gov.au/regional-and-small-publishers-innovation-fund">Regional and Small Publishers Innovation Fund</a>. Just like Get Reading, that fund has also finished up, and there has been no analogous program for Australian literary and non-fiction publishers.</p>
<h2>Writers in dire difficulty</h2>
<p>Arts Minister Paul Fletcher’s RISE fund has provided some assistance. There was some funding to publishers and booksellers, such as an innovative voucher scheme for Australian books. But RISE too will be wound up at the end of this financial year. </p>
<p>The result is a writing sector that faces grinding austerity. A recent <a href="https://www.asauthors.org/news/asa-survey-results-author-earnings-in-australia">survey of authors</a> by the Australian Society of Authors found understandable pessimism among its members, which include some of Australia’s best known novelists, poets and non-fiction writers. “Our members feel very flat about funding,” ASA’s Olivia Lanchester told me in a message. “We are the lowest funded of the major art forms through the Australia Council despite high participation rates in reading.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455709/original/file-20220401-22-v0sa4b.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455709/original/file-20220401-22-v0sa4b.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455709/original/file-20220401-22-v0sa4b.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455709/original/file-20220401-22-v0sa4b.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455709/original/file-20220401-22-v0sa4b.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455709/original/file-20220401-22-v0sa4b.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455709/original/file-20220401-22-v0sa4b.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455709/original/file-20220401-22-v0sa4b.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Christos Tsiolkas says writers face ‘real life desperate situations’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: John Tsiavis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The penurious circumstances of Australian writers was graphically highlighted in late 2020, in testimony to the House of Representatives from prominent Australian novelists Charlotte Wood and Christos Tsiolkas. </p>
<p>Wood told a <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Communications/Arts">House of Representatives inquiry</a> into Australia’s cultural sector that “writers themselves are in absolutely dire economic difficulty”. She cited figures that literary writers’ annual income from their books was just $4,000 a year. “That work is piecemeal, freelance, poorly paid and very unstable.” Wood pointed out that “COVID is destroying the livelihoods of writers in many ways” and explained that the pandemic was “eviscerating three major income streams for writers outside their books, which are public speaking, university teaching and freelance writing.”</p>
<p>Tsiolkas told the inquiry that younger writers he had recently spent time with faced “real life desperate situations – how they’ll pay their rent and how they’re going to look after their young children”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gail-jones-australian-literature-is-chronically-underfunded-heres-how-to-help-it-flourish-148906">Gail Jones: Australian literature is chronically underfunded — here's how to help it flourish</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Australia doesn’t need to treat its readers and writers like this. We are a rich nation with a half-trillion dollar federal budget. Even a dramatic increase in funding, for all aspects of Australian culture, would be a rounding error in the context of other budget priorities, like <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-nuclear-powered-submarines-work-a-nuclear-scientist-explains-168067">nuclear submarines</a> or the <a href="https://theconversation.com/stages-1-and-2-of-the-tax-cuts-should-pass-stage-3-would-return-us-to-the-1950s-119637">“stage 3” income tax cuts</a> coming in 2024. </p>
<p>Australian writing is tremendously popular. Australian stories are central to the way we understand ourselves as citizens and a nation. Books by Australian authors sell well, as anyone who has been to a Trent Dalton bookstore event can attest. Australia Council data tells us that <a href="https://australiacouncil.gov.au/advocacy-and-research/creating-our-future/">72% of the population reads regularly for pleasure</a>. More than four million Australians visited a writers festival or literary event in 2019. </p>
<p>Like other artforms in this country, literature has struggled to make itself heard among the cacophony of special interests in Canberra. But literature is not a special interest: it is a constituent component of our national identity, and a deep source of enjoyment for millions of citizens. Storytelling is a fundamental aspect of what it means to be human. If anyone should be able to understand that, it is our politicians.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179476/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ben Eltham has previously received funding from the Australia Council for the Arts. He is affiliated with the Centre for Future Work at The Australia Institute, where he has previously co-written a report about federal cultural policy. He is a member of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), a union that represents workers in the cultural sector. </span></em></p>
Funding for writing and publishing is not just low: it’s also declining. Ben Eltham looks at a grim federal budget for literature, in the context of ongoing neglect for written culture in Australia.
Ben Eltham, Lecturer, School of Media, Film and Journalism, Monash University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/180127
2022-03-31T02:56:08Z
2022-03-31T02:56:08Z
Why arts and culture appear to be the big losers in this budget
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455164/original/file-20220330-13-1yp44l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5129%2C3453&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jean Wimmerlin on Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>While one more <a href="https://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/fletcher/media-release/rise-comes-back-20-million-encore">A$20 million round</a> of the Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund was announced as part of the 2022-23 budget to support reactivating the arts and entertainment sector post-Covid-19 lockdowns, this scheme is coming to an end. </p>
<p>With funding cuts forecast out to as far as 2025-26, the arts and culture appear to be big losers in this budget. </p>
<p>In addition to the $20.0 million in 2022-23 to phase down the RISE Fund, <a href="https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2022-23_infra_pbs_00_itrdc.pdf">the budget includes</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>$9.3 million over two years for the National Museum of Australia to support its services impacted by COVID 19</p></li>
<li><p>$9 million in 2021-22 for a second round of the Supporting Cinemas’ Retention Endurance and Enhancement of Neighbourhoods (SCREEN) Fund to support independent cinemas affected by COVID 19</p></li>
<li><p>an extension of the <a href="https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/funding-and-support/covid-19-support/temporary-interruption-fund">Temporary Interruption Fund</a>, which provides insurance to screen projects shut down due to COVID-related issues, for a further six months to 30 June 2022, and</p></li>
<li><p>$316.5 million over five years to build an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander <a href="https://www.niaa.gov.au/news-centre/indigenous-affairs/ngurra-national-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-cultural-precinct">cultural precinct, Ngurra</a>, on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin in the Parliamentary Triangle, on Ngunnawal country (Canberra).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>With the loss of COVID stimulus measures, the big losers under arts and culture in the budget are: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>the end of the RISE fund, represented in the cut to “arts and cultural development”, receiving $2.4 million in 2023-24, down from $159 million in 2021-22 </p></li>
<li><p>the loss of $6.4 million in contemporary music related COVID measures, and</p></li>
<li><p>Screen Australia: its funding will be reduced from a high of $39.5 million in 2021-22 to $11.6 million in 2023-24, reducing funding to <a href="https://twitter.com/ScreenAustralia/status/1509026946579337220">the pre-COVID baseline</a>. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>The decline in arts funding fits Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s big picture narrative that the time for “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/mar/17/josh-frydenberg-announces-targeted-cost-of-living-measures-ahead-of-federal-budget">crisis level</a>” spending is now over, and the budget forecasts such as those for arts and culture only “appear” to be bleak due to the tapering down from the crisis level funding. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455112/original/file-20220329-19-1hbib9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455112/original/file-20220329-19-1hbib9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455112/original/file-20220329-19-1hbib9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455112/original/file-20220329-19-1hbib9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455112/original/file-20220329-19-1hbib9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455112/original/file-20220329-19-1hbib9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455112/original/file-20220329-19-1hbib9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455112/original/file-20220329-19-1hbib9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Portfolio Budget Statements 2022–23 Budget Related Paper No. 1.10</span></span>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-cost-of-living-budget-cuts-spends-and-everything-you-need-to-know-at-a-glance-180124">A cost-of-living budget: cuts, spends, and everything you need to know at a glance</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The end of RISE funding</h2>
<p>The government’s biggest arts and culture investment during the pandemic was the RISE fund, which saw <a href="https://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/mckenzie/media-release/connecting-communities-stronger-future">$200 million</a> go towards 541 projects.</p>
<p>The RISE fund represented a move away from the “arms-length” independent funding decisions made by the Australia Council <a href="https://australiacouncil.gov.au/investment-and-development/peer-assessment/">peer assessors</a>. Instead, the arts minister had the ultimate authority regarding RISE. </p>
<p>This aspect of RISE was reminiscent of George Brandis’ 2015 <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-brandis-plans-to-insulate-the-arts-sector-from-the-artists-42305">shock annexation</a> of Australia Council funding to the then National Programme for Excellence in the Arts (which then became Catalyst). But the baseline Australia Council funding has remained steady in this year’s budget, rising only in line with inflation.</p>
<p>While RISE was a short-term crisis level funding initiative using the arts as an instrument to stimulate the economy, support for the Australia Council in the budget is for the support of “excellent art” for “audiences in Australia and abroad”. </p>
<p>The difference in these programs meant RISE funding went not only to not-for-profit arts organisations and individual artists, as the Australia Council primarily supports, but <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/nov/23/victorias-performing-arts-win-20m-funding-as-melbourne-readies-for-re-opening">also</a> to commercial creative activity.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/latest-arts-windfalls-show-money-isnt-enough-we-need-transparency-154725">Latest arts windfalls show money isn't enough. We need transparency</a>
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<h2>A loss of over-all funding</h2>
<p>According to the government, the expected decrease in overall cultural funding from 2021-22 to 2022-23 is predominantly driven by the loss of temporary arts funding for economic stimulus. </p>
<p>Expenses under the arts and cultural heritage are estimated to decrease by 10.6% in real terms from 2021-22 to 2022-23, and decrease by 13.1% in real terms from 2022-23 to 2025-26. </p>
<p>It is not clear why this scaling down of crisis level funding appears to be uneven. </p>
<p>In particular, many of Australia’s cultural institutions – who are already <a href="https://theconversation.com/historic-collections-could-be-lost-to-digital-dinosaurs-31524">under pressure</a> when it comes to preserving cultural heritage – are facing significant cuts.</p>
<p>The National Museum of Australia is projected to receive $51 million in 2023-24, losing its $9.3 million in COVID support. The National Gallery of Australia’s funding will drop from $49.6 million in 2021-22 to $45.7 million in 2022-23. Funding for the National Library Australia will fall from $61 million in 2022-23 to $47.1 million in the following year. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/staff-cuts-will-hurt-the-national-gallery-of-australia-but-its-not-spending-less-on-art-its-just-spending-it-differently-141314">Staff cuts will hurt the National Gallery of Australia, but it’s not spending less on art. It’s just spending it differently</a>
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<h2>A commercially driven future?</h2>
<p>Over the last two years, the arts were valued by the federal government to the extent that they were able to be used to stimulate the economy. </p>
<p>The assumption appears to be that, now that the creative and cultural industries have received a $200 million shot in the arm, they will now be able to stand back up and walk on their own two feet – and help those businesses around them do likewise. </p>
<p>It doesn’t appear the RISE Fund, and its ultimate decision making power by the minister, is a template for the future of arts funding in any literal sense because it is due to disappear. </p>
<p>But it may have changed the culture of arts funding in this country, explicitly focusing funding on cultural activities and initiatives informed by an overtly commercial mindset. </p>
<p>With many artists and organisations still struggling in this “COVID normal” landscape, this budgetary pendulum swing away from funding artistic projects and events paints a bleak picture.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180127/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Guy Morrow consults to Science Gallery International and the Association of Artist Managers in Australia. He receives funding from organisations for contract research projects. </span></em></p>
With the tapering down of COVID stimulus measures, many of Australia’s cultural institutions are facing cuts – but Australia Council funding remains steady.
Guy Morrow, Senior Lecturer in Arts & Cultural Management, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/158621
2021-04-08T09:51:11Z
2021-04-08T09:51:11Z
What happens when your arts minister suffers from cultural cringe?
<p>Who gets what in the arts has long been a topic of much debate. There are myriad issues round elitism, regional distribution, excellence, artforms, organisations versus individuals and so on. Some of this is generated by an unequal allocation of funding as well as the limited amount available overall. But other issues relate to historical approaches and a hierarchy of arts practice.</p>
<p>It is unusual, though, for an arts minister to step into the fray. In 2015, the then arts minister George Brandis decided to <a href="https://theconversation.com/getting-with-the-program-brandis-releases-his-draft-arts-funding-guidelines-44186">change the funding distribution</a> and invent his own funding scheme for excellence. This did not work out well for anyone, including the minister. </p>
<p>Now the current Minister for the Arts, Paul Fletcher, has decided to put his view out there. At a <a href="https://www.paulfletcher.com.au/portfolio-speeches/sydney-institute-address-why-do-we-fund-the-arts">talk on Wednesday to the Sydney Institute</a>, Fletcher attacked the arts sector for being a “cosy club” of elites while raising the issue of “fairness”, particularly in relation to regional and urban distribution of arts funding. </p>
<p>He described the audience for the arts as “an elite group of people wearing black tie going to opening nights in our big cities”. This might sound more like a Labor dig at the top end of town than a Coalition line. The minister seems to be confusing privileged audience members with hard-working arts workers, who could use support rather than insults. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-litany-of-losses-a-new-project-maps-our-abandoned-arts-events-of-2020-148716">A litany of losses: a new project maps our abandoned arts events of 2020</a>
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<h2>Bruised, battered, forgotten</h2>
<p>Perhaps, like many, Fletcher is still feeling a bit bruised from 2020. The art sector was shutdown due to the pandemic and then was generally <a href="https://theconversation.com/too-little-too-late-too-confusing-the-funding-criteria-for-the-arts-covid-package-is-a-mess-145397">ignored for more than eight months</a> by his government, despite the dramatic economic impact on the sector. The extremely slow response by the federal government was not seen by the arts sector as “sensitive” or “fair” for that matter. The federal government did end up providing a large amount of funding at the end of 2020 and into 2021, but the process for deciding “who got what” <a href="https://theconversation.com/latest-arts-windfalls-show-money-isnt-enough-we-need-transparency-154725">was hardly transparent</a>.</p>
<p>Now it seems the minister wants to raise issues around elitism and funding share, as well as the urban/regional debate. This seems a little disingenuous given recent <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7199272/mccormack-under-fire-over-regional-grants-fund/">accusations of funding “rorts”</a> at both <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/18/sports-rorts-all-recommended-projects-should-receive-belated-funding-report">federal</a> and <a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/nsw-grants-inquiry-lays-blame-for-252m-grants-rort-on-nsw-premier-and-deputy-premier-seeks-icac-referral/news-story/3178f1a354db5314c41039c631a92422">state</a> levels. </p>
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<p>Fletcher has declared he wants to see if he can shift the Labor party and Greens from their high ground positions in relation to the arts, while reminding everyone of <a href="https://theconversation.com/artists-shouldnt-have-to-endlessly-demonstrate-their-value-coalition-leaders-used-to-know-it-136608">past contributions by the Coalition</a> to the cultural sector.</p>
<p>However, it is the minister’s government that <a href="https://theconversation.com/remember-the-arts-departments-and-budgets-disappear-as-politics-backs-culture-into-a-dead-end-128110">disappeared the “arts”</a> into an amorphous department of infrastructure. </p>
<p>It is the minster’s government that has continued to downplay the importance of Australian content by reducing “<a href="https://www.paulfletcher.com.au/media-releases/media-relase-immediate-covid-19-relief-for-australian-media-as-harmonisation-reform">red tape</a>” obligations to produce Australian content. It is the minister’s government that has continued to <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-arts-funding-in-australia-is-falling-and-local-governments-are-picking-up-the-slack-124160">decrease the amount of arts funding available</a>. And yes, it is the minister’s government that chose to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-arts-needed-a-champion-it-got-a-package-to-prop-up-the-major-players-100-days-later-141444">ignore the needs of the arts sector</a> during a time of desperate need.</p>
<p>Yet, in this speech this week, Fletcher <a href="https://www.paulfletcher.com.au/portfolio-speeches/sydney-institute-address-why-do-we-fund-the-arts">claimed</a> the “level of funding committed to the arts by the Morrison Government in 2020-21 has been unprecedented”. Belated additional funding for COVID relief may have increased the federal arts allocation dramatically for the past 12 months. But this additional funding has not been equitably allocated, and the government has continued to ignore cultural workers who were <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-government-says-artists-should-be-able-to-access-jobkeeper-payments-its-not-that-simple-138530">not eligible for JobKeeper or JobSeeker</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/latest-arts-windfalls-show-money-isnt-enough-we-need-transparency-154725">Latest arts windfalls show money isn't enough. We need transparency</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Big arts, big funding</h2>
<p>Certainly, it can be agreed arts funding is skewed towards the big end of town. The opera companies, symphony orchestras and major theatre companies <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/02/arts/australia-performing-arts-funding.html">receive more than 60% of the funding</a> available from the Australia Council. </p>
<p>Is Fletcher talking about changing this ratio or providing more money overall? Or is he using the opportunity to have a go at a vulnerable sector when he is meant to be their advocate? The minister maybe diving in at the deep end, without necessarily understanding the full complexity of the arts or arts funding.</p>
<p>Perhaps he is playing to supporters when he argues too much funding is going to urban performing arts companies, rather than, for example, to regional activity or commercial productions that tour.</p>
<p>But professional arts practice is usually located in urban centres because that is where artists live and work. It is also where they can attract the biggest audiences, which is critical when arts activity depends on box office income. Of course, there are also fantastic arts groups and individuals working in the regions that also need to be recognised, celebrated and more generously funded. But in the annual <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/about/annual-report-2019-20/">Australia Council report for 2019-2020</a>, it is noted that of “government initiatives”, only 5% of total arts funding was allocated to regional areas. If the government was serious about providing more funding to regional areas, it could certainly increase this percentage.</p>
<p>However, since the Coalition parties came into power in 2013, the amount of money available for arts funding has continued to decrease. This is something that could easily be changed given the small amount overall given to arts practice at the Australia Council ($187.1 million in 2019-2020). A further 95 companies have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/apr/06/we-are-witnessing-a-cultural-bloodbath-in-australia-that-has-been-years-in-the-making">lost their funding since 2016</a>. </p>
<p>Over the past eight years there has been a dramatic continual decline in arts funding relative to population growth, which has particularly affected individuals and <a href="https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/news/degraded-and-demoralised-the-arts-companies-left-behind/">small to medium arts organisations</a>. Is the minister arguing that he wants to give more money to the sector or is he really concerned about electoral boundaries and getting the support of Coalition voters in the regions?</p>
<p>The arts sector would love to have a minister who demonstrates they care about the needs of the sector and does their best to improve the position of the arts in Australian society. Instead, it feels like Fletcher is employing and possibly enjoying a “divide and rule” approach, which helps no one in the end, least of all the arts. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/at-moments-like-these-we-need-a-cultural-policy-141974">At moments like these, we need a cultural policy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158621/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Caust has previously received funding from the Australia Council. She is a member of NAVA and the Arts Industry Council SA. </span></em></p>
Arts Minister Paul Fletcher has taken aim at what he calls a ‘cosy club’ of arts elites. But his claim of ‘unprecedented’ arts funding and a push for greater fairness don’t add up.
Jo Caust, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow (Hon), School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/157239
2021-03-24T05:49:53Z
2021-03-24T05:49:53Z
Katharine Brisbane has been a leader in Australian theatre for decades. Her new proposal is her most daring yet
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390785/original/file-20210322-13-7tgsuu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C2%2C890%2C1254&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Then national theatre critic of The Australian, Katharine Brisbane and her husband, drama academic, the late Dr Philip Parsons, two years after they founded Currency Press in 1971, with their children Nick, now chair of Currency Press, and Harriet, this year replacing Katharine as Director of Currency House. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Currency House</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>No-one has done more for Australian drama than Katharine Brisbane. When she talks, we should all be listening to what she has to say. Over seven remarkable decades, she has played one of the leading roles in Australian culture.</p>
<p>As theatre critic for the Australian from 1967 to 1974, she <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7887840-not-wrong-just-different">documented</a> the most exciting, innovative and tumultuous period of the nation’s artistic, cultural, social and political activity — from the avant-garde stirrings of the late 1960s, through the revolutions of the <a href="https://collections.artscentremelbourne.com.au/#details=enarratives.1879">Australian Performance Group</a> in Melbourne and the <a href="https://www.broadsheet.com.au/sydney/entertainment/article/remarkable-and-little-known-history-belvoir-theatre">Nimrod Theatre</a> in Sydney. </p>
<p>Australia’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-australian-plays-the-front-room-boys-and-new-wave-theatre-72956">new wave</a> was not so much a singular wave, but a thrashing, roiling series of tempests lashing the complacent, monochrome cultural landscape: Brisbane was there to document it all.</p>
<p>With her late husband, Philip Parsons, Brisbane founded Currency Press in 1971 committed to publishing the explosion of new Australian plays, a commitment it maintains to the current day. </p>
<h2>A public discussion</h2>
<p>In 2001, responding to a sense of “despondency” amongst performing arts workers — deriving in no small part from the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/0809/ArtsPolicy">contraction of funding</a> over the prior decade — Brisbane and a handful of collaborators set up a monthly discussion club they called “Currency House”. </p>
<p>Over the following three or four years, the group encouraged artists to join them in an attempt to restore a sense of purpose and significance: to reignite the passion, optimism and energy of the years of cultural expansion that followed <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2015/october/1443621600/julian-meyrick/house-loses#mtr">the establishment</a> of the Australian Council for the Arts in 1968, and the fiscal (and ideological) investments of subsequent governments. </p>
<p>In 2004, Currency House took the private discussions public, launching the quarterly essay series Platform Papers. Now 89, Brisbane’s latest provocation, an essay called On the Lessons of History, is a stirring call to arms for the arts sector, and, reportedly, her last Platform Paper.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-problem-with-arts-funding-in-australia-goes-right-back-to-its-inception-138834">The problem with arts funding in Australia goes right back to its inception</a>
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<p>On the surface, On the Lessons of History presents as a retrospective of the 62 essays and their authors, luminaries of contemporary practice and thinking, including Wesley Enoch, Lyndon Terracini, Lee Lewis and Alison Croggon. </p>
<p>However, there is something much more important going on here, as hinted in the title’s nod to Will and Ariel Durant’s formative <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/174713.The_Lessons_of_History">The Lessons of History</a> (1968), a book that distilled history into sharp, focused themes, with a view to better understanding the past and the times to come.</p>
<p>Brisbane’s sights are set resolutely on the future. The essay charges artists with a responsibility not only to their practices, but to a broader project. The arts, she writes, should provide a space where we undertake reflection as an active, interventionist and disruptive project. </p>
<p>In this, theatre can lead us to an imagining of “Australia as a wiser and more creative country”.</p>
<h2>Crafting a new future</h2>
<p>Brisbane writes with informed urgency. Since 2001, she has observed “a period of cultural change from which we have emerged a different nation”. </p>
<p>But not a better one, she writes. Rather: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>we have allowed ourselves to be swept up in fears and occupied with distraction — new [electronic] devices of incomprehensible ingenuity that invite entry into dazzling new worlds to escape the wreck we have made of this one.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Artists are caught up in the terror: precarious, scared to speak out for fear of losing work, locked into logics of competition, celebrity and commerce. </p>
<p>In response to this trend, and to the acute challenges of the most recent few years — drought, pandemic, the shattering revelations of corruption and inhumanity across our public institutions — Brisbane urges a fundamental repositioning of the arts. </p>
<p>Most pointedly, she points to the “fatally flawed” terms under which the Australia Council was established. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390560/original/file-20210319-23-1lxr1z9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Portrait" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390560/original/file-20210319-23-1lxr1z9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390560/original/file-20210319-23-1lxr1z9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=991&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390560/original/file-20210319-23-1lxr1z9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=991&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390560/original/file-20210319-23-1lxr1z9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=991&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390560/original/file-20210319-23-1lxr1z9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1245&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390560/original/file-20210319-23-1lxr1z9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1245&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390560/original/file-20210319-23-1lxr1z9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1245&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Katharine Brisbane’s ongoing legacy is formidable.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Currency House</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Since its establishment in 1968, the council has been focused on funding “products rather than creators”, and dividing the arts sector into discrete artforms — losing sight both of the artists themselves, and the ways art forms meld and evolve.</p>
<p>Rather than persisting in the “endless, competitive pursuit of excellence” — a trajectory which culminated in former arts minister George Brandis siphoning funding away from the Australia Council — we must reconsider the needs of the arts sector in the 2020s and beyond, and act on these new needs.</p>
<p>Instead of framing arts funding as “money with which to produce art”, could we not instead see it as “money for cultural research”? </p>
<p>This, then, is what Brisbane describes as Currency House’s new project: concrete steps toward re conceiving and redesigning the arts and cultural sector. </p>
<p>The first of those steps is to provide a rallying point for artists: an activist platform from which to build upon the proposals and provocations of the Platform Papers series, lobbying and advocating for genuine change. For Brisbane, among the most pressing demands should be a cabinet-level acknowledgement of the creative sector, with an <a href="https://www.artshub.com.au/news-article/news/public-policy/richard-watts/disappearing-arts-department-politicians-respond-259399">arts department</a> “staffed by arts workers, dedicated to forward planning and fostering collaborative enterprises.” </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/remember-the-arts-departments-and-budgets-disappear-as-politics-backs-culture-into-a-dead-end-128110">Remember the arts? Departments and budgets disappear as politics backs culture into a dead end</a>
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<p>Crucially, it is artists themselves who must show the way forward. They must not be cowed into silence, but instead must demand, at the very least, “funds to experiment and a living wage.” </p>
<p>“In 2021” Brisbane writes, “we are starting again.” What, she concludes, do we have to lose?</p>
<p><em>Platform Paper 63: On the Lessons of History by Katherine Brisbane, is on sale now.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157239/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Maxwell is the Head of the School of Literature, Art and Media at the University of Sydney, which has supported the publication of Katharine Brisbane's Platform Paper, and is partnering with Currency House to support an ongoing cultural advocacy project.</span></em></p>
Ex theatre critic for The Australian and founder of Currency Press and Currency House, Katharine Brisbane, now 89, has issued a call to arms for the arts to be taken seriously.
Ian Maxwell, Associate Professor in Performance Studies, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/154725
2021-02-07T19:05:38Z
2021-02-07T19:05:38Z
Latest arts windfalls show money isn’t enough. We need transparency
<p>In 2020, the arts sector was dramatically affected by COVID-19. In June, the government announced their <a href="https://theconversation.com/too-little-too-late-too-confusing-the-funding-criteria-for-the-arts-covid-package-is-a-mess-145397">$75 million</a> Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) scheme and in November the first successful applicants were announced.</p>
<p>Rather than distributing funds through existing arms-length processes at the Australia Council, public servants from within Paul Fletcher’s Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts department would be making grants decisions in relation to this fund.</p>
<p>While they could seek advice from staff at the Australia Council or from the new <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/departmental-news/meet-creative-economy-taskforce">Creative Economy Taskforce</a> set up by the minister in mid-2020, they were under no obligation to do so. </p>
<p>Fletcher travelled around the country in November 2020 announcing some grants approved through the scheme. In late December, the office revealed the <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/documents/rise-fund-grant-recipients-batch-one-summary-projects">complete list</a> of the first round of successful recipients. </p>
<p>For some applicants, this funding could be seen as winning the lottery. Many of these grants are much bigger than the recipients could ever hope to receive from the Australia Council or any other arts funding body — and alongside the usual major festivals and performance companies, there are also commercial entities not usually eligible for government arts grants. </p>
<p>Mellen Events received $481,445 for <a href="http://www.eireborne.com/">Eireborne</a>, a rock-music Irish dancing tour. Newtheatricals were granted $1,656,346 to tour the musical <a href="https://comefromaway.com.au/">Come From Away</a>. Michael Cassel Group received $932,140 for the Sydney season of <a href="https://hamiltonmusical.com.au/">Hamilton</a> and $971,895 to reopen <a href="https://www.harrypottertheplay.com/au/">Harry Potter and the Cursed Child</a> in Melbourne.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382659/original/file-20210205-20-7qg3j3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Still from Hamilton." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382659/original/file-20210205-20-7qg3j3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382659/original/file-20210205-20-7qg3j3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382659/original/file-20210205-20-7qg3j3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382659/original/file-20210205-20-7qg3j3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382659/original/file-20210205-20-7qg3j3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382659/original/file-20210205-20-7qg3j3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382659/original/file-20210205-20-7qg3j3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Hamilton’s Sydney season will be supported by a RISE grant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Disney Plus</span></span>
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<p>Perhaps the grant awarded to the Melbourne artist Rone is <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/street-artist-rone-scores-a-covid-grant-coup-20210202-p56yvt.html">the most surprising</a>: $1,688,652 for a “Melbourne Immersive Experience”. Individual artists rarely receive such a large amount of dedicated government funding.</p>
<p>The intent of these grants is to provide much needed stimulus to a sector that has been badly damaged by the events of the past year. But the size of the grants and some of the recipients beg the question: what was the due diligence undertaken? </p>
<h2>Interfering with process</h2>
<p>Who decides what should be supported? A challenge for the arts is everyone in the community has an opinion about what should happen, without necessarily having any knowledge about the project, the artists or even the artform. </p>
<p>When establishing the Australia Council as the nation’s arts funding body in the early 1970s, the federal government made it clear an “<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-australia-council-must-hold-firm-on-arms-length-funding-24460">arm’s length</a>” process should apply: the decision making should be separate from the government of the day so that political priorities did not get in the way. It also advised the use of “peers” who were knowledgeable about the field as the decision-makers. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-australia-council-must-hold-firm-on-arms-length-funding-24460">The Australia Council must hold firm on 'arm's length' funding</a>
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<p>But 50 years later, we are seeing many examples of direct and indirect political interference in the grant decision-making process for the arts.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most egregious example of recent years is in New South Wales, where the current Minister for the Arts, Don Harwin, has interfered on several occasions when allocating arts grants. </p>
<p>In 2018, Harwin admitted he <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-26/arts-groups-miss-out-as-minister-funds-special-project/10298452">re-directed funding</a> to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra when the funding had been recommended elsewhere by his own arts advisory committee. </p>
<p>In 2019, Harwin allocated 13 regional arts grants deemed of “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-14/nsw-ministers-accused-of-pork-barrelling-over-regional-arts-fund/10898154?nw=0">insufficient quality</a>” by a funding committee to projects in Coalition-held seats.</p>
<p>In January, the Guardian reported out of a $50 million fund set up by the NSW Government in mid-2020 to support arts organisations and artists through the pandemic, only <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/jan/13/ridiculous-secrecy-7m-arts-bailout-money-formally-unaccounted-for-in-50m-nsw-government-scheme">$13 million</a> had been allocated, of which $7 million was yet to be formally accounted for.</p>
<h2>Transparency is needed</h2>
<p>Over the past decade, Australia’s national arts funding has shrunk while the demand has increased. </p>
<p>In 2016, 128 companies received four-year funding from the Australia Council. In 2020, that number was <a href="https://www.artshub.com.au/news-article/news/grants-and-funding/richard-watts/sector-in-shock-as-australia-council-4-year-funding-announced-260139">just 95</a>, sharing $31.7 million per annum between them. </p>
<p>Many companies doing amazing work were among those unsuccessful in the multi-year Australia Council funding allocation, yet some of these were successful in receiving RISE funding, including $800,000 for Melbourne’s La Mama, $588,746 for Adelaide’s Slingsby, and $500,000 for Melbourne’s Somebody’s Daughter.</p>
<p>In 2019-20 the Australia Council distributed <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/about/annual-report-2019-20/">$187.1 million</a> — $4.4 million less than 2014-15. Just $28.2 million of this was outside of the multi-year funding programs — down from $33.8 million five years earlier. </p>
<p>The government has allocated $75 million to RISE. There is no doubt the government could afford to be more generous to the arts than they have been over the past decade.</p>
<p>The limited funding at the Australia Council has meant that many activities and companies have <a href="https://witnessperformance.com/aloha-from-hell/">had to cease</a>. The lack of any cultural policy or plan at the federal level means there is no strategy in place for how the arts should be supported at the national level, or the appropriate processes for undertaking this spend.</p>
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<p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/at-moments-like-these-we-need-a-cultural-policy-141974">At moments like these, we need a cultural policy</a>
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<p>It is because of this we see the respected structures of the Australia Council not utilised under the pandemic, and instead decisions coming straight from the government of the day without necessarily having any understanding of the sector.</p>
<p>Lack of transparency has several outcomes. Ministers get personally lobbied to influence decisions, applicants are nervous about complaining about processes or outcomes because they believe making any public statement may prevent them getting further funding, there is limited information about who gets what and why, trust in government declines, and, overall, there is a lack of respect for those given responsibility for funding the arts.</p>
<p>It is wonderful that many worthy projects, individuals and groups received such generous funding through RISE. But there is a concern, when the arts are in such trouble, if the money is being used in the wisest way to underpin and support the sector for the future?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154725/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Caust has received funding from the Australia Council. She is affiliated with NAVA and the Arts Industry Council SA.</span></em></p>
The first round of RISE funding recipients has been announced — but is it the best use of money?
Jo Caust, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow (Hon), School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/149626
2020-11-11T05:54:51Z
2020-11-11T05:54:51Z
Why is the gender pay gap in the arts so large? Widespread discrimination is the most likely cause
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368735/original/file-20201110-19-cjzll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C127%2C4685%2C2995&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Female artists across all areas of the arts experience gender-related disadvantage in pursuing their creative careers, which reflects discriminatory problems affecting women in society more generally. </p>
<p>This is our conclusion after delving more deeply into our <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/119286">2014-15 data on the incomes of practising professional artists in Australia</a>. Although women are <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/research/creating-our-future">more engaged as consumers and supporters of the Australian arts</a> than men, the total income from all art and non-art sources for the average female artist was <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-gender-pay-gap-is-wider-in-the-arts-than-in-other-industries-87080">$41,600, 25% less than her male counterpart</a>.</p>
<p>When it came to earnings from their creative practice alone, women earned 30% less than men. Across all fields of employment, the national gender pay gap <a href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/data/fact-sheets/australias-gender-pay-gap-statistics-2020#:%7E:text=Currently%2C%20Australia's%20national%20gender%20pay,full%2Dtime%20earnings%20of%20%241%2C812.00.">is currently an estimated 14%</a>.</p>
<p>Although accurate data are yet to be obtained for this year, there is no doubt that <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-3-in-4-australians-employed-in-the-creative-and-performing-arts-could-lose-their-jobs-136505">artists’ incomes generally have plummeted during the pandemic</a>. Given the particularly vulnerable position of women, there are reasons to expect the gender pay gap to have grown even wider. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-3-in-4-australians-employed-in-the-creative-and-performing-arts-could-lose-their-jobs-136505">Coronavirus: 3 in 4 Australians employed in the creative and performing arts could lose their jobs</a>
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<h2>Possible reasons</h2>
<p>In research underway, we are digging more deeply into the possible reasons why such a significant gap exists in the arts. </p>
<p>To some extent, the gender pay gap for artists may be influenced by the same
sorts of factors that affect female workers across all labour markets. These include underrepresentation in leadership roles, casualised work arrangements, work/family conflicts, discriminatory hiring practices and prejudice.</p>
<p>But are there specific characteristics of women artists that make their income position even more precarious?</p>
<p>For instance, what of education? Education and training in the arts are somewhat more important in determining female artists’ income from creative work than for men, and, in fact, women artists are <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/workspace/uploads/files/making-art-work-throsby-report-5a05106d0bb69.pdf">more educated on average</a>. However, these differences are far from enough for women to catch up to their male colleagues’ income levels.</p>
<p>We wondered whether personal traits might also have an effect. In the wide-ranging literature on females in the workplace, attention has been paid to the influence of gender-related psycho-social characteristics. These include the proposition women are more caring, nurturing and communicative; more risk and competition-averse, and less likely to initiate negotiation. Men, on the other hand, are depicted as more assertive, aggressive and self-confident.</p>
<p>We have only limited data on such characteristics. Nevertheless, a few notable differences between men and women can be observed from our research. For example, female artists who believe receiving support from family and friends has helped them advance their career tend to have higher creative incomes on average than men, other things being held equal. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/giving-it-away-for-free-why-the-performing-arts-risks-making-the-same-mistake-newspapers-did-139671">Giving it away for free – why the performing arts risks making the same mistake newspapers did</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In addition, female artists who perceived themselves as having the wrong temperament, or a lack of self-confidence, or insufficient talent, or an inability to take risks, had relatively lower incomes from creative work than other women artists. Such an outcome is not evident among male artists, according to the survey data. </p>
<p>Yet none of these factors provides a significant explanation of the earnings difference between men and women artists. This leads us to conclude that gender inequity in the artistic workplace must ultimately be reflective of more fundamental issues relating to the treatment of women in society.</p>
<h2>First Nations remote communities more equal</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368728/original/file-20201110-13-o9jze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368728/original/file-20201110-13-o9jze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368728/original/file-20201110-13-o9jze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368728/original/file-20201110-13-o9jze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368728/original/file-20201110-13-o9jze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368728/original/file-20201110-13-o9jze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368728/original/file-20201110-13-o9jze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368728/original/file-20201110-13-o9jze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prominent Arnhem Land Yolngu artist Djambawa Marawili photographed last year. In Arnhem Land, according to recent figures, the gender pay gap was negligible.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NATSIAA/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In separate analyses, we have been comparing male and female earnings for First Nations artists working in several remote communities in the Northern Territory and South Australia, using data from the <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/252706">National Survey of Remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Artists</a>. </p>
<p>There are only minor differences between the genders in the levels of income earned by artists in these communities. For example, in Arnhem Land, <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/257301">women artists earned $8,600 from their creative work in 2017-18, while men earned $8,700</a>. </p>
<p>There was a similarly insignificant difference between males and females in their total work incomes from all sources in that year. Women earned $23,400, compared to $23,000 for men.</p>
<p>Much the same result applies in other communities. It seems the gender gap affecting incomes of most female artists in Australia is not evident in these remote First Nations communities. </p>
<p>But it must be remembered that the incomes of First Nations artists are considerably lower than those of their non-Indigenous counterparts.</p>
<p>The results of our research for both mainstream and First Nations cultural practitioners highlight the particularity of the social and cultural context in which art is made.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-fix-gender-inequity-in-arts-leadership-we-need-more-women-in-politics-and-chairing-boards-97782">To fix gender inequity in arts leadership we need more women in politics and chairing boards</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But there are systemic features of this context in Australian society, such as attitudes to women in leadership, that perpetuate gender-based discrimination in working life.</p>
<p>For these problems to be overcome, it seems changes in attitudes and behaviours will be needed, not just within the arts community itself but — more importantly —in society at large.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149626/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Throsby receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC), and from the Commonwealth, WA, NT and Queensland governments.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sunny Y. Shin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Why is the gender pay gap wider in the arts than other fields of employment? We mined the data looking for possible reasons.
David Throsby, Distinguished Professor of Economics, Macquarie University
Sunny Y. Shin, Lecturer, Macquarie University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/148906
2020-11-08T19:05:31Z
2020-11-08T19:05:31Z
Gail Jones: Australian literature is chronically underfunded — here’s how to help it flourish
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367660/original/file-20201105-19-14cltom.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C14%2C963%2C732&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kate Winslet in the 2015 film The Dressmaker. The film was based on the novel by Australian writer Rosalie Ham.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Screen Australia, Film Art Media, White Hot Productions</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This is an edited version of author Gail Jones’ submission to the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Communications/Arts">parliamentary inquiry into the creative industries</a>.</em></p>
<p>Literary culture carries profound social value. In general terms it is essential to employment, cultural literacy and understanding of community, as well as to Australia’s post-pandemic recovery and growth. It is also radically underfunded and in urgent need of new support.</p>
<p>I am particularly concerned with the low level of investment in literature through state and federal funding agencies <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/about/annual-report-2018-19/">compared with other art forms</a>.</p>
<h2>The economic benefits</h2>
<p>Literature is a mainstay of the creative and cultural industries, which contributed $63.5 billion to the Australian economy in 2016-17. Creative arts <a href="https://www.communications.gov.au/publications/creative-skills-future-economy">employ 645,000 Australians</a> and those numbers were increasing before the pandemic. Literature operates in the economy in many and complicated ways, since writers are “primary producers” of creative content.</p>
<p>Books form an often invisible bedrock of robust resources for the wider economy. They provide creative content in areas such as film, television, theatre and opera; moreover they contribute fundamentally to the educational sector, to libraries, events and what might be called our forms of cultural conversation.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367425/original/file-20201104-15-13gs5zy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C41%2C998%2C612&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367425/original/file-20201104-15-13gs5zy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C41%2C998%2C612&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367425/original/file-20201104-15-13gs5zy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367425/original/file-20201104-15-13gs5zy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367425/original/file-20201104-15-13gs5zy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367425/original/file-20201104-15-13gs5zy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367425/original/file-20201104-15-13gs5zy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367425/original/file-20201104-15-13gs5zy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Julia Ormond and Angourie Rice in Ladies in Black, a 2018 film based on the novel by Australian author Madeleine St John.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lumila Films, Ladies in Black SPV, Screen Australia</span></span>
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<p>The most conspicuous areas of economic benefit and employment are libraries, universities, schools, festivals, bookshops and publishing. </p>
<p>Indirect benefits, such as to tourism and cross-cultural understanding, are often overlooked in reference to the economic benefits of literature. Our books carry implicit, prestigious reference to a national culture and place; they attract interest, visitors and students and arguably establish a presence of ideas above and beyond more direct mechanisms of cultural exchange.</p>
<p>Cross-cultural exchange and understanding are crucial to the literary industries and of inestimable benefit in “recommending” Australia and its stories.</p>
<p>However, writers’ incomes are disastrously low, <a href="https://research-management.mq.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/122625541/3_Authors_Income.pdfl">$12,900 on average</a>; and COVID-19 has eliminated other forms of supplementary income. It has always been difficult to live as a writer in Australia (which is why most of us have “day jobs”) and it is clear writers are disproportionately disadvantaged. Although essential to the economic benefits of a healthy arts sector overall, writers are less supported by our institutions and infrastructure.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-ways-to-boost-australian-writers-earnings-110694">Five ways to boost Australian writers’ earnings</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>Total literature funding at the Australia Council has <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/australian-books-may-wither-on-the-vine-authors-warn-20201027-p5690k.html">decreased by 44% over the past six years</a> from $9 million in 2013-14 to $5.1 million in 2018-19. The abolition of specific literature programs such as <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/08/28/3835436.htm">Get Reading</a>, <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/news/media-centre/media-releases/biggest-ever-books-alive-kicks-off/">Books Alive</a> and <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/departmental-news/book-council-australia">the Book Council</a> has been responsible for much of this decrease.</p>
<p>We need additional government-directed support such as the funding delivered to visual arts through the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy ($6.6 million in 2018-19), regional touring delivered through Playing Australia ($7.4 million 2018-19) and the Major Festivals Initiative ($1.5 million 2018-19). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367417/original/file-20201104-21-1h6eg7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367417/original/file-20201104-21-1h6eg7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367417/original/file-20201104-21-1h6eg7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367417/original/file-20201104-21-1h6eg7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367417/original/file-20201104-21-1h6eg7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367417/original/file-20201104-21-1h6eg7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367417/original/file-20201104-21-1h6eg7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367417/original/file-20201104-21-1h6eg7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Melbourne’s State Library.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Valeriu Campan/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Shaping national identity</h2>
<p>The literary culture in Australia is chronically underfunded, but its benefits are persistent, precious and immense. “Social well-being” requires social literacy, a sense of connection to one’s history, community and self: these are generated and nourished through narrative, conversation and reflection. </p>
<p>The literary arts create a sense of pride, community and solidarity. A single library in a country town can offer astonishing opportunities of learning and self-knowledge: how do we calculate value like this?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-library-humanist-ideal-social-glue-and-now-tourism-hotspot-116432">Friday essay: the library – humanist ideal, social glue and now, tourism hotspot</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As someone who grew up in remote and regional areas, I’m aware of how crucial libraries and book culture are to a sense of connection with the nation. Moreover, reading is an indicator of mental health, especially among young people. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367421/original/file-20201104-13-1raf3ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367421/original/file-20201104-13-1raf3ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367421/original/file-20201104-13-1raf3ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367421/original/file-20201104-13-1raf3ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367421/original/file-20201104-13-1raf3ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367421/original/file-20201104-13-1raf3ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367421/original/file-20201104-13-1raf3ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367421/original/file-20201104-13-1raf3ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brothers Douglas and Dare Strout read a school book together while home schooling in Brisbane in April.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Darren England/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“National identity” also requires reflexive literacy: social understanding and agency derive from reading and writing; a nation that neglects its literary culture risks losing the skills that contribute to creative thinking in other areas — including in industry and innovative manufacturing. Local reading and writing initiatives have had remarkable success in areas like Aboriginal literacy and aged care mental support.</p>
<p>More Australians are reading, writing and attending festival events than ever before. Reading is the second most popular way Australians engage with arts and culture. </p>
<p>Writers’ festivals are flourishing and attendances growing. Libraries remain crucial to our urban and regional communities. It is no overstatement to claim that literature has shaped and reflected our complex national identity.</p>
<h2>Australian literature at universities</h2>
<p>The formulation of a <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/departmental-news/meet-creative-economy-taskforce">Creative Economy Taskforce</a> by Arts Minister Paul Fletcher is a positive step in establishing better understanding of this crucial economy. I would draw attention, however, to the lack of literary expertise on the taskforce. The appointment of a publisher or a high-profile Indigenous writer, for example, would give more diversity to the collective voice of our literary community. </p>
<p>The additional appointment of an academic concerned with Australian literature, such as the current director of the <a href="https://www.asal.org.au/">Association for the Study of Australian Literature</a>, would further enhance the claims of literature.</p>
<p>The education sector will have a role in implementing creative arts initiatives. There has been a deplorable lack of support for Australian literature within the academy. </p>
<p>Under the current wish to renovate the jobs sector through the creative arts there is an opportunity to direct dedicated funds within the education budget to establishing a Chair of Australian Literature in each university (or at least in the Group of Eight).</p>
<p>There is currently one Chair at the <a href="https://www.uwa.edu.au/news/article/2020/july/new-chair-in-australian-literature-appointed">University of Western Australia</a> and a <a href="https://arts.unimelb.edu.au/australian-centre/people/boisbouvier-chair-in-australian-literature">privately endowed one</a> at the University of Melbourne. Postgraduate scholarships could also be offered specifically in the area of Australian literary studies.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367410/original/file-20201104-19-16i1ut0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367410/original/file-20201104-19-16i1ut0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367410/original/file-20201104-19-16i1ut0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367410/original/file-20201104-19-16i1ut0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367410/original/file-20201104-19-16i1ut0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367410/original/file-20201104-19-16i1ut0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367410/original/file-20201104-19-16i1ut0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367410/original/file-20201104-19-16i1ut0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alexis Wright, pictured here in 2007 after winning the Miles Franklin award, is the Boisbouvier Chair of Australian Literature at Melbourne University.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dean Lewins/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For a comparatively small outlay in budget terms, such a move would signal direct support for Australian reading, writing and research and would be widely celebrated in the education and library sectors. </p>
<h2>‘Embarrassing’</h2>
<p>It is embarrassing to discover that some European universities (in my experience Belgium, Germany and Italy, in particular) study more Australian literature than is offered in our own nation. </p>
<p>The case for increased Australia Council funding in the neglected area of literature has already been made. Writers’ incomes are, as attested, direly low and I worry in particular about diminishing funding for new and emerging writers. </p>
<p>An injection of funds into the literature sector of the Australia Council is another efficient and speedy way in which to signal understanding of the fundamental role of literature to our cultural enterprises and economic growth. </p>
<p>Cuts to publishing, festivals, journals, individual writers’ grants and programs generally, have had a disastrous effect on the incomes and opportunities for writers in this nation. Notwithstanding a few highly publicised commercial successes, most writers truly struggle to make ends meet. The “trickle down effects” — from a sustaining grant, say, to a literary journal — have direct economic benefits to writers and therefore to the wider economy.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/literary-magazines-are-often-the-first-place-new-authors-are-published-we-cant-lose-them-137900">Literary magazines are often the first place new authors are published. We can't lose them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Most writers’ work is not recognised as a “job”; if it were, if there were a definition of “writer” as a category of honourable labour (such as it is, for example, in Germany and France), writers would be eligible for Jobmaker and Jobseeker benefits. </p>
<p>This may be blue-sky thinking, but I look forward to a future in which forms of precarious labour, like writing, are recognised and honoured as legitimate jobs.</p>
<p>Another area that may work well with literature is foreign aid. The government of Canada, for example, donates entire libraries of Canadian literature as part of its aid program. (I’ve seen one installed on the campus of the University of New Delhi.) </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367422/original/file-20201104-21-k9u32l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367422/original/file-20201104-21-k9u32l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367422/original/file-20201104-21-k9u32l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367422/original/file-20201104-21-k9u32l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367422/original/file-20201104-21-k9u32l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367422/original/file-20201104-21-k9u32l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367422/original/file-20201104-21-k9u32l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367422/original/file-20201104-21-k9u32l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What about gifting libraries of Australian books as part of our aid program?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hamilton Churton/PR Handout</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This works as a stimulus to the host economy (benefiting publishers and writers) and also the receiving community, for whom access to books and education may be difficult. It also encourages study of the host culture’s writings and has benevolent “soft power” effects of inestimable worth.</p>
<h2>‘Literature houses’</h2>
<p>The government has indicated physical infrastructure (buildings and so on) will be necessary to the renovation of the domestic economy post-COVID. This is a wonderful opportunity to consider funding “literature houses”, purpose-built sites for readings, writer accommodation for local and overseas residencies, places for book-launches, discussion and the general support of literature. </p>
<p>The Literaturhaus system in Germany, in which all major cities have <a href="https://www.visitberlin.de/en/literaturhaus-berlin">funded buildings for writer events</a>, and in which, crucially, writers are paid for readings and appearances, is a wonderful success and helps writers’ incomes enormously.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367424/original/file-20201104-23-1lxud2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367424/original/file-20201104-23-1lxud2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367424/original/file-20201104-23-1lxud2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367424/original/file-20201104-23-1lxud2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367424/original/file-20201104-23-1lxud2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367424/original/file-20201104-23-1lxud2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367424/original/file-20201104-23-1lxud2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367424/original/file-20201104-23-1lxud2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Frankfurt Literaturhaus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>The inclusion of Indigenous, regional, rural and community organisations in proposals for “literature houses” would stimulate local building economies and generate community recognition of Australian literature.</p>
<p>The Regional Australia Institute considers creative arts as a potentially productive area of regional economies. However <a href="http://www.regionalaustralia.org.au/home/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/RAI_SIP-2018-2-3-1_RegionalGrowthProspects_WEB_Final.pdf">its 2016 map of Australia has a tiny space allocated to creative industries</a> (situated around Alice Springs and linked to the Indigenous art industry). This strikes me as a radical imbalance and a missed opportunity.</p>
<p>A priority for this inquiry could be support for initiatives in literature, perhaps through existing library or schools infrastructure, to address creatively matters of both rural innovation and disadvantage. </p>
<p>Encouraging workshops in writing, including visiting writers, addressing reading and writing as a creative enterprise for the community as a whole: these could form the basis for an enlivening cultural participation and skills. Dedicated funds in literature for regional, remote and rural communities are urgently required.</p>
<p>Literature, in all its forms, is crucial to our nation — to the imaginations of our children, to the mental health and development of our adolescents, to the adult multicultural community more generally — in affirming identity, purpose and meaning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148906/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gail Jones works. at the University of Western Sydney. She has been a recipient in the. past of Australia Council funding for residency assistance. </span></em></p>
Literature funding has been cut brutally in recent years and writers’ incomes are disastrously low. Yet books shape our national identity, forming an often invisible bedrock for the wider economy.
Gail Jones, Professor, Writing and Society Research Centre, Western Sydney University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/144419
2020-08-14T05:30:28Z
2020-08-14T05:30:28Z
State arts service organisations: effective, engaged but endangered
<p>This week the NSW government’s arts funding arm, Create NSW, <a href="https://publishing.artshub.com.au/news-article/news/writing-and-publishing/artshub/funding-cuts-may-close-writing-nsw-260878">removed or significantly reduced funding to arts service organisations</a> including Writing NSW, Playwriting Australia, the National Association of Visual Artists (NAVA) and Ausdance NSW. This short-sighted trend of cutting funding to arts organisations began several years ago.</p>
<p>It is particularly objectionable at a time of a pandemic when <a href="https://theconversation.com/at-moments-like-these-we-need-a-cultural-policy-141974">support for creativity is needed more than ever</a>. The arts are valued in their own right and as contributors to social and cultural inclusion, and should be recognised as part of an essential element in any COVID-19 recovery. </p>
<p>As research think-tank <a href="https://www.humanities.org.au/new-approach/">A New Approach</a> reported recently, creative pursuits assist “individuals and communities to recover from disasters and trauma”. The Create NSW announcement also coincided with the <a href="https://visualarts.net.au/nava-events/2020/nava-advocacy-program/">Arts on the Hill</a> campaign to actively connect artists with federal members of parliament. </p>
<p>The federal government’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/remember-the-arts-departments-and-budgets-disappear-as-politics-backs-culture-into-a-dead-end-128110">policy since 2015</a> of reduced funding for the arts has wrought devastation across artforms in the small to medium sector and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/may/19/the-70-drop-australia-council-grants-artists-funding-cuts">reduced funding to individual artists by an estimated 70%</a>. The latest cuts to NSW arts service organisations indicate a more targeted approach to funding cuts.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-politics-of-dancing-and-thinking-about-cultural-values-beyond-dollars-139839">Friday essay: the politics of dancing and thinking about cultural values beyond dollars</a>
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<h2>What are arts service organisations?</h2>
<p>Arts service organisations have an incorporated, not-for-profit structure whose role is to advocate (or speak) on behalf of artists. Historically, they profile their artforms and artists, and promote standards for how artists should be treated. This includes due acknowledgement and remuneration in what is a substantially unregulated sector. </p>
<p>ArtsPeak, <a href="https://www.artshub.com.au/news-article/news/public-policy/richard-watts/artspeak-executive-put-advocacy-work-on-hold-254688">whose activities are currently on hold</a>, is the “unincorporated federation” of 33 national arts service organisations such as Ausdance, Australian Writers Guild and Museums Australia. It defines arts service organisations as having a shared purpose to provide support including artform consultation and research, advocacy — such as changes to legislation, regulations and the adoption of “industry” standards — leadership, marketing and professional development. They protect and develop artists’ income generation capacity enabling them to sustain lifelong careers.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1292679807608565761"}"></div></p>
<p>In 2017 the Australia Council for the Arts <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/workspace/uploads/files/service-organisations-scan-rep-5949e8136ae6f.pdf">surveyed 111 arts service organisations</a>. The report categorised their roles as encompassing public communication, maintaining industry standards, administering grants on behalf of the government or benefactors, and capacity building. As such, service organisations were recognised as filling gaps in artform development.</p>
<p>However, the scope to provide these services has diminished in NSW. This month, <a href="https://www.create.nsw.gov.au/news-and-publications/news/10m-in-multi-year-arts-funding-to-foster-the-sector-2/">Arts NSW granted A$10 million to 58 key organisations over four years</a>, a handful of which appear to be service organisations. In comparison, of the <a href="https://creative.vic.gov.au/research/data/funded-investments-data/all-organisations">$45.4 million to 130 key organisations</a> funded by Creative Victoria in 2018-19, 25 were dedicated industry and cultural development organisations. In the coming four years, <a href="https://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/McGowan/2019/10/Significant-investment-into-WA-arts-organisations.aspx">Arts WA will support 37 arts organisations with $31 million</a>, 11 of which are service organisations.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-problem-with-arts-funding-in-australia-goes-right-back-to-its-inception-138834">The problem with arts funding in Australia goes right back to its inception</a>
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<h2>NSW in the firing line</h2>
<p>So, NSW arts service organisations appear to have borne the brunt of reduced state funding.</p>
<p>Diversity Arts Australia, the national advocacy organisation for artists from diverse cultural backgrounds, was a deserving but rare recipient of four-year organisational funding from the Australia Council, only to have Create NSW reduce its funding this year. </p>
<p>Writing NSW has lost all $175,000 of its annual funding in one fell swoop — a cut to one-third of its revenue, endangering the remaining two-thirds from income generating activities. It is that previously secure government funding that made it possible to generate the majority of its income from other sources. </p>
<p>Service organisations are perceived by some to be the least important component of the Australian arts system, and so less worthy of support in times of financial duress. This perception is misplaced, because the tailored professional development many offer increases the visibility, viability and inclusiveness of their artforms. This is particularly the case when professional arts training is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jun/19/incredibly-frustrating-australian-year-12-students-express-dismay-at-skyrocketing-fees-for-arts-degrees">under threat</a> at the tertiary level. </p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fee-cuts-for-nursing-and-teaching-but-big-hikes-for-law-and-humanities-in-package-expanding-university-places-141064">Fee cuts for nursing and teaching but big hikes for law and humanities in package expanding university places</a>
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<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1293325065019301888"}"></div></p>
<p>Writing NSW and Blacktown Arts Centre initiated the <a href="https://boundlessfestival.org.au/program/#:%7E:text=The%20inaugural%20Boundless%20was%20held,will%20be%20held%20in%202019.">Boundless Festival in 2017</a> to bring emerging and professional writers from Indigenous and culturally diverse backgrounds together for the first time in Australia. Six additional organisational partners were also involved, highlighting the relationships between arts organisations that bring visions to reality. But it also highlights the domino effect after one falls, with others likely to falter as their burden increases.</p>
<h2>An either/or approach</h2>
<p>The role of arts service organisations has diversified beyond its historical role of political advocate. It now encompasses professional development and exposure to markets that otherwise would be outside the grasp of most individual artists and groups. </p>
<p>In the era of COVID-19, severe reductions in state or federal funding compounds the risk of losing these service organisations. This makes the positions of the artists and sector even more precarious.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1280670805760729091"}"></div></p>
<p>Create NSW’s strategy in an already unsatisfactory arts funding environment is either to fund arts-producing organisations or service organisations. This binary approach favours arts production. </p>
<p>It does little to recognise the crucial place of arts service organisations in the value chain connecting creative and cultural activities that contributes <a href="https://visualarts.net.au/news-opinion/2020/fact-checking-role-arts-and-culture-economic-recovery/">at least $111.7 billion</a> to the national economy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144419/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The author has received funding from the Australia Council for the Arts. </span></em></p>
Arts service organisations advocate for artists and help develop artforms. Cuts in NSW signal a more targeted approach to reduced government support for the arts and culture.
Cecelia Cmielewski, Research Officer, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/141444
2020-06-25T02:44:06Z
2020-06-25T02:44:06Z
The arts needed a champion – it got a package to prop up the major players 100 days later
<p>It is now over 100 days since the country went into lockdown as a result of COVID-19. Overnight, all arts venues had to close, and arts activities essentially ceased because of the need for social distancing. </p>
<p>On March 19, three days after the lockdown, the Federal Arts Minister Paul Fletcher <a href="https://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/fletcher/media-release/communique">convened a meeting</a> with state arts ministers to talk about the dire situation facing thousands of unemployed arts workers. </p>
<p>In late March, we waited for an announcement that the federal government would be offering targeted forms of support. We knew already that the sector provides enormous economic value to the country because the government <a href="https://www.communications.gov.au/departmental-news/economic-value-cultural-and-creative-activity">published figures</a> saying so. </p>
<p>And we waited. </p>
<p>Yet apart from <a href="https://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/fletcher/media-release/targeted-support-indigenous-arts-regional-arts-and-respected-charity-support-act">a package announced</a> in early April, of A$27 million for regional artists, indigenous visual arts organisations and mental health, the federal government announced nothing. Until now. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-25/arts-industry-to-receive-250-million-coronavirus-rescue-package/12390282">A new directed package</a>, part of the JobMaker scheme, has been allocated $250 million. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Our JobMaker plan is getting their show back on the road, to get their workers back in jobs … This package is as much about supporting the tradies who build stage sets or computer specialists who create the latest special effects, as it is about supporting actors and performers in major productions.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is an emphasis in this statement that workers in the creative economy are not just “artistic” types, but seemingly more palatable “workers”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/government-unveils-250-million-for-creative-economy-141383">Government unveils $250 million for 'creative economy'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What’s in it for the sector?</h2>
<p>There are five aspects to the package:</p>
<ul>
<li>$75 million in competitive grant funding, providing capital for performing arts events (Seed Investment) </li>
<li>$90 million in concessional loans through commercial banks to assist new productions and events in job creation (Show Loans) </li>
<li>$50 million to support local film and television production and administered by Screen Australia (Kick Start)</li>
<li>$35 million to provide financial assistance to support significant Commonwealth-funded arts and culture organisations to be delivered by the Australia Council (Supporting Sustainability)</li>
<li>a Creative Economy Taskforce to partner with the government and the Australia Council to implement the JobMaker plan for the creative economy.</li>
</ul>
<p>This package, while clearly welcome, preferences larger events, significant arts organisations (read organisations included in the major performing arts framework) and film and television production. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1275952865941413888"}"></div></p>
<p>These packages will boost employment for artists and arts workers in the longer term. Given how the packages are described though, it is unlikely small to medium arts organisations will receive much benefit. </p>
<p>It is good the federal government has finally responded to pleas from the arts sector for help. It is disappointing it has taken so long and doesn’t acknowledge the breadth of the sector. </p>
<p>Fletcher adds in the press release that the federal government is providing $100 million per month to the arts sector through the JobKeeper program and other cash flow assistance. What this entails is hard to calculate. </p>
<p>We know many artists and arts workers have been unable to access JobKeeper. Many arts workers fell through the gaps of both schemes, given the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-government-says-artists-should-be-able-to-access-jobkeeper-payments-its-not-that-simple-138530">nature of employment</a> in the sector, which relies on short term contracts and often multiple sources of employment. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-government-says-artists-should-be-able-to-access-jobkeeper-payments-its-not-that-simple-138530">The government says artists should be able to access JobKeeper payments. It's not that simple</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>While aware of these anomalies, the government rejected a <a href="https://greensmps.org.au/articles/govt-must-do-more-australian-artists-and-creatives">move by the Greens</a> to widen eligibility for JobKeeper. </p>
<h2>State support</h2>
<p>All the states have provided <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/may/26/australias-cultural-sector-is-haemorrhaging-money-but-its-not-the-federal-government-stemming-the-flow">additional support</a> to the arts sector, but some are offering a great deal more than others. </p>
<p>Both Victoria and Queensland, and more recently New South Wales, have offered generous support to both individuals and arts organisations. Until now, South Australia and Western Australia have offered very little. </p>
<p>The Australia Council <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/may/26/australias-cultural-sector-is-haemorrhaging-money-but-its-not-the-federal-government-stemming-the-flow">redirected $5 million of its funding</a> towards special grants (of $5,000 to $10,000) for individual artists and small organisations. </p>
<p>Though these small grants are unlikely to make a massive difference overall, the council has been trying in other ways: running training webinars for artists and arts workers to upskill themselves in the digital arena. It has also been more flexible in managing its grant agreements. </p>
<p>Yet in early April 2020, the council cut funding to over 30 small-to-medium arts organisations, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/apr/06/we-are-witnessing-a-cultural-bloodbath-in-australia-that-has-been-years-in-the-making">bringing the toll</a> to more than 90 organisations cut over the past four years. </p>
<p>The ability of artists to adapt creatively to the changing situation is laudable, but they may have been too generous in this process, by <a href="https://theconversation.com/giving-it-away-for-free-why-the-performing-arts-risks-making-the-same-mistake-newspapers-did-139671">giving away</a> their talent for free. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/70AKjJOxLYY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">In March, industry leaders said $850 million in assistance was needed.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The federal government’s slow response has caused many commentators to argue it <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-politics-of-dancing-and-thinking-about-cultural-values-beyond-dollars-139839">doesn’t seem to value either arts or culture</a>. </p>
<p>Further, the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/5676.0.55.003Main%20Features7June%202020?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=5676.0.55.003&issue=June%202020&num=&view=">latest figures from the ABS</a> note that 78% of the sector has had a major decrease in income and only around 18% of the sector is operating normally. The capacity for parts of the sector to reactivate are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2020/jun/25/the-arts-and-recreation-sector-stimulus-was-long-promised-it-is-probably-too-little-far-too-late">now bleak</a>. </p>
<h2>Don’t call it culture</h2>
<p>This latest announcement signals the government is more comfortable if the sector is framed as the “creative economy” rather than arts and culture. </p>
<p>Raising the cost of tertiary creative arts and humanities education implies the government believes they are expensive indulgences and <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-the-government-listened-to-business-leaders-they-would-encourage-humanities-education-not-pull-funds-from-it-141121">not to be taken seriously</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343893/original/file-20200625-190478-1u2f4gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343893/original/file-20200625-190478-1u2f4gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343893/original/file-20200625-190478-1u2f4gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343893/original/file-20200625-190478-1u2f4gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343893/original/file-20200625-190478-1u2f4gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343893/original/file-20200625-190478-1u2f4gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343893/original/file-20200625-190478-1u2f4gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343893/original/file-20200625-190478-1u2f4gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anthem, performed at the Melbourne International Arts Festival in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pia Johnson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The devastating destruction of unique indigenous cultural heritage and the threat of further destruction by mining companies, with no formal protest from government, is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/17/culture-warriors-obsessed-with-statues-ignore-rio-tintos-vandalism-of-indigenous-heritage">another warning sign</a>.</p>
<p>The hits keep coming with job cuts at the <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/jobs-and-content-cut-in-abc-shake-up-designed-to-save-40-million">ABC</a> and the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-23/national-gallery-australia-to-cut-jobs-union-calls-for-help/12384150">National Gallery of Australia</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-politics-of-dancing-and-thinking-about-cultural-values-beyond-dollars-139839">Friday essay: the politics of dancing and thinking about cultural values beyond dollars</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Through this period of lockdown, we have all benefited by the books we could read, the music we could listen to, the exhibitions we could visit online and the films and television we could watch. </p>
<p>This work is made by artists and facilitated by arts workers. They have our support, they deserve government support too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141444/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Caust has received funding from the Australia Council and Arts SA previously. She is a member of the Arts Industry Council (SA) and NAVA. </span></em></p>
The arts and cultural sector was plunged into crisis three months ago and pleaded for help. Now a federal rescue package has been announced – but who is it for and is it enough?
Jo Caust, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow (Hon), School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/138834
2020-05-24T20:03:29Z
2020-05-24T20:03:29Z
The problem with arts funding in Australia goes right back to its inception
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336930/original/file-20200522-57665-15wrx71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C2%2C1585%2C1061&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Bell Shakespeare Company – established with support from the Trust – had to end its touring season of Hamlet early due to coronavirus. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brett Boardman</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The arts and culture sector has had its share of trouncing in recent years: <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-arts-funding-in-australia-is-falling-and-local-governments-are-picking-up-the-slack-124160">funding</a> dropped <a href="https://www.humanities.org.au/new-approach/report1/">4.9%</a> in the decade 2007-2008 to 2017-2018, promised arts policy was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/australia-culture-blog/2013/sep/02/arts-policy-neglected-election">short-lived</a>, or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/17/voting-for-culture-this-election-heres-how-the-parties-arts-policies-stack-up">not</a> realised at all, then the <a href="https://theconversation.com/remember-the-arts-departments-and-budgets-disappear-as-politics-backs-culture-into-a-dead-end-128110">erasure</a> of “arts” from the overseeing government department’s title was perceived as reducing the public status of the sector. </p>
<p>In March, <a href="https://www.artshub.com.au/news-article/news/grants-and-funding/richard-watts/sector-in-shock-as-australia-council-4-year-funding-announced-260139">33 organisations lost their Australia Council funding</a> and then COVID-19 and social isolation saw performing arts venues among the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-22/coronavirus-australia-live-updates-covid-19-latest-news-lockdown/12078506">first businesses to close</a>. They will likely be the <a href="https://www.nme.com/en_au/news/music/concert-venues-and-cinemas-wont-reopen-immediately-as-australia-coronavirus-restrictions-ease-2662037">last to open</a>. </p>
<p>Yet funding shortfalls and lack of understanding about the role of the arts in public life are not new. These problems are embedded in the 66-year history of contemporary Australian arts funding. The current crisis provides an opportunity to examine the model. </p>
<h2>Temporary support</h2>
<p>To offset the devastating financial consequences of social restrictions, funds have been set aside by <a href="https://www.artshub.com.au/news-article/features/covid-19/gina-fairley/state-of-play-comparing-government-support-or-lack-thereof-260324">state and Northern Territory governments</a>. Combined with <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/funding/funding-index/2020-resilience-fund/">$5 million of redirected funds</a> from the Australia Council, this represents $45 million allocated to assist the arts sector through the pandemic shutdown. But these funds won’t remedy the financial woes of the sector. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336933/original/file-20200522-57720-1ksxciv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336933/original/file-20200522-57720-1ksxciv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336933/original/file-20200522-57720-1ksxciv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=770&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336933/original/file-20200522-57720-1ksxciv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=770&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336933/original/file-20200522-57720-1ksxciv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=770&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336933/original/file-20200522-57720-1ksxciv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336933/original/file-20200522-57720-1ksxciv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336933/original/file-20200522-57720-1ksxciv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ray Lawler’s Summer of the Seventeenth Doll went on to tour overseas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=11327405&isAv=N">J. Fitzpatrick/National Archives of Australia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Contemporary funding of the Australian arts sector began in 1954 through the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust (“<a href="https://www.thetrust.org.au/">the Trust</a>”). The concept is founded on principles of <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2014/09/basics.htm">Keynesian economics</a> – conceived by British economist John Maynard Keynes – whereby market demand and stable employment is supported by a public agency at arm’s length to government. </p>
<p>The belief is that public goods make life better, and by doing so, contribute to the potential output of the economy. The Trust disbursed funds to the performing arts, which – by bringing audiences together for shared experiences – were well placed to achieve morale-boosting, character-forming productions after the second world war. </p>
<p>By 1955 the Trust had <a href="https://www.thetrust.org.au/our-history">refurbished the old Majestic Theatre at Newtown</a> and renamed it The Elizabethan. It opened with Terence Rattigan’s The Sleeping Prince and the Trust’s Australian Drama Company produced Medea in September. In 1956, Ray Lawler’s <a href="https://australianplays.org/script/CP-2584">Summer of the Seventeenth Doll</a> was the Trust’s first commercially successful Australian play. The Australian Ballet, Opera Australia, National Institute of Dramatic Arts, Performing Lines and The Bell Shakesepeare Company were all established with support from the Trust. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336894/original/file-20200522-102671-yxnzj8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336894/original/file-20200522-102671-yxnzj8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336894/original/file-20200522-102671-yxnzj8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336894/original/file-20200522-102671-yxnzj8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336894/original/file-20200522-102671-yxnzj8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336894/original/file-20200522-102671-yxnzj8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336894/original/file-20200522-102671-yxnzj8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336894/original/file-20200522-102671-yxnzj8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Under ‘Nugget’ Combs, The Trust established many of Australia’s major arts organisations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=8291065&T=P&S=1">National Archives of Australia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Keynesian economics, however, advocates for short-term support while the free market takes over. This temporary nature of the Trust’s support was made explicit in an article written by <a href="http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/coombs-herbert-cole-nugget-246">H.C. “Nugget” Coombs</a>, founding chair of the Trust, which was published in a <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/11272871?q=meanjin&c=article&sort=holdings+desc&_=1590120368167&versionId=23860012+44725303+252190327">1954 issue</a> of <a href="https://meanjin.com.au/archives/">Meanjin</a>. </p>
<p>“The ultimate aim of the Trust must be to establish a native drama, opera and ballet which will give professional employment to Australian actors, singers and dancers and furnish opportunities for those such as writers, composers and artists whose creative work is related to the theatre,” Coombs <a href="https://www.theatreheritage.org.au/on-stage-magazine/general-articles/item/623-the-rise-and-demise-of-the-australian-elizabethan-theatre-trust-part-1">wrote</a>, hoping to help artists “come to flower, when many of them now are mute and inglorious from lack of opportunity”.</p>
<p>Coombs wrote it was “not the intention of the Trust to build theatres or provide permanent subsidies”. Companies supported by the Trust were selected on their capacity to be self-supporting in time.</p>
<p>The Trust was originally intended to establish the sector, not sustain it. So why has public funding continued? </p>
<h2>A costly pursuit</h2>
<p>Since the Trust, there have been several attempts to transition the arts sector to a more self-sustainable financial position. The creative industries, advocated in former prime minister Paul Keating’s 1994 <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/29704">Creative Nation</a> policy, were one attempt that promoted commercialisation and exploitation of artistic product in exchange for income. </p>
<p>But the free market is a poor fit for a sector whose capacity for income is limited by a “<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247815123_The_Outbreak_of_the_Cost_Disease_Baumol_and_Bowen's_Founding_of_Cultural_Economics">cost disease</a>” identified by economists William Baumol and William Bowen in 1965. </p>
<p>This <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/10/business/economy/william-baumol-dead-economist-coined-cost-disease.html">theory</a> recognises the cost of labour increases with time (thanks to technology and productivity gains), but this doesn’t necessarily correlate to an increase in income for live work such as concert performances, doctor examinations, university lectures, soccer matches and oil changes. </p>
<p>In other words, there is no economy of scale in producing the arts: the cost of presenting the arts to 10 paying audience members is typically the same as the cost of presenting the arts to 1000 paying audience members. </p>
<p>This sees pricing in the arts become a critical dilemma: ticket prices can’t increase to cover rising labour costs because audiences won’t buy them; nor can ticket prices be determined by the market (like petrol prices), as this would result in unsustainable losses. </p>
<p>Similarly, programming “popular” work in the hope that more people buy tickets ignores the social responsibility of the arts to challenge audiences, expand its form, and provide the public good.</p>
<h2>So, the arts still need support</h2>
<p>These complexities are restrictive and mean public funding will be an ongoing necessity. While the Trust was not successful in achieving a financially self-sustaining sector, it did establish the infrastructure and opportunities to foster a vibrant, productive arts community.</p>
<p>But there is room to review how the arts are funded and our expectations of them to thrive. The architecture of the sector was borne as the nation emerged from the global crises of WWII. As we emerge again from another crisis, it is an opportune time to rethink the <a href="https://theconversation.com/artists-shouldnt-have-to-endlessly-demonstrate-their-value-coalition-leaders-used-to-know-it-136608">value of the arts</a>, and how we speak about their financial and artistic success. </p>
<p>In a post-pandemic world, we will need the promise of shared experiences more than ever. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Correction: A previous version of this story stated that 65 organisations lost Australia Council funding in March 2020. This figure has been corrected to 33 organisations.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138834/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Hands does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Public funding for the arts was not originally intended to be a permanent arrangement. But some economic fundamentals mean that it’s necessary.
Karen Hands, Lecturer - Creative Industries, University of the Sunshine Coast
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/137900
2020-05-13T00:20:37Z
2020-05-13T00:20:37Z
Literary magazines are often the first place new authors are published. We can’t lose them
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333901/original/file-20200511-31175-1vwk4or.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5184%2C3189&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Blair Fraser/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s literary journals are produced in a fragile ecosystem propped up by a patchwork of volunteer labour, generous patrons and, with any luck, a small slice of government funding. </p>
<p>The Sydney Review of Books, the Australian Book Review and Overland were among a group of publications who sought four-year funding from the Australia Council in 2020 but were <a href="https://www.artshub.com.au/news-article/news/covid-19/brooke-boland/literary-magazines-radically-overlooked-by-australia-council-260176">unsuccessful</a>. </p>
<p>These publications join the ranks of many others – among them <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-meanjin-funding-cuts-a-graceless-coup-59455">Meanjin</a> and <a href="https://overland.org.au/2019/09/on-the-defunding-of-island-magazine-and-what-it-will-mean-for-tasmanian-writers/">Island</a> – defunded by state or federal arts funding bodies in recent years.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-meanjin-funding-cuts-a-graceless-coup-59455">The Meanjin funding cuts: a graceless coup?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These magazines are vital for today’s publishing industry. For <a href="https://theconversation.com/express-media-is-unique-and-young-people-need-it-59518">many authors</a> literary magazines provide the first opportunity for publication. For editors and arts administrators, they provide a training ground for <a href="https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/review/quiet-conversations-in-a-very-noisy-room/">life-long careers</a> in Australia’s creative sector.</p>
<p>The past decade has seen a <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/blog/alison-croggon/2016/16/2016/1463358684/black-friday#mtr">steady decline</a> in arts funding going to individuals and organisations. According to Chairman of the Copyright Agency and former media executive, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/our-creative-community-s-collapse-is-without-precedent-the-case-for-a-40-percent-funding-boost-20200418-p54l09.html">Kim Williams</a>, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] if funding for literature had been maintained as in the mid-70s, considering inflation and population growth, it should be at $12 million, at least. Today, it stands at just $5 million (compared with $4.2 million 30 years ago).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The list of defunded writing-focused organisations in the most recent multi-year funding round <a href="https://www.artshub.com.au/news-article/news/covid-19/brooke-boland/literary-magazines-radically-overlooked-by-australia-council-260176">is stark</a>. Those losing their multi-year status include Artlink, Eyeline, Art Monthly, the Australian Script Centre, Playwriting Australia, Sydney Writer’s Festival and Brisbane Writers Festival. </p>
<p>Without securing medium-term support, these organisations face an uncertain future. </p>
<h2>Vital discourse</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/464-book-talk/6397-australian-book-review-and-the-australia-council">response</a> to the 2020 funding announcement, editor of Australian Book Review, Peter Rose, stated the decision demonstrates </p>
<blockquote>
<p>little understanding of [the magazine sector’s] contribution to the literary ecology, and no appreciation of the dire consequences for readers, authors, contributors and publishers.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The cultural discussions within the pages of literary journals set the agenda for the more higher-profile but slower-moving institutions such as publishers, prizes and festivals. </p>
<p>Literary magazines are often the first place authors are published. Against the backdrop of an industry largely staffed by <a href="https://issuu.com/diversityartsaustralia/docs/shifting-the-balance-darts-lores">white, middle-class people</a>, small magazines are at the forefront of bringing more Australian writing to the surface from writers of colour, First Nations writers, disabled writers, trans writers and working-class writers, challenging those who hold power at the top of the sector. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/express-media-is-unique-and-young-people-need-it-59518">Express Media is unique and young people need it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Writing in 2015 about the position magazines such as Island or Overland occupy, <a href="https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/review/quiet-conversations-in-a-very-noisy-room/">Emmett Stinson</a> noted these publications: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] are essential to contemporary literary culture: they showcase new and emerging writers; […] offer more extended literary debates and discussions than the broadsheets; comprise a venue for journalism that contains views outside of the liberal mainstream; serve as rallying points for different communities of readers and coteries of authors […] </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Ben Etherington’s <a href="https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/essay/les-murray-mudrooroo/">essay</a> about the parallel lives and deaths of Mudrooroo and Les Murray, Cher Tan’s <a href="https://www.killyourdarlings.com.au/article/so-much-this-the-sameness-of-internet-culture/">exposition and critique</a> of taste production on the internet, and <a href="https://www.theliftedbrow.com/shop/the-lifted-brow-40-the-blak-brow-issue">Blak Brow</a> – which was written, edited, illustrated, curated and performed by First Nations creators – are among countless examples of the ways literary magazines carve out space for critique, expression, consideration and reflection. </p>
<p>In shifting funding away from small magazines, we lose the place for these discussions. </p>
<h2>Not a competition</h2>
<p>Uncertainty, instability and <a href="https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/review/quiet-conversations-in-a-very-noisy-room/">fragility</a> are perhaps the defining characteristics of small magazines. </p>
<p>The decisions to not fund literary magazines not only have a significant impact on the individual publications, but also to Australian cultural discourse. </p>
<p>What gets published within the pages of these magazines can entertain us, it can inspire us to critically examine the world around us, and can help us understand culture that moves us.</p>
<p>Vibrant discussion about culture, society and the arts does not happen by accident. It must be carefully nurtured and requires financial support. </p>
<p>The Australia Council make extremely difficult decisions about what gets funded and what doesn’t. </p>
<p>Not every organisation and publication and festival can receive funding. Those who don’t secure funding are <a href="https://overland.org.au/2018/07/unfunded-excellence-on-the-mid-career-crisis-for-australian-artists/">no more or less worthy</a> than those who do. Reduced financial support for Australia’s creative endeavours encourages artists to turn against one another in judgement of what should and should not receive funding. </p>
<p>Australian artists entertain us, challenge us and allow us to see things from different perspectives. Fulfilling a capitalist desire for competition, however, only distracts from the importance of Australian artists and the contribution the creative sector makes to our lives. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Correction: a reference to the Wheeler Centre has been removed as they did not apply for funding in 2020</em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137900/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexandra Dane does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Australia’s literary journals are produced within a fragile ecosystem – becoming more vulnerable every year.
Alexandra Dane, Lecturer, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/136608
2020-04-20T03:29:20Z
2020-04-20T03:29:20Z
Artists shouldn’t have to endlessly demonstrate their value. Coalition leaders used to know it
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328982/original/file-20200420-152576-u3wdi0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1595%2C1279&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Bell Shakespeare's recent Hamlet tour was cut short by COVID-19. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Brett Boardman</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For more than <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/303286">190,000 Australians employed in the cultural sector</a>, the last month brought a quadrella of horror.</p>
<p>First, having spent decades promoting <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10301763.1993.10669115?journalCode=rlab20">flexible labour markets</a>, the federal government is now using those same conditions to <a href="https://www.artshub.com.au/news-article/news/covid-19/andrea-simpson/jobkeeper-amendments-for-casuals-voted-down-260174">exclude thousands of casual cultural workers</a> from its JobKeeper assistance scheme. </p>
<p>Second, though it is pumping <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/calls-for-morrison-government-to-match-uk-wage-guarantee-20200321-p54cic.html">$189 billion into the economy</a> it is offering <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/music/27-million-for-arts-organisations-in-new-targeted-support-package-20200408-p54ic8.html">a “rescue” package for the arts of just $27 million</a>, the latter being 0.14% of the former, and 13.5% of what the Queensland government alone is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-18/virgin-offered-%24200m-coronavirus-lifeline-from-qld-government/12160946">offering Virgin Australia</a>. </p>
<p>Third, the results of the last <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/apr/06/we-are-witnessing-a-cultural-bloodbath-in-australia-that-has-been-years-in-the-making">Australia Council funding round for key organisations show a reduction in its client base of 34% over the last five years</a>. The kicker came when the arts minister announced the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/apr/15/local-content-quotas-suspended-in-54m-package-for-australias-coronavirus-hit-media">scrapping of Australian content broadcasting requirements</a> and launched an <a href="https://www.communications.gov.au/have-your-say/supporting-australian-stories-our-screens-options-paper">Options Paper</a> on their future.</p>
<p>For a sector where <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-08/arts-sector-say-need-emergency-funding-to-survive-shutdown/12130398">53% of business have recently closed their doors</a>, this is catastrophic. The olive in the dog-wee martini is that when the debt for supporting the country through COVID-19 arrives, cultural workers will be expected to pay it off just the same. Some governments subsidise their cultural sectors, and others do not. Only the Coalition, it seems, has found a way of getting its cultural sector to subsidise them.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328980/original/file-20200420-152563-7p3pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328980/original/file-20200420-152563-7p3pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328980/original/file-20200420-152563-7p3pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328980/original/file-20200420-152563-7p3pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328980/original/file-20200420-152563-7p3pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328980/original/file-20200420-152563-7p3pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328980/original/file-20200420-152563-7p3pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328980/original/file-20200420-152563-7p3pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ibrahim Mahama’s No Friend but the Mountains (2020) during the Sydney Biennale. Installation view at Cockatoo Island.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph: Zan Wimberley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Stop telling the arts to do better</h2>
<p>The response so far to this right-royal example of policy ineptitude has been a predictably economic one. The Australia Institute has put out a <a href="https://www.tai.org.au/sites/default/files/P901%20Art%20vs%20Dismal%20Science%20%5BWEB%5D.pdf">report on the economics of the creative arts</a> and called for the sector to be more “confident” in dealing with government on the basis of that data.</p>
<p>Arguments for Australian culture often focus on what it should say to demonstrate its worth. Rarely considered is the government’s capacity to listen, or the extent to which it is able to meaningfully interpret the truckloads of evidence put to it. The sector can present all the data it likes. In the end, the government has to choose which to accept and act on. For this, it needs its own cogent idea of culture.</p>
<p>A genuine cultural policy vision has certainly existed on the conservative side of Australian politics in the past. It was Prime Minister <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/deakin-alfred-5927">Alfred Deakin</a> who established the Commonwealth Literary Fund in 1908, <a href="https://explore.moadoph.gov.au/people/robert-gordon-menzies">Sir Robert Menzies</a> who started the <a href="https://www.thetrust.org.au/our-history">Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust</a> in 1954, and Harold Holt – son of a Tivoli theatre manager and husband of a fashion designer – who <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/news/media-centre/speeches/cherish-harold-holt-s-legacy-so-the-arts-can-flourish-rupert-myer-ao/">signed the charter for the Australia Council in 1967</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/arts-need-a-covid-stimulus-package-heres-what-it-should-look-like-133803">Arts need a COVID stimulus package. Here's what it should look like</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Conservative leaders used to get the arts</h2>
<p>After Holt was presumed drowned, the contest to replace him lay between <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hasluck-sir-paul-meernaa-18555">Paul Hasluck</a>, a publisher and poet, and John Gorton, <a href="http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/gorton/in-office.aspx">founder of the Australian Film School</a> and the Australian Film Development Corporation. If it was Gough Whitlam who brought culture into the Cabinet, it was the <a href="http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/gorton/in-office.aspx">Liberal Senator Tony Staley</a>, one of the better arts ministers we have had, who took it to the next level of policy consideration and kept it there.</p>
<p>Of the state premiers, <a href="https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/adelaide-remember-when-tom-playford-ruled-south-australia/news-story/4ab46376fc5cb6d6aa584d501ec34c4e">Sir Thomas Playford oversaw the first Adelaide Festival of the Arts in 1960</a>, Sir Rupert Hamer wrote the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Hamer">Historic Buildings Act into law in 1974</a> (and saved the Regent Theatre), Joh Bjelke-Petersen founded the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queensland_Performing_Arts_Centre">Queensland Performing Arts Complex</a> and <a href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2006/05/05/jeff-kennett-arts-messiah/">Jeff Kennett made Melbourne a cultural powerhouse in the early 1990s</a>. Steven Marshall’s <a href="https://www.dpc.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/113802/Arts-and-Culture-Plan-South-Australia-2019-2024.pdf">Arts Plan</a> is a good example of conservative cultural policy-making today.</p>
<h2>Culture wars</h2>
<p>It is absolutely not true, therefore, that a proper appreciation of arts and culture is to be found only on the Australian political Left. But it begs the question what on earth has happened to create this perception? Why has a deep-rooted and persuasive cultural policy vision by and large vanished from Coalition beliefs and values?</p>
<p>Its absence is good neither for the government, the sector, nor the country. Bipartisan cooperation on matters of national interest – and the fate of Australian culture is surely one of these – is not a matter of pat verbal agreement. </p>
<p>Politics is not a game of ideological Snap. It arises when different parties advance their own interpretations of particular domains, and these are then incorporated into what the sociologist Norbert Elias calls “<a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=CUFMAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=Norbert+Elias+calls+%E2%80%9Cthe+social+fund+of+knowledge%E2%80%9D&source=bl&ots=o6J8HRupWW&sig=ACfU3U11YiymSKn1hl9YLx3FidCfRTP1Mg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiOwvnE5fXoAhWt6XMBHQRjARkQ6AEwAHoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=Norbert%20Elias%20calls%20%E2%80%9Cthe%20social%20fund%20of%20knowledge%E2%80%9D&f=false">the social fund of knowledge</a>”. When no such interpretations are advanced, the process of arriving at beneficial policy outcomes breaks down.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328981/original/file-20200420-152602-1mbr25k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328981/original/file-20200420-152602-1mbr25k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328981/original/file-20200420-152602-1mbr25k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328981/original/file-20200420-152602-1mbr25k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328981/original/file-20200420-152602-1mbr25k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328981/original/file-20200420-152602-1mbr25k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328981/original/file-20200420-152602-1mbr25k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328981/original/file-20200420-152602-1mbr25k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sydney Chamber Opera will host an online season of Breaking Glass this weekend.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Daniel Boud</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s not only the hole in the emotional heart of Coalition politicians the cultural sector should be concerned with right now, it is the hole in their corporate memory. However confidently the sector puts forward its numbers to government, the context for turning them into coherent industrial strategy is missing in (in)action.</p>
<p>It doesn’t have be that way. The right way to interpret abstract economic data is via a meaningful connection to history. <a href="https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/divisions/representatives/2020-04-08/7">Looking at the list of MPs who voted against extending the JobKeeper legislation to the arts</a> there are many who would know exactly how disastrously the sector will fare as a result, not least <a href="https://www.paulfletcher.com.au/">Paul Fletcher</a>, the minister in charge of it.</p>
<p>The way forward for Australian cultural policy lies in the minds of our politicians, not the attitudes of the sector. This does not mean Coalition ministers and their advisers should accept ideas and arguments they do not like or agree with. It means they must come up with ones of their own.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136608/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julian Meyrick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Arguments for Australian culture focus on what it should say to demonstrate its worth - rather than the government’s capacity to listen. Our history of conservative cultural leadership show they can.
Julian Meyrick, Professor of Creative Arts, Griffith University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/130542
2020-02-05T19:01:25Z
2020-02-05T19:01:25Z
What is the place of the performing arts fair in the age of the internet?
<p><em>Review: Platform Papers 62: Performing Arts Markets and their Conundrums, by Justin Macdonnell (Currency Press)</em></p>
<p>The performing arts may be a public good that serve to enrich Australia’s cultural imagination, but they are also a product competing for audience share and government, corporate and private support.</p>
<p>Established in 1994, the <a href="https://apam.org.au/">Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM)</a> has aimed to facilitate one aspect of this “arts market” by hosting biennial trade fairs that connect national and international producers and programming venues. </p>
<p>From 2020, APAM will move from hosting these biennial conferences to “<a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/international/australian-performing-arts-market-apam/">gatherings</a>”, dividing its promotional activity across existing arts events such as Darwin Festival and Melbourne’s AsiaTOPA. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313626/original/file-20200205-20048-g5om4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313626/original/file-20200205-20048-g5om4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313626/original/file-20200205-20048-g5om4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313626/original/file-20200205-20048-g5om4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313626/original/file-20200205-20048-g5om4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313626/original/file-20200205-20048-g5om4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313626/original/file-20200205-20048-g5om4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In light of this, APAM’s future is the subject of the latest Platform Paper from Currency House: <a href="https://currencyhouse.org.au/node/288">Performing Arts Markets and their Conundrums</a>. </p>
<p>Author Justin Macdonnell brings a commanding insider’s perspective to the topic. He has worked in and around touring arts companies for several decades, and is currently executive director of arts industry advocacy organisation <a href="http://www.anzarts-institute.com/index.htm">Anzarts</a>.</p>
<p>Noting APAM’s new model might lessen the intensity and impact of its work – especially given that overseas producers are unlikely to make multiple excursions to Australia a year – Macdonell asks whether the arts fair has outlived its usefulness. </p>
<p>This might seem at best an issue of marginal concern to people who work outside the performing arts industry. However, Macdonell argues the current system has led not so much to “good art” but “convenient art” being promoted to Australian audiences.</p>
<p>Given the significant role that public funding and public bodies such as the <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/">Australia Council</a> play in supporting the performing arts and arts venues, his question deserves wider attention. </p>
<p>Frustratingly (but, no doubt, diplomatically), Macdonnell does not offer concrete examples of “convenient art”. He nevertheless argues that the “dominating presence of state and federal agencies” in the Australian arts market has led to the stifling of independent arts managers and small-scale producers, and also of innovative and risky projects.</p>
<p>It is time we asked, he suggests, whether an arts fair is necessary, let alone desirable, in today’s digitally empowered, globalised marketplace.</p>
<h2>An online world</h2>
<p>Macdonnell notes trade fairs are at odds with calls to curb air travel due to its <a href="https://theconversation.com/sustainable-shopping-is-it-possible-to-fly-sustainably-88636">environmental impact</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sustainable-shopping-is-it-possible-to-fly-sustainably-88636">Sustainable shopping: is it possible to fly sustainably?</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>He also wonders if touring itself is so desirable or necessary in the age of YouTube and teleconferencing: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This is not to say that these means have replaced seeing a work or meeting the artist in person. In all probability, they never will. But they have revolutionalised <em>access</em> to knowledge of the work and are creating and maintaining contact about it. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In this digitally enabled market, companies and individual artists can also now bypass the traditional arts brokers and gatekeepers such as arts agencies, or indeed APAM itself, and promote themselves directly to producers. </p>
<p>APAM, he further observes, has “never has been the practitioner’s market”, rather it has “come to be about just one part of the industry (non-profit)”. Presenters and producers might attend to seek out new and innovative work, but they are not given a comprehensive overview of what might actually be available. </p>
<h2>Left unsaid</h2>
<p>Although Macdonnell does not explore this, such institutionalised impediments to free choice may help explain the growing trend towards <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2005.06.002">homogenisation</a> in major arts programming across the developed world. </p>
<p>Artistic directors of major performing arts festivals, in particular, can appear impregnable to pitches from outside established promotional routes. </p>
<p>But if, as Macdonnell notes, “anyone, anywhere in the world at any time can now see the newest show on YouTube”, why would we seek to rely on the filter of agents or industry bodies to select what we will see or hear? </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-culture-on-the-free-trade-agenda-we-must-protect-our-own-22084">With culture on the free trade agenda, we must protect our own</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>The potential for market distortion under the current system can be made worse by horsetrading behind the scenes. The most powerful artist agencies routinely leverage access to their most profitable performers or productions to make hiring companies and venues take on other acts they represent, with little regard for local circumstances.</p>
<p>To my mind, the major buyers in the arts marketplace – artistic directors, festivals and venues – should be specifically resourced and encouraged to look for acts outside these existing industry networks.</p>
<p>Wesley Enoch’s provocative 2014 Platform Paper, <a href="https://currencyhouse.org.au/node/42">Take Me To Your Leader</a>, however, suggested we lack this kind of cultural leadership across the Australian performing arts: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>With the growth of government-led cultural leadership we have seen the voices of the mob, the dissenters and the opposition slowly becoming tamed and included in a sort of official culture […] Government champions the arts more these days than artists do.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Enoch asked whether those who run subsidised organisations might be brave enough to bite the hand that feeds them. </p>
<p>Macdonnell refrains from concluding his platform paper with similarly provocative statements. </p>
<p>But he has done a useful service to both the arts industry and the wider Australian public by asking us to consider whether there might be better ways for our major performing arts institutions to seek out, and promote, their wares.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130542/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Tregear had a Platform Paper published by Currency House in 2014 (PP38 'Enlightenment or Entitlement: Rethinking Tertiary Music Education').</span></em></p>
A new quarterly essay looks at changes in how we market Australian performing arts – but is this necessary in a globalised digital marketplace?
Peter Tregear, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/124873
2019-10-10T03:25:14Z
2019-10-10T03:25:14Z
Just 29 companies receive 59% of Australia Council funding. Artists are calling for a change
<p>Today, <a href="https://dailyreview.com.au/open-letter-telling-states-to-reject-arts-funding-framework-gets-strong-backing/">the Daily Review published</a> an open letter with more than 700 signatures addressing the <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/mcm">meeting of cultural ministers</a>, which convenes this Friday. </p>
<p>The letter is signed by some of the most important artists and arts-workers in Australia, including Mother and Son writer <a href="https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/geoffrey-atherden-oral-history-excerpt">Geoffrey Atherden</a>, photographer <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-08/william-yang-photographic-history-sydney-queer-dance-parties/11076708">William Yang</a>, dancer <a href="https://engagingwomen.com.au/stories/dr-elizabeth-cameron-dalman-oam/">Liz Dalman</a>, playwright <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/mar/14/its-a-scam-australian-playwright-patricia-cornelius-surprised-by-234000-prize-win">Patricia Cornelius</a>, publisher and critic <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/katharine-brisbane-retains-great-currency-in-theatre/news-story/8d2014a6f523baaed1aedc0611ea444a">Katharine Brisbane</a>, Terra Nullius author <a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2019/01/26/bloody-australia-day/15484212007356">Claire G. Coleman</a>, La Mama artistic director <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre/la-mama-s-visionary-artistic-director-honoured-for-45-years-of-service-20190422-p51g8f.html">Liz Jones</a>, and former Adelaide Festival artistic director <a href="https://www.artsjournal.com/culturecrash/2018/11/arts-funding-the-us-vs-the-world.html">David Sefton</a>. </p>
<p>This meeting will be discussing the Major Performing Arts (MPA) framework, and the open letter is an “urgent request [for ministers] to withhold [their] endorsement of the revised MPA Framework.” They write:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Across all measures, the independent and small-medium sector is the lifeblood of the national arts ecology. This sector, on which Australian culture depends for its productivity, efficiency and international reputation, is on the verge of collapse. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The letter captures the growing feelings of despair and disenfranchisement in the arts sector. </p>
<h2>Protected funding for 29 companies</h2>
<p>The MPA Framework, in existence under various titles <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/mpa-overhaul-a-questions-of-dollars-and-sense/news-story/f6f13e862dad6a3feaae4a1e3971eeb9">since 1999</a>, ensures the majority of available arts funding at the federal and state level is directed to 29 performing arts companies. </p>
<p>Of the A$177 million in arts funding the Australia Council had to distribute in 2016-17, <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2019/october/1569374077/alison-croggon/desertification-australian-culture">$109 million went to MPA companies</a>: the open letter says the current proportion of funding to the MPA companies is 59%. These companies aren’t subject to <a href="https://theconversation.com/majors-and-the-majority-planning-for-australias-artistic-legacy-starts-now-45290">peer review</a>, and are <a href="https://dailyreview.com.au/on-art-and-irrigation/85504/">protected</a> from cuts to arts funding.</p>
<p>The MPA organisations include ten orchestras, five opera companies, eight theatre companies, and three ballet companies. These companies are generally focused on <a href="https://nitro.edu.au/articles/2018/11/30/the-mpa-framework-and-the-culture-of-cultural-funding">the western canon</a> and follow the European tradition in terms of their cultural priorities. </p>
<p>They tend to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-fix-gender-inequity-in-arts-leadership-we-need-more-women-in-politics-and-chairing-boards-97782">white and male dominated</a> in their leadership – <a href="https://www.bangarra.com.au/">Bangarra</a> is the only First Nations company. The very nature of major <em>performing</em> companies excludes all other art forms, such as literature and the visual arts.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-art-institutions-dont-reflect-our-diversity-its-time-to-change-that-122308">Australia's art institutions don't reflect our diversity: it's time to change that</a>
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<p>Primarily located in Sydney and Melbourne, MPA companies attract most of the arts sponsorship as well as the majority of the box office income: companies are theoretically only eligible to be a member of the MPA if they can demonstrate a non-grant income of <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/workspace/uploads/files/a-national-framework-mpa-2011-5b41eedc1174c.pdf">more than $1.6 million</a>. </p>
<p>The rich continue to get richer and the poor get poorer. </p>
<p>The open letter intends to draw urgent attention to the situation facing the broader community due to their funding inequity, the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/collateral-damage-arts-funding-rejection-starts-to-take-a-toll-20190813-p52gqc.html">overall cuts in funding</a>, and the lack of any real increase to arts funding over many years. </p>
<h2>Reconsidering the framework</h2>
<p>In 2018, the government <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/mpa-overhaul-a-questions-of-dollars-and-sense/news-story/f6f13e862dad6a3feaae4a1e3971eeb9">hosted a survey</a> about the future of the MPA companies, receiving <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/have-your-say/major-performing-arts-framework?fbclid=IwAR0pvvvsty7fxQcVM3xaS7n7q51E0nBbT4FDttRrXxQ0vApnpdVqO8x7oXQ">8,026 responses</a>. The cultural ministers will be <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/research/major-performing-arts-framework/?fbclid=IwAR3YBFT5T4nmcEw0v3jdfJzm6yd5puZRX7kW-hbxzIP0lI8btk_v1XFFqVk">responding to the findings</a> of this survey at their Friday meeting. </p>
<p>The public survey asked <a href="https://larsenkeys.com.au/2018/08/07/major-performing-arts-framework-survey-have-your-say/">five questions</a>, including what should be the MPA’s “guiding principles”, what the criteria for being an MPA company should be, and: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] MPA companies are not subject to a competitive process through peer review for their base funding […] Do you agree with this approach?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The open letter calls for the MPA framework to be abolished and for these companies to be subjected to peer review, like all other arts organisations and artists. </p>
<p>As the letter notes, smaller companies play to <a href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2015/09/18/brandis-is-wrong-small-arts-orgs-deliver-much-greater-bang-for-govt-buck/">larger audiences</a>; are more <a href="https://research.monash.edu/en/publications/a-natural-experiment-in-australian-cultural-policy-australian-gov">artistically innovative</a>;
and undertake more <a href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2015/08/20/big-companies-tour-more-do-they-george-bungles-the-arts-again/">international tours</a>. </p>
<p>Grants to individual artists – who also fall outside the MPA framework – have <a href="https://www.arts.qld.gov.au/images/documents/artsqld/Research/arts-plus-discussion-paper.pdf">fallen by a third since 1999</a>. </p>
<p>Many believe the two-tiered funding model is <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2019/october/1569374077/alison-croggon/desertification-australian-culture">decimating the sector</a>. Smaller players manage on very little and are <a href="https://dailyreview.com.au/on-art-and-irrigation/85504/">seen as disposable</a>, putting arts organisations that have been the backbone of the arts ecology at risk and causing many artists to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rn-arts/the-cost-of-art/">struggle to survive</a>, or leave the arts altogether.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-arts-funding-in-australia-is-falling-and-local-governments-are-picking-up-the-slack-124160">Federal arts funding in Australia is falling, and local governments are picking up the slack</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>An artistic ecosystem</h2>
<p>Like the environment, the arts are an ecosystem. If a major part of it is damaged irreparably, the entire system could collapse. </p>
<p>Big companies <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140708165846/https://www.abc.net.au/arts/blog/Alison-Croggon/Major-companies-must-support-independent-artists-if-Australian-theatre-is-to-flourish/default.htm">rely on the output</a> of small companies for development of new content, artistic styles, and emerging artists. Without the underlying structure of the independent and small-to-medium sector, the big companies can become moribund. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/stage/opera-must-become-more-accessible-in-order-to-survive/news-story/413b300efa92d94e7ae3e31de911dd90#">One argument</a> is these large companies are labour intensive and require many more resources to stay afloat than a small gallery or a publishing company. It follows, then, it is necessary for governments to provide a large amount of funding to these companies. </p>
<p>Yet, as the open letter notes, big companies <a href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2015/09/18/brandis-is-wrong-small-arts-orgs-deliver-much-greater-bang-for-govt-buck/">received a subsidy</a> of $31.50 per audience member; the small-to-medium and independent sector receive a subsidy of $3.36 per audience member. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/majors-and-the-majority-planning-for-australias-artistic-legacy-starts-now-45290">Majors and the majority: planning for Australia's artistic legacy starts now</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There are some hard questions here the letter writers want the culture ministers to address. </p>
<p>Do they want to support a healthy arts ecosystem? Do they want to lose extraordinary artists, arts activity and arts organisations year after year, because the government wants to protect the few who are big and powerful? Leaders talk about cultural diversity, but are they willing to shift funding priorities to ensure it occurs? </p>
<p>It’s critical the culture ministers address these fundamental questions without them being captured continually by political interests. The future of Australia’s arts ecology depends on it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124873/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Caust has received funding from the Australia Council. She is a member of the Arts Industry Council (SA) and NAVA. </span></em></p>
Among growing feelings of despair in the Australian arts sector, more than 700 leading artists and arts-workers have signed a petition calling for the Major Performing Arts framework to be abolished.
Jo Caust, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow (Hon), The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/122943
2019-09-06T04:19:19Z
2019-09-06T04:19:19Z
Cut throat competition, ‘corporate-speak’ and dark ironies: two new five-year arts plans
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291020/original/file-20190904-175700-1h8nkd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C26%2C1600%2C970&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kate Sherman and Nicci Wilks in Theatreworks' 2016 production of the play Animal. The acclaimed Melbourne theatre company has lost its long-term Australia Council funding.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Theatreworks</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A new five-year <a href="https://dpc.sa.gov.au/responsibilities/arts-and-culture/arts-plan">South Australian Arts Plan</a> was launched this week. But there was a strange disconnect between an acknowledgement by the consultants of a problem in the state - given a significant reduction in arts funding and support services over the past year in particular - and limited means of addressing this going forward.</p>
<p>In fact, at the outset, the consultants note that their review, “does not make recommendations requiring significant additional government expenditure”.</p>
<p>In other words, despite the evidence of a sector that is struggling to make sense of cuts and reductions across the spectrum, the review has no intention of recommending changes that will address this.</p>
<p>The review notes “some concern at the loss of an independent arts department”. In December 2018, Arts SA as an independent government entity was dissolved by the government and the skeleton staff remaining were transferred to the Premier’s Department. Arts organisations are now embedded across several departments meaning there is now no one body charged with responsibility for the arts across SA.</p>
<h2>Increasing the pressure</h2>
<p>While the plan’s authors note problematic aspects of the SA arts scene (such as its over-reliance on festivals and lack of cultural infrastructure) they do not make strong recommendations as to how to fix this, aside from voicing support for a new concert hall. </p>
<p>Instead, they put the pressure back on the arts sector itself, arguing for more structural collaboration (such as better cooperation between the Adelaide Festival Centre and its users) and more sharing of resources. They also recommend other agents get involved in the arts to cover the shortfall in government support. That is, bring in the philanthropists and the private sector.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291021/original/file-20190904-175696-1nldh87.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291021/original/file-20190904-175696-1nldh87.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291021/original/file-20190904-175696-1nldh87.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291021/original/file-20190904-175696-1nldh87.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291021/original/file-20190904-175696-1nldh87.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291021/original/file-20190904-175696-1nldh87.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291021/original/file-20190904-175696-1nldh87.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291021/original/file-20190904-175696-1nldh87.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">SA Premier Steven Marshall announcing Adelaide Festival’s new three year partnership with the French Festival d’ Aix-en-Provence in March this year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kelly Barnes/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The reality is that this does not work in a state with no corporate head offices and limited philanthropic engagement. Nevertheless, the review recommends the national organisation Creative Partnerships Australia re-open an office in SA (paid for, probably, by South Australia), despite the national organisation closing it themselves several years ago. </p>
<h2>Creative disconnection</h2>
<p>Also last week, the Australia Council released its next five-year strategy, titled <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/workspace/uploads/files/australia-council-corporate-pl-5d68738684ece.pdf">Creativity Connects Us</a>. There is a serious attempt within the strategy to recognise that the arts cover a broad spectrum of cultural activity - not just elite activity. It acknowledges the diversity of Australia’s culture and highlights the extraordinary length and depth of First Nations’ cultural practices.</p>
<p>The strategy supports “equity of opportunity and access in our creative expression, workforce, leaders and audiences”. A key performance criterion for measuring this is, “supporting at least 200 culturally diverse applications with total funding of $13 million provided per year”.</p>
<p>But there is a gap between rhetoric and practice. The Council’s funding for the arts was $189.3 million in 2017-18, according to its <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/workspace/uploads/files/australia-council-annual-repor-5bd8e5e63c2c6.pdf">annual report</a>. More than $111 million or around 58% of this funding goes to arguably “elite” arts activity under the major performing arts framework.</p>
<p>If $13 million of this was allocated towards cultural diverse activity as noted, that represents around 7% of the Council’s total arts funding. This percentage does not reflect the cultural diversity of Australia, given in 2018 the ABS recorded that <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/2071.0%7E2016%7EMain%20Features%7ECultural%20Diversity%20Data%20Summary%7E30">29% of the population were born overseas</a>.</p>
<h2>Funding rejected</h2>
<p>Both plans use “corporate speak” and adopt a neo-liberal view of the arts which frames government arts funding as “investments”. While arts activities, organisations and artists themselves are always in competition with each other for funding, the current climate appears to exacerbate this. Further, the continued emphasis on the arts as a framing for commercial activity and as a minor player in the creative industries, serves to undermine any belief that healthy societies benefit from arts practice and should therefore generously support them. </p>
<p>For example, the week before the Australia Council published its new plan touting how “its investment and initiatives have grown the profile and reach of Australian arts experiences,” it had rejected hundreds of organisations for future funding through its latest funding round. </p>
<p>Out of 412 applications from small to medium organisations across all art forms for four-year, general grant funding, 250 have been informed they were not successful. </p>
<p>Of the 162 remaining, only around 100 will eventually be successful. The same scenario occurred in May 2016, on a day known as Black Friday in the arts sector, when 65 arts organisations lost their funding.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290874/original/file-20190904-175700-1u6xr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290874/original/file-20190904-175700-1u6xr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290874/original/file-20190904-175700-1u6xr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290874/original/file-20190904-175700-1u6xr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290874/original/file-20190904-175700-1u6xr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290874/original/file-20190904-175700-1u6xr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290874/original/file-20190904-175700-1u6xr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290874/original/file-20190904-175700-1u6xr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Performers in Theatreworks’ recent production of Slaughterhouse Five: Sam Barson, Talia Zipper Simran Giria, and Caitlin Duff.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sarah Walker</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This latest round has meant loss of funding for <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/collateral-damage-arts-funding-rejection-starts-to-take-a-toll-20190813-p52gqc.html">Theatreworks</a> in Melbourne, <a href="https://australianplays.org/important-news-2019">Australian Plays</a> in Tasmania and the journal <a href="https://overland.org.au/2019/08/an-era-of-throwaway-arts/">Overland</a>. Others <a href="https://performing.artshub.com.au/news-article/news/performing-arts/alison-croggon/writers-hit-back-at-funding-cuts-258626?fbclid=IwAR2zgynH0IQG9NI6h-8_st0OJINehXF_nPp3huwsS4n80-XcvsRoGl_cCVg">have noted</a> the art form of literature now receives less funding as an overall percentage than it did 40 years ago. </p>
<p>Making arts organisations with totally different mandates compete against each other, for a diminishing amount of funding, makes no sense. Where is the rationale here for building a strong and healthy arts sector? </p>
<p>An ironic feature of the South Australian Arts Plan is the inclusion of the theatre company Slingsby as an example of a wonderful arts organisation that has shown appropriate resilience and fortitude. This company, despite doing incredible work, was defunded in the 2016 funding round by the Australia Council. </p>
<p>It has continued to survive because of the extraordinary effort of its artists and supporters. </p>
<p>Since the introduction of a “competition strategy” mentality in 2016, vital activities and organisations that underpin the arts are being lost, even if they have been essential to the development of a sector for 40 years. And arts activities that are inspirational and unique, such as Slingsby, are not supported.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122943/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Josephine Caust has previously received funding from the Australia Council and from Arts SA.
She is a member of the Arts Industry Council (SA) and NAVA.</span></em></p>
Both the Australia Council’s and South Australia’s new five-year arts plans talk the talk, but fail to provide vital arts funding and structural support for a diverse arts culture.
Jo Caust, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow (Hon), The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/115466
2019-05-14T00:12:24Z
2019-05-14T00:12:24Z
Labor’s boost to the arts is welcome but our political climate does not take culture seriously
<p>Labor launched its arts policy in Melbourne on Saturday. The new policy document is called “<a href="https://www.alp.org.au/media/1885/labors_arts_policy.pdf">Renewing Creative Australia</a>”, paying homage to Labor’s two previous cultural policy documents; “Creative Nation” in 1994 and “Creative Australia” in 2013.</p>
<p>The policy includes a commitment to restore funding taken by the Coalition from the Australia Council, starting with A$37.5 million. There are funding boosts for the ABC and SBS of $40 million and $20 million respectively for production of Australian content, and new funding for contemporary music and interactive game development.</p>
<p>The agenda also includes $8 million for the establishment of a new national Indigenous Theatre Company, as well as a commitment to embedding better arts education across schools. Overall, Labor, in a modest fashion, tries to address some of the major issues affecting the arts in Australia. </p>
<p>However it does not come close to the <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/nzm8jb/trudeau-federal-government-pledges-19-billion-canadian-arts-culture">Canadian Government’s 2016</a> dramatic scene changer, which pledged an increase of CAD$1.9 billion (approximately $A2 billion) to the cultural sector, including an extra <a href="https://canadianart.ca/news/canada-council-head-promises-new-era-arts-funding/">CAD$550 million</a> in for the Canada Council for the Arts and CAD$675 million for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Action on this scale here would be transformative.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273979/original/file-20190513-183083-as2gjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273979/original/file-20190513-183083-as2gjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273979/original/file-20190513-183083-as2gjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273979/original/file-20190513-183083-as2gjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273979/original/file-20190513-183083-as2gjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273979/original/file-20190513-183083-as2gjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273979/original/file-20190513-183083-as2gjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273979/original/file-20190513-183083-as2gjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Friends of the ABC rally in Melbourne in 2018. Labor’s new arts policy includes a funding boost to the ABC for Australian content.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Penny Stephens/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meanwhile, the Coalition has barely mentioned the arts during this campaign, nor is there any evidence of an arts policy on the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/federal-election-2019/labor-pledges-indigenous-theatre-company-and-new-arts-era-20190510-p51m1l.html">Liberal Party website</a>.</p>
<p>In relation to new programs though, it recommended in the most recent budget a <a href="https://www.minister.communications.gov.au/minister/mitch-fifield/news/more-live-music-more-opportunities-australias-musicians">$30.9 million music industry package</a>, for funding of live music and mentoring programs for female and Indigenous musicians.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/arts-and-culture-under-the-coalition-a-lurch-between-aggression-and-apathy-114434">Arts and culture under the Coalition: a lurch between aggression and apathy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The importance of the arts</h2>
<p>Nevertheless, the funding of arts and culture in this country reflects a political climate that does not take culture, or the arts practices it spawns, seriously. While a 2017 <a href="https://australiacouncil.gov.au/research/connecting-australians/">survey</a> reinforced that 98% of the community engage with the arts, there is little acknowledgement or respect paid to artists and cultural producers at the political level. </p>
<p>In its 2018 budget the federal government predicted an overall expenditure of $488.58 billion. Within this total, $1.3 billion - a little more than a quarter of 1% - was <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-08/federal-budget-2018-sliced-diced-interactive/9723604#spending/breakdown/2019/general-public-services">allocated to arts and cultural heritage</a>. </p>
<p>Many nations spend a great deal more as a percentage of their budget, including nations far poorer or smaller in population than ours. </p>
<p>While there are caveats in doing direct comparisons, Australia spent around $95 per capita federally including recurrent expenditure (but not including local and state contributions) <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/documents/cultural-funding-government-2016-17">on arts and cultural heritage in 2016-17</a>. In 2015 Sweden’s public cultural expenditure was $439 per capita and Estonia spent around <a href="https://www.culturalpolicies.net/web/statistics-funding.php?aid=232&cid=80&lid=en">$337 per capita</a>. </p>
<p>The Australia Council had $189.3 million in 2017-2018 to spend on <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/workspace/uploads/files/australia-council-annual-repor-5bd8e5e63c2c6.pdf">the funding of arts activities</a>. Around 59% of this total (or $111 million) went to support 28 major performing arts organisations, all included in the Major Performing Arts Framework. </p>
<p>Over the past year the Australia Council has been reviewing this framework and consulting with the broader arts sector in relation to its review. In a summary of the <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/research/major-performing-arts-framework/">second phase of consultation</a> published last month the council noted there was “little diversity” among this group of major performing arts organisations with only one Indigenous company (Bangarra Dance Theatre) included.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273977/original/file-20190513-183080-5aoxym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273977/original/file-20190513-183080-5aoxym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273977/original/file-20190513-183080-5aoxym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273977/original/file-20190513-183080-5aoxym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273977/original/file-20190513-183080-5aoxym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273977/original/file-20190513-183080-5aoxym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273977/original/file-20190513-183080-5aoxym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273977/original/file-20190513-183080-5aoxym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Bangarra Dance Theatre Company is the only Indigenous company included in the Australia Council’s Major Performing Arts Framework.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jess Bialek/Mollison Communications/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over 600 other arts organisations and individuals received the rest of the federal arts funding. They have strict limitations imposed on them in terms of accountability, performance, output and the amount of funding they can receive. These conditions are designed to ensure they do what they say they will - but they also limit what they might be capable of doing. </p>
<p>In contrast, organisations that come under the Major Performing Arts Framework are primarily subject to financial criteria. Even when they do not conform to the expected financial conditions (as recorded in the <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/sites/g/files/net1761/f/national_opera_review_final_report.pdf">National Opera Review in 2016</a>, they can continue to be funded.</p>
<p>The Labor Party says it expects the additional funds for the Australia Council “will help restore the balance for areas that have been underfunded in recent years, including, literature, visual art and the small, medium and independent sectors.” It wants to see the Major Performing Arts Framework deliver a clear purpose and fairer funding arrangements and reflect the broader community’s diversity. </p>
<p>There is an intention flagged here that Labor will review the current arrangements to make them more accountable and reflective of diversity. The challenge though is always equating size with quality. Academic researchers Ben Eltham and Deb Verhoeven have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10286632.2018.1436167">demonstrated that</a> most artistic innovation occurs in arts activities outside of the major funded organisations. </p>
<h2>Cultural rights</h2>
<p>Inequities exist in the arts because of class, education, gender, race and ethnicity. Nevertheless, only relatively recently has there been recognition that citizens should have “cultural” as much as political or social rights, with the passing of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the <a href="https://en.unesco.org/creativity/convention">Diversity of Cultural Expression in 2005</a>. </p>
<p>While Australia has been party to the Convention since 2009, actual policies to ensure our compliance are limited. For example, Australia does not have a Bill of Rights ensuring freedom of expression or cultural rights.</p>
<p>The idea of cultural rights includes the notion that all citizens should have access to and be able to participate in various forms of artistic and cultural practice. If Australia had constitutional recognition of cultural rights, would there then be an imperative to fund the arts appropriately to reflect the cultures and population distributions that exist? </p>
<p>Australia is home to the oldest living continuing culture on this earth - a unique privilege for us all. Recognition, respect and valuing of culture and the arts are part of the remit of a sophisticated and caring nation. It is time that our political masters demonstrated that they understand that arts and culture matter to everyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115466/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Caust has previously received funding from the Australia Council. She is a member of the Arts Industry Council (SA) and NAVA. </span></em></p>
Labor’s arts election policy includes more funding for the Australia Council and the ABC. But while this is welcome, arts and culture deserve far greater attention.
Jo Caust, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow (Hon), The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/97782
2018-06-11T20:36:40Z
2018-06-11T20:36:40Z
To fix gender inequity in arts leadership we need more women in politics and chairing boards
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221894/original/file-20180606-119870-15j3miu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dancers rehearse at a 2016 media call for The Australian Ballet's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Of our 28 major performing arts organisations, only three have female artistic leaders.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dean Lewins/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Women are the major consumers as well as the largest percentage of employees in the arts. Yet their presence as artistic leaders remains low or, in some sectors, non-existent.</p>
<p>Of the 28 organisations presently funded under the Australia Council framework of the major performing arts, only three, Black Swan Theatre Company, Orchestra Victoria and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, have female artistic leaders. </p>
<p>These 28 organisations include ballet, dance, theatre, opera, orchestras and a circus. In practice this means that almost 90% of the artistic leaders of our major performing organisations are male. These organisations receive the majority (<a href="http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/about/annual-report-2016-17/">at least 62%</a>) of arts funding allocated by the Australia Council.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-major-dance-companies-need-to-step-up-on-gender-equality-97464">recent Australian study</a> found the role of women as artistic leaders and choreographers of dance and ballet companies is minimal – despite the fact that they dominate the industry. The findings are consistent with international studies of the role of women in dance and ballet. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-major-dance-companies-need-to-step-up-on-gender-equality-97464">Australia's major dance companies need to step up on gender equality</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Another <a href="http://nyti.ms/2egaaaM4">recent international study</a> considered the leadership of the top 12 art museums in the world. At the time of the study, all were led by men. </p>
<p>If we then look at the leadership of the six major state art galleries in Australia as well as our national gallery, a similar picture emerges. Only one state art gallery (the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery) has a female leader, although the Art Gallery of South Australia has a woman in the “co-acting” directorial role while a new leader is being sought.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221888/original/file-20180605-119885-lcswuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221888/original/file-20180605-119885-lcswuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221888/original/file-20180605-119885-lcswuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221888/original/file-20180605-119885-lcswuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221888/original/file-20180605-119885-lcswuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221888/original/file-20180605-119885-lcswuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221888/original/file-20180605-119885-lcswuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221888/original/file-20180605-119885-lcswuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The late Betty Churcher: a rare example of a woman running a major cultural institution.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Tsiavis/AAP</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Historically, the picture is not much better. A woman has occasionally been the leader of a major Australian cultural institution (for instance, Betty Churcher at the National Gallery from 1990-1997, or Paula Latos-Valier at the Art Gallery of Western Australia from 1990-1997), but examples of women as leaders are the exception, not the rule.</p>
<p>These figures might not be so shocking in traditionally male-dominated fields such as mining or manufacturing. But the arts sector is one where women represent the majority of consumers and participants. Evidence that Australian women in senior roles in the arts earn <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/what-arts-bosses-in-australia-earn-and-how-women-get-less-20160603-gpahfn.html">38% less</a> than male colleagues who occupy similar positions further compounds this inequality.</p>
<p>There are big issues that need to be tackled by agencies involved in leading, supporting, training and funding the arts in this country. It has been noted already in gender research that to change an existing homogeneous model of leadership, attention needs to be paid to ensuring <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37882461-arts-leadership-in-contemporary-contexts">different values and cultures</a> are represented in any selection process. Selection panels are <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/joe.21413">more likely to choose a candidate who reflects the values that they believe in or exemplify</a>, even if a male candidate is less qualified or less experienced than the female equivalent.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-gender-pay-gap-is-wider-in-the-arts-than-in-other-industries-87080">The gender pay gap is wider in the arts than in other industries</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In this country, as in many others, the leadership of art institutions is determined by a board of management or, in the case of government agencies, by the minister concerned. If the chair of the board or the politician is male, then they may be less likely to associate leadership with a woman.</p>
<p>At present across the country, seven ministers are responsible for arts, culture or creative industries in their portfolio. Five of the current ministers are male. </p>
<p>If we look at who chairs the 28 major performing arts organisations, 20 are male. If we look at the chairs of the six state art galleries and the national gallery, five are male. Thus, the decision-makers for senior arts appointments are predominantly male.</p>
<p>If the present demographic of arts leadership is to change, then gender equity at every level needs to be addressed. In a sector where women represent the majority audience as well as the majority of its participants, the low level of female artistic leadership is significantly out of tune with contemporary expectations.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Jo Caust’s book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37882461-arts-leadership-in-contemporary-contexts">Arts Leadership in Contemporary Contexts</a> has just been released.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97782/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Caust has received funding from the Australia Council. She is a member of the Arts Industry Council in South Australia and the National Association of Visual Artists (NAVA). </span></em></p>
Women make up the majority of arts consumers and employees, but men dominate at every level of arts leadership.
Jo Caust, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow (Hon), The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/85995
2017-11-07T19:25:40Z
2017-11-07T19:25:40Z
‘Australia has no culture’: changing the mindset of the cringe
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192972/original/file-20171102-26456-zzvgvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A scene from Bangarra Dance Theatre's Lore: the oldest continuing culture in the world resonates with overseas audiences.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jeff Tan/Newzulu</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Australia has no culture, so why would anyone overseas be interested in us?” says a young MA student at a University of Melbourne forum as part of a discussion about Australian “culture” being promoted seriously and strategically overseas.</p>
<p>Her peers joined in. “Yes, it’s a cultural cringe”. “Yes, Australia is so young, compared with other countries”. “Yes, Australia has no clear sense of identity”. “Yes, Australia’s film industry is just in its fledgling stage”. All feeling free, in 2017, to utter such statements. The only one to offer any counterpoint said this was to be expected as there is no central Arts policy.</p>
<p>They were saying no-one would or should be interested in us. They added the Canadians were in a similar position. One speaker from the Confucius Institute said it was an issue of money, but he had also just said that the Australian Government paid funds for his Chinese organisation.</p>
<p>I know these students’ sentiments are wrong. I’ve spent my life working with Australian culture overseas, particularly in Asia. I’ve seen how the oldest continuing culture in the world resonates with overseas audiences; I’ve seen how poets and painters have evoked Australian love of space and land and made it real for people elsewhere; and I’ve always felt assured that my fellow Australians would always treat people of all social classes in other lands with grace and fairness.</p>
<p>The (pejorative) comment about being a “young” country (with no time to build “culture”) always gets to me. It’s the old mantra that Europeans and Asian cultures, like China, use: an argument that suits cultures which have remained in one place for a long time. It of course denies (forgets about?) Australian Indigenous culture - which is an issue in itself.</p>
<p>Even accepting this argument as cogent, it also simplifies all cultures with significant migrant populations (like the USA or Singapore or Malaysia for that matter) down to the time those people have spent in the new geographic site, as if none of their histories come with them. They do come with what they have, and often use that in their new environment to make something highly prized: think of Bangarra Dance’s melding of elements of Western ballet with Indigenous forms or Paul Grabowsky’s musical Indonesian inclusions in projects like The Theft of Sita.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192746/original/file-20171031-32619-vhnmb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192746/original/file-20171031-32619-vhnmb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192746/original/file-20171031-32619-vhnmb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192746/original/file-20171031-32619-vhnmb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192746/original/file-20171031-32619-vhnmb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192746/original/file-20171031-32619-vhnmb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192746/original/file-20171031-32619-vhnmb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192746/original/file-20171031-32619-vhnmb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Paul Grabowsky in 2009.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dean Lewins/AAP</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>So, why is this group of bright students so quick to bring up these old furphies (a good Australian word of course) about our “lack of culture”? Is it some easy mantra of a long-gone age that never gets challenged and addressed?</p>
<p>Where is the Australia Council in this? After nearly 50 years why has its work of “promoting” Australian culture so spectacularly failed to resonate with these young people? Has the Council been ineffective in telling Australians of its work or has its work been less effective than it could have been? </p>
<p>The Council was founded at the time of Gough Whitlam’s great enthusiasm for and confidence in Australian culture. It had, and has a role in international engagement, but we still have no specialist agency for international cultural engagement that might be strategically focused in this area – unlike Germany and Japan, which have the Goethe Institute (founded in 1951) and the Japan Foundation (founded in 1972).</p>
<p>Is the subtext to little strategic focus on our role internationally (and awareness of the interest of our culture overseas) perhaps that the powerful in Canberra also, like these students, think we have nothing to offer? As a side comment, I never think it is a matter of money: it is belief and focus and strategy that are wanting.</p>
<p>Nearly 30 years ago, when I was envisaging the Asialink Arts program (always supported by Asialink director Jenny McGregor), I pushed for an “export” role, rather than what seemed to me to be an easier “import” focus, based on the idea that we Australians were poor at promoting ourselves. I would always be asking artists we sent to Asia to think about further international projects they could be creating; always asking curators to be looking out for further opportunities. But Asialink Arts has always been a small agency, not in the league of the German or Japanese nationally-supported institutions. </p>
<p>What of our universities? Despite the University of Melbourne having an Australian Centre, decades of teaching Australian literature, visual art, theatre, history, politics and film, and its own practical arts faculty, it still allows a group of students like this to be so blasé. Do these students think so little of the books and art works and films and activities they learn about that they must be of no value or interest to anyone else?</p>
<p>Is there a lack of consciousness at best, or, worse, to use a phrase of these students, still a cringe within the institution? It certainly has been so in the past. <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/3914959">Ann Stephen, Andrew McNamara, and Phillip Goad</a> have recorded the relatively passive reception of modernism in Australia rather than any celebration of its transformation here. Co-head of the Australian Centre, Professor Denise Varney’s ARC-supported research discusses the unacknowledged modernist period of the post-war period in Australian theatre studies.</p>
<p>Still today, in mainstream arts subjects, Australian and indeed Asian art can be sidelined for the big names of a single-line, Euro-American history. We can still fail to acknowledge some of our own bright thinkers: Margo Neale, one of our leading experts about Indigenous culture, curator of the current Seven Sisters exhibition in Canberra, has been in Melbourne recently, but was she asked to speak about her work in the tertiary sector? You know the answer. If such is our mindset, how will these students see their own culture as equal to these others, and how will they think of themselves as capable of leading in their field?</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kfdHqUmFmuc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>We can change our thinking. An example of such “success” is the widespread consciousness of the need to include equal numbers of women as men in our research and teaching practices. We could, for instance, undertake an audit of the level of inclusion of Australian cultural material in our tertiary sector. We could revisit our international strategies and assess how successful they have been.</p>
<p>This isn’t a discussion about what Australian culture is but about the things and ideas we value and how they might be of value to others.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85995/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Carroll does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Why do students still describe Australia as a ‘young’ country lacking culture? Are our universities doing enough to to teach Australian films, artwork and books?
Alison Carroll, Founding Director (1990-2010), AsiaLink Arts, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/84761
2017-09-27T04:36:11Z
2017-09-27T04:36:11Z
Does opera deserve its privileged status within arts funding?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187708/original/file-20170927-23629-9ew2kn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Opera is treated differently to other artforms in Australia. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Tracey NearmyAAP Image/Tracey Nearmy</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is a strange reality but opera as an artform is always given special and arguably preferential treatment by governments and other influential forces in Western society. This happens, it seems, regardless of whatever government is in power.</p>
<p>It is argued that opera represents the “highest” of artforms given its combination of music, theatre dance and the visual arts. Certainly it usually receives the most financial rewards from government and often also from private benefactors.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/workspace/uploads/files/_aca_annual_report_2015-16_-lr-582161b4b29d1.pdf">2015-16, Australian opera companies</a> received $23.7 million from the Australia Council, representing 13.7% of the council’s overall grant allocation. Opera, while seen as an art that embraces other artforms, is located primarily within music. Music overall receives 53% of the council’s allocation. This compares with 2.7% given to literature and 9.7% given to the visual arts.</p>
<p>Since 2015, when the arts funding scene in Australia was afflicted by cuts and controversy instigated by George Brandis’s grant heist at the Australia Council, one area has been totally unaffected and protected - the major performing arts sector. Its share of the funding pool in 2015-16 was $107.8 million (or 62%) out of a total pool of grants in 2016 of $173.75 million. This amount was divided between 28 companies; <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/sites/g/files/net1761/f/national_opera_review_final_report_-_appendix.pdf">Opera Australia</a> received the largest individual share. Overall, Opera Australia received $25.5 million in <a href="https://d30bjm1vsa9rrn.cloudfront.net/res/pdfs/opera-australia-2016-annual-report.pdf">federal and state government grants</a> in 2016. </p>
<p>When arts minister Mitch Fifield announced in March 2017 the <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-the-catalyst-arts-funding-mess-many-questions-remain-74848">return of much of the money taken by Brandis</a> from the Australia Council, he nevertheless directed that $1 million of this should be allocated to funding the recommendations of the <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/have-your-say/national-opera-review">National Opera Review</a>. So while the opera sector had not been cut during the previous two years, it was nevertheless going to be rewarded with more funding (arguably taken from the small to medium sector originally). </p>
<p>The National Opera Review was commissioned in 2014, with the <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/documents/national-opera-review-final-report">final report</a> released in October 2016. The review was asked, under its Terms of Reference, to make recommendations aimed at promoting the financial viability, artistic vibrancy and accessibility of Australia’s four major opera companies: Opera Australia, Opera Queensland, State Opera of South Australia, and West Australian Opera.</p>
<p>While containing many interesting recommendations, the review re-affirms the special status of opera and the companies involved. As the rest of the arts sector was scrambling to survive because of the enforced cuts, the opera sector, it seems, continued to be protected. </p>
<p>For example, the review recommends that Opera Queensland, which has been operating mostly in deficit over a period of six years, should be given another three years to get its house together. Through this period of trying to “improve”, the company remains a member of the Major Performing Arts Board. This is despite the fact that the board is said to demand the highest artistic and financial standards of its members. </p>
<p>If Opera Queensland is still unable to manage itself after three years, only then will it cease to receive government funds. This recommendation seems to contrast dramatically with what would happen to any other arts company in a similar situation receiving government funding.</p>
<p>On September 20, the federal government released its <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/documents/response-national-opera-review-final-report">official response</a> to the review. Some of the interesting recommendations that have been agreed to (at least in principle) by government include the provision of an “innovation” fund of $1.2 million for opera companies so that they are encouraged to produce new work.</p>
<p>Unlike the rest of the arts sector, which produces new work as part of its standard remit, the opera companies will receive an incentive for doing this. Overall the review recommends more core funding for the opera companies (in addition to the innovation fund).</p>
<p>More shocking is that the government has agreed in principle with a recommendation to penalise companies (by up to $200,000) if they do not balance the employment of Australian and overseas artists. It seems that the percentage of Australians employed by opera companies in leading roles has dramatically declined over the past decade, particularly at Opera Australia. It goes without saying that a basic expectation of government funding would be that it goes towards the employment of Australian artists. But the penalty seems an odd choice when this could be a condition of receiving government funding in the first place.</p>
<p>Reminiscent of the US governance approach (“give, get or get off”) the review recommends that directors of opera boards should be “making a financial contribution (regardless of size) and assisting with raising funds”. In this model, the role of a board director is to be a fundraiser, a philanthropist or both. This automatically limits the range of board member skills and ensures that most board members of opera companies are expected to be independently wealthy. The government has agreed to this.</p>
<p>Further recommendations are that the Australia Council should be given extra funding ($250,000) to employ staff with specialised expertise in understanding the needs of opera companies. Such staff should be senior enough to be taken seriously by the companies concerned.</p>
<p>While the opera review members have been thorough in their approach, the premise of the review and of the government’s response is that opera and opera companies should continue to be a privileged sector in the arts spectrum. </p>
<p>The people who are involved with opera companies generally represent the most privileged in society - the wealthy and powerful. The review recommends that this should be further enhanced.</p>
<p>Over the past three years arts funding has been a contested domain, yet the opera sector has been protected from this and continues to be so. Is this the basis of a democratic system?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84761/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<h4 class="border">Disclosure</h4><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Caust has previously received funding from the Australia Council. She is a member of the Arts Industry Council (SA) and NAVA.</span></em></p>
It is a strange reality but opera as an artform is always given special and arguably preferential treatment by governments and other influential forces in Western society. This happens, it seems, regardless…
Jo Caust, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow (Hon), The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/80145
2017-06-27T20:07:27Z
2017-06-27T20:07:27Z
Creative country: 98% of Australians engage with the arts
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175789/original/file-20170627-6086-adpiti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nearly three-quarters of Australians go to live art events, such as Dark Mofo in Hobart. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stefan Karpiniec/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The arts play a role in the lives of 98% of the Australian population, according to a new survey, <a href="http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/research/">Connecting Australians</a>, released by the Australia Council today. That is, the majority of Australians from all walks of life – different ages, genders, cultures and backgrounds – participate and engage with the arts on some level.</p>
<p>While this figure is consistent with previous surveys, one major change is the national impact of new technologies on the experiencing and making of arts practice. For example, the survey found that 97% of all Australians aged between 15 and 24 engage with the arts online and 81% of Australians overall, up from 49% in 2009 and 73% in 2013. The major areas of engagement are listening to music (97%), reading books (79%) and going to live events (72%).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175784/original/file-20170627-29088-1kvkehx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175784/original/file-20170627-29088-1kvkehx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175784/original/file-20170627-29088-1kvkehx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175784/original/file-20170627-29088-1kvkehx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175784/original/file-20170627-29088-1kvkehx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175784/original/file-20170627-29088-1kvkehx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175784/original/file-20170627-29088-1kvkehx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175784/original/file-20170627-29088-1kvkehx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australia’s arts engagement 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Australia Council</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The latest report is a follow-up to surveys in <a href="http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/workspace/uploads/files/research/full_report_more_than_bums_on_-54325919b74d6.pdf">2009</a> and <a href="http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/workspace/uploads/files/research/arts-in-daily-life-australian-5432524d0f2f0.pdf">2013</a> that tracked the way Australians engage with the arts. The data are derived from a nationally representative sample of 7,537 Australians aged 15 years and over. The researchers also did studies with several focus groups within particular demographics to develop a deeper understanding of community attitudes and values.</p>
<h2>Young engaging with the arts</h2>
<p>Another important discovery in the survey is that both First Nations people and those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are more likely to engage with the arts online (at 90%) relative to the general population (just over 80%).</p>
<p>This online participation compares with 72% of people attending arts events in person. While this might be a problem if fewer people were attending arts events, it appears that many of those experiencing the arts online are in fact new audiences – no doubt the 15-24 age group as noted above. Thus there may not be a reduction in attendance; rather, we are seeing an increase in other forms of participation.</p>
<p>An important change is the recognition by an increased number of people that the arts have a positive impact on their lives. Young people, again, are the group that recognises this most. This effect appears to decrease with age, as do most kinds of arts engagement.</p>
<p>Both aspects of this finding are surprising given that the audience age at particular forms of arts practice such as classical music or opera is older. It would seem from this data that as the population ages, there is less engagement with the arts and those engaging feel less of a positive benefit.</p>
<h2>Signs of discontent?</h2>
<p>There are some other areas of concern too that seem to reflect broader social disengagement patterns in the Australian population and culture. For example, there is an increased ambivalence towards public funding of the arts from around 13% of the population in 2013 to 25% in 2016 (they answered “neither agree nor disagree” to the statement that the arts should receive public funding).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175792/original/file-20170627-29070-1bn84qj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175792/original/file-20170627-29070-1bn84qj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175792/original/file-20170627-29070-1bn84qj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175792/original/file-20170627-29070-1bn84qj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175792/original/file-20170627-29070-1bn84qj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175792/original/file-20170627-29070-1bn84qj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175792/original/file-20170627-29070-1bn84qj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175792/original/file-20170627-29070-1bn84qj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some 76% of Australians listened to recorded music online.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The percentage of those who think the arts are too expensive has also increased (from 36% to 43%). Likewise, more people think the arts attract people who are somewhat elitist, and more people think the arts aren’t for people “like them”. </p>
<p>The report authors see this changing perception as possibly reflecting a particular framing of the “arts” – that is, the arts are interpreted only as the “high” arts. If this is the case, there is a need for further work around how the arts are defined, as well as more consideration of skewed funding patterns versus broader cultural preferences. The survey shows that this elitist framing is generally age-defined, with younger people seeing the arts from a broader perspective. </p>
<p>More people see the arts as a way of improving cultural understanding and tolerance, with an increase from 36% of the population in 2013 to 64% in 2016. There is also an increase in those who believe the arts are more truly reflective of Australia’s cultural diversity – from 64% in 2013 to 75% in 2016.</p>
<p>The survey demonstrates the changing way that people now engage and participate in the arts. Researcher John Holden has talked at length about this with his framing of <a href="http://apjacm.arts.unimelb.edu.au/article/view/18/14">three forms of culture</a> – publicly funded, homemade and commercial. </p>
<p>One of the survey researchers notes that the boundaries between art appreciation and art making are increasingly blurred. This is evidence of greater engagement in art making, especially by young people, using platforms such as Youtube, Instagram and Spotify. </p>
<p>Technology has been a democratising force in encouraging and enabling more people to both appreciate and participate in all forms of arts practice. It is likely this will continue and that is good for both arts engagement and how we value arts practices.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80145/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Caust has received funding from the Australia Council. She is a member of the Arts Industry Council (SA) and NAVA. </span></em></p>
New survey from the Australia Council shows pretty much all Australians engage with the arts, and 8-in-10 do so online. However more people are ambivalent about public arts funding, and more people think the arts are too expensive.
Jo Caust, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow (Hon), The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/78181
2017-05-26T21:26:28Z
2017-05-26T21:26:28Z
Faith, dance, and truth: the art of 2017 Red Ochre award-winner Ken Thaiday Snr
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171081/original/file-20170526-23251-1n7n1tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ken Thaiday's dance machines layer people, animal, land and sea. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Carriageworks</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the last three decades, the ingenious sculptural telling of stories from the island of Erub has propelled Ken Thaiday Snr from being a maker of Torres Strait dance objects to an internationally acclaimed artist. Today his work has been recognised as a winner of the 2017 Red Ochre Award for his visual and performance art, alongside <a href="http://www.jiriki.com.au/Talent_Agency/lynette_narkle.html">Lynette Narkle</a> for her work in theatre, film and TV, as part of the Australia Council’s <a href="http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-arts/national-indigenous-arts-awards/">National Indigenous Art Awards</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171087/original/file-20170526-23227-cetba0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171087/original/file-20170526-23227-cetba0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=694&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171087/original/file-20170526-23227-cetba0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=694&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171087/original/file-20170526-23227-cetba0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=694&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171087/original/file-20170526-23227-cetba0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=873&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171087/original/file-20170526-23227-cetba0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=873&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171087/original/file-20170526-23227-cetba0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=873&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ken Thaiday at Carriageworks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ken Thaiday is perhaps most famous for his elaborate dance masks and headdresses. In late 2014, I spent considerable time with him as he prepared for his solo exhibition at Carriageworks. </p>
<p>Over cups of tea and fish soup, and in the company of his wife Aunty Liz, he shared his many stories of growing up on Erub (or Darnley) Island in the Torres Strait between Papua New Guinea and Queensland. Uncle Ken grew up alongside my father on Erub, and because of the generational difference, as well as inter-marriage dating back to the time of my great-grandmother, I call him “uncle”.</p>
<p>Since 2014, we have talked regularly about his work and travels and my own research and the many other things that take up our time. The recognition of his work today will reverberate for many years to come. </p>
<h2>Machines for dance</h2>
<p>Born on Erub in 1950, Uncle Ken moved to the Queensland mainland with his family at the age of 15. After working in the railways and in construction in Queensland and Western Australia he settled down in Cairns with his wife and their children.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170690/original/file-20170524-5782-17egtsx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170690/original/file-20170524-5782-17egtsx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170690/original/file-20170524-5782-17egtsx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170690/original/file-20170524-5782-17egtsx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170690/original/file-20170524-5782-17egtsx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170690/original/file-20170524-5782-17egtsx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170690/original/file-20170524-5782-17egtsx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170690/original/file-20170524-5782-17egtsx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Torres Strait islands, with Erub Island (red circle)</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torres_Strait_Islands#/media/File:TorresStraitIslandsMap.png">Kelisi</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Guided by his Christian faith, in the late 1980s he made the decision to form the dance group, Loza. Loza was also the name of a dance troupe his father, Tat Thaiday, once had on Erub. As the only son, Uncle Ken felt compelled to continue his father’s work. With the establishment of Loza, he taught the dances and songs his father had taught on Erub, and began to make dance objects or “dance machines”, mechanical moving devices that could be used as part of a dance.</p>
<p>The early dance machines were hand-held split bamboo clappers or <em>marap</em> and the now familiar <em>dhari</em> headdresses that adorn the Torres Strait flag and unmistakably identify each wearer with the islands.</p>
<p>Realising the content of the cultural storehouse of songs and dances he knew, Uncle Ken’s designs became more wide-ranging and complex. In his work he drew on his fondest memories of growing up on Erub and the teachings and life of his father.</p>
<p>Movable parts, and the human, animal, cultural, land and seascapes of Erub soon became standard features of Uncle Ken’s oversized works. </p>
<p>Neat, accurate figures of hammerhead sharks, fish and birds made from plywood or bamboo, were embellished with sharks’ teeth and fluffy feathers and painted with rich acrylic. The movable parts were connected by nylon fishing line and, by pulling on various toggles, dancers controlled the movements of the animals. In this way the wings of frigate bird masks can imitate flight and the shark can open and close its jaws.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171084/original/file-20170526-23251-5tb9qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171084/original/file-20170526-23251-5tb9qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171084/original/file-20170526-23251-5tb9qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171084/original/file-20170526-23251-5tb9qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171084/original/file-20170526-23251-5tb9qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171084/original/file-20170526-23251-5tb9qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171084/original/file-20170526-23251-5tb9qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171084/original/file-20170526-23251-5tb9qu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dance continues to resonate in Thaiday’s work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Carriageworks</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Dance was integral to Uncle Ken’s upbringing on Erub. His deep knowledge of the sea, his experience and understanding of Islanders’ connections with the animal world and their cultural practices have shaped his artistic trajectory.</p>
<h2>On the world stage</h2>
<p>“How did your dance machines become art?” I asked him recently and he laughed softly. “Gallery people just started ringing me”, was all he said.</p>
<p>For Uncle Ken making dance machines as art objects fed the scale and audacity of his work, but they still came from the same place. </p>
<p>All I do he said, “is represent Erub. The Lord gives me skill and talent and what I do is from Erub.” It is in these messages that I believe the core of Uncle Ken’s artistic vitality lives and flourishes. “Erub is small”, he said “and my stories and dances are my truth. I can tell no other stories”.</p>
<p>By end of the 1990s, his artistic telling of his stories of Erub had propelled him onto the national and international art stage. His work is held in private collections and in numerous national and regional museums and galleries. </p>
<p>His achievements include artist-in-residence stints in Paris and Washington DC and his work has toured in group exhibitions to capital and regional centres in Australia as well as internationally to the US, New Zealand and New Caledonia and Europe.</p>
<p>In 2013, the Cairns Regional Art Gallery commissioned him to make a fully automated sculptural piece. The piece, a collaborative work with artist Jason Christopher, used aluminium and 3D printing technology to recreate Uncle Ken’s Hammerhead with clamshell (2000) dance machine.</p>
<p>The work is a three dimensional representation of a clamshell enclosing a hammerhead shark. When switched on, the clamshell opens to reveal the shark. Exhibition Manager, Justin Bishop described the work as “mesmerising, with its high tech finish and electronic componentry”, writing that it is “squarely located at the frontiers of contemporary art practice.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171088/original/file-20170526-23260-jg9x41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171088/original/file-20170526-23260-jg9x41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171088/original/file-20170526-23260-jg9x41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171088/original/file-20170526-23260-jg9x41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171088/original/file-20170526-23260-jg9x41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171088/original/file-20170526-23260-jg9x41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171088/original/file-20170526-23260-jg9x41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171088/original/file-20170526-23260-jg9x41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ken Thaiday Snr. in collaboration with Jason Christopher, Clamshell with hammerhead shark 2013, aluminium, perspex and mechanical gearing, Cairns Art Gallery Permanent Collection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Marzik</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Inspired by their 2013 collaboration Uncle Ken and Christopher worked on further exhibition pieces. For the 2016 <a href="https://monacoreporter.com/2016/03/28/oceanographic-museum-of-monaco-hosts-taba-naba-a-voyage-into-the-australian-outback/ken-thaiday-dhari-oceanographic-museum-of-monaco/">Defending the Oceans</a> exhibition at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, two five metre and an eight metre dhari were made and shipped in parts to be assembled at the museum. Back in Australia for the 2016 Biennale of Sydney, an automated <a href="https://www.biennaleofsydney.com.au/20bos/artists/ken-thaiday/">aluminium-cast triple hammerhead shark dance machine</a> greeted exhibition goers at the NSW Art Gallery. </p>
<p>As Uncle Ken continues to tell his stories and his truth, through his dance machines and other sculptural work, he continues to captivate and inspire. His work resonates with all Islanders because of its undeniable and evocative connection to and celebration of an Islander identity. It speaks to the adaptability and resilience of Islanders.</p>
<p>When I asked Uncle Ken what he thinks about when he looks at the work of other Indigenous artists - or wants to know about it - unsurprisingly he told me he likes to “ask about their meaning, to find their stories”. “We have stories about the same things” he said, “the land and the sea and us.”</p>
<p>I didn’t get the chance to ask Uncle Ken what advice he would give to up and coming Indigenous artists. But I imagine it would be something along the line of cultivating faith and telling your own truth.</p>
<p><em>Ken Thaiday’s work will appear among the work of 30 Indigenous artists at the National Gallery of Australia’s 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial, Defying Empire, until 10 September 2017.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78181/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leah Lui-Chivizhe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Ken Thaiday Snr, an internationally-acclaimed artist from Erub Island in the Torres Strait, has been awarded a 2017 Red Ochre Award. Thaiday’s work draws on dance, the people and land of the islands to produce elaborate masks and headdresses.
Leah Lui-Chivizhe, Lecturer, Nura Gili Indigenous Programs Unit, UNSW Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/70639
2016-12-25T20:41:50Z
2016-12-25T20:41:50Z
2016, the year that was: Arts and Culture
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151150/original/image-20161221-13180-3qdeqv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Visitors take in Cameron Robbins’ Field Lines at Dark Mofo at the Museum of Old and New Art.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mona/Remi Chauvin</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>2016 was not a good year to be a famous male musician. In January, <a href="https://theconversation.com/david-bowie-in-the-divided-city-of-berlin-53034">David Bowie died</a> at just 69. He was mourned <a href="https://theconversation.com/david-bowie-pop-star-who-fell-to-earth-to-teach-outsiders-they-can-be-heroes-52995">by pretty much everyone</a>, including the German Foreign Office, which tweeted: “You are now among Heroes”.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y-JqH1M4Ya8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>In April, Prince went. <a href="https://theconversation.com/princes-passing-bookends-another-chapter-in-the-history-of-music-58286">His death was sudden</a>. He was only 57 – an <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-elusive-virtuoso-who-embraced-ambiguity-and-female-desire-58274">eccentric virtuoso</a>, a brilliant performer and a prodigious songwriter and composer. “Today, the world lost a creative icon,” said President Obama in an official statement.</p>
<p>Then, in November, Leonard Cohen died. He was 82 and as he had written to his muse Marianne, some months earlier, “we are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon”. Still, for those who had <a href="https://theconversation.com/goodbye-leonard-you-brought-us-so-much-light-68674">spent a lifetime listening to Cohen</a>, his sudden absence was hard to grasp. As <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-a-writer-musician-leonard-cohen-was-a-one-off-68676">David McCooey wrote</a>, Cohen – with his mesmerising baritone voice and “profound sense of playfulness and enigma” – was a one-off. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151131/original/image-20161221-13172-iy88bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151131/original/image-20161221-13172-iy88bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151131/original/image-20161221-13172-iy88bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151131/original/image-20161221-13172-iy88bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151131/original/image-20161221-13172-iy88bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151131/original/image-20161221-13172-iy88bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151131/original/image-20161221-13172-iy88bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151131/original/image-20161221-13172-iy88bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Georgia Blain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Scribe Publications</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Death comes to artists in every genre, of course, and late this year we lost two stellar Australian writers – <a href="https://theconversation.com/goodbye-georgia-blain-a-brave-and-true-chronicler-of-life-70329">Georgia Blain</a> and the remarkable <a href="https://theconversation.com/remembering-shirley-hazzard-art-is-the-only-afterlife-of-which-we-have-evidence-70519">Shirley Hazzard</a> – along with the pioneering Melbourne architect <a href="https://theconversation.com/remembering-peter-corrigan-a-life-of-movement-energy-and-integrity-69868">Peter Corrigan</a>. But there was much more to Arts + Culture in 2016 than sadness. </p>
<p>It was a year of creative foment – from operas fused with circus to hard-hitting feminist memoirs to young, bold festivals such as Adelaide’s OzAsia and Hobart’s Dark Mofo – and as always, intense debate about the importance of the arts to a thriving, democratic society. Here then, is 2016 as we saw it.</p>
<h2>Cultural identity</h2>
<p>In March, the Daily Telegraph informed readers that students at a leading NSW university were “being told to refer to Australia as having been ‘invaded’ instead of settled in a highly controversial rewriting of official Australian history”.</p>
<p>Archaeology professor Bryce Barker offered a much needed <a href="https://theconversation.com/of-course-australia-was-invaded-massacres-happened-here-less-than-90-years-ago-55377">informed perspective on this matter.</a> Detailed historical research on the colonial frontier, he wrote,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>unequivocally supports the idea that Aboriginal people were subject to attack, assault, incursion, conquest and subjugation: all synonyms for the term ‘invasion’.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The culture wars manifested in other ways, too, with Indigenous Australians featuring controversially in the cartoons of Bill Leak. In an <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-white-mans-burden-bill-leak-and-telling-the-truth-about-aboriginal-lives-63524">impassioned response to one cartoon</a>, Chelsea Bond wrote that Leak’s work “continues a long tradition of white men’s fantasies about the inferiority of Aboriginal people”. Philosopher Janna Thompson, meanwhile, pondered whether it was right to <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-racism-and-is-bill-leak-a-controversialist-or-a-racist-67993">accuse Leak of racism</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151135/original/image-20161221-13168-e5dksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151135/original/image-20161221-13168-e5dksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151135/original/image-20161221-13168-e5dksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151135/original/image-20161221-13168-e5dksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151135/original/image-20161221-13168-e5dksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151135/original/image-20161221-13168-e5dksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151135/original/image-20161221-13168-e5dksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151135/original/image-20161221-13168-e5dksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eric Gaillard</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a global era dominated by Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google and others, Julianne Schultz argued <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-must-act-now-to-preserve-its-culture-in-the-face-of-global-tech-giants-58724">in her 2016 Brian Johns lecture</a>, that we needed to find “ways to embrace the particularity of being Australian in a global context and find new ways to express that”. Our cultural institutions were a vital part of this, she wrote. </p>
<p>Yet this year we saw further cuts to <a href="https://theconversation.com/changes-to-radio-national-are-gutting-a-cultural-treasure-trove-69397">specialist programming at Radio National</a>, and continued uncertainty around the question of <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-it-comes-to-books-and-copyright-the-government-should-leave-things-as-they-are-68911">copyright laws and Australian writing</a>. And arts funding continued to be a sore point.</p>
<h2>Arts policy</h2>
<p>As Sasha Grishin noted in March, a change in Prime Minister did not bring a fresh perspective on arts funding - indeed <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-silver-tongued-turnbull-fails-to-woo-the-arts-vote-55132">the urbane and eloquent Malcolm Turnbull</a> had rather spectacularly failed to woo the arts vote.</p>
<p>Arts Minister Mitch Fifield’s Catalyst Fund (a compromise after the furore over the proposed NPEA), began funding “innovative ideas from arts and culture organisations”. But there was a disturbing <a href="https://theconversation.com/where-is-the-balance-and-credibility-in-our-federal-governments-arts-policy-58485">lack of transparency</a> in the decisions it made, wrote Jo Caust. In May, the Australia Council announced who would miss out in its latest funding round. The unlucky included many notable theatre companies and the arts advocacy body NAVA: our <a href="https://theconversation.com/carnage-in-the-arts-experts-respond-to-the-australia-council-cuts-59368">expert panel was unimpressed</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151137/original/image-20161221-13154-lta2ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151137/original/image-20161221-13154-lta2ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151137/original/image-20161221-13154-lta2ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151137/original/image-20161221-13154-lta2ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151137/original/image-20161221-13154-lta2ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151137/original/image-20161221-13154-lta2ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151137/original/image-20161221-13154-lta2ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The West Australian Ballet, one of the recipients from the Catalyst fund.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cortlan Bennett/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The arts sector loudly articulated its concerns during the federal election campaign, <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-where-to-now-for-australian-culture-62439">finding its voice as a lobby group</a>. We considered policy solutions to the pressing question of how artists could make a living wage in our series <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-artists-pay-their-taxes-in-art-57669">Making Art Pay</a>. And our crack team of experts compared the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-price-of-victory-comparing-the-cost-of-olympic-gold-to-an-elite-arts-prize-64159">cost of an Olympic gold to an arts prize</a> (guess which one proved to be better value?)</p>
<h2>Screen</h2>
<p>Mad Max: Fury Road won six Oscars in the fields of Film Editing, Costume Design, Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing and Production Design. We considered the implications of this success for <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-do-mad-maxs-six-oscars-mean-for-the-australian-film-industry-55564">our local film industry</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151140/original/image-20161221-13160-q22drj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151140/original/image-20161221-13160-q22drj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151140/original/image-20161221-13160-q22drj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151140/original/image-20161221-13160-q22drj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151140/original/image-20161221-13160-q22drj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151140/original/image-20161221-13160-q22drj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151140/original/image-20161221-13160-q22drj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mark Mangini and David White react after winning Best Sound Editing for Mad Max Fury Road.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mike Blake/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We also reflected on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-star-wars-mad-max-and-the-real-vs-digital-effects-furphy-56137">use of CGI </a> in films; Martin Scorsese’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-it-felt-like-a-kiss-movies-popular-music-and-martin-scorsese-59231">cinematic use of music</a>, the work of the masterful <a href="https://theconversation.com/ivan-sens-goldstone-a-taut-layered-exploration-of-what-echoes-in-the-silences-60619">Australian filmmaker Ivan Sen</a> and new local films including <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-tragi-comedy-down-under-appropriates-cronulla-rather-than-offering-insight-63259">Down Under</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/joe-cinques-consolation-violence-delusion-and-the-question-of-guilt-63595">Joe Cinque’s Consolation</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/virtual-reality-film-collisions-is-part-disaster-movie-part-travelogue-and-completely-immersive-66563">virtual reality film Collisons</a>.</p>
<p>Bruce Isaacs dissected the <a href="https://theconversation.com/video-the-five-greatest-scorsese-scenes-episode-5-goodfellas-60170">five greatest Scorsese scenes</a> and began a new video column on <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-antonionis-the-passenger-65395">the great movie scenes</a>. After the death of the influential Australian director Paul Cox, film-maker Jonathan auf der Heide wrote <a href="https://theconversation.com/life-lessons-from-the-editing-suite-of-paul-cox-61578">a beautiful remembrance</a> of his time spent working with this complex, uncompromising auteur who unashamedly wore his heart on his sleeve.</p>
<p>On television, our experts reflected on Australian productions including <a href="https://theconversation.com/molly-is-lacking-as-a-tv-show-but-millions-including-me-are-hooked-54471">Molly</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/bloody-good-tv-how-rake-changed-australian-television-61433">Rake</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/dna-nation-raises-tough-questions-for-indigenous-australians-59877">DNA Nation</a>, the adaptation of Christos Tsiolkas’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/christos-tsiolkas-the-blasphemous-artist-and-barracuda-61434">Barracuda</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/man-up-inspired-genius-or-half-baked-celebrity-expertise-67143">Man Up</a> and Cleverman, which showcased <a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-cleverman-our-first-aboriginal-screen-superhero-with-healing-powers-and-a-political-edge-59813">our first indigenous superhero</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151143/original/image-20161221-13138-lylhgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151143/original/image-20161221-13138-lylhgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151143/original/image-20161221-13138-lylhgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151143/original/image-20161221-13138-lylhgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151143/original/image-20161221-13138-lylhgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151143/original/image-20161221-13138-lylhgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151143/original/image-20161221-13138-lylhgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151143/original/image-20161221-13138-lylhgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Elias Anton as Danny Kelly in Barracuda.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They considered the impact of <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-ways-reg-grundy-changed-australian-tv-for-better-or-worse-59068">the late Reg Grundy</a>, offered some ideas for the ABC under <a href="https://theconversation.com/memo-to-michelle-guthrie-expert-ideas-for-the-new-abc-era-58929">Michelle Guthrie’s reign</a> and argued that The Bachelor was <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-bachelor-turns-women-into-misogynists-62423">turning women into misogynists</a>. And controversially, Travis Holland declared that after 28 seasons, The Simpsons has now <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-simpsons-has-lost-its-way-67845">lost its way</a>.</p>
<p>Game of Thrones remained hugely popular. We examined the series’ <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-from-daenerys-to-yara-the-top-ten-women-of-game-of-thrones-58356">appeal to women</a> and how a Melbourne visual effects firm made its <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-game-of-thrones-emmy-award-winning-battle-scene-was-made-65235">Emmy award-winning battle scene</a>. We also asked Carolyne Larrington, a professor of medieval European literature, for her ideas about <a href="https://theconversation.com/wrapping-up-the-fantasy-how-will-game-of-thrones-end-67245">how the series might end</a>. She predicts the TV show will take a comic rather than tragic option, “contenting itself with a marriage between Jon and Daenerys and finding some quick fix for the White Walker problem”. </p>
<h2>Visual art</h2>
<p>Sadly, it was a year that saw continued terror attacks around the world. After the bombings in Brussels, Kit Messham Muir reflected on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/art-and-terror-a-new-kind-of-memorial-56734">new kinds of memorials being created to honour the dead</a> – from weeping Tintin cartoons to spotlit public buildings – and the selective nature of this mass grieving. </p>
<p>Major exhibitions reviewed included <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-surprising-spectacle-rescues-the-sydney-biennale-from-irrelevance-56417">The Sydney Biennale</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/dark-mofo-and-the-affective-power-of-a-creative-storm-60852">Dark Mofo</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-very-serious-painting-of-barry-humphries-is-a-welcome-prize-winner-62536">The Archibald Prize</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-mist-burnt-country-asks-what-remains-after-the-mushroom-cloud-66135">Black Mist, Burnt Country</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/review-the-naked-nude-from-the-tate-68324"> Nude: art from the Tate collection</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/david-hockney-interrogates-space-and-time-68671">David Hockney</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/scientists-ponder-the-evolutionary-urge-to-create-but-where-are-the-women-68414">On the Origin of Art</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151151/original/image-20161221-13138-1x2x3qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151151/original/image-20161221-13138-1x2x3qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151151/original/image-20161221-13138-1x2x3qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151151/original/image-20161221-13138-1x2x3qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151151/original/image-20161221-13138-1x2x3qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151151/original/image-20161221-13138-1x2x3qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151151/original/image-20161221-13138-1x2x3qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151151/original/image-20161221-13138-1x2x3qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The winner of this year’s Archibald Prize: Louise Hearman’s Barry, oil paint on masonite 69.5 x 100 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: © AGNSW, Nick Kreisler</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our ongoing Here’s Looking At series, meanwhile, considered great works on show here including <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-looking-at-whistlers-mother-54334">Whistler’s Mother</a>, Cindy Sherman’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-looking-at-cindy-sherman-head-shots-59444">Head Shots</a>, Frida Kahlo’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-looking-at-frida-kahlos-self-portrait-with-monkeys-61141">Self Portrait with Monkeys</a> and Janet Laurence’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-looking-at-deep-breathing-resuscitation-for-the-reef-by-janet-laurence-63408">Deep Breathing: Resuscitation for the Reef</a>.</p>
<h2>Literature</h2>
<p>Camilla Nelson mounted a powerful argument in favor of <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-literary-canon-is-exhilarating-and-disturbing-and-we-need-to-read-it-56610">reading the literary canon </a>- if only to critique it. And on the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Bronte’s birth, we <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-charlotte-bronte-still-speaks-to-us-200-years-after-her-birth-57802">paid tribute to</a> “the startlingly modern psychology” of the author’s many memorable characters.</p>
<p>Our writers analysed the impact of funding cuts to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-meanjin-funding-cuts-a-graceless-coup-59455">Meanjin</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/express-media-is-unique-and-young-people-need-it-59518">Express Media</a> and the need for an overhaul of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-prime-ministers-literary-awards-need-an-urgent-overhaul-61300">Prime Minister’s Literary Awards </a>. Jen Webb dived into the novels on <a href="https://theconversation.com/touching-ferocious-and-poetic-the-miles-franklin-shortlist-is-worthy-of-your-attention-64428">the Miles Franklin shortlist</a> and declared all a potentially worthy winner. And Nick Earls told us how the bookshop had <a href="https://theconversation.com/all-hail-the-bookshop-survivor-against-the-odds-63758">survived against the odds</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151152/original/image-20161221-13160-1i2rt1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151152/original/image-20161221-13160-1i2rt1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151152/original/image-20161221-13160-1i2rt1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151152/original/image-20161221-13160-1i2rt1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151152/original/image-20161221-13160-1i2rt1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151152/original/image-20161221-13160-1i2rt1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151152/original/image-20161221-13160-1i2rt1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151152/original/image-20161221-13160-1i2rt1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The survival of Australian bookshops: a good news story in 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Snipergirl/flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our Guides to the Classics offered a handy primer on great works of literature from Herodotus’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-the-histories-by-herodotus-53748">The Histories</a> to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-the-arthurian-legend-64289">Arthurian legend</a>. Also on a classical note, our ongoing series Mythbusting Ancient Rome sorted the facts from the mythology about controversial figures such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/mythbusting-ancient-rome-the-emperor-nero-65797">Emperor Nero</a>.</p>
<h2>Music</h2>
<p>The release of Beyonce’s Lemonade was a pop cultural phenomenon. Lauren Rosewarne cautioned against a simplistic <a href="https://theconversation.com/beyonces-lemonade-tell-all-or-fizzy-soap-operatic-art-object-58513">autobiographical</a> reading of the album while Blair McDonald looked at the way pop musicians such as Beyonce were <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-quest-for-legacy-how-pop-music-is-embracing-high-art-58741">mining contemporary art</a> in their work. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EtHOmforqxk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>We analysed the <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-sounds-of-kanye-west-54169">sounds of Kanye West</a>; declared Tim Minchin’s Come Home (Cardinal Pell) to be a <a href="https://theconversation.com/tim-minchins-come-home-cardinal-pell-is-a-pitch-perfect-protest-song-54945">pitch-perfect protest song</a>; asked whether <a href="https://theconversation.com/sad-music-and-depression-does-it-help-66123">listening to sad music</a> can help with depression and looked at why learning a musical instrument later in life can be <a href="https://theconversation.com/ageing-in-harmony-why-the-third-act-of-life-should-be-musical-57799">good for the ageing brain</a>. As the music industry continued to be transformed by digital technologies we considered whether professional musicians were <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-loss-of-music-68169">an endangered species</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/richard-vella-52581/dashboard#">not</a>.</p>
<h2>Theatre and the performing arts</h2>
<p>The 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death was commemorated with a year-long party. Shakespeare’s words, <a href="https://theconversation.com/marx-freud-hitler-mandela-greer-shakespeare-influenced-them-all-57872">wrote Robert White</a>, influenced everyone from Karl Marx to Hitler to Nelson Mandela to George Bush. In a fascinating essay, Rachel Buchanan, curator of the Germaine Greer archive at the University of Melbourne, considered how Shakespeare influenced <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-how-shakespeare-helped-shape-germaine-greers-feminist-masterpiece-59880">the writing of Greer’s The Female Eunuch</a>. Still, it was intriguing to hear from Ian Donaldson on why Shakespeare’s death was largely seen as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-was-shakespeares-death-such-a-non-event-at-the-time-68713">non-event at the time</a>.</p>
<p>Julian Meyrick began a new series, The Great Australian Plays. While the idea of the canon is contested, his aim is to write about plays <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-the-great-australian-plays-refining-our-theatre-canon-64234">from the past 70 years</a> in a way that is “flexible, conditional and, dare I say it, fun”. The series will continue next year.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151145/original/image-20161221-13154-rgzpee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151145/original/image-20161221-13154-rgzpee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151145/original/image-20161221-13154-rgzpee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151145/original/image-20161221-13154-rgzpee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151145/original/image-20161221-13154-rgzpee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151145/original/image-20161221-13154-rgzpee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151145/original/image-20161221-13154-rgzpee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151145/original/image-20161221-13154-rgzpee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cirque de la Symphonie delivered virtuoso performances of both circus and music.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel Aulsebrook</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Local productions reviewed included Ayad Akhtar’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/review-disgraced-turns-west-meets-islam-divisions-into-striking-melodrama-58224">Disgraced</a>, Belvoir St’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-wise-mans-art-twelfth-night-and-cross-mobility-casting-63321">Twelfth Night</a>, Victorian Opera’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/banquet-of-secrets-australian-musical-theatre-comes-of-age-55647">Banquet of Secrets</a>, a new production of <a href="https://theconversation.com/one-of-marlowes-finest-plays-roars-into-the-21st-century-63529">Edward II</a>, a spate of classical works <a href="https://theconversation.com/sequins-and-symphonies-how-opera-ran-away-with-the-circus-64125">employing the circus arts</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/gonzo-we-need-to-talk-about-young-men-and-porn-65948">Gonzo</a>, a groundbreaking play exploring young men’s use of porn.
Festivals we covered included those in <a href="https://theconversation.com/spirals-within-spirals-vortex-temporum-at-the-sydney-festival-52687">Sydney</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/absurdist-poignant-slapstick-plus-a-brass-band-in-en-avant-marche-64867">Brisbane</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/death-beauty-and-poetry-come-together-in-ancient-rain-66986">Melbourne</a> and Adelaide’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-shakespeare-in-hindi-to-tackling-human-trafficking-the-best-of-ozasia-festival-66385">OzAsia</a>. </p>
<h2>Gender</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, women continued to be under-represented in a range of artforms, from <a href="https://theconversation.com/harder-faster-louder-challenging-sexism-in-the-music-industry-58420">popular</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-sound-of-silence-why-arent-australias-female-composers-being-heard-59743">classical music</a> to <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-science-fictions-women-problem-58626">science fiction</a> to <a href="https://theconversation.com/women-arent-the-problem-in-the-film-industry-men-are-68740">the film industry</a>. We analysed the reasons for this and what could be done about it.</p>
<p>We learned, however, that roller derby is <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-chinese-roller-derby-is-empowering-women-57963">empowering women in China</a> and Australian women historians have (almost) <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-women-historians-smashed-the-glass-ceiling-66778">smashed the glass ceiling</a>.
And as debate continued over public breastfeeding we looked at <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-decent-woman-the-breastfeeding-and-visibility-debate-is-nothing-new-57728">historical attitudes to it</a> in the 18th and 19th centuries and found it wasn’t completely absent from public life during that time.</p>
<h2>Architecture</h2>
<p>Our new architecture columnist, Naomi Stead, wrote beautifully on topics that ranged from visiting <a href="https://theconversation.com/architecture-is-a-performed-art-and-the-eames-house-is-a-pretty-good-show-59511">the Eames House</a> to <a href="https://theconversation.com/cathedrals-of-light-cathedrals-of-ice-cathedrals-of-glass-cathedrals-of-bones-60557">cathedrals as metaphors</a> to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-return-of-the-breeze-block-63264">return of the breeze block</a>.
We reviewed the <a href="https://theconversation.com/venice-biennale-an-exhausting-beautiful-attempt-to-relinquish-architecture-60789">Venice Biennale</a> and assessed the proposal to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-sydney-opera-house-upgrade-deserves-a-single-guiding-vision-63934">upgrade the Sydney Opera House</a> and the growth of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/opening-doors-and-minds-the-open-house-phenomenon-63717">Open House movement</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151147/original/image-20161221-13147-pum4b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151147/original/image-20161221-13147-pum4b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151147/original/image-20161221-13147-pum4b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151147/original/image-20161221-13147-pum4b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151147/original/image-20161221-13147-pum4b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151147/original/image-20161221-13147-pum4b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151147/original/image-20161221-13147-pum4b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151147/original/image-20161221-13147-pum4b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The entrance to the Arsenale at this year’s Venice Biennale.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">provided by William Feuerman</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And our Friday essay on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-australian-mosque-65101">Australian mosque</a> traced the history of mosques here, from the earliest known one – built in South Australia, likely in the 1860s – to recent incarnations such as Glenn Murcutt and Hakan Elevli’s Australian Islamic Centre in the Melbourne suburb of Newport. </p>
<h2>Religion</h2>
<p>After the June terror attack on a gay nightclub in the US state of Florida, Christopher van der Krogt considered what The Koran and The Bible <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-quran-the-bible-and-homosexuality-in-islam-61012">had to say about homosexuality</a>. Closer to home, new Australian research found that both <a href="https://theconversation.com/welcoming-but-not-affirming-being-gay-and-christian-64110">LGBT Christians and pastors alike</a> grappled with difficult spiritual questions. And on the eve of the canonisation of Mother Teresa, Philip Almond <a href="https://theconversation.com/questioning-the-miracles-of-saint-teresa-64743">questioned her “miracles”</a>. </p>
<p>Our Friday essays proved extremely popular this year. If you’re looking for a good read over the holidays, I’d recommend <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-naked-truth-on-nudity-66763">Ruth Barcan on nudity</a>, Michelle Smith on <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-talking-writing-and-fighting-like-girls-66211">feminist memoirs</a> Julia Kindt on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-secrets-of-the-delphic-oracle-and-how-it-speaks-to-us-today-61738">oracle of Delphi</a> or Raimond Gaita <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-reflections-on-the-idea-of-a-common-humanity-63811">on the idea of a common humanity</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151148/original/image-20161221-13140-23wn4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151148/original/image-20161221-13140-23wn4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151148/original/image-20161221-13140-23wn4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151148/original/image-20161221-13140-23wn4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151148/original/image-20161221-13140-23wn4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151148/original/image-20161221-13140-23wn4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151148/original/image-20161221-13140-23wn4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151148/original/image-20161221-13140-23wn4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bob Dylan performing in October this year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ki Price/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course my introduction to this article was more than a little misleading. Lots of male musicians had an apparently excellent 2016 (from Flume to Ed Sheeran to Kendrick Lamar to Frank Ocean) – and Bowie and Prince albums sold like hotcakes. Then there was Bob Dylan, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. </p>
<p>Jen Webb <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-honouring-dylan-the-nobel-prize-judges-have-made-a-category-error-67049">memorably described the choice of Dylan for the prize</a> as “discourteous to members of the field of literature, dismissive of women’s achievements, and fundamentally kinda nostalgic”. David McCooey, however, reminded us of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-are-bob-dylans-songs-literature-67061">ancient link</a> between poetry and music. </p>
<p>The passion this decision generated was extraordinary. It showed how much the arts matter to people. We can’t wait for next year.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70639/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Many great artists died in 2016: Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen, Paul Cox, Shirley Hazzard. It was a year of creative foment and as always, intense debate about the importance of the arts to a thriving, democratic society.
Suzy Freeman-Greene, Books + Ideas Editor
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.