tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/national-cultural-policy-1655/articles
National cultural policy – The Conversation
2024-03-26T00:01:46Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/225086
2024-03-26T00:01:46Z
2024-03-26T00:01:46Z
It is unexpected and oddly refreshing to see Andy Warhol in a regional Australian art gallery
<p>Until 2026, Wanneroo Regional Art Gallery will be showing 53 original artworks by one of the most famous artists of the 20th century: Andy Warhol. Andy Warhol ICONS includes famous works such as Elvis (1963), Campbell’s Soup Cans (1968) and Marilyn (1967). </p>
<p>When thinking about international pop art, it’s hard to think of someone more famous than Warhol. He is remembered as the embodiment of American pop – making iconic portraits of key celebrities, many as memorable as the people themselves. </p>
<p>The artworks have become celebrities in their own right. In 2022 <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-05-09/andy-warhols-shot-sage-blue-marilyn-sets-new-auction-record">Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn</a> sold for US$195 million in under four minutes of bidding at Christie’s, making it the most expensive 20th century artwork to sell at an auction. </p>
<p>Considering the historical and international notoriety of his artworks, it is surprising how little publicity there has been about this exhibition. </p>
<p>Consequently, Andy Warhol ICONS is likely to attract audiences local to the commercial centre of Wanneroo, or die hard art history fans from Perth willing to trek along the Kwinana Freeway. </p>
<p>To see Warhol’s original works here in the northern suburb of Perth gives off a very different aura to other art meccas across the world where Warhol’s works have been collected and shown in. Instead of the <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/andy-warhol">Tate London</a> or <a href="https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/1086">MoMA</a> in New York City, this gallery is in the middle of Wanneroo’s cultural precinct and commercial centre.</p>
<p>It is unexpected and oddly refreshing to see such famous works in a regional gallery. Perhaps this match between regional hub and high art is much more apt. Warhol is notorious for <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/andy-warhol-2121/what-was-andy-warhol-thinking">his ambivalent approach to advertising</a> and consumer goods that boomed after the second world war. </p>
<p>Like many other American avant-garde artists, Warhol was interested in collapsing distinctions between art and the everyday. In this exhibition we see first hand that he called himself a “commercial artist”. He turned wooden crates into Brillo Boxes, made collages from celebrity magazines, and transformed a gallery into a faux supermarket. </p>
<p>Critics were never entirely sure if he was endorsing or hypercritical of capitalist consumer culture. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/andy-warhols-marilyn-monroe-portraits-expose-the-darker-side-of-the-60s-181213">Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe portraits expose the darker side of the 60s</a>
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<h2>Up close with Warhol</h2>
<p>A captivating piece in the exhibition is the video documentary by WNET of Warhol up close. Here we see first hand how Warhol dances between commercial artist and reticent art provocateur when he dodges answering questions. “Why don’t you just tell me the words and they’ll just come out of my mouth,” he tells the filmmaker while yawning – feigning to not understand the questions. </p>
<p>We are under no illusion about this entertaining performance.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584229/original/file-20240325-30-k7ashc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C3%2C796%2C780&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584229/original/file-20240325-30-k7ashc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C3%2C796%2C780&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584229/original/file-20240325-30-k7ashc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584229/original/file-20240325-30-k7ashc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584229/original/file-20240325-30-k7ashc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584229/original/file-20240325-30-k7ashc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584229/original/file-20240325-30-k7ashc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584229/original/file-20240325-30-k7ashc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=743&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">Andy Warhol Inc. Multiples (publisher) Portraits from Artists and Photographs (Self portrait) 1970. Offset lithography, synthetic polymer paint. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./ARS. Licensed by Copyright Agency 82.2137.7.H.</span>
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<p>Together with his self portrait (1970), a highly contrasted blue and yellow photo lithograph where half of Warhol’s face is obscured by his shadow, the exhibition continues the performance of Warhol as an aloof, enigmatic character. </p>
<p>Seeing these artworks in Wanneroo continues Warhol’s contradictory play on viewers’ expectations around high art, capitalism, pop culture and the everyday. The exhibition plays with themes of repetition, authenticity and pop culture in a suite of Campbell’s Soup Cans (1968), repetitive prints of Mona Lisa (1970) and Elvis (1963). </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584232/original/file-20240325-18-rjewpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584232/original/file-20240325-18-rjewpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584232/original/file-20240325-18-rjewpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584232/original/file-20240325-18-rjewpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584232/original/file-20240325-18-rjewpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584232/original/file-20240325-18-rjewpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1145&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584232/original/file-20240325-18-rjewpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1145&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584232/original/file-20240325-18-rjewpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1145&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">Andy Warhol, Salvatore Silkscreen Company (printer), Factory Additions (publisher), Untitled, 1968. Screenprint, printed in coloured inks. sheet, each 91.8 x 61.3 cm, overall 183.6 x 306.5 cm. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. The Poynton Bequest 2006 © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, 8 Inc./ARS. Licensed by Copyright Agency 2006.859.3.</span>
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<p>While some viewers may have seen Warhol artworks in the flesh, many might be more familiar with these pieces online. This exhibition gives the opportunity to get up close and take time with some of Warhol’s key lithograph prints. Each is grainier, more delicate with edges less crisp and saturated than their online copies. </p>
<p>With Cow (1966), the newsprint pixels are more than a slick nod to newsprint. Instead we can see the smudge, bleed and overlap of colours made in the process of offset lithography. </p>
<p>Likewise in the artwork Mona Lisa (1970) we can see each repetition makes its own unique mark in the printing process. With analogue materials, even a copy bears its own originality. </p>
<p>A standout piece in the exhibition is Elvis (1963) which towers at 208 by 91 centimetres. This larger than life screen print gives homage to the celebrity who’s fame seemed larger than the sum of his parts.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584230/original/file-20240325-16-5mjxze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584230/original/file-20240325-16-5mjxze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584230/original/file-20240325-16-5mjxze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584230/original/file-20240325-16-5mjxze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584230/original/file-20240325-16-5mjxze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584230/original/file-20240325-16-5mjxze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1676&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584230/original/file-20240325-16-5mjxze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1676&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584230/original/file-20240325-16-5mjxze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1676&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">Andy Warhol, Elvis, 1963. Synthetic polymer paint screenprinted onto canvas 208 x 91 cm. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 1973. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./ARS. © Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. Licensed by Copyright Agency 73.572.</span>
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<h2>Sharing the national collection</h2>
<p>Andy Warhol ICONS has come through a pilot program from the <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/national-culturalpolicy-8february2023.pdf">Revive National Cultural Policy</a>, which has dedicated A$11.8 million dollars over four years to sharing the collection from the National Gallery of Australia to regional art spaces across Australia. </p>
<p><a href="https://nga.gov.au/national-gallery-on-tour/sharing-the-national-collection/">To be eligible</a> for the program institutions must be more than 5 kilometres away from the CBD of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra and Brisbane, or anywhere in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania. </p>
<p>The curatorial team from the Wanneroo Regional Art Gallery were the first to express interest in exhibiting new international works from the collection.</p>
<p>Their tenacity has paid off with securing Warhol. Given the early success, there are high hopes for more institutions to get in on the game.</p>
<p><em>Andy Warhol: ICONS is on display at Wanneroo Regional Gallery until May 4. After this date a satellite space will host additional art works on rotation.</em></p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/under-counting-a-gendered-industry-and-precarious-work-the-challenges-facing-creative-australia-in-supporting-visual-artists-208021">Under-counting, a gendered industry, and precarious work: the challenges facing Creative Australia in supporting visual artists</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225086/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christina Chau 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>
Wanneroo Regional Art Gallery, north of Perth, is showing 53 artworks by Andy Warhol. It’s a far cry from the art meccas – and his work is all the more powerful for it.
Christina Chau, Lecturer at Curtin University, Curtin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/208021
2023-08-31T20:00:11Z
2023-08-31T20:00:11Z
Under-counting, a gendered industry, and precarious work: the challenges facing Creative Australia in supporting visual artists
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540941/original/file-20230803-21-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C14%2C4909%2C4843&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Earl Wilcox/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Arts Minister Tony Burke launched the bill introducing Creative Australia, the new organisation at the heart of the Revive Cultural Policy, he did so with <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansardr%2F26698%2F0005%22">a bold statement</a>:</p>
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<p>Creative Australia recognises that artists and creatives throughout our great landscape, from metropolitan cities to the red desert, are workers. In exchange for what they give us, they should have safe workplaces and be remunerated fairly.</p>
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<p>In 2022, we surveyed 702 visual and craft artists and arts workers, making this the largest single scholarly survey of this cohort in Australia to date. We were interested to find out the ways artists combined income from various sources, within and beyond their art practice. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.visualartswork.net.au/">Our new research</a> identifies three key areas that need to be addressed to ensure fair remuneration for all visual and craft artists. We need to acknowledge the likely under-counting of the number of artists in Australia, the gendered nature of this population, and the complex ways artists earn an income.</p>
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<strong>
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>Counting the artists</h2>
<p>It is impossible to provide a single estimate of the number of visual and craft artists in Australia as different surveys use different definitions of “artist”.</p>
<p>According to the 2021 ABS census, there are 6,793 <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/censushome.nsf/home/tablebuilder?opendocument&navpos=240.">visual art and craft professionals in Australia</a>, 64% of whom identified as female. </p>
<p>But the criteria used to count being an artist as a profession in the census require art to be the “<a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/earnings-and-working-conditions/income-and-work-census/2021#key-questions-in-2021-census">main job</a>” of the respondent in the week before the census. This leads to an under-counting of artists, as most visual art and craft artists support themselves through other work – either related to their artwork, such as in academia or in arts management, or in an entirely different field. As such, they would not be identified in the census as visual or craft artists.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman weaving." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?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">Many artists are excluded from the census, because art making is not their ‘main work’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ALAN DE LA CRUZ/Unsplash</span></span>
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<p>A more accurate estimate is likely provided by the ABS Survey of Cultural Participation. In this survey, <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/cultural-and-creative-activities/latest-release">106,000 Australians</a> reported earning some income from a visual art activity, and 94,800 from a craft activity, in the 2021–22 financial year. These figures cannot be totalled as those engaged in both activities were counted separately. Nonetheless, at a minimum the survey identifies an additional 100,000 visual and craft artists not captured within the census definition. </p>
<p>If all artists are to be remunerated fairly, it is critical Creative Australia ensures support mechanisms extend to the around 100,000 visual and craft artists for whom art making is not their primary occupation. </p>
<h2>The gendered nature of the industry</h2>
<p>In our survey, we did not impose any requirements that respondents devote a certain amount of time to their art making, nor earn a particular level of income. Instead, we left it open to respondents to self-identify as an artist. </p>
<p>This inclusive definition produced a much higher proportion of female artists than the census, with 73% identifying as female. This aligns with <a href="https://sheila.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2019_COUNTESS_REPORT_FINAL.pdf">other estimates</a> of the gender breakdown of the industry. The ABS Cultural Participation Survey estimated 67% of people who earned income from visual art activity and 79% who derived income from craft activity were female.</p>
<p>In our survey, 3.1% of respondents identified as non-binary, and so we were not able to collect enough data for further analysis of this cohort.</p>
<p>We found a distinctive experience of female artists compared to their male counterparts, suggesting policy responses need to recognise the gendered nature of art making. </p>
<p>Female artists in our survey reported an average annual income of A$8,507 from their arts practice, compared to the annual income reported by male artists of $22,906. </p>
<p>While earning 37% of male artists’ earnings, women spent 76% of the time male artists spend on their practice (29 hours compared with 38 hours per week). </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man paints." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.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">On average, male artists earn more than female artists.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Antonio Francisco/Unsplash</span></span>
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<p>So, male artists earn more from their art practice than female artists, and proportionately even more when accounting for the hours spent on their practice. </p>
<p>Our research suggests the shadow cohort of visual and craft artists who do not show up in census results are predominantly female. The gendered nature of the visual arts and craft sector must be front of mind in the design of remuneration policies for artists undertaken by Creative Australia.</p>
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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>
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<h2>How artists earn a living</h2>
<p>For many artists, the practice of visual art and craft making does not readily align with traditional concepts of an employee and is not attached to a single workplace. </p>
<p>In our survey, only 30% of respondents spent 100% of their working time as an artist, with 60% receiving at least some income from non-artistic work within and outside the arts sector.</p>
<p>The life of an artist is more likely to look like a combination of multiple part-time, casual and contract jobs, with occasional grant income and artwork sales. </p>
<p>Many visual art and craft artists conduct their practice from their home and operate as a sole trader. For many, outside work is the only way they can support their art practice. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three people in an office" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.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">Most artists support themselves with a job other than art making.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Arlington Research/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Achieving the goal of remunerating artists fairly is not just about payment for art making. It is also about the other work these artists must undertake to make a living, much of which consists of part-time employment elsewhere in the arts and cultural sector. </p>
<p>Any policy interventions from Creative Australia to support visual and craft artists’ incomes will need to take a sector-wide approach.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/male-artists-dominate-galleries-our-research-explored-if-its-because-women-dont-paint-very-well-or-just-discrimination-189221">Male artists dominate galleries. Our research explored if it’s because ‘women don’t paint very well’ – or just discrimination</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208021/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grace McQuilten receives funding from the Australian Research Council for the Linkage Project 'Ambitious & Fair: Strategies for a Sustainable Visual Arts Sector.'</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chloë Powell receives funding from the Australian Research Council for the Linkage Project 'Ambitious & Fair: Strategies for a Sustainable Visual Arts Sector.'</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jenny Lye receives funding from the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council for the Linkage Project Ambitious and Fair: strategies for a sustainable arts sector (LP200100054)"</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate MacNeill receives funding from the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council for the Linkage Project Ambitious and Fair: strategies for a sustainable arts sector (LP200100054)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marnie Badham receives funding from the Australian Research Council for the Linkage Project 'Ambitious & Fair: Strategies for a Sustainable Visual Arts Sector.' She is affiliated with Res Artis. </span></em></p>
Any policy interventions from Creative Australia to support visual and craft artists’ incomes will need to take a sector-wide approach.
Grace McQuilten, Associate professor, RMIT University
Chloë Powell, Research Assistant, RMIT University
Jenny Lye, Associate Professor/Reader in Economics, The University of Melbourne
Kate MacNeill, Associate Dean, Faculty of Arts, The University of Melbourne
Marnie Badham, Associate Professor, School of Art, RMIT University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
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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<hr>
<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>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
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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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<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>
<blockquote>
<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>
</blockquote>
<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>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
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>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<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/198881
2023-02-01T02:55:20Z
2023-02-01T02:55:20Z
Climate change is transforming Australia’s cultural life – so why isn’t it mentioned in the new national cultural policy?
<p>In its <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">new national cultural policy</a>, the Australian government grapples with issues extending well beyond the creative arts. </p>
<p>The policy document places issues like First Nations representation, work and wages, technological upheaval, discrimination and sexual harassment front and centre. </p>
<p>This holistic approach has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/pay-safety-and-welfare-how-the-new-centre-for-arts-and-entertainment-workplaces-can-strengthen-the-arts-sector-198859">welcomed</a> and takes important forward steps in many areas.</p>
<p>But it is silent on one key issue.</p>
<p>After winning the <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-many-false-dawns-australians-finally-voted-for-stronger-climate-action-heres-why-this-election-was-different-183645">climate election</a>, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised a “<a href="https://theconversation.com/albanese-just-laid-out-a-radical-new-vision-for-australia-in-the-region-clean-energy-exporter-and-green-manufacturer-186815">new era</a>” of Australian leadership on the issue. </p>
<p>So where is climate change in the new national cultural policy?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-many-false-dawns-australians-finally-voted-for-stronger-climate-action-heres-why-this-election-was-different-183645">After many false dawns, Australians finally voted for stronger climate action. Here's why this election was different</a>
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<h2>Floods and fires</h2>
<p>Nowhere in the arts has the impact of climate change been more pronounced than music festivals.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most famous example is last year’s “Splendour in the Mud”. After two years lost to COVID-19, Splendour in the Grass 2022 symbolised the triumphant return of festivals to our cultural calendar. But the first day of the event <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/splendour-in-the-grass-day-one-cancelled-over-extreme-weather/69286851-e65e-4b03-8f39-30c38443298e">was cancelled</a> as the site was inundated by an unusually heavy downpour that overwhelmed bad weather preparation on the site.</p>
<p>We have counted more than a dozen music festivals around the country postponed or cancelled due to last year’s record floods. These include <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/news/yours-and-owls-festival-cancelled-due-flooding-2022-wollongong/13817810">Yours and Owls</a> in Wollongong, <a href="https://tonedeaf.thebrag.com/strawberry-fields-2022-has-been-cancelled/">Strawberry Fields</a> in Tocumwal, and <a href="https://musicfeeds.com.au/news/the-grass-is-greener-festival-cancels-canberra-and-geelong-events/">The Grass is Greener</a> in Canberra and Geelong. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pN5VUSkjJ94?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>This follows the summer festival season immediately before the pandemic, which coincided with the Black Summer fires. Festivals such as <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-07/a-day-on-the-green-at-rutherglen-cancelled-over-bushfire-smoke/11846656">Falls and Day on the Green</a> in Victoria and <a href="https://7news.com.au/entertainment/festivals/lost-paradise-festival-cancelled-over-intense-and-unpredictable-bushfire-fears-c-602177">Lost Paradise</a> in New South Wales were cancelled due to threats from fire or hazardous smoke. </p>
<p>Cancellations and postponements have knock-on effects. Festivals provide <a href="https://themusicnetwork.com/music-festivals-tourism-impact/">tourism and economic benefits</a> to the areas where they are held. Big festivals <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429506697-13/allowed-deliver-biggest-show-national-tour-christina-ballico">boost</a> the Australian music ecosystem by providing jobs, opportunities for local acts to reach new audiences and opportunities for these audiences to see global touring acts that may otherwise be put off by the logistics of touring a large country with few significant population centres.</p>
<p>When festivals are cancelled, especially at short notice, organisers, artists, suppliers, production companies, local communities and punters all pay a price. When cancellations start to become common, the viability of festivals comes into question.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TYeiBaOiCv4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>Climate scientists tell us the events that led to recent festival cancellations – not just the fires and floods, but also <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/climate-change-make-pandemics-covid-19-common/story?id=89586958">the pandemic</a> – are likely to <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-has-already-hit-australia-unless-we-act-now-a-hotter-drier-and-more-dangerous-future-awaits-ipcc-warns-165396">become more frequent</a> and more extreme because of climate change. </p>
<p>In addition to this, increasing heat will make the summer festivals that are currently the norm more and more dangerous. </p>
<p>The music festival in the form we have become accustomed to in this country is undoubtedly at risk.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-has-already-hit-australia-unless-we-act-now-a-hotter-drier-and-more-dangerous-future-awaits-ipcc-warns-165396">Climate change has already hit Australia. Unless we act now, a hotter, drier and more dangerous future awaits, IPCC warns</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<h2>Mitigation and adaptation</h2>
<p>Arts organisations are reacting to the climate crisis. Responses to climate change can be divided into mitigation (trying to reduce impacts, mainly by cutting emissions) and adaptation (finding ways to cope with the changing circumstances).</p>
<p>Festivals such as <a href="https://www.womadelaide.com.au/about/green-global">Womadelaide</a> and <a href="https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/about/environmental-statement/">Woodford Folk Festival</a> have employed mitigation strategies like waste reduction, renewable energy and using local produce. Other artforms, such as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/23/arts/art-climate-change-environment.html">visual art</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/sep/02/what-if-we-stopped-how-australian-arts-tours-are-changing-to-save-the-planet">theatre</a>, are also looking at how they can mitigate the effects of climate change.</p>
<p>When it comes to adaptation, we are likely to see music festivals in the future changing their date and location to avoid risks such as the heat of midsummer or bushfire-prone areas. Significant work would need to be done to understand the flow-on effects of such decisions. </p>
<p>Other solutions may involve fundamentally rethinking what a festival looks like in Australia - including a turn from destination mega-events to something more local - an approach that would require a high level of risk by festival operators in an already risky area.</p>
<p>In the meantime, we are likely to see more festivals cancelled or disrupted due to climate change. Aware of this, submissions to the Cultural Policy Review that informed the new Revive policy called for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/dec/23/desperate-festivals-sector-pleads-for-weather-insurance-instead-of-redundant-22m-covid-fund">an interruption or insurance fund</a>, like that put in place for COVID-19 related cancellations in the film and television industries.</p>
<p>Any form of insurance failed to make an appearance in the final policy document. </p>
<h2>Taking on the challenge</h2>
<p>A document like Revive would ideally incorporate considerations of what mitigation and adaptation might look like for all areas in the arts, and provide resources to assist equipping the sector to take on the challenges of climate change.</p>
<p>Revive notes the importance of making creative careers sustainable. It places great emphasis on ensuring cultural ventures adhere to workplace and employment standards. Incorporating considerations of environmental standards to ensure the sustainability and health of the sector and the careers of those within it would be an important further step. </p>
<p>The climate crisis will necessitate change to business-as-usual approaches to the arts. </p>
<p>We will increasingly see the development of new ways of approaching events and creative work to mitigate their environmental impact and make events, arts organisations and artists more resilient in the face of climate impacts. </p>
<p>Revive, while breaking important new ground in many respects, has missed an opportunity to lead this crucial work.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
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>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198881/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Strong is an activist with Extinction Rebellion and other climate groups.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ben Green 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>
The climate crisis will necessitate change to business-as-usual approaches to the arts.
Catherine Strong, Associate professor, Music Industry, RMIT University
Ben Green, Research fellow, Griffith University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/198859
2023-01-31T04:22:52Z
2023-01-31T04:22:52Z
Pay, safety and welfare: how the new Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces can strengthen the arts sector
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507262/original/file-20230131-16-ddual9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C7%2C5160%2C3437&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Terren Hurst on Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In May, <a href="https://theconversation.com/tony-burkes-double-ministry-of-arts-and-industrial-relations-could-be-just-what-the-arts-sector-needs-183623">we predicted</a> Tony Burke’s joint portfolio of workplace relations and the arts was an opportunity to address some of the challenges facing the arts and cultural sector. </p>
<p>With the <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">launch of Revive</a>, the new national cultural policy, we’re seeing this potentially start to pay off. </p>
<p>One focal point of Revive is the establishment of the Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces, a new body within Creative Australia (a rebranded and expanded Australia Council). The role of the centre is,
<a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/publications/national-cultural-policy-revive-place-every-story-story-every-place">according to the policy</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>to provide advice on issues of pay, safety and welfare in the arts and entertainment sector, refer matters to the relevant authorities and develop codes of conduct and resources for the sector.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The policy frames artists as workers deserving of workplace protections and rights. As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said at the launch: “Arts jobs are real jobs.” </p>
<p>It’s no secret the arts sector has a poor track record when it comes to working conditions. A <a href="https://futurework.org.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/Creativity_in_Crisis-_Rebooting_Australias_Arts___Entertainment_Sector_-_FINAL_-_26_July.pdf">report from 2021</a> noted 45% of Australia’s arts and cultural workers were in casual or insecure roles. The gender pay gap in the arts is <a href="https://australiacouncil.gov.au/advocacy-and-research/culture-and-the-gender-pay-gap-for-australian-artists/">9% wider</a> than other sectors of the economy. The music industry continues to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/sep/01/a-very-low-glass-ceiling-sexism-and-harassment-rife-in-australian-music-long-awaited-report-finds">make headlines</a> for widespread bullying and sexual harassment. Meanwhile, the sector is struggling to <a href="https://theconversation.com/junior-staff-are-finding-better-contracts-senior-staff-are-burning-out-the-arts-are-losing-the-war-for-talent-194174">attract and retain workforce talent</a>. </p>
<p>It’s clear things need to change. </p>
<p>What role could the Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces play in addressing these issues? </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1619869561024835584"}"></div></p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tony-burkes-double-ministry-of-arts-and-industrial-relations-could-be-just-what-the-arts-sector-needs-183623">Tony Burke's double ministry of arts and industrial relations could be just what the arts sector needs</a>
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<h2>Benchmarking standards</h2>
<p>The centre’s role will be a mix of regulation, policy and provision of resources. </p>
<p>It will be able to set standards around minimum inclusions in grant processes – such as compliance with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/employers-will-have-positive-duty-to-prevent-sexual-harassment-in-workplaces-under-new-legislation-191350">Respect@Work</a> recommendations. The centre will also act as a referral agency to organisations such as Fair Work Australia and Comcare. Whether it will function as an investigative or policing body remains to be seen. </p>
<p>Its overarching responsibility will be to establish a connection between the arts and issues of pay, safety and welfare. </p>
<p>The development of safe workplaces relies, first and foremost, on the provision of fair and equitable wages. If artists can’t survive financially, they can’t thrive.</p>
<p>The Australia Council has <a href="https://australiacouncil.gov.au/investment-and-development/protocols-and-resources/payment-of-artists/">highlighted the importance</a> of fair pay. The council has a dedicated web page on artist payments and requires funding applicants to meet the minimum rates of pay under relevant industry standards. </p>
<p>The challenge has been a lack of consistent industrial benchmarks establishing these standards and the absence of consequences for organisations that choose to ignore them. Part of the difficulty also stems from the <a href="https://livemusicoffice.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/CIIC-Valuing-Australias-Creative-Industries-2013.pdf">size and structure of many arts organisations</a>, which often lack designated human resources specialists. This leaves independent contractors and casual workers with little formal recourse against unfair working conditions. </p>
<p>Efforts to promote artist safety and welfare also already exist in Australia cultural policy. <a href="https://www.dpc.sa.gov.au/responsibilities/arts-and-culture/grants/guidelines">Arts South Australia</a>, has incorporated “respectful behaviours” guidelines into their funding agreements. But, like fair pay, these kinds of policies can be vague and often little more than aspirational in practice. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1619493735624232960"}"></div></p>
<p>There is an opportunity for the Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces to establish strong standards set expectations within the sector and help to hold arts organisations to account. </p>
<p>Burke told <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/hack/14139276">Triple J’s Hack</a> the centre will develop codes of conduct, and if organisations aren’t “keeping up to date” with these codes around workplace bullying and harassment, they will not be able to “come knocking on the door for government funding”. </p>
<p>The centre will also importantly function as a point of contact and referral for arts workers who have nowhere else to go for support.</p>
<p>Other areas where the centre can offer substantive value are in the improvement of workplace standards and the communication of revised industrial frameworks and awards. However, the centre’s ability to build of new cultures across the <a href="https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/sites/default/files/characteristics-of-employment-and-business-activity-in-cultural-and-creative-sectors_0.pdf">dispersed workforce</a> of freelancers, sole traders and small to medium enterprises will remain a significant challenge. </p>
<p>Arts workers recognise the need for change, but they need access to specialist advice to achieve it. </p>
<h2>Signs of optimism</h2>
<p>There has been <a href="https://www.artshub.com.au/news/opinions-analysis/national-cultural-policy-revives-unfamiliar-hope-2608706/">some unease</a> about the increased role of arts bureaucracy within the new cultural policy. The decision to create three new administrative entities in addition to the Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces – all with significant budgets – highlights concerns institutions are once again being prioritised over individual artists. </p>
<p>In the case of the centre, the key will be whether the body can actually address the art sector’s unstable and inequitable workplace conditions through its policies and regulations. </p>
<p>As a sign of optimism, this model isn’t without precedent. The Swedish arts sector has seen significant success using a <a href="https://fr.unesco.org/creativity/policy-monitoring-platform/measures-gender-equality-area">similar top-down institutional approach</a> to address cultural workforce issues, particularly around gender inequality. </p>
<p>Since 2006, Sweden has implemented multiple policies leveraging access to funding and quotas to increase women’s representation in the arts. In 2011, the Swedish Arts Council even launched a <a href="https://musikverket.se/om-musikverket/?lang=en">dedicated agency</a> to help support projects promoting gender equality in music. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1620208502999494657"}"></div></p>
<p>Ultimately, what the centre achieves will be shaped by the decision-makers within it. The centre’s staff must represent Australia’s diverse creative community and clearly understand how and why things must change. As <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">Jo Caust notes</a>, detail and execution are critical. Cultural policy is more than words, it’s what happens after that makes the difference. </p>
<p>As columnist Sean Kelly <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/can-australia-become-a-nation-that-takes-art-seriously-20230127-p5cg1s.html">suggests</a>, Revive’s true measure of success will be the health of arts workplaces: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Burke will be judged on whether the arts again becomes a field that people want to work in – a field in which workers are respected and paid properly for their work.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces will play a crucial role in determining that success. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
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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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198859/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The centre will importantly function as a point of contact and referral for arts workers who have nowhere else to go for support.
Kim Goodwin, Lecturer, The University of Melbourne
Caitlin Vincent, Lecturer in Creative Industries, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/198758
2023-01-30T06:54:17Z
2023-01-30T06:54:17Z
After years of austerity, Revive writes the next chapter in Australian literary culture
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506996/original/file-20230130-2605-7k736.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C16%2C5565%2C3673&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christin Hume/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Albanese government’s <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/publications/national-cultural-policy-revive-place-every-story-story-every-place">Revive</a> is Australia’s first national cultural policy in ten years. The last was the Gillard government’s <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/what-we-do/national-cultural-policy">Creative Australia</a> in 2013. </p>
<p>Revive promises to “empower our talented artists and arts organisations”, reaching new audiences “and telling stories in compelling new ways”. </p>
<p>At this morning’s launch, there was a particular emphasis on support for the literary sector, which Arts Minister Tony Burke – who famously starts his day reading poetry – acknowledged has been deeply underfunded in the past. </p>
<p>A new body, Writers Australia, will be established within Creative Australia, a restored and revived version of the long-running Australia Council for the Arts. </p>
<p>Writers Australia will provide direct support to the literature sector from 2025, including for writers and publishers, to develop local and international audiences for Australian books. The new body will also establish a National Poet Laureate for Australia and determine the winners of the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards.</p>
<p>Another major win, for authors in particular, is the extension of the Whitlam government’s public lending rights scheme, which gives authors a fee every time their books are borrowed from a library, to cover digital lending. For the first time, authors will receive fees when audio books and e-books are borrowed. This is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/jan/29/music-literature-and-first-nations-at-the-forefront-of-a-300m-boost-to-the-arts-labor-to-announce">expected to add</a> around 20% to authors’ earnings.</p>
<p>Given our country’s history of viewing writing as a nice “hobby”, those of us working and researching in book publishing are tentatively optimistic. But coming from a politician who reads a poem a day, it’s no surprise.</p>
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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>
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<p>The policy has been warmly received. Sophie Cunningham, chair of the Australian Society of Authors, applauded “these substantial steps forward, the opportunities that will follow, and the commitment of the government to improve working conditions for Australian writers and illustrators.”</p>
<p>“First Nations First” is one of five key pillars of Revive. And this – upholding First Nations culture and putting First Nations stories at the forefront of the arts, including writing and publishing – is the most pleasing and long overdue obligation in the policy.</p>
<p>The promise to pick up where Gough Whitlam left off when he <a href="https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/original/00003262.pdf">established public lending rights</a>, which began in April 1974, will make a difference to writers’ livelihoods.</p>
<p>While it’s not yet entirely clear what the figure for digital lending rights will look like – and let’s hope it increases in line with inflation – it does seem as though the government will hold itself accountable. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-writing-and-publishing-faces-grinding-austerity-as-funding-continues-to-decline-179476">Australian writing and publishing faces 'grinding austerity' as funding continues to decline</a>
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<h2>Reading matters</h2>
<p>In his address at the Revive launch, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reminded the audience that Australians read more books during the pandemic. Reading, he acknowledged, got many of us through those tough lockdowns.</p>
<p>Indeed, during the pandemic, book-buying increased dramatically – particularly in adult fiction – and has continued after the lockdowns.</p>
<p>The 2022 Bookscan report revealed that this year, book sales continued their increase from 2020 and 2021. Overall sales for the 2022 year (to June 18) were up 4.1%, at A$544 million.</p>
<h2>A history of literary arts policy in Australia</h2>
<p>Publishers have long carried the burden of commercialising the literary scene. But it appears this responsibility will now be shared and supported by the Australian government. This should, in turn, help us all support emerging writers and a more diverse literary portfolio.</p>
<p>The difficulty of balancing competing economic and cultural values has been at the heart of Australia’s book industry policy struggles for years. </p>
<p>Whitlam created the Australia Council for the Arts in 1975. Albanese and Burke, unsuprisingly, name-checked him multiple times throughout their speeches.
But it was the Keating Labor government’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/paul-keatings-creative-nation-a-policy-document-that-changed-us-33537">Creative Nation</a> policy in 1994 – hailed as Australia’s first cohesive federal arts policy – that explicitly promoted the book industry as a significant cultural sector. </p>
<p>Just two years later, the Howard Coalition government dismantled Creative Nation. </p>
<p>Then, in 2013, the Gillard Labor government’s <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/new-creative-australia-revealed-20130313-2fzsl.html">Creative Australia</a> policy was ditched by the Abbott Coalition government. Cuts to the creative industries followed. One important resource that died was the <a href="https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2012/06/26/24180/government-establishes-book-industry-collaboration-council/">Book Industry Collaborative Council</a>, which had defined some important areas of investigation in the book industry, including “lending rights”. </p>
<p>The Council drew on reports from several specialised reference groups with expert professional input in areas such copyright, distribution and export of books, lending rights and scholarly book publishing. But the Abbott Government came into power around the same time its reports were submitted. So it was essentially shelved. </p>
<p>In the area of lending rights, there was no further investigation of remuneration for authors in the new digital landscape. So Revive is, in this way, picking up where the Book Industry Collaborative Council left off.</p>
<h2>Looking ahead</h2>
<p>The role Australian authors and Australian books have played in the development and continuous exploration of a national identity is a consistent theme in academia and policy reporting. </p>
<p>A 2017 Macquarie University study found Australian readers seek Australian stories, and that locally published literature “continues to send ripples through our whole cultural environment”, according to former Literature Board chair Thomas Shapcott. </p>
<p>Let’s hope the blank page Albanese has proffered for us to “write the next chapter” not only accurately reflects an Australian identity, but also fair pay for the storytellers who add such economic and cultural value to our society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198758/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Day 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>
Reading, as the Prime Minister has reminded us, got many of us through lockdowns. And there are some major initiatives for writing and publishing in the new national cultural policy.
Katherine Day, Lecturer, Publishing, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/198786
2023-01-30T06:41:47Z
2023-01-30T06:41:47Z
‘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
<p>It’s finally been launched. <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/publications/national-cultural-policy-revive-place-every-story-story-every-place">A new cultural policy</a> for Australia. After years (actually decades) of neglect, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today launched a new national cultural policy, Revive. In his speech he said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Arts are meant to be at the heart of our life</p>
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<p>It’s important that our prime minister says this and owns the centrality of culture in our lives. The last prime minister who acknowledged the importance of the arts in Australian life was Paul Keating 30 years ago.</p>
<p>It has been a long time since.</p>
<p>The arts have had a tough time in Australia for many years. While the population of Australia has increased, arts funding has remained stagnant. In some areas of funding, such as grants for individual artists, there has been at least a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/may/19/the-70-drop-australia-council-grants-artists-funding-cuts">70% drop</a> since 2013. </p>
<p>The Labor Party last launched a cultural policy, <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/FlagPost/2013/April/Creative_Australia__National_Cultural_Policy_2013">Creative Australia</a>, in March 2013. Soon after, Labor lost government and Creative Australia never came to fruition. Under the Coalition government, Australia did not have a national cultural policy.</p>
<p>So what does this new document mean for Australia’s artists – and audiences – going forward?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/albanese-promises-national-aboriginal-art-gallery-in-alice-springs-and-pivots-towards-the-modern-and-mainstream-in-new-cultural-policy-198741">Albanese promises National Aboriginal Art Gallery in Alice Springs and pivots towards the modern and mainstream in new cultural policy</a>
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<h2>‘Modernising’ the Australia Council</h2>
<p>Revive is framed as being inclusive. Its subtitle is “a place for every story, a story for every place”. Throughout the document, First Nations people are given priority. The hefty policy document comes in at more than 100 pages, and the preface by Christos Tsiolkas and Clare Wright is a must-read, setting the tone for what is to follow.</p>
<p>The centrepiece of the new policy seems to be the rebranding, or “modernising”, of the Australia Council. While the name of the legal governing body will remain at the top, the name underneath will become Creative Australia. </p>
<p>What happens within will also seemingly change. </p>
<p>The government is restoring previous funding cuts ($44 million) to the Australia Council. There will also be new entities within the Creative Australia revised framework, each with a new budget. These are a new First Nations First Body ($35.5 million), Music Australia ($69.4 million), Writers Australia ($19.3 million) and the Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces ($8.1 million). </p>
<p>There will be a further investment in “works of scale” ($19 million), which seems to be aimed at helping work translate through different mediums or for different audiences.</p>
<p>In this new framework, there is an emphasis on First Nations programs being led by First Nations people. Alongside the First Nations First Body, $11 million will go towards establishing a First Nations Languages Policy Partnership, incorporating languages into Australian education, and $13.4 million will be directed to legislation to protect First Nations knowledge and cultural expressions, including ensuring the authenticity of First Nations art.</p>
<p>The changes beg the question: what will happen to existing structures within the Australia Council? The Australia Council <a href="https://mailchi.mp/australiacouncil/announcements-opportunities-more-6110209?e=276d6e8253">has announced</a> its own briefing in relation to the policy later in the week.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tony-burkes-double-ministry-of-arts-and-industrial-relations-could-be-just-what-the-arts-sector-needs-183623">Tony Burke's double ministry of arts and industrial relations could be just what the arts sector needs</a>
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<h2>Not just for the arts industry</h2>
<p>The remodelled agency will not just be responsible for the not-for-profit sector but also the commercial sector, particularly popular music and publishing, and philanthropy. </p>
<p>An important step forward in the policy is the emphasis on the centrality of the artist and acknowledging arts workers as legitimate workers. The creation of a Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces will <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/crackdown-on-sexual-harassment-abuse-and-bullying-in-the-arts-20230127-p5cfy3.html">aim to address</a> issues around professional payments and conditions for arts workers. </p>
<p>There is also reference to the crucial role of arts education. This is a positive step forward with a commitment of $2.6 million to support specialist in-school arts education programs.</p>
<p>Other areas that are acknowledged are the development of an Arts and Disability Plan ($5 million) and pilot funding of $4.2 million to support access to art and music therapy programs.</p>
<p>The introduction of <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/art-and-design/australian-authors-to-receive-compensation-for-e-book-loans-for-first-time-20230127-p5cfxk.html">lending rights fees</a> for the digital area is a long overdue reform and will be important for writers ($12.9 million). The <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/funding-and-support/resale-royalty-scheme">resale royalties scheme</a> for visual arts practice ($1.8 million) will also be important, but may be impossible to enforce internationally.</p>
<p>There is also a commitment to better data collection around the sector and the publication of a comprehensive report every three years. This is a move forward, but it needs to include qualitative as well as quantitative data, and needs to be transparent.</p>
<p>There is limited reference in the document to how the <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/neglect-of-our-cultural-heritage-will-be-to-the-nation-s-peril-20221212-p5c5r0.html">heritage institutions</a> will be addressed. Present budget shortfalls are affecting their ability to do their role. The government has said previously it will be addressing this in the next budget. </p>
<p>There is a commitment, though, of $11.8 million towards loaning the collection of the National Gallery of Australia to suburban and regional art galleries, and the regional area arts fund will get a boost of $8.5 million.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-is-to-have-a-poet-laureate-how-will-the-first-appointment-define-us-as-a-nation-198769">Australia is to have a poet laureate – how will the first appointment define us as a nation?</a>
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<h2>A success still to be seen</h2>
<p>A promise in the document to ensure Australian stories are being told <a href="https://theconversation.com/streaming-platforms-will-soon-be-required-to-invest-more-in-australian-tv-and-films-which-could-be-good-news-for-our-screen-sector-198757">through streaming services</a> is going to be important. How this will be achieved is yet to be revealed.</p>
<p>There is limited reference to increasing Australia’s cultural presence abroad, but the details are vague and this again has been an area of significant neglect for several years.</p>
<p>The small to medium sector and individual artists have suffered the most over the 20 years of reduced funding. How will they fit into this ambitious plan? While there is emphasis on the adequate remuneration of artists, whether the actions recommended will be sufficient remains to be seen.</p>
<p>Overall, there are many positive actions in the new policy, but the devil will be in the details on how it is rolled out.</p>
<p>This new policy is definitely not a game changer, but it is going in a healthier direction.</p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/streaming-platforms-will-soon-be-required-to-invest-more-in-australian-tv-and-films-which-could-be-good-news-for-our-screen-sector-198757">Streaming platforms will soon be required to invest more in Australian TV and films, which could be good news for our screen sector</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198786/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>
This is not quite a game changer, but it is going in a healthier direction.
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/198769
2023-01-30T06:02:10Z
2023-01-30T06:02:10Z
Australia is to have a poet laureate – how will the first appointment define us as a nation?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507010/original/file-20230130-19-odgtd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C35%2C3946%2C2700&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Peled/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Poetry has often been a matter of nation building, including in Australia. Who hasn’t learnt by heart at school some verses from <a href="https://www.dorotheamackellar.com.au/my-country/">My Country</a> (1908) by Dorothea Mackellar?</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I love a sunburnt country,<br>
A land of sweeping plains<br>
Of ragged mountain ranges,<br>
Of droughts and flooding rains.<br>
I love her far horizons,<br>
I love her jewel-sea,<br>
Her beauty and her terror –<br>
The wide brown land for me!<br></p>
</blockquote>
<p>I discovered this poem when I first visited Canberra, many years before becoming an Australian citizen, when I saw its words sculpted on a hill next to the National Arboretum. There it was: all the emotional strength of local attachment against the deep blue sky of the Australian capital city. </p>
<p>At the launch of Revive, Australia’s new cultural policy, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced “the establishment of a poet laureate for Australia”. The statement was welcomed by the audience with cheer and applause. Sarah Holland-Batt read a poem about her late father, called The Gift. “Wonderful to have poetry, books and stories as a central part of the #NationalCulturalPolicy launch,” tweeted the Australian Publisher’s Association.</p>
<p>The enduring links between the arts and national identity could not have been stronger. The prime minister said it is “through the arts that we build our identity as a nation and as a people”. </p>
<p>A new literary funding body, Writers Australia, will oversee the selection of the poet laureate. But some questions remain. Will Australia make a brave choice? And even before this, what is a poet laureate in the first place?</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/anthems-ranthems-and-otherwise-loves-nationalism-in-australian-poetry-90450">Anthems, 'ranthems', and otherwise loves: nationalism in Australian poetry</a>
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<h2>The concept of a poet laureate</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506999/original/file-20230130-16-tk0aeo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506999/original/file-20230130-16-tk0aeo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506999/original/file-20230130-16-tk0aeo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506999/original/file-20230130-16-tk0aeo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506999/original/file-20230130-16-tk0aeo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506999/original/file-20230130-16-tk0aeo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1012&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506999/original/file-20230130-16-tk0aeo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1012&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506999/original/file-20230130-16-tk0aeo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1012&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">A portrait of Petrarch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
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<p>On April 8, 1341, poet Francesco Petrarca from the Tuscan town of Arezzo, more widely known as Petrarch (1304–1374), attended an official ceremony that was inspired by revived classical traditions dating back at least 12 centuries. On Rome’s Capitoline Hill, the Campidoglio, a crown of laurels was placed upon his head as an eternal consecration of his poetry. </p>
<p>Since then, Petrarch has been known as <em>il poeta laureato</em>, the poet laureate. Portraits of Petrarch depict him wearing this crown of laurel leaves, the evergreen tree that has symbolised victory since Ancient Greece. </p>
<p>The tradition of the poet laureate has continued through the centuries, all around the world, where the election of a poet laureate has become a national matter. </p>
<p>In the United Kingdom, the position was recognised as a royal office in 1668, when John Dryden (1631–1700) became England’s first official poet laureate. The honorary 10-year appointment, currently held by Simon Armitage, still comes from the monarch, on the advice of the prime minister. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507002/original/file-20230130-576-kkjgtk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507002/original/file-20230130-576-kkjgtk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507002/original/file-20230130-576-kkjgtk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=641&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507002/original/file-20230130-576-kkjgtk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=641&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507002/original/file-20230130-576-kkjgtk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=641&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507002/original/file-20230130-576-kkjgtk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507002/original/file-20230130-576-kkjgtk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507002/original/file-20230130-576-kkjgtk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=806&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">Simon Armitage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>The United States Poet Laureate, a title that dates back to 1937, is appointed by the Librarian of Congress, who is, in turn, appointed by the president. The current laureate is Ada Limón, appointed in 2022, the 24th official laureate and first Latina poet to occupy the position, the present title having been sanctioned by an act of Congress in 1985. The position has previously been held by the likes of Joy Harjo, Rita Dove, Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Lowell, Philip Levine, Mark Strand, Joseph Brodsky and Louise Glück. </p>
<p>Historian Anne-Marie Thiesse has noted that in France “writers are given the power to make – or break – the national consciousness”. In Ireland, upon the death of Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney (1939–2013), Enda Kenny, the then Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, professed that the poet had been “keeper of our language, our codes, our essence as a people”. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ada-limon-is-a-poet-laureate-for-the-21st-century-exploring-what-it-looks-like-to-have-america-in-the-room-187761">Ada Limón is a poet laureate for the 21st century, exploring 'what it looks like to have America in the room'</a>
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<p>But nationalistic conceptions of literature create other issues. The poet laureate embodies the voice of an entire nation. The poet can thus become a highly political and politicised figure. Historically, the formation of national literatures has meant many voices have been excluded.</p>
<p>As Thiesse notes, until very recently “feminine originality has seldom been grounds for recognition as a writer of national significance”. The first woman to be appointed poet laureate of the UK was Carol Ann Duffy only in 2009; she was also the first openly gay writer in this role.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506965/original/file-20230130-20-2ulu5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506965/original/file-20230130-20-2ulu5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506965/original/file-20230130-20-2ulu5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506965/original/file-20230130-20-2ulu5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506965/original/file-20230130-20-2ulu5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506965/original/file-20230130-20-2ulu5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506965/original/file-20230130-20-2ulu5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506965/original/file-20230130-20-2ulu5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=475&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">Britain’s first female poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, was appointed in 2009.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Thomas/AAP</span></span>
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<p>The same goes for poets writing in minority languages, writers from diverse backgrounds, First Nations writers, or whoever questions or challenges the status quo. The current poet laureate of New Zealand, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/sep/30/cool-candid-and-sometimes-angry-new-zealands-laureate-wants-to-make-poetry-pop">Chris Tse</a>, for example, has sought to address the question of how to negotiate matters of identity alongside the responsibilities of his official position.</p>
<p>Australia’s new arts policy, which includes a commitment to the full adoption of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, takes as its fundamental pillar the principle of “First Nations First” – a recognition of the fact the arts and stories of the oldest continuing living culture in the world are the foundation of who we are as a people and a country. </p>
<p>With the appointment of its very first poet laureate, Australia has an unmissable opportunity. We can only hope that, in keeping with the spirit of Revive, the decision will reflect its call for diversity and honour this foundational pillar. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c3Dakf2Cmk4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">New Zealand’s poet laureate Chris Tse.</span></figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198769/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Valentina Gosetti is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Award (DE200101206: Provincial Poets and the Making of a Nation) funded by the Australian Government. The views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Australian Government or Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>
The concept of a national poet laureate has a long history. The establishment of an official Australian position represents an unmissable opportunity.
Valentina Gosetti, Associate Professor in French and Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow, University of New England
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/198757
2023-01-30T05:11:08Z
2023-01-30T05:11:08Z
Streaming platforms will soon be required to invest more in Australian TV and films, which could be good news for our screen sector
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506960/original/file-20230130-20-7k736.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=653%2C40%2C6056%2C3772&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ will soon face <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-29/streaming-giants-to-be-required-to-make-australian-films-and-tv-/101904938__;!!NVzLfOphnbDXSw!F2MahbT73qHA-8aM7lbbOK1ek-WfrKbvD_oZ4_2t0v7yyELgtqsRrDkjyAEZzsRBpm456UdnhrXEWtTrGhz-uKzcVHogylHToQgIIkOr$">regulations</a> to invest in Australian content, as Australian regulations catch up to other world players. </p>
<p>Nearly eight years since the launch of Netflix in Australia in 2015, redressing the “regulatory gap” between unregulated streaming platforms and regulated traditional television is front-of-mind for Arts Minister Tony Burke. </p>
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<h2>Streaming regulations in Australia</h2>
<p>Announced as part of the Labor Party’s new <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/what-we-do/national-cultural-policy">National Cultural Policy</a>, a 6-month consultation period will commence looking at the shape and intensity of new streaming regulations. The implementation deadline for the new streaming regulations will be no later than 1 July, 2024.</p>
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<p>The regulation is shaping up as a revenue levy, where a percentage of a streaming platform’s Australian-derived revenues will be required to be spent on local television and films. Existing television regulations in Australia include the transmission quota of 55% local content on commercial free-to-air television, and the 10% expenditure requirement on pay-TV drama content. A revenue levy would be a new policy mechanism in Australia’s television regulation arsenal. </p>
<p>There is a particular urgency to regulating local content on streaming platforms for the government – in 2020-21, Australians for the first time were <a href="https://mozo.com.au/broadband/articles/streaming-services-overtake-free-to-air-tv-for-first-time-in-australia">more likely to watch online video than traditional television</a>. Major American streaming platforms now dominate the viewing landscape, with Netflix a mass service in Australia <a href="https://academic.oup.com/joc/article/72/4/511/6605780?searchresult=1">reaching over 50% of television households</a>. </p>
<p>The government is concerned with the growth of online video that lacks cultural regulation, and fears this, combined with the prominence of American platforms, could contribute to a <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/file/14954/download?token=cdYDZfD-">“drowning out” of Australian voices and stories</a>. Regulating local content on streaming platforms is a way to underpin Australian cultural identity, to ensure Australians will continue to see themselves reflected onscreen, and to support the screen sector with jobs and investment.</p>
<p>Some industry stakeholders like Screen Producers Australia are on record arguing strongly for a <a href="https://assets-us-01.kc-usercontent.com/89c218af-4a5a-00a2-9d83-3913048b3bc7/644b0e79-24c9-421b-9e07-296c51f0e4b9/20220422%20-%20SPA%20submission%20Services%20Investment%20Scheme.pdf">high revenue levy</a> of 20%. There are estimates a levy of 20% would result in around <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/streamers-forced-to-inject-500m-into-aussie-tv-and-film-industry/news-story/f3964e5adf8ed1d2bebaf59ce02848a8?amp&nk=de7057d8033e38b9f4e578175f046b97-1674947283">$500 million a year alongside 10,000 jobs</a> in the screen sector. </p>
<p>However, some experts have warned such a high levy on local and global platforms could <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-local-content-rules-on-streamers-could-seriously-backfire-157233">backfire</a> and reduce the competitive edge domestic service Stan might have with Australian content. If every service is required to invest in Australian content, there is less to distinguish Stan’s place in the sector. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-local-content-rules-on-streamers-could-seriously-backfire-157233">How local content rules on streamers could seriously backfire</a>
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<h2>Opposition to the new regulation</h2>
<p>Unsurprisingly, the major streaming platforms have previously expressed their opposition to new regulation, believing their current levels of investment in Australia are sufficient. The Australian Communications and Media Authority <a href="https://www.acma.gov.au/spending-subscription-video-demand-providers-2021-22-financial-year">reported</a> Australian content expenditure from five major platforms at $335.1 million in the 2021-22 financial year. </p>
<p>While lobbying against new regulations, the streaming platforms have also been planning ahead for potential obligations. <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazons-resuscitation-of-neighbours-can-aussie-tv-become-good-friends-with-streaming-195101">Amazon’s revival of Neighbours</a> for instance would be a big help towards meeting future Australian content obligations. </p>
<p>The government has not been drawn on what percentage a revenue levy would be set at – that’s what the consultation period is for, they say. Nonetheless, no figure has been ruled out either.</p>
<h2>Streaming regulations around the world</h2>
<p>Some countries around the world have much more advanced regulatory frameworks than Australia for regulating streaming platforms. There are important lessons to impart from these countries, both in terms of seeing what sort of regulation is possible, but also understanding the pitfalls of potential regulation.</p>
<p>The European Union is widely considered the global leader in the regulation of digital platforms. The EU legislated a 30% catalogue quota for European works on streaming platforms in 2018 under the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, which was intended to come into force in 2021. However, several EU member states were slow in <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-95220-4_10">implementing</a> this. </p>
<p>The catalogue quota considers the overall size of a streaming library and requires that 30% of these titles are European. For example, the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/joc/article/72/4/511/6605780?searchresult=1">average Netflix library</a> in major markets was around 5,300 movies and TV shows in 2021, which would result in approximately 1,590 European titles. The catalogue quota uses a broad definition of “European” works which includes a <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/190342/faq-television-on-demand-services-after-brexit.pdf">range of countries</a> across Europe beyond the EU itself, such as Turkey and ironically the United Kingdom.</p>
<p>Australia’s focus on a revenue levy on streaming platforms looks more like some of the additional regulations from EU member states legislated under the Audiovisual Media Services Directive. France, which has a history of strong cultural policy and “cultural exception”, has been aggressive in legislating a high revenue levy. The French levy of 20-25% is at the higher end in Europe and is also a country that Screen Producers Australia explicitly referenced when arguing for a 20% levy in Australia.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/amazons-resuscitation-of-neighbours-can-aussie-tv-become-good-friends-with-streaming-195101">Amazon's resuscitation of Neighbours: can Aussie TV become good friends with streaming?</a>
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<p>The French levy is not without quirks nor criticisms, and was even <a href="https://www.digitaltveurope.com/2021/04/15/european-commission-takes-issue-with-planned-french-svod-rules/">considered too high</a> by the European Commission. Part of the 20-25% revenue requirement can be satisfied with spending money on generally European content (which again could include UK content), as well as investing in things like restoring archival footage, and subbing and dubbing of content. </p>
<p>The variety of expenditure options are worth keeping in mind when attempting to compare potential regulation in Australia to the French setting. There are a range of other percentages that have been implemented across EU member states – <a href="https://www.screendaily.com/news/netflix-reaches-landmark-rights-agreement-with-create-denmark-exclusive/5176920.article">after extensive negotiations in Denmark</a>, the level reached was 6%. The process in Denmark demonstrated some of the challenges that can come during negotiation of new regulation – during a difficult period, <a href="https://deadline.com/2022/09/netflix-viaplay-disney-denmark-commissioning-decimation-1235125461/">Netflix and other services stopped ordering Danish productions entirely</a> in light of what the services saw as over-burdensome proposals.</p>
<p>As well as the importance of debating the intricacies of policy mechanisms for regulating streaming platforms in Australia, the forthcoming consultation period is a vital opportunity to reflect on the cultural dividend Australian content can pay, as well as how much of the raised money should go to drama, children’s, or independent production. So far, Labor has <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/what-we-do/national-cultural-policy">prioritised First Nations stories</a> and perspectives as the first pillar of the National Cultural Policy, which is a worthy goal to consider for streaming and local content regulation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198757/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oliver Eklund owns shares in Apple, Disney, and Netflix.</span></em></p>
New streaming regulations have been announced as part of the Labor Party’s new National Cultural Policy.
Oliver Eklund, PhD Candidate in Media and Communication, Queensland University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/198741
2023-01-29T11:38:12Z
2023-01-29T11:38:12Z
Albanese promises National Aboriginal Art Gallery in Alice Springs and pivots towards the modern and mainstream in new cultural policy
<p>The Albanese government’s cultural policy, released Monday, “puts First Nations first”, while also promising regulated Australian content on streaming services and a shift to greater support for the popular in the arts.</p>
<p>The policy reflects the government’s view that arts policy – especially the Australia Council’s priorities – has become too elitist, and should be tilted more towards mainstream and commercial culture.</p>
<p>The initiatives for Indigenous culture include funding the establishment of a National Aboriginal Art Gallery in Alice Springs. </p>
<p>To be announced by Anthony Albanese and Arts Minister Tony Burke the policy, called Revive and funded by $286 million over four years, has as its centrepiece the setting up of Creative Australia, which will be the government’s new principal arts investment and advisory body.</p>
<p>Creative Australia’s governing body will continue to be called the Australia Council in what, however, is a total revamp.</p>
<p>Creative Australia will “expand and modernise the Australia Council’s work”, with an extra $200 million over four years. The overhaul is seen as the biggest in the council’s history.</p>
<p>Funding decisions will be at arms length from the government. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-response-to-alice-springs-crisis-poses-early-indigenous-affairs-test-for-albanese-198590">Grattan on Friday: Response to Alice Springs crisis poses early Indigenous affairs test for Albanese</a>
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<p>A statement by Albanese and Burke has been released ahead of the full policy. </p>
<p>Within Creative Australia there will be four new bodies </p>
<ul>
<li><p>A First Nations-led body, to give Indigenous people autonomy over decisions and investment </p></li>
<li><p>Music Australia, to invest in the Australian contemporary music industry </p></li>
<li><p>Writers Australia, to support writers and illustrators to create new works </p></li>
<li><p>A Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces, “to ensure creative workers are paid fairly and have safe workplaces free from harassment and discrimination”.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Albanese and Burke say Revive “puts First Nations first – recognising and respecting the crucial place of these stories at the heart of our arts and culture”. </p>
<p>In addition to the Creative Australia First Nations’ body the government will </p>
<ul>
<li><p>legislate to protect First Nations knowledge and cultural expressions, including dealing with harm caused by fake art </p></li>
<li><p>develop a First Nations creative workforce strategy </p></li>
<li><p>fund the establishment of both the Alice Springs gallery and an Aboriginal Cultural Centre in Perth </p></li>
<li><p>provide $11 million to set up a First Nations Languages Policy Partnership between Indigenous representatives and Australian governments.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>“Revive also commits the government to regulating Australian content on streaming platforms, improving lending rights and incomes for Australian writers, [and] increased funding for regional art,” Albanese and Burke say. </p>
<p>At present there is no requirement on streaming services to provide a certain amount of Australian content. The government will consult in the next six months, before legislating, with the aim of the regulatory regime coming into operation mid next year. No figure has been set for the Australian content. </p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-labor-mp-warns-alice-springs-crime-crisis-is-impeding-voice-debate-198312">Federal Labor MP warns Alice Springs crime crisis is impeding Voice debate</a>
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<p>The government says that $241 million is new money while $45 million is redirected from a COVID insurance scheme that is no longer needed. </p>
<p>Albanese said the government’s policy “builds on the proud legacies of earlier Labor governments”. </p>
<p>Burke said that under the policy “there will be a place for every story and a story for every place. </p>
<p>"It is a comprehensive roadmap for Australia’s arts and culture that touches all areas of government, from cultural diplomacy in foreign affairs to health and education. </p>
<p>"Our artists are creators and workers. This sector is essential for our culture and for our economy”. </p>
<p>The industry is worth $17 billion and employs an estimated 400,000 people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198741/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan 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>
The policy, called Revive and funded by $286 million over four years, establishes Creative Australia which will be the government’s principle arts investment and advisory body
Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/190900
2022-09-20T06:00:45Z
2022-09-20T06:00:45Z
The economic and cultural value of the Australian book industry deserves more government support
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485215/original/file-20220919-65079-w79rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C8%2C5422%2C3604&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Patrick Tomasso/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australian book industry has operated for more than a century. It has matured into a mid-level English language market, smaller than the US and UK markets, but of sufficient size to generate first-rate books and export significant works to the rest of the world. </p>
<p>It is also an industry exposed to an unusual degree of risk at every level of the supply chain. </p>
<p>Authors take a risk in devoting years to writing a book which may or may not be accepted for publication. Even if an author is paid an advance, it is unlikely to reflect the length of time it takes to write the final manuscript, except in the rare case of a bestselling author. </p>
<p>Publishers take a risk in paying advances and publishing books that may or may not generate significant sales. Books are unlike most other retail goods, in that trade publishers often accept returns (or negotiate mark-down allowances) for unsold books.</p>
<p>Booksellers take a risk in choosing which titles to stock and promote from the thousands of new books published each year. Independent bookstores in Australia play a particularly important role in “hand-selling” Australian books and new Australian authors through personal recommendations by staff. </p>
<p>Despite the riskiness, the longevity of the Australian book industry suggests that it can continue its success – with the appropriate policy settings. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-entire-industry-is-based-on-hunches-is-australian-publishing-an-art-a-science-or-a-gamble-189621">'The entire industry is based on hunches': is Australian publishing an art, a science or a gamble?</a>
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<h2>Direct and indirect benefits</h2>
<p>The book industry makes a significant contribution to the Australian economy. It has a market size of $1.7 billion and sustains around a thousand businesses. Book publishers employ 3,650 people. When you add in booksellers, authors and freelance editors, the number grows even more. </p>
<p>The largest profits in trade publishing come from bestselling titles, but these constitute a very small proportion of books published. There are many more “mid-list” titles and a long tail of books which sell in very low numbers per annum. </p>
<p>The industry is also a significant exporter. A <a href="https://researchers.mq.edu.au/files/177288594/177088842_Main_report.pdf">study by Macquarie University</a> released in 2021 found that Australian books are read globally. International rights sales provide significant revenue to the local industry. Rights sales also play an important role in international literary exchange, enhancing Australia’s reputation overseas.</p>
<p>There are significant indirect economic benefits generated by the book industry. For example, books frequently provide the raw material for successful film and television adaptations. And authors who gain training and experience in the industry can apply their skills in other industries. A <a href="https://australiacouncil.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/making-art-work-throsby-report-5a05106d0bb69.pdf">recent survey</a> showed that 60% of writers use their artistic skill in an industry outside the arts. </p>
<h2>Non-economic benefits</h2>
<p>The book industry is essential to the wellbeing of Australian society and the health of Australian culture. Among its most important contributions are its social and cultural benefits. Books provide entertainment, education, imagination, inspiration and solace. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://australiacouncil.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/australian-book-readers-24-05-592762e0c3ade-1.pdf">national survey</a> found that readers and non-readers alike recognise and value the contribution Australian books make to our cultural life.</p>
<p>In 2017, our research team surveyed a representative sample of over 3,000 Australians to ask them how they value books and book publishing. The results of this survey provide a clear indication of the importance of the book industry to Australian society and culture. The research found the vast majority of Australians believe books have a value greater than their monetary cost. </p>
<p>The majority of Australians acknowledge the cultural impact of Australian books: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>71% think it is important for Australian children to read Australian books</p></li>
<li><p>61% think the Australian book industry is part of Australian culture</p></li>
<li><p>63% say books written by Indigenous Australians are important for Australian culture. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Respondents were asked how important they thought it was that books written by Australian authors be published in Australia. A majority (60%) regarded this as important or extremely important. Just over half (54%) agreed or strongly agreed with the proposition there should be public funding specifically for Australian writing. </p>
<p>The survey found that 69% of respondents think Australian books help people understand themselves and the country in which they live. </p>
<p>Australian publishers are promoting increased opportunities for authors from diverse backgrounds, for example through a new Allen and Unwin imprint, <a href="https://www.joanpress.com/">Joan</a>. The industry is also a strong supporter of the <a href="https://www.indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au/">Indigenous Literacy Foundation</a>. </p>
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<p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-writing-and-publishing-faces-grinding-austerity-as-funding-continues-to-decline-179476">Australian writing and publishing faces 'grinding austerity' as funding continues to decline</a>
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<h2>Supporting the Australian book industry</h2>
<p>The precarity of authors’ incomes has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Writers have experienced reduced cash flow from personal appearances, such as school visits and other paid activities. </p>
<p>The upward trajectory of international rights sales from 2008 to 2018 was arguably heralding a new era. That export growth was halted by the pandemic. It is unclear when the former level of success will be restored, or what the post-pandemic business settings will be. </p>
<p>Our research shows trade is usually only effective where an established relationship already exists. Maintaining those relationships is likely to be difficult without further industry support. Support in this area is vital for continued international success. </p>
<p>There are multiple avenues at all levels of government, from federal to local, to develop policies that will ensure the ongoing strength of the book industry.</p>
<p>Writers develop their skills over many years and often over a number of books. A sustainable ecology is needed for authors to maintain their professional practice. Funding support for innovative writers and publishers contributes to a diverse arts ecology – one that is able to renew and reinvent itself, rather than becoming stale and dated. Innovation may not be commercially successful in the short-term, but may enter the mainstream over time. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485223/original/file-20220919-60524-aujrpt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485223/original/file-20220919-60524-aujrpt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485223/original/file-20220919-60524-aujrpt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485223/original/file-20220919-60524-aujrpt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485223/original/file-20220919-60524-aujrpt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485223/original/file-20220919-60524-aujrpt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=645&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485223/original/file-20220919-60524-aujrpt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=645&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485223/original/file-20220919-60524-aujrpt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=645&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 international success of Australian authors such as Richard Flanagan depends on a sustainable local ecology of writing and publishing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zamotmum12/Wikimedia commons</span></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-we-are-the-voice-why-we-need-more-indigenous-editors-182222">Friday essay: we are the voice – why we need more Indigenous editors</a>
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<p>Initiatives to support First Nations authors and authors from diverse backgrounds over the long term are crucial. The international interest in diverse authors is substantial and requires a long-term commitment. </p>
<p>A recognition of the social and cultural value of Australian books provides a clear rationale for public support for writers. </p>
<p>This might be achieved through grants awarded via the Literature Board of the Australia Council for the Arts, support for writers’ centres and professional associations, and a continuation of the Public Lending Right and Educational Lending Right schemes. </p>
<p>Public Lending Right payments are payments to Australian authors whose works are held in significant numbers in public libraries. Educational Lending Right payments are made to Australian authors whose books are held in significant numbers in the libraries of schools, TAFEs and universities. One practical policy initiative would be to extend these payments to include digital borrowing. </p>
<p>It is the small independent publishers who are most at risk in these uncertain times. Small publishers have less capacity to invest large sums of money in promoting their titles. They see an important role for government in audience development for books and reading. <a href="https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2018-02/apo-nid140701.pdf">Around four-fifths</a> of our sample of publishers saw the reduction in government support for the promotion of books and reading in 2015 as a key constraint on their operations. </p>
<p>Many small publishers have a high proportion of Australian authors on their lists, so they are the most likely to have benefited from government support via the Australia Council. Any reduction in support from this source is likely to hit small publishers hardest. </p>
<p>Ever since it began, the Australian book industry has been dynamic, resourceful and productive. A key policy challenge for the future of the industry is to maintain this vitality, through well-placed financial and regulatory support from all levels of government. The skills and expertise of Australian writers and publishers need to be maintained so the sector can recover and regain its momentum after the pandemic.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This is an edited version of the authors’ submission to the proposed <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/have-your-say/new-national-cultural-policy">National Cultural Policy</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190900/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Crosby receives funding from the Australia Council for the Arts and the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Throsby receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Australia Council for the Arts and the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jan Zwar receives funding from the Australia Council for the Arts and the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.</span></em></p>
The contribution of the book industry to the national economy is substantial, but its importance goes beyond its monetary value.
Paul Crosby, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics, Macquarie University
David Throsby, Distinguished Professor of Economics, Macquarie University
Jan Zwar, Faculty Research Manager, Macquarie University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/188720
2022-08-18T01:35:50Z
2022-08-18T01:35:50Z
A new national cultural policy is an opportunity for a radical rethinking of the importance of culture in Australia
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479253/original/file-20220816-20306-ape9c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C9517%2C6368&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the cut-off for the government’s <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/have-your-say/new-national-cultural-policy">consultation on a National Cultural Policy</a> (NCP) approaches, thousands in the sector are putting the finishing touches to their three-page submissions. These are directed around “five pillars” drawn from <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/documents/creative-australia-national-cultural-policy">Creative Australia</a>, the national cultural policy announced in the last months of the Gillard regime, but ignored by the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments thereafter. </p>
<p>Coalition arts ministers showed little interest in cultural policy. Over the last nine years, national cultural institutions lost funding, the Australia Council’s budget was diverted to programs under ministerial control, and key board appointments reflected a lack of sector expertise. </p>
<p>As Gideon Haigh wrote in <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Finquirer%2Fnew-arts-policy-is-welcome-but-tough-questions-remain%2Fnews-story%2Fa3a89a9f356745e18de972f49f91c83d&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=dynamic-groupa-test-noscore&V21spcbehaviour=append">The Australian</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The pattern of the past 30 years in arts and culture is for Labor to initiate and the Coalition to dismantle.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The new government’s consultation process has been a long time coming and it is welcome.</p>
<h2>Creative Nation to Creative Australia</h2>
<p>Creative Australia built on <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/29704">Creative Nation</a>, Paul Keating’s National Cultural Policy, which launched in 1994. It emerged from Kevin Rudd’s 2020 Summit, two major inquiries and a reference group of several dozen people from all parts of the sector. It was designed to enable systematic engagement with culture in all its manifestations.</p>
<p>But much has happened in the nation, the economy and society since 2013. And while the recently announced <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Farts-minister-tony-burke-handpicks-panel-to-guide-on-cultural-policy%2Fnews-story%2F55a8c8b7b7220113eb118990d85ce462&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=dynamic-groupa-test-noscore&V21spcbehaviour=append">15-member NCP advisory panel</a> includes people with deep knowledge, there are some gaps. </p>
<p>Creative Australia drew together a range of competing perspectives and had a broad enough base to start giving culture the clout it needed to be taken seriously as an object of policy. After it was adopted, more money flowed to the Australia Council and other cultural agencies and institutions. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-should-have-a-universal-basic-income-for-artists-heres-what-that-could-look-like-182128">Australia should have a universal basic income for artists. Here's what that could look like</a>
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<p>In a fraught world a new national cultural policy needs an even wider framework. Culture touches every part of our public and private lives. </p>
<p>A cultural policy should include an arts policy, but also policies addressing national institutions, heritage, the commercial cultural industries, soft power diplomacy, education, community groups and charities, as well as areas of public administration like First Nations, health, welfare, and education where cultural activity is a valued tool.</p>
<p>It must be able to align with state and local governments as active partners in this domain.</p>
<p>A robust arts policy is a first step in developing an expansive, nationally-appropriate cultural policy. Art for its own sake, yes. But art that binds, stretches, and challenges contemporary society. </p>
<p>Above all, a new national cultural policy needs conceptual depth. Culture was once seen as a public good, but has been hollowed out. The Australia Council’s consultation <a href="https://www.arts.gov.au/sites/default/files/submissions/ncp2022-submission-001-aca-national-cultural-policy-framing-1july2022.pdf">framing document</a> defines its benefits largely in instrumental terms (mental health, social cohesion, education, tourism, the creative economy). Meanwhile, the substance of culture’s intrinsic value remains unaddressed. </p>
<h2>A ministry of culture?</h2>
<p>One of the key insights from the Creative Australia consultation process was the need for a federal ministry of culture.</p>
<p>Over the past two decades the arts has been tacked on to many other ministerial portfolios: communications, transport, environment, local government, the attorney general’s, and now employment. They should be at the heart of a culture portfolio that draws together elements scattered across the cabinet. </p>
<p>Currently, the arts are buried at the bottom of a <a href="https://www.infrastructure.gov.au">drop-down</a> menu, while media and communications (including public and commercial broadcasting) is the responsibility of another minister. </p>
<p>A culture ministry would allow effective aggregation of the significant expenditure made in culture across government. They exist in most comparable countries. A properly constituted ministry could assess the cultural impact of new policy proposals from any department. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/it-is-time-for-australia-to-establish-a-national-ministry-for-culture-180026">It is time for Australia to establish a national Ministry for Culture</a>
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<p>In the 1990s, Australia was ahead of the global curve in redefining art and culture for a new democratic, multicultural era. The 2020s present different problems: climate change, digitisation, globalisation, inequality and a growing distrust in democratic institutions. A dedicated cultural ministry is the best way of addressing them with a perspective that touches lives and builds strong institutions.</p>
<p>This is not just a challenge for Australia. As <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/events/upcoming-events/research-innovation-days/speakers/hans-mommaas">Professor Hans Mommaas</a>, Director of The Netherland’s Environmental Assessment Agency, put it to us recently:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the midst of our various problem agendas… there is no clear place… any longer for the role of culture in the sense of creating and celebrating collective forms of imagination (and) communication… We must have a rich cultural sphere… for culture to be instrumental to these other agendas… Why not start with redeveloping the story-line that in the midst of the crises we find ourselves in, we urgently need a revival of a cultural sphere and that the current lack of this… is producing (a) distrust in the future and (a) lack of collective imagination.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Breathing new life into a decade-old national cultural policy is a useful beginning. But as Arts Minister Tony Burke has said of the current consultation process, “it is a trajectory, not a destination”. What is required now is an in-depth gestation period to position culture as a public good in the life of the nation. </p>
<p>The right of citizens to participate in, and contribute to, the cultural activities of the community is accepted in a number of the international agreements to which Australia is signatory. In an age of streaming platforms, public funding cuts and rising inequality, these cultural rights must be revisited and reasserted. </p>
<p>A new national cultural policy is an opportunity for a radical rethinking of the importance of culture to a troubled age. More than ever, we need creativity and an understanding of cultural heritage to imagine our collective future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188720/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julianne Schultz chaired the reference group for the 2013 NCP, Creative Australia. She is Chair of The Conversation Media Group. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justin O'Connor receives funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p><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>
Breathing new life into a decade-old national cultural policy is a useful beginning. What is required now is an in-depth gestation period to position culture as a public good for the nation.
Julianne Schultz, Emeritus Professor of Media and Culture, Griffith University, Griffith University
Julian Meyrick, Professor of Creative Arts, Griffith University
Justin O'Connor, Professor of Cultural Economy, University of South Australia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/12806
2013-03-18T00:24:00Z
2013-03-18T00:24:00Z
Joining the dots: Indigenous art and language in the national cultural policy
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21338/original/nksq6ckq-1363561142.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The important links between Indigenous language, art and culture have finally been recognised.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Dean Lewins</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Arts minister Simon Crean’s newly released cultural policy, <a href="http://creativeaustralia.arts.gov.au/">Creative Australia</a>, represents a refreshing change. It is underpinned by an understanding that not only are the arts closely linked to each other, but also to all Australians’ physical and emotional well-being, and to our sense of community. </p>
<p>Such recognition is unusual. Crean’s policy lifts “The Arts” out of what is often perceived to be its own self-referential, elitist silo, showing artistic activity to be something we can all engage with at some level. Quite simply, participation in the arts is a prerequisite for a healthy culture.</p>
<p>This idea is particularly relevant when it comes to Indigenous visual art and language. </p>
<p>There will be those who find it odd that there is such a strong focus on Australia’s rapidly disappearing Indigenous languages in Crean’s policy. Normally, both language and culture are passed on easily between generations, but for Australia’s Indigenous societies, such processes have been severely disrupted by colonialism. </p>
<p>That this continues to the present day is apparent in the case of the Northern Territory’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2009/s2683288.htm">remote area bilingual education</a> programs, which were closed down by successive governments against the clearly expressed wishes of the vast majority of Aboriginal parents.</p>
<p>So the fact that about $14 million in new funding has been put aside to develop community-driven Indigenous language programs is to be applauded. </p>
<p>Why does this matter for the arts? In many instances, Indigenous language speakers living in remote areas are those who create the extraordinary visual artworks that have thrust Australia onto the centre stage of the international art world. Indigenous art is, after all, the world’s oldest continuing artistic movement, and it is also currently responsible for the majority of Australia’s visual art export market.</p>
<p>Recently, for example, both Croatia and Serbia recently held <a href="http://blogs.flinders.edu.au/flinders-news/2013/01/30/aboriginal-art-goes-to-croatia-and-serbia/">major art exhibitions</a> of works by tradition-oriented Warlpiri artists from the Central Desert of the Northern Territory, and Pitjantjatjara-Yankunytjatjara artists from South Australia. These exhibitions, sponsored by the Australian government and which coincided with Australia Day 2013, attracted a record-breaking crowd of visitors to Croatia’s most prominent art gallery. </p>
<p>That very old Aboriginal artists living in the most remote, inaccessible parts of the desert are able to achieve such international success is truly astonishing. But this cannot be achieved without infrastructural support. It is therefore only fitting that the 2012 Indigenous Art Centre funding is to be strengthened and that $11 million will be spent over the next four years to continue the successful Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support Progam. </p>
<p>Equally, the $2.8 million funding of new and upgraded art centre infrastructure to take place at Iwantja, Mimili, Kaltjiti, Ernabella, Amata and Kalka is not only much needed, but a significant investment and will lead to job creation.</p>
<p>The creation of small, successful cottage industries on remote Aboriginal settlements, which closely accord with the aspirations of the local Indigenous residents who wish to maintain their culture is rightly emphasised throughout this document.</p>
<p>There are many other initiatives set out in Creative Australia that show, for once, government has done some very close listening to the ideas of Aboriginal people. Some of these initiatives, such as getting Indigenous opera singer <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/melbourne-life/hitting-a-high-note-for-reconciliation-20120506-1y71l.html">Deborah Cheetham</a> to nurture up-and-coming Indigenous opera singers and continuing generous funding support to Bangarra Dance Company are equally deserving of comment. </p>
<p>One can only hope this policy will have real teeth, and that in the likely event of a change of government before it is fully or even partially implemented, such a shadow will not eclipse the hope for the future of Indigenous arts and languages.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/12806/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine Nicholls curated the exhibitions in Croatia and Serbia mentioned in this article.</span></em></p>
Arts minister Simon Crean’s newly released cultural policy, Creative Australia, represents a refreshing change. It is underpinned by an understanding that not only are the arts closely linked to each other…
Christine Judith Nicholls, Senior Lecturer , Flinders University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/12800
2013-03-14T00:18:59Z
2013-03-14T00:18:59Z
National cultural policy is bold, but vulnerable
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21238/original/ts9j5ymw-1363214529.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Simon Crean has set out a forward-looking proposal for the future of Australian arts. But will it last?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Alan Porritt</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The first major national cultural policy in 19 years was <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-13/national-press-club-simon-crean/4571306">unveiled by Minister for the Arts Simon Crean yesterday</a>. Minister Crean has called it “a national cultural policy for the decade.” Uncharitable souls might ask “which decade?”, given that it was first promised soon after the election of the Rudd government in 2007. It is, however, a bold and forward-looking statement. </p>
<p>In marked contrast to the limited detail provided by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy in support of the media reforms he <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-12/conroy-announces-media-reforms/4567550">announced</a> on Tuesday, more than 150 pages <a href="http://creativeaustralia.arts.gov.au/">Creative Australia</a> outlines a comprehensive set of proposals for immediate action, and some aspirations for the longer term. Like the media reforms, however, it may not survive if there is a change in government in September. </p>
<p>In October 1994, the Keating government’s <a href="http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/21336/20031011-0000/www.nla.gov.au/creative.nation/contents.html">Creative Nation Commonwealth Cultural Policy</a> presented an emerging vision of a culture-led economy that was both proudly Australian and “open to the world”. Creative Australia similarly emphasises the contribution that cultural and creative industries can make to innovation and national productivity. More than half a million people are directly employed in these industries, up from around 300,000 in 1994. Employment growth is double the national average. For all the focus on mineral resources, the arts and culture are the real keys to the nation’s future spiritual and economic wealth.</p>
<p>Creative Australia is less anxious than its predecessor about the prospect of Australia being “swamped” by international content and culture, and more bullish about future opportunities. Great stress is placed on “joining the dots” between the arts and other policy domains, from the new national arts curriculum that embeds arts and media education in schools from primary level onwards, to the role of cultural diplomacy in Australian foreign policy, particularly in Asia.</p>
<p>Of Creative Australia’s funding envelope of $235 million, $190 million is new money. Much of it will come from other portfolios, as Minister Crean delivers on the partnership-oriented approach he championed during the review. </p>
<p>Funding and responsibility for regional touring programs will be transferred from the Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport to the Australia Council. The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and Screen Australia will fund a new program to create 40 new media jobs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. </p>
<p>A new organisation, Creative Partnerships Australia, will be set up to bring together artists, philanthropists, corporate donors and sponsors. This organisation will also facilitate new funding models, with programs for micro-loans, crowd-sourcing and matched funding. A new National Arts and Culture Accord will bring together governments at all levels to agree a coordinated, collaborative three-year plan in which arts education will be prioritised. </p>
<p>Where Creative Nation sought to shift the policy and funding focus from supply to demand, Creative Australia seeks to enhance the “social dividend” of the arts by “supporting excellence” in production and training. Legislation will be introduced next week to “modernise” the Australia Council and give it a new mandate to support artistic excellence. The restructured council will also receive the largest single tranche of new funding, amounting to more than $75 million. Six elite training institutions will receive almost $21 million over four years. Six major performing arts companies will receive an additional $9 million. And a Major Performing Arts Excellence Pool will be established in partnership with state and territory governments to support new, innovative projects.</p>
<p>The new national cultural policy joins the growing rank of major policy proposals made since the election date was announced last month. But cultural policy is rarely seen as a critical vote changer. Creative Nation appeared halfway through the Keating government’s second term. </p>
<p>It was a thank you gift to the arts community which had noisily and effectively backed the prime minister in the “unwinnable” 1993 election. Most of its programs, which included ambitious upgrades to Indigenous art support, innovative SBS content production, funding for commercial television production and cutting-edge multimedia technologies, were able to be implemented and run for one full funding cycle before they were dismantled by the Coalition after 1996. </p>
<p>Creative Australia comes very late in the current political cycle, and this may prove to be its downfall. Despite its ambitions, and the minister’s enthusiastic support, and notwithstanding the substantial program for change, this policy may not be given the opportunity to be as influential as its predecessor. </p>
<p>While the Minister pleaded at yesterday’s launch for federal political bipartisanship given the importance of the arts to Australia’s future and identity, its long-term impact will probably depend on the outcome of the forthcoming election. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/12800/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ben Goldsmith 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>
The first major national cultural policy in 19 years was unveiled by Minister for the Arts Simon Crean yesterday. Minister Crean has called it “a national cultural policy for the decade.” Uncharitable…
Ben Goldsmith, Senior Research Fellow , Queensland University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/3696
2011-10-18T02:31:56Z
2011-10-18T02:31:56Z
How the NBN can help bridge our geographical cultural divide
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4555/original/dance.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=104%2C171%2C3939%2C3121&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ballet Revolucion perform in Perth - one of Australia's most culturally affordable cities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s dispersed population and its vast tyrannies of distance has created a major, ongoing, cultural divide. </p>
<p>The relative costs of consuming culture between bush and city are starkly skewed in favour of the city, and may be getting worse as culture goes digital and the disparity in access, speed and reliability of broadband makes the bush relatively worse off.</p>
<p>The bush-city disparity between communications services in general, and broadband specifically, was one of major factors that drove key independents to install the minority Labor government last year.</p>
<p>Arts Minister Simon Crean <a href="http://theconversation.com/where-the-jobs-are-why-a-national-cultural-policy-matters-3430">wants Australian culture</a> to play a significant role in binding the social fabric of the nation. </p>
<p>This needs to play out not just in terms of publicly-funded culture reaching beyond the established middle class supporter base, who already possess significant cultural capital. </p>
<p>It also must be centrally about addressing our great geographical cultural divide.</p>
<p>The cultural divide is starkly revealed in the first detailed “cultural price index” constructed for Australia: </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4082/original/Screen_shot_2011-10-04_at_3.53.00_PM.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4082/original/Screen_shot_2011-10-04_at_3.53.00_PM.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4082/original/Screen_shot_2011-10-04_at_3.53.00_PM.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4082/original/Screen_shot_2011-10-04_at_3.53.00_PM.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4082/original/Screen_shot_2011-10-04_at_3.53.00_PM.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4082/original/Screen_shot_2011-10-04_at_3.53.00_PM.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4082/original/Screen_shot_2011-10-04_at_3.53.00_PM.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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</figure>
<p>This year, at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, Jason Potts, Trent MacDonald and I developed a method to show the full cost of a standardised basket of six cultural consumption items for a representative Australian household at 30 Australian locations, including all states and territories, and for a mix of large metro cities, regional centres, and country and remote towns. </p>
<p>It was the first study of its kind in Australia.</p>
<p>It turns out that Perth and Adelaide have the greatest cultural affordability. Then Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra. Wollongong, Gold Coast and Darwin are relatively more expensive again. </p>
<p>But these are relatively closely clustered; they lie within a 5-50% range of each other. </p>
<p>The real divide occurs when we attempt to purchase the mainstream cultural basket in regional and remote Australia, where the index climbs to 200-500% higher. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4572/original/birdsville.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4572/original/birdsville.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4572/original/birdsville.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4572/original/birdsville.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4572/original/birdsville.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4572/original/birdsville.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4572/original/birdsville.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">Birdsville: horse races, but less culture.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In remote Birdsville, the index is 1300% higher.</p>
<p>What can be done about it? It is critical that the National Broadband Network’s rollout in regional Australia embeds cultural access and participation at the heart of its strategic focus. </p>
<p>The National Cultural Policy’s discussion paper wants to “better connect what Australia is doing in the areas of arts and creative industries with other mainstream initiatives, such as the rollout of the National Broadband Network”. </p>
<p>And Minister Simon Crean has dubbed the NBN “the most important piece of cultural infrastructure Australia has ever seen”.</p>
<p>One of the most important dimensions of the NBN – one that differentiates it from almost all other fast broadband plans – is the symmetry it offers between download and upload capability. </p>
<p>Regional Australia will enjoy much faster downloads (cultural consumption will be easier and cheaper), but there will also be huge new potential for cultural participation, exchange and profiling. </p>
<p>A snippet of that potential includes hyperlocal journalism providing coverage lost through broadcasting aggregation, hundreds of regional museums displaying their wares across the nation and new businesses made viable by the access provided by fast broadband.</p>
<p>ABC will play its part. <a href="http://open.abc.net.au/">ABC Open</a> is an initiative to employ new producers in regional Australia facilitating, publishing and curating local content and stories. </p>
<p>Currently, it has producers in 21 regions across the country and looks to roll out the scheme to include 45 regions of Australia this year. </p>
<p>When NBN Co takes its Mobile Education Trailer around the roll-out sites, and when its <a href="http://www.nbnco.com.au/news-and-events/news/nbn-co-announces-location-of-national-operations-and-test-facility.html">National Test Facility</a> at Docklands in Melbourne invites the public in, the dynamics and benefits of cultural access and participation will need to be part and parcel.</p>
<p><em>Responses to the government’s discussion paper are due by 21 October.</em></p>
<p><strong>This is part two of a series on why we need a national cultural policy. Read part one here:</strong> </p>
<p><a href="http://theconversation.com/where-the-jobs-are-why-a-national-cultural-policy-matters-3430">Where the jobs are: why a national cultural policy matters</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/3696/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Funding to support research which informs this article was received from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>
Australia’s dispersed population and its vast tyrannies of distance has created a major, ongoing, cultural divide. The relative costs of consuming culture between bush and city are starkly skewed in favour…
Stuart Cunningham, Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, Queensland University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/3430
2011-10-13T22:28:52Z
2011-10-13T22:28:52Z
Where the jobs are: why a national cultural policy matters
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4463/original/art.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=87%2C48%2C4062%2C2718&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Art nation: Australia is developing a new national cultural policy to position us for the next decade.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia is on <a href="http://culture.arts.gov.au/">a promise</a> to develop a National Cultural Policy, the first since <a href="http://www.nla.gov.au/creative.nation/intro.html">Creative Nation</a> in 1994. </p>
<p>Minister for the Arts Simon Crean has released a <a href="http://culture.arts.gov.au/discussion-paper">discussion paper</a> designed to examine how Australia can best position itself in the arts, culture and creative industries such as film and television, digital technologies and the media. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly, there is a huge raft of aspirations, intentions and possibilities embodied in the discussion paper and managing expectations will be, as always, a major task. </p>
<p>But this looks to be much more than business-as-usual in cultural policy, given what arts minister Simon Crean wants from his policy process: “‘joining the dots’, bringing culture into contact with the 'education revolution’, with technology and innovation, and with its role in binding the social fabric of the nation”.</p>
<h2>Jobs growth </h2>
<p>So what might a National Cultural Policy look like? For starters, I’d like to concentrate on creative careers.</p>
<p>At the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative industries and Innovation, we have done detailed work on the growth in the creative workforce over the decade to 2006, based on the last three censuses that we have data from.</p>
<p>The headline data in table below provides us with stories of employment growth, plateau and sometimes decline.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4477/original/Screen_shot-cunningham.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4477/original/Screen_shot-cunningham.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4477/original/Screen_shot-cunningham.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4477/original/Screen_shot-cunningham.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4477/original/Screen_shot-cunningham.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1028&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4477/original/Screen_shot-cunningham.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1028&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4477/original/Screen_shot-cunningham.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1028&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
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<p>The growth is found in creative services (business-to-business activities like design, architecture, digital content, software development, advertising and marketing) at around 4.5%. </p>
<p>That’s a plump two-and-a-half times the growth of the rest of the economy, which grew at 1.75% from 1996 to 2006. </p>
<p>The growth in creative services occupations (the designers, content developers, communicators and so on) is not restricted to the creative services sector itself, populated by many small-to-medium enterprises. </p>
<p>The growth is also found in the employment of creative occupations within other industry sectors – which we call the embedded workforce (designers employed by manufacturers, architects by construction firms, and so on).</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4468/original/ballet3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4468/original/ballet3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4468/original/ballet3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4468/original/ballet3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4468/original/ballet3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4468/original/ballet3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4468/original/ballet3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cultural production</h2>
<p>It is a different story for cultural production (where the focus is on cultural products and experiences, for audiences and consumers, including film, television and radio, publishing, music, performing arts and visual arts). </p>
<p>The data shows us that this form of creative employment has plateaued or declined from 1996 to 2006. </p>
<p>Specialist film, television and radio, and publishing has plateaued, while music, performing and visual arts has declined against the national average. </p>
<p>The only real growth over the decade for cultural production occupations is found in employment outside of the cultural production sectors – embedded in creative service sectors (3.1% growth) and across all other industries (2.3%).</p>
<p>It’s true that creative careers provide much more that economic returns for the individual and the nation. </p>
<p>And our census data only tracks “main” jobs, and not the secondary, cash-in-hand, volunteer and amateur work that many pursue, but the employment data nonetheless offers clues for policy makers.</p>
<p>It suggests a need to focus on the much wider contribution that creatives are making and can make to Australia’s productivity and economic growth. </p>
<p>We need to ensure that we have an up-to-date picture of where creatively-minded students can find mainstream career prospects.</p>
<h2>Challenges </h2>
<p>But it also throws down challenges for education and training. </p>
<p>Are course leaders and curriculum experts across these longer term trends, and are they developing curricula that reflect them? Education and training cannot only be geared around craft skills. </p>
<p>Creative education and training needs to focus on the multidisciplinary challenges of fashioning sustainable careers in sectors that are more collaborative, more global, more technologically innovative and more embedded in everyday enterprise than ever before. </p>
<p>We need to know much more than we do about career trajectories in the creative economy. There’s almost no longer-term career tracking research of creative graduates in Australia. </p>
<p>The Graduate Destination Survey, conducted far too soon after graduation, is almost worse than having nothing at all, as it tiresomely reiterates the fact that graduates from the arts and humanities take longer to find their feet than those whose career paths much more tightly aligned to the established salaried professions.</p>
<p>The UK government’s recent <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2011/jun/29/higher-education-white-paper-winners-losers">Higher Education White Paper</a>, though deeply problematic in many ways, sets out an ambitious plan for collecting and publishing data on graduate destinations in England. </p>
<p>We need a similar commitment in Australia – and it should come as a partnership between the education providers and the government. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/3430/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stuart Cunningham receives funding from the ARC.</span></em></p>
Australia is on a promise to develop a National Cultural Policy, the first since Creative Nation in 1994. Minister for the Arts Simon Crean has released a discussion paper designed to examine how Australia…
Stuart Cunningham, Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, Queensland University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.