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.
With plans to trial a universal basic income for artists and push streaming platforms to invest in local content, The Greens have a big-picture blueprint for cultural policy.
We asked five experts to analyse and grade the Coalition and ALP arts and cultural policies.
Gough Whitlam delivering the 1972 election policy speech at the Blacktown Civic Centre in Sydney, 1972.
National Archives of Australia via Wikimedia Commons
With the tapering down of COVID stimulus measures, many of Australia’s cultural institutions are facing cuts – but Australia Council funding remains steady.
Thinktank A New Approach claims the federal government spent more than $4 billion supporting the arts and culture in 2020 alone. Sadly for the arts, the figure is too good to be true.
Artists are some of the poorest people in our community, and yet are prepared to forgo their limited income to support fellow artists from other countries – in this case Palestine.
The musical The Lion King - here starring Amanda Kunene - in New Zealand.
Fiona Goodall/Getty Images
Low incomes, unpaid work and excessive workloads: Australian artists are facing a crisis.
A sculpture of chimpanzee David Greybeard unveiled in Melbourne last year, the result of a collaboration between artist Lisa Roet and the Jane Goodall Institute Global.
James Ross/AAP
Two reports — from think tank A New Approach and ex-Grattan Institute director John Daley — say Australian art and culture hasn’t advocated for itself effectively. But we need to try something new.
Bangarra Dance Theatre dancers Bradley Smith and Rika Hamaguchi perform during a Sydney Festival media call in January. Some festival shows were cancelled due to COVID clusters.
Dan Himbrechts/AAP
The government needs to address the whole ecosystem of the arts, increasing funding to the Australia Council so individual artists and small organisations get adequate support.
The Vigil, as part of Wesley Enoch’s final Sydney Festival as director in 2021.
AAP Image/Paul Braven
For a woman with brightly coloured hair and enormous earrings, Art Works host Namila Benson is adept at fading into the background and letting the artists do the talking.
Paul Fletcher, Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts.
AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
Arts Minister Paul Fletcher has taken aim at what he calls a ‘cosy club’ of arts elites. But his claim of ‘unprecedented’ arts funding and a push for greater fairness don’t add up.
Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne