The plan is there is no plan. On climate change, immigration, energy, marriage equality – pick an area – the federal government displays policy desuetude and political exhaustion. Around the world, the…
New survey from the Australia Council shows pretty much all Australians engage with the arts, and 8-in-10 do so online. However more people are ambivalent about public arts funding, and more people think the arts are too expensive.
It’s a strange thing when the re-entry of genuine choice into political contests is framed as “anti-politics”. It feels more historically accurate, and logical, to see it the opposite way. For the past…
Musical theatre nominees at the 2017 Helpmann Awards are dominated by overseas productions. Our own productions need way more support to compete on the world stage.
Writers like Frank Moorhouse and Ben Eltham have proposed new long-term fellowships to support writing. But a better way may be more smaller grants, offering opportunities for travel.
An oft-occurring phrase in Peter Temple’s award-willing crime novel, Truth, is “moving on”. Characters say it when they want to change the subject, or there doesn’t seem much more to say about a subject…
The arts sector lobbied hard against the Catalyst funding model, which the ALP had labelled ‘a ministerial slush fund’. But will the money returned to the Australia Council go to those who need it?
With its dramatic landscape, relative isolation and vibrant counter culture, Western Australia has a thriving writing scene. But government funding cuts are biting.
Small organisations are creating Australia’s most exciting art. Yet a recent report shows that even the most popular art-forms are bleeding revenue, while government funding dwindles.
There was once a sense of excitement about creating a genuinely Australian culture and making our own way in the world. What’s happened to that optimism?
A culture of ‘managerialism’ has bled the arts of originality and purpose. We need a changed mindset and an arts and culture think-tank that is separate from the Australia Council.
The past two years have not been happy ones for the arts sector in Australia. It all began in early 2014 with federal Ministers Brandis and Turnbull telling artists at the Sydney Biennale that they were…
Modern society has become addicted to ratings and league tables. But a new scorecard, which aims to give ‘good art’ a numerical ranking, is utterly wrong-headed.
Canada, a country with a similar demographic and economic profile to ours, has a very different approach when it comes to arts funding. Under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, there is a renewed sense of vitality in the arts.
In one of those abyssal silences that punctuate official Thinkfests when artists have to come up with new policy ideas that don’t involve asking governments for more money, I once facetiously suggested…
From crowdfunding to giving circles, the arts philanthropy landscape is rapidly changing. But could governments be doing more to emulate overseas policies that foster a culture of giving?
Many Australian artists eke out a living, yet government funding is generally heading backwards. Can we learn from Mexico, where artists are allowed to pay tax in paintings or sculptures in lieu of cash?
Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne