Questions surrounding the funding of the Arts in Australia continue to circulate with no mention of supporting the arts on a federal level in the recent budget and after the recent South Australian budget, not a cent allocated there either. Queenslanders and Victorians are better off with the Queensland state Labour government finding $33 million to stem the erosion begun well before the pandemic. Victoria’s creative industries will see some relief in the form of a $288 million investment from the State Government in 2021/22, including $167.3 million for the Creative State funding package, which will support the sector as it bounces back after a challenging year. Again, a Labour party incentive.
Many people with a vested interest in art and culture, as in earning their living, and many for whom the Arts is an essential aspect in their lives believe the whole industry is in deep crisis. Both art and culture stand out as receiving little government sympathy on a federal level and even less support. Data collected by Artshub on the response to the pandemic meltdown lists the top nine supporting regimes around the world and while in some cases support for the Arts came via other packages designed to keep people in work, Australia rated somewhere last of all countries.
- United States: $15.71 billion
2. France: $8.3 billion
3. Canada: $4.7 billion
4. UK: $2.74 billion
5. Germany: $2.37 billion
6. Norway: $543.9 million
7. South Korea: $269.1 million
8. Singapore: $55.6 million
9. South Africa: $6.64 million
[World Population Review]
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organisation that works to build better policies for better lives. The goal is to shape policies that foster prosperity, equality, opportunity, and well-being for all. In 2021 the OECD will be measuring student innovation and creativity and the concern is that Australia will not meet those creativity goals placing it increasingly further behind the rest of the world.
There are a number of possible reasons for this state of affairs. One reason is the reduction in time for arts education in pre-service teacher education. The sexpected 4-5% of weekly time has been continually trimmed over a number of years and is wholly dependent upon graduating teachers feeling confident and capable enough to teach the arts; much less having the experience, time and expertise to engage students with five arts forms in primary school. The government introduced the STEAM agenda. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEAM) with the ‘A’ representing the Arts seeking to produce “a scientifically literate, and ethically astute citizenry and workforce for the 21st century” rather than valuing the Arts for their own sake. The Arts were almost not included in the Australian Curriculum and the 2014 review recommended its rewriting. Just what is it that successive Federal Liberal governments have failed to understand about the importance of the Arts?
In March 2019, Australia was shut down. Fair enough. We had to keep the virus out. A massive package of money was released to keep the workforce and industries going. The Arts industry suffered – Jobkeeper wasn’t for them. The Bureau of Statistics figures from the end of 2019 show that employment in Arts and Recreation services was 250,600 but that figure did not include artists, musicians and performers working gig to gig, organising exhibitions or any of the myriad ways that people in the Arts earn a living. The real figure is probably twice that number to say nothing of the reliance on the Arts for a population isolating and all of the ancillary industries such as cinemas and restaurants providing external outlets.
Framing art and culture as an industrial sub sector, calculating its worth in purely economic terms and trying to fit into Australian Bureau of Statistics parameters is pointless. A fundamental process of resetting is needed – reflection, rethinking, dialogue. This resetting should include elements of moving on and building afresh and taking into account the realities of the current situation. Health, education and basic services do not need arguments to promote their welfare although the crisis in health care in South Australia due to insufficient funding to put a stop to ambulance ramping resulted in union action before anything was done. The Arts sector have little in the way of a collective voice and withdrawal of labour is hardly an option.
Many in the arts sector are convinced they are in the middle of a “culture war”. There would seem to be no common value ascribed to arts and culture on a federal level or any state where aligning value in the Arts to dollar amounts is a preoccupation. What should we expect? When art and culture need to advocate for their very existence, they are already in deep trouble. While we as South Australians may well be grateful for the combined state/federal funding for the north-south road corridor removing traffic congestion, in the end it’s just another road. Surely the cost of bitumen cannot be equated to the potential of the Arts to improve people’s lives beyond improving their car journey by fifteen minutes.
Paul Fletcher, Federal Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts says nothing on his website about the Arts at all. His concerns are roads and bridges. Given that the Arts are listed fourth of his areas, just what can the arts sector expect but fourth billing. Just what is it about Liberal/conservative governments that denies the Arts as having any value at all? South Australia was fortunate enough to have a Labour Premier in Don Dunstan back in the 70s who understood the need. Without him there would be little or no Arts infrastucture in Adelaide, including the Festival Centre, the State Theatre Company, the Australian Dance Theatre and indeed, the Adelaide Festival. Prior to his time in government, the entrenched Liberal regime had done nothing for 33 years.
It would seem that there is both a cultural divide and a divide of expectation when it comes to Federal government support. Upwards of half a million people actively involved in the Arts may well vote with their feet at the next election and look for a better deal or at least elected officials who take them seriously. In 2019 16.4 million Australians were eligible to vote with a 92% turnout at the ballot box. A disenchanted Arts block of 500,000 could well make the difference in urban areas where Arts practitioners ostensibly reside.
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