A comparison between the arts policies of the Labor and Coalition parties is difficult: Labor, having been in government, released its policy earlier this year after five years of consultation with the arts community, whereas the Coalition has given only broad statements about its plans.
The Labor Party’s National Cultural Policy, “Creative Australia”, was released in March, and delivered an increase in funding to the arts. Labor’s policy was developed following five years of consulation with the arts community, and announced by the then arts minister Simon Crean. The present minister is Tony Burke, who has pledged to retain the reforms. Burke is also the Immigration Minister. He says he has always wanted the arts portfolio and says he reads a poem a day.
Altogether Labor has committed an increase of $236 million to the arts sector, including $75.3 million over four years to top up the Australia Council. This amount includes $1.23 million per year for a Major Performing Arts Excellence Pool (conditional on state and territories matching the funding).
In addition, six Major Performing Arts companies have been singled out for an increase in funding, two of which are Bangarra Dance Theatre (which will receive $613,000 in the first year) and the West Australian Ballet (which will receive $320,000 per year for four years).
Another big boost comes with
$20.8 million for elite training organisations, one of which is the Australian
Ballet School, which will receive $2.519 million
additional funding over four years.
Also in the Policy is a commitment of $37 million to the University of
Tasmania to create the Academy of Creative Industries and Performing Arts (in
partnership the Theatre Royal, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Museum of Old
and New Art). Another $8.1 million is being provided for a Creative Young
Stars Program, which
will provide grants to support artists under 25 years of age.
The Policy also includes a commitment to “refresh” the structure of the Australia Council to better reflect today’s arts practices, including a rethink of the present “traditional art form categories”. The present pool of “peers” who assess the grant applications will be increased from 200 to 250, with a one-year sitting time as opposed to the present three. A new board had been appointed and the new Peer Assessment Panels had already begun distributing the extra funding by the time the election was announced.
Labor’s policies have been costed and budgetted and a new “Australia Council Bill 2013” passed by the Senate. It remains to be seen if a new Coalition government would keep or cast away these reforms.
See the full Creative Australia policy paper on http://creativeaustralia.arts.gov.au/full-policy/
The Opposition’s arts minister is George Brandis, who announced his vision at a Western Sydney Arts Forum on August 20. He says he would want to keep the arts if he were in government and also hopes to be the Attorney General. He is known to have a great love of literature.
Brandis gave no specific policies or figures at the speech, but affirmed the arms’ length relationship of the Australia Council with Government and outlined six key principles a Coalition Government will bring to arts policy: Excellence, Integrity, Artistic freedom, Self-confidence, Sustainability and Accessibility.
In summary, under Excellence, he said that the Coalition would not be afraid of the “elitist tag”. Under Integrity, he said that Coalition policy would value art for arts sake, and not as something “mendicant to other public sector priorities”. Under Artistic Freedom, he said that the Opposition had fought to retain artistic freedom as one of the core values of the new Australia Council. Under Self-Confidence, he said he would restore support for international touring of Australia’s premier arts companies when budget circumstances pemit and would restore the Australia International Cultural Council, a diplomacy body founded by the Howard government in 1998 that has not convened since 2010.
Under Sustainablity, he said that funding should be structured so as to encourage commercial success and that patronage would be encouraged, and, under Accessibility, he said that art should be enjoyed by a broad audience, including the regional and rural centres of Australia. He has been reported (in The Australian) as saying that Labor’s Creative Young Stars program would be abolished, but that he doesn’t “foresee any difficulties with (a Coalition) government getting along with the Australia Council”.
For the full Western Sydney Arts Forum speech, see http://www.ampag.com.au/
The Greens are committed to:
A $3 million a year Artists Fund to assist in the
payment of artists’ fees allowing artists to make a living from their art;
An Arts Research and Development grants program
worth $5 million a year; and
An increase the funding to assist in performing
arts companies to tour around Australia and internationally.
As a way of supporting young and emerging artists, the Greens would allow artistic activities that provide community benefits to be eligible for Centrelink mutual obligation requirements (costed at $12 million a year). The party would fund an Arts Start program (to help artists turn their passion into a career), and would implement a Regional Arts Fund. For the full policy see:http://www.greens.org.au/
- KAREN VAN ULZEN