Australia’s arts and culture is at a critical stage. One of the
issues confronting it is lack of any kind of shared sense of what the role of
government is in encouraging our arts and culture. The whole set of interlinked
problems with the relationship between government and Australia’s arts and
culture can be reduced to a lack of strategic vision and a long-term plan for
the future. This deficiency is most apparent in the lack of any guiding policy,
like trying to navigate a dark and dangerous tunnel without a torch or flying
at night without lights or a map.
This is the second in a series of two articles. The first one, ‘If
the arts are important but not enough people know it, are they really
important?’ looks at some of the critical issues raised by the current
malaise in the arts and culture sector in Australia. This second article
discusses some of the ways available to address it.
Australia’s arts and culture is at a critical stage. One
of the issues confronting it is lack of any kind of shared vision about what
the role of government is in encouraging our arts and culture.
 |
| Without a cultural policy to map out the destination, it's difficult to find the road forward, especially in unexpected circumstances. |
Many of our current problems with Australia’s arts and
culture come down to a lack
of policy. If the Government doesn't have a policy that spells out what it
thinks is important about arts and culture – and why – and what it intends to
do about it and what that will lead to, then the present ad hoc and
inconsistent situation will continue.
