All at sea in a floating library
I started my trip in a floating library, that is on a Viking cruise from Sydney to Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. Viking ships are full of quiet corners crammed with books, a welcome way to pass time at sea – when not in a Scandinavian spa and sauna and pool unlike anything else I’ve ever seen. The cruise was originally a river cruise from Amsterdam up the Rhine to Basel in 2020, before the world went to shit. It was meant to follow my first ever cruise – from London to the furthest point North in Norway, way above the Arctic Circle, then down to beautiful Bergen. As the global pandemic rolled on, this follow up voyage was postponed several times and finally converted to a cruise to New Zealand when Viking started to operate in Southern waters. It was certainly a superb way to travel to New Zealand.
In an inspired move on the way to Melbourne I had booked the
Alexander McQueen exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. I
walked off the ship and headed into the city to see it. It was popular
and packed and I wore my face mask throughout, but it was excellent and
not-to-be-missed.
Once we had disembarked in New Zealand, the first half of the trip turned out to be one that narrowly avoided disaster on numerous occasions. Just before the ship arrived in Auckland, the city was almost drowned in a massive deluge. Walking around after we landed, building after building had hoses draining water from their basement into the gutters.
Only three
days later as we left on the train to Wellington, a massive cyclone
began to move in, eventually striking the whole of the North Island, but
particularly Hawkes Bay and Napier, where we had been only five days
before. It’s influence extended as far South as Wellington and by the
time our ferry to the South Island was leaving the weather was picking
up alarmingly. We left on a later ferry to the one we had originally
booked because the initial ferry was out of action as a result of breaking down
a few days before and drifting dangerously close to rocks.
Last one to leave, turn the lights out
Our
ferry was the last to leave Wellington because due to worsening
weather, ferry services were suspended for 48 hours. Then to cap it off
our ferry had a power failure and broke down in the Cook Strait, as we
neared the South Island, with lights off and engines stopped. We eventually limped into Picton by a safer but
much slower route. Our final experience of wild New Zealand was soon
after arriving at the top of the South Island when we experienced our
first strong earthquake – magnitude 6.1, occurring just North of
Wellington. At first I thought the spin dryer had gone out of control
but then realised it was way beyond that. I checked the official earthquake link and it confirmed I wasn’t imagining things.
‘Once
we had disembarked in New Zealand, the first half of the trip turned
out to be one that narrowly avoided disaster on numerous occasions.’
We
haven’t had a serious emergency in Australia for a short while, but
watching the updates in New Zealand on the cyclone emergency I enjoying
seeing the signers at work. They were so expressive, I feel we should
put them on the television by themselves and leave out the politicians
they are interpreting – much better.
National Cultural Policy released
While
I was away I saw that on 5 February 2023 the Albanese Labor Government
and its Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke, had released its new National Cultural Policy.
As I noted at the time, it is of special interest to me since I was the
director of the task force that co-ordinated the production of the last
one under the previous Labor Government back in 2012. I plan to publish
a more detailed article about the new policy in the near future. I was
asked what I thought of it and I replied that at times I was concerned
that it would turn out to be just another arts policy, but that Burke
kept confounding me by talking about crucial broader cultural issues
like Australian content. It will be interesting to delve deeper.
Unfortunately
my plans to comment on the cultural policy have been delayed. This is
partly because I want to write about my observations of culture in New
Zealand while its still fresh in my mind. Sadly it’s also because soon
after I arrived back in Australia an old friend and colleague from my
earliest days in community arts died. This was a great shock because she
had been part of a tight group that shaped my views on culture during a
period which laid the foundations for my whole fifty year career in the
Australian creative and cultural sector.
‘We were a tight group of free thinkers and free spirits, part of a mental universe that still frames my life.’
I’ve
been thinking about that period in South Australia when I
became a community arts officer amongst the dynamic and talented network
that stretched across the whole state at the time. It then segued into
my time working as Arts Officer at the United Trades and Labor Council
during the Council Centenary. This eventually led to my position as Arts
Officer for the Australian Council of Trade Unions, coordinating union
involvement in the Bicentenary. I worked for Bill Kelty – and Simon
Crean, who later was the Minister responsible for the 2013 National
Cultural Policy on which by lucky coincidence I worked as Director of the Task Force
co-ordinating the development of the Policy.
The thing I
remember most about all those years was how young we all were. We
worked hard and partied hard and became friends for life. I distinctly
remember injuring my knee after dancing on a couch to ‘Free Nelson Mandela’
following a few too many dry martinis. When I explained to the physio
how it had happened, she couldn’t stop laughing – she was more familiar
with football injuries than politically-inspired dance injuries.
Free thinkers and free spirits
We
were a tight group of free thinkers and free spirits, part of a mental
universe that still frames my life, many years later. Some time back the
Community Arts Network of South Australia marked a significant
anniversary. I was trying to sum up how powerful those years were, with
the sense that anything was possible and the world could be changed for
the better. What popped into my mind were words from a much earlier and far more influential era – Wordsworth’s comment during the
early days of the French Revolution, ‘Bliss was it in that dawn to be
alive, but to be young was very heaven’. The age was full of possibility then,
before he became disillusioned with the details.
Many years later I found myself working in the Indigenous cultural programs of the Australia Government. The community activists I encountered through that, especially those working on maintaining and reviving languages, made me feel as though I had suddenly come home. We spoke the same language – the language of community, the language of culture and the language of changing the world for the better – which I remembered from my earliest days in community arts.
See also
‘My blog “indefinite article” is irreverent writing about contemporary Australian society, popular culture, the creative economy and the digital and online world – life in the trenches and on the beaches of the information age. Over the last ten years I have published 166 articles about creativity and culture on the blog. This is a list of all the articles I have published there, broken down into categories, with a brief summary of each article. They range from the national cultural landscape to popular culture, from artists and arts organisations to cultural institutions, cultural policy and arts funding, the cultural economy and creative industries, First Nations culture, cultural diversity, cities and regions, Australia society, government, Canberra and international issues – the whole range of contemporary Australian creativity and culture’, An everyday life worth living – indefinite articles for a clean, clever and creative future.
‘We live in troubled times – but then can anyone ever say that they lived in times that weren’t troubled? For most of my life Australia has suffered mediocre politicians and politics – with the odd brief exceptions – and it seems our current times are no different. Australia has never really managed to realise its potential. As a nation it seems to be two different countries going in opposite directions – one into the future and the other into the past. It looks as though we’ll be mired in this latest stretch of mediocrity for some time and the only consolation will be creativity, gardening and humour’, Beyond a joke – surviving troubled times.
‘indefinite article’ on Facebook – short arts updates and commentary
Travelling light – a cultural journey through the Shaky Isles
‘When the last national cultural policy was being finalised in 2012, more than 43% of the Australian population or at least one of their parents were born overseas. Now, as its successor is being developed after a cultural policy vacuum of more than nine years, that figure has been superseded, with over half the population or at least one of their parents born overseas. This makes a strong focus on the dynamic promise of our cultural diversity essential for any successful policy. Unfortunately, the main shortcoming of the previous policy was that it didn’t make this focus as strong as it needed to be, which was a pity because the policy was otherwise very good and comprehensive’, Second bite of the cherry - revisiting a national cultural policy.
‘My nephew just got a job in Wellington New Zealand with Weta Digital, which makes the digital effects for Peter Jackson’s epics. Expertise, specialist skills and industry pockets can occur just about anywhere, as long as you have connectivity, talent and a framework of support that makes it possible. This is part of the new knowledge economy of the future, with its core of creative industries and its links to our cultural landscape. Increasingly the industries of the future are both clever and clean. At their heart are the developing creative industries which are based on the power of creativity and are a critical part of Australia’s future – innovative, in most cases centred on small business and closely linked to the profile of Australia as a clever country, both domestically and internationally. This is transforming the political landscape of Australia, challenging old political franchises and upping the stakes in the offerings department’, My nephew just got a job with Weta – the long road of the interconnected world.
‘Arts policy in the ACT has been more miss than hit, even though intentions have been good and there have been some worthwhile achievements. Unfortunately often the achievements don’t seem to have sprung from an overall vision of a consolidated strategic policy, which has meant that their full value hasn’t been harnessed. There has been a history of consultation stalling and not producing fruitful results. However, the ambition is currently there and building on some of the previous work, there may finally be a policy that focuses support for the arts and links it to the broader landscape of culture and creativity, if only all the interlinked components can be recognised and implemented’, Cool little capital – the ambition to make Canberra Australia's creative city.
‘Almost a decade of Coalition Government has ended, with a complex and ground-breaking result. During that long period the substantial and detailed work to develop a national cultural policy under the Rudd and then Gillard Labor Governments was sidelined. A strategic, comprehensive, long-term approach to support by national Government for Australian culture and creativity in its broadest sense was largely absent. Now we are likely to see a return – finally – to some of the central principles that underpinned ‘Creative Australia’, the blueprint that represented the Labor Government response to Australia’s creative sector’, Labor election victory means renewed approach for Australian arts and culture support.
‘It’s no longer the pre-election campaign we had to have. It’s become the election campaign we can’t avoid. We are spiralling inexorably towards election day and Ministers and members have been plummeting from the heights of the Coalition Government like crew abandoning a burning Zeppelin. We may wake on 19 May to find we have a national Labor Government. With Labor pledging to implement an updated version of the short-lived ‘Creative Australia’, its national cultural policy, first promised by the Rudd Government, it’s a good time to reconsider its importance’, Why Australia still needs a cultural policy – third time lucky?
Why cultural diversity is central to Australia’s future promise – a refocused Labor arts policy?
‘Can
Australia successfully navigate the treacherous and confusing times in
which we live? Understanding the crucial importance of our cultural
diversity to our cultural, social and economic future will be essential.
Applying that in the policies and practices that shape our future at
all levels across Australia can ensure we have a bright, productive and
interesting 21st Century. An important part of this are the political
parties, major and minor, that are increasingly negotiating the
compromises that shape our world. The recent launch by the Labor Party
of a new group, Labor for the Arts, could be an important development.
Combining as it does a focus from an earlier time on both arts and
multiculturalism, it could potentially open the way for some innovative
and forward-thinking policy’, Understanding why cultural diversity is central to Australia’s future promise – a refocused Labor arts policy?
‘The arts and culture sector has spent far too many years pressing the case for why Australian culture is crucial to Australia’s future, without seeming to shift the public policy landscape to any great degree. Perhaps a proposed fresh approach focusing on cultural rights may offer some hope of a breakthrough. What makes this approach so important and so potentially productive is that it starts with broad principles, linked to fundamental issues, such as human rights, which makes it a perfect foundation for the development of sound and well-thought out policies – something that currently we sadly lack’, Changing the landscape of the future – a new focus on cultural rights.
What is art good for? Understanding the value of our arts and culture
‘With arts and cultural support increasingly under pressure, arts and cultural organisations and artists are trying to find ways in their own localities to respond and to help build a popular understanding of the broader social and economic benefits of arts and culture. Much work has been done in Australia and internationally to understand, assess and communicate the broad value of arts and culture. The challenge is to share and to apply what already exists – and to take it further’, What is art good for? Understanding the value of our arts and culture.
Putting culture on the main agenda – the power of policy
‘With the ongoing malaise due to the absence of national arts and cultural policy in Australia, it's worth reminding ourselves what beneficial impact good policy can have. To understand the power of policy to make an impact in the world, it’s worthwhile contrasting two recent major Australian Government cultural policies – the National Cultural Policy and the National Indigenous Languages Policy. This helps illuminate how cultural policy can promote the long view, innovation, breadth and leadership. Both policies showed that more important than funding or specific initiatives was the overall strategic vision and the way in which it attempted to place culture not just on the main agenda, but somewhere near the centre of the main agenda’, Putting culture on the main agenda – the power of policy.
‘As the global pandemic has unfolded, I have been struck by how out of touch a large number of Australians are with Australia’s place in the world. Before the pandemic many Australians had become used to travelling overseas regularly – and spending large amounts of money while there – but we seem to think that our interaction with the global world is all about discretionary leisure travel. In contrast, increasingly many Australians were travelling – and living – overseas because their jobs required it. Whether working for multinational companies that have branches in Australia or Australian companies trying to break into global markets, Australian talent often needs to be somewhere else than here to make the most of opportunities for Australia. Not only technology, but even more importantly, talent, will be crucial to the economy of the future’, Flight of the wild geese – Australia’s place in the world of global talent.
‘I always thought that long after all else has gone, after government has pruned and prioritised and slashed and bashed arts and cultural support, the national cultural institutions would still remain. They are one of the largest single items of Australian Government cultural funding and one of the longest supported and they would be likely to be the last to go, even with the most miserly and mean-spirited and short sighted of governments. However, in a finale to a series of cumulative cuts over recent years, they have seen their capabilities to carry out their essential core roles eroded beyond repair. The long term impact of these cumulative changes will be major and unexpected, magnifying over time as each small change reinforces the others. The likelihood is that this will lead to irreversible damage to the contemporary culture and cultural heritage of the nation at a crucial crossroads in its history’, Cut to the bone – the accelerating decline of our major cultural institutions and its impact on Australia’s national heritage and economy.
‘When I was visiting Paris last year, there was one thing I wanted to do before I returned home – visit the renowned French bakery that had trained a Melbourne woman who had abandoned the high stakes of Formula One racing to become a top croissant maker. She had decided that being an engineer in the world of elite car racing was not for her, but rather that her future lay in the malleable universe of pastry. Crossing boundaries of many kinds and traversing the borders of differing countries and cultures, she built a radically different future to the one she first envisaged’, Crossing boundaries – the unlimited landscape of creativity.
Understanding the economy of the future - innovation and its place in the knowledge economy, creative economy, creative industries and cultural economy
‘The Impact and Enterprise post-graduate course at the University of Canberra course is unique in Australia in placing creative industries and the creative and cultural economy in the broader landscape of the wider impacts of creativity and culture - both economic and social. It starts from the premise that what the broader social and economic roles of creativity and culture have in common is that a focus on the economic role of creativity and culture is similar to the focus on its community role – both spring from recognition that creativity and culture are integral to everyday life and the essential activities that make it up. In March 2021, as the course entered its third year, I gave a talk to the students about where it came from,’ Broader and deeper - the creativity and culture of everyday life.
‘After ABBA, in an unexpected break from its traditional way of building national wealth from natural resources, Sweden managed to discover a new source of income. It was not as you would expect coal or oil. Rather than oil what it had discovered was song royalties, part of a fundamental change in the nature of modern economies which transformed them from relying solely on natural resources, transport and manufacturing to make creative content a new form of resource mining. Examples like theirs point to potentially major opportunities for the Australian music industry to become a net exporter of music,’ Music makes the world go round – the bright promise of our export future.
‘In the arts, from a virtual policy-free zone, we’ve now got policies – not as many as we could have hoped, but enough to be going on with. Some of them might even get implemented. Importantly, the others will help to frame the debate and offer ideas for the future. Those parties that have arts policies offer good solid and productive proposals which, if implemented, would lead to definite improvement for Australia’s arts and culture. However, that’s just the starting point’, Arts, culture and a map of the future – the limits of arts policy.
Election mode for Australian arts and culture – a policy-free zone?
‘A policy and the understanding of issues that leads to its adoption, provides arts and culture with a stature that underpins funding by providing a rationale for support. Otherwise funding will always be ad hoc and insecure, piecemeal, project-based, intermittent and at the mercy of whim and fashion. We have to get arts and culture to the stage where it is seen like public health or education and debated accordingly’, Election mode for Australian arts and culture – a policy-free zone?
‘National Arts Minister, Mitch Fifield, has said that being a strong advocate for the arts doesn’t mean delivering government funding and that an arts Minister or a government shouldn’t be judged just on the quantum of money the government puts in. This sidesteps the Government’s very real problems that it has muddied the waters of existing arts funding, cutting many worthwhile organisations loose with no reason, that rather than delivering arts funding, it has reduced it significantly, and that it has no coherent strategy or policy to guide its arts decisions or direction. The real issue is that a national framework, strategy or policy for arts and culture support underpins and provides a rationale for arts funding – and is far more important’, Arts funding – it’s not all about the money.
National arts policy – excelling in the mediocrity stakes
‘I am not too concerned who manages national arts funding. Both the Australia Council and the Ministry for the Arts have long managed numerous funding programs. I am more concerned about what is funded. The fact that the national pool of arts funding available to support the operational costs of smaller arts and cultural organisations has shrunk substantially is a deep concern. Watch as Australia’s arts and culture sector reels over the next five years from this exceptionally bad policy decision – and expect the early warning signs much sooner. Well- known and respected figures in the arts and culture sector have been expressing this concern sharply’, National arts policy – excelling in the mediocrity stakes.
Out from the shadows – the other Arts Minister
‘I ventured out through the dark wilds of the Australian National University to hear the Opposition Spokesperson on the Arts, Mark Dreyfus, share his view of what a contemporary arts and culture policy might look like. It was a timely moment, given the turmoil stirred up by recent changes to national arts funding arrangements and the #freethearts response from small arts and cultural organisations and artists. Luckily, as he himself noted, he has a very recent model to work with. The National Cultural Policy is little more than two years old,’ Out from the shadows – the other Arts Minister.
‘Arts’ policy and culture – let's not reinvent the wheel
‘Faced with the increasing prospect that it could become the next Australian Government, the Labor Party is reviewing its ‘arts’ policy. Whatever happens and whoever it happens to, considered and strategic discussion of arts and culture policy is critical to Australia's future.’ ‘Arts’ policy and culture – let's not reinvent the wheel.
‘Developing ‘Creative Australia’, the second Australian National Cultural Policy, required such focus that little was said about the first one, Keating’s ‘Creative Nation’. ‘Creative Nation’ acknowledged two distinct and very different strengths in Australian culture. The first was the contemporary diversity of Australia. The second was the economic significance of the arts and culture sector, including the creative industries. This reflected the reality of how Australia had changed in half a century. However it also reflects a different way of looking, beyond the narrow view of ‘the arts’ as a gently civilising influence on the surface of a frontier society’, ‘Creative Nation’ – Keating's cultural legacy.
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