As the new landscape of Australia’s arts and culture emerge
in the post-Brandis era, we are starting to see how organisations are adapting
and the issues they are facing in doing so. To a lesser degree we are also
seeing how artists themselves are responding. It seems clear that the absence
of any overall strategic approach to arts and culture – whether from the
Government or from the arts and culture sector – is having a deadening effect.
This is the first in a series of two articles. This one
looks at some of the critical issues raised by the current malaise in the arts
and culture sector in Australia. The second article, ‘Creating the future for Australia's arts and culture’, will discuss some of
the ways available to address it.
We are starting to see what the new landscape of Australia’s
arts and culture will begin to look like post-Brandis and his merry band of
bright ideas. Now he’s no longer Arts Minister he can turn his full attention
to the legal system – but at least the arts might be spared
more havoc.
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| 'Advocating the arts' forum panel at Canberra School of Art. |
The week before last I went to a forum at the Canberra School of Arts about advocating for the arts. It covered a wide range of topics but I thought there were several things that emerged that are worth noting. I had planned to publish this article earlier but I’ve been distracted by all the events that have been on or are about to happen as part of Design Canberra 2016. I’ve been covering some of those but the implications from the presentation at the School of Arts are long term and worth considering more closely.
