STATE OF THE ARTS with Sarah Hanson-Young
Channel: Cathy Vogan Films
Date: 15/02/2017

For a long time, Australia has not known what to do with the Arts. From Whitlam to Fifield, ministerial portfolios for the Arts have been coupled with the Environment, Aborigines, “assisting the Prime Minister”, Heritage, Sport, Tourism, the Territories, Administrative Services, Communications, Information Economy and Information Technology.

On the one side, it’s been classified with things we consider to be in need of protection, and on the other side, with business. In 2010, the arts portfolio was isolated from both, and by the time George Brandis got hold of it, he was able to subject arts production to his personal whim, while Mitch Fifield evoked the idea that there are parallels between the arts and the disability sector...

Sydney Morning Herald journalist, Sasha Grishin, pointed out that Brandis as Arts minister, crippled the Australia Council, the National Library, the National Gallery, Screen Australia and severely restricted the operations of the ABC. That scores of arts organisations, including AsiaLink, Australian Design Centre, Australian Experimental Art Foundation, Canberra Contemporary Art Space and the Centre for Contemporary Photography have lost their Australian Council funding.

“It is difficult not to come to the conclusion that the Turnbull government has abandoned the arts as a sector, where it feels that it will never prevail. The Liberals won the previous election lacking an arts policy and feel that they can do the same again.”

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/labor-steals-a-march-on-the-arts-20160609-gpf0mt.html

In addition to the impoverished conditions that Australian artists have always endured, their proposed new regulations around VET education, that would limit eligible courses exclusively to those deemed to provide 'good work prospects', will significantly threaten the future of the Arts nationwide. They are indicative of the anti-cultural bias and philistinism of our Federal Government, and urgently need to be countered.

Since the future of two of NSW's major art schools also hangs in the balance, we must act now, to resist this rising tide of barbarism, and give our young artists hope. Unlike our current government, we understand that heirs are among the future-proof careers in tomorrow's world!

I hosted an event called STATE OF THE ARTS to bring the Arts community together to strategise. Since the Greens proposed a basic income for artists in their last Federal election campaign, it seemed appropriate to invite their Senator with the Arts AND Education portfolio (now that makes sense) Sarah Hanson-Young. 

STATE OF THE ARTS was the opening event for Sydney's Politics in the Pub 2017 sessions at the Gaelic Club.