Many critics of the ABC, who forget that the newspapers are hardly disinterested in their notions of what is properly popular, fall into the trap that lies in the path of every opponent of elitism. They regard commercial broadcasting as 'the popular' and so place themselves in an unwitting alliance with those cultural elites in commercial broadcasting and publishing whose profit margins annually assure them that they know what 'the people' want. If we are to clear away preconceived ideas about what popular culture is, then we will also have to avoid some stereotypes that flourished in the subsidised arts themselves. In community arts policy there have been at least two populist fetishes. For a while, and still perhaps in the minds of some, community arts meant local festivals, or for The Australian, dahlia shows.
Participation is cheap or free, installations are temporary.
Perhaps there are some exhibitions or performances of 'serious' art, but these would usually include local or amateur participants. To see festivals or events with these engaging characteristics as being the epitome of community arts is to see community arts as marginal to the Arts - the bonbons and after dinner mints that grace the meal rather than the main dish. Attempts to fix the community arts as meaning certain kinds of occasions and means of expression are likely to be guilty of benevolent condescension. It is as if the people were ever at play. It reminded me of a conference program consisting of academics, professionals and senior bureaucrats in which Jack Mundey was invited to speak for The Common Man.