My latest piece for artsHub has gone online today: A step closer to the National Cultural Policy?

I was quite surprised when QUT @CreativeIndust tweeted ‘A step closer to the #NationalCulturalPolicy?’ http://ow.ly/aZevm op ed by @McFifi @artsHub. I guess it was ‘op ed’ I’m just unused to people noting that it is. A proper analysis of the Australia Council Review would be better given events this week but I’ve been at a funeral in Newcastle for the past few days and had to finish this piece late Monday night. Someone else will write about it I’m sure.

I highly recommend to anyone interested in the field of cultural policy to revisit Creative Nation, if for no other reason than to remind themselves that a government document can be definitive and enlightening and even a little inspiring, at least in the intro.

My take on the budget is up at artsHub: Small lift for the arts in Federal Budget 2012.

Some good stuff has also been written over at the Sydney Morning Herald by Joyce Morgan and Adam Fulton:
Galleries and museums welcome budget windfall, Tamara, Marcus and Jane are all quoted.

There’s a bit in the Oz too, from Matthew Westwood, definitely the lack of National Cultural Policy is what people are raising eyebrows about: No national vision yet but $64m for arts, museums.

and Ben Eltham’s piece is an interesting read too at Crikey: The arts: divided squeeze, but cash for Wolverine and galleries.

So, the budget allocations for the arts seem fine and the new funds will be warmly welcomed by those who get them. To my mind the real problem is that I don’t believe the government’s optimistic forecasts for the economy that it is depending on. The arts like everyone else in the economy will be affected if Australia’s economy shifts into recession.

As Alan Kohler noted on The Drum the Budget is relying on a bumper 11% increase in revenue in 2012-13, including company tax up 9% and personal tax up 8%. That’s just not going to happen.

It is extraordinary that so few financial commentators, including the Reserve Bank have not, and continue not to see a slow down in the Australian economy coming, despite the signs that the asset inflation that has funded much of it for so long was inevitably going to slow down as households reached debt saturation and had to take stock of their debt ratios. Continue reading →

Still going over it folks but not a lot of excitement to be had from what I can see. At least there’s been no cuts and everything (at least for the arts) seems steady as she goes. Are they saving something up for the National Cultural Policy? Doesn’t look good does it?

The amazing thing is 20% of the funding boost Arts Minister Simon Crean has announced is going to attracting production of the feature film The Wolverine to Australia. Continue reading →

Last week I was reading the Women in Theatre report for my piece for artsHub, which has become part of its Special Report that went out today.

Excuse the slightly daggy headline but artsHub’s got a pretty tight character limit for title and you have to make it a bit catchy: Wherefore art thou gender-equity?

It was one of those rare reports you can read through from beginning to end and it had some fabulous quotes in it. The most saddening thing I found was how well I understood it, it did feel as though it was telling me what I already knew. My own career has followed a path that many of those interviewed for the report would find similar to their own. Continue reading →