Don't just rehearse your departure

We have been waiting for this article from the Sydney Morning Herald for months now.

"ARTISTS and performers chasing success in Sydney should pack their bags and leave. Head to Melbourne, Perth or Brisbane. Anywhere really, as long as it is outside NSW," the article from Louise Schwartzkoff begins.

"That is the advice from some of Sydney's most experienced independent artists, fed up with delays from the state's leading arts funding body," it goes on.

The news isn't just that independent artists are giving people the advice, it is also staff at the Australia Council; don't even bother is the message from grant advisors.

"We call ourselves the submerging artists of NSW. All this confusion is destroying us,"Dean Walsh, an independent dancer and choreographer told the SMH.

"I love Sydney, but I feel like I'm bleeding here. There comes a point where you have to ask, 'What's the use of staying?'" he said.

Many SAJ readers would be well across all of this because it isn't really anything new.

According to the article, the Iemma Government will spend $26 million on cultural grants this year which is $3 million down on last year.

And as we all know, other states including Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia are introducing "new production funds to help bring more independent work to the stage".

I have been rabbiting on about this for a while now. It's all very simple. If you are an artist that isn't affiliated with any of the major institutions you have two choices - leave or just stay in Sydney and get on with making art and forget about it.

Of course the new problem is that none of the small to medium sector nor any independent artists know what guidelines they can apply for through Arts NSW for 2009 because they still haven't released them.

And it's August.

The Herald explains that "Carol Mills, the director-general of the NSW Department of Arts, Sport and Recreation, hopes a revised cultural grants program will ease the frustration. She says the new system will be efficient, simple and transparent."

"We know problems are created by uncertainty about funding and that's at the top of our agenda - to minimise the period of time people are unsure," Mills told them.

No sorry.

What is creating frustration is the fact that the State Government keeps hurling money at major institutions for a photo opportunity while continually removing money for community based and the small to medium sector.

Arts NSW may be developing a new fan dangled online submission process, which is marvellous, but at the end of the day, everyone is sick of the PR speak and the excuses.

And don't get me started again on World Youth Day.