The art of influencing people

Yesterday I attended an excruciatingly boring forum held at the Museum of Contemporary Art as part of the Sydney Writers' Festival. (Who would have thought that dissent could be so tedious?) But while I was sitting listening to the waffle, I took the time to check out the art in the room.

Aside from the enormous ten metre long hammer made from voodoo dolls which was hanging from the ceiling (and provoked violent thoughts where I imagined I was using it to belt the forum's 'facilitator' over the head until she asked an interesting question), I was struck by another work in the room.

A simple canvas on the wall contained a message giving advice on how to look at a work of art. I would not normally have cared much for the work, but in light of the Bill Henson affair, it took another meaning.

It gave simple instructions about looking at the size, seeing what colour contrasts there were, observing the object, the way that the object is placed. In other words, it gave some very simple steps about considered artistic appreciation. A bit clinical but none-the-less helpful in a debate that was getting caught up in emotional responses and very little sensibility.

It's either that or you can go off to the Art Gallery of NSW's website and download an Education Kit so you can learn something about looking at a piece of art.

I was worried on Friday that everyone was going to let Bill Henson hang out to dry. But the visual arts community has quickly gathered around their famous son and are blocking the barricades for any future Hetty-esque hysteria.

Arts Minister Garrett finally came out and gave a statement to The Australian:
"While artists have rights to challenge and confront audiences, they also have a responsibility to operate within the law."

Garrett also said that "the fact that Bill Henson's work features in a number of the nation's galleries and private collections is an acknowledgement of his success as an artist."

A bit tepid for someone who came out, guns blazing with sorry written all over him at the Sydney Olympics. But he's a pollie now.

Michael Gow came out with a stern letter sent to the Sydney Morning Herald after the Prime Minister's comments on Friday;

"The Prime Minister who invited us to Canberra has questioned the abilities and credentials of a major Australian artist," he wrote.

"I regret attending the 2020 Summit and invite others who attended to join me in protesting the treatment of Bill Henson over the last few days."

He regrets attending the 2020 Summit?! This is exactly how serious this is and it would be nice if someone from the Government stood up for the industry.

Cate Blanchett, as head of the Creative Australia delegation to 2020 now has a responsibility to either join Michael Gow in the condemnation of Rudd's statements, or at the very least provide her point of view on the matter.

And before the knuckle draggers at the Daily Telegraph and various other conservative populist news outlets rip the debate from our hands and potentially send an artist to jail.

Blanchett and Upton have even been called 'Patron saints' of the arts world. It was reported in April that "the actress and her playwright husband are selling two valuable works from their personal art collection, and want to reinvest the money in work by local up and comers".

A Deutscher and Hackett auctioneer, Damian Hackett even said that the pair 'have got their eyes on supporting a new wave of artists'.

I tell you what - no amount of purchases and no amount of investment will help a new wave of artists if they suddenly find themselves in an environment of self-censorship and police raids.

2020 Breakaway Group Itching to Fight Garrett

As first published in Crikey.

So incensed are the delegates that attended the Creative Australia strand of the 2020 summit, they are now forming an advocacy group from within to keep a check on the Federal Government.

What's angered the delegates to this point? The censorship of ideas within the Initial Summit Report, which have been replaced by other ideas that were never discussed.

"We got hints this was going to happen when the statement which came out bore no relation to what came from us," one delegate tells Crikey, "It is clear that it came from a pre-existing agenda."

Many of the delegates are still holding their tongues until the final report, which is due out in a few weeks. But that hasn’t stopped the delegates exchanging contact details and setting cyberspace alight with emails, proposals and furious debate about what to do if their real recommendations continue to be ignored.

Some of the ideas put forward by the delegates that have so far been gone missing include:

- The formation of an organisation to work with planners, developers and architects to ensure that good design is a core requirement for every building and public space

- To help develop a design-literate nation by including aesthetics/design as part of the school curriculum and by forming closer links between industry professionals and schools

- To promote creative organisations overseas as soft diplomacy and to assist in advocating with exports like education and business

- Remove barriers and bureaucratic red tape to make funding models and reporting requirements easier

- Increased support for new digital media technologies

- Mandate 80% quota for Australian content by broadcasters in digital delivery with a five-fold increase in support of public broadcasting as a brand for quality with distinctive Australian content

- Develop a whole of industry national screen strategy with government taking culture out of the US Free Trade Agreement

What has amazed the delegates is that the initial report somehow changed ideas like develop "closer links between industry professionals and schools" into "Creativity Summer Schools".

"No-one ever mentioned summer schools," Crikey has been told by another delegate. "And the first time I heard about the Indigenous proposals was when the report was released on the Sunday."

This is not to mention the contentious idea (also published in the initial report) which proposed that creative endeavours be funded "through a 1% creative dividend from all Government Departments for expenditure".

"Everyone in that room knew that Queensland had tried that idea and that it had failed. I don’t know how that got put forward either," the delegate explained.

"I went to the summit with an open mind," another stated. "But every now and again Peter Garrett would come up to each of the groups saying he didn't need to listen to us because he had total faith in us. My scepticism rose each time he said it."

Another delegate added that, "I don't believe that he [Garrett] is bearing ill will and I do think he genuinely wants to listen. But this is compromised by political ambition and his essential powerlessness within the ALP. I wish we had a smarter arts minister."

If 2020 was just a publicity exercise as some commentators have suggested, then the Federal Government may get a lot more than it bargained for.

"The summit has created a motivated group of diverse people who realised that we all have a lot in common," another attendee has told Crikey. "Everyone realised that other people outside the stream were saying they needed the arts."

If the make-up of the advocacy group is anything like the chosen delegates then there should be concern within the arts community at the real lack of practising artists. Almost all of the attendees were from funded institutions and the corporate sector, with gaping holes around music and new media.

Either way, 2020 provided a rare opportunity for the often fragmented Australian arts community to unite and share ideas. Let's just hope that Garrett’s short-staffed and over-worked arts advisers are on their toes because after eleven years of suffocation, the industry is more than determined to get some real results through Government policy.

What? 2020 again?

Goodness! Everything is totally saturated in 2020-ness at the moment (including this blog). Everywhere you look, in newspapers, on the radio, on websites - everyone is talking about 2020.

It could be a very unique event indeed, but it could - especially for us elitist arty types - blow up in our face.

If the news reporting around Creative Australia centre on the old chant 'we want more funding' you can pretty much guarantee a continuation of the status quo and the summit will be a dismal failure for the industry.

Which brings me to a notification I just received about what Radio National are doing all week on their nightly programme, Australia Talks.

All week they have been getting dirty with various panels with 2020 discussions on rural affairs, industry and healthcare.

Indeed, Radio National are hosting a whole range of interesting programmes on 2020 - from the history of summits to the 'come down' that all the participants will feel once they all return to their day jobs.

Tonight on Australia Talks it is the arty mobs turn and the honorary SAJ pin-up boy Marcus Westbury will be having a tussle with Robyn (boy, can she talk) Archer and Trevor Green from the MSO.

Around Australia, you can tune into the programme which starts at 6pm AEST. You can get the frequency HERE.

And if you feel like ringing up and putting in your two cents worth, the talkback number is 1300 22 55 76.

Vive la différence!

(I know I shouldn't put tacky French phrases into blog posts... but all this kultur talk stuff is making me feel all continental. Time to go and get a croissant or a baguette or something for lunch before this gets out of hand.)

Community Chest 2020

Australia 2020 is becoming more and more like Monopoly each and every day with get out of jail and community chest cards being sent out to clean up for absences, forgetfulness and mistakes.

Andrew Denton has withdrawn. But Cate Blanchett will soldier on.

And thankfully, the people at 2020 were listening to the murmuring and snorts from the Web 2.0 community deploring the lack of fresh young things at 2020 and sent one of our honorary ambassadors down to Canberra this weekend - Mr Marcus (what's your middle name Marcus?) Westbury.

Westbury is more famous as the presenter of the brilliant Not Quite Art series on ABC-TV. But he is also the creator of the This Is Not Art Festival that came out the steelwork city of Newcastle.

He is, like Alison Croggon, inviting opinions, thoughts etc etc to take with him to 2020. You can find his brand spanking new blog HERE.

To get a taste of where Mr Westbury comes from, here is a little extract from a piece he penned for the Sydney Morning Herald:

An overwhelming amount of arts funding in Australia goes to organisations that either exclusively or primarily play covers. Think symphony orchestras, opera companies and state theatre companies that produce comparatively little in the way of original, innovative or even Australian work. Like classic hits radio, they are busting out the chart-toppers of the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

Confused? If you're not sure what I'm talking about, grab yourself a copy of the Australia Council's annual report. The nation's cover bands, mostly the state-based symphony orchestras, collectively receive just under $50 million each year from the council.

Culture isn't something that happened in Europe centuries ago that needs preservation. It's actually all that messy, beautiful, inspiring and wonderful stuff that is happening around us right now. Arts funding should reward innovation not preservation and vibrancy over bureaucracy.

Most importantly, no one art form or institution - however regarded - should have its funding quarantined and its position privileged so that it is never tested against all the other possibilities to which its resources may better be put.

I can't wait to see him face-up to the establishment that will be in attendance at the summit.

Fears that he may become a cover-band groupie have been dispelled by his latest blog entry:

The focus on professionalism in arts funding has led to a focus on a handful of large scale major companies and a consequence is that the entire system is caught in a bad feedback loop that isn’t about innovation at all. The issues and ambitions of our professional companies and major cultural institutions are mistaken for those of the creative community as a whole.

You have quite a fight on your hands Marcus - all of those major companies are going to be there in spades and they all have Get Out Of Jail cards in their pockets.

The ALP's Federal Arts Policy

Apologies for my scant attention to the blog. The business of weekly wage earning has been all consuming. You know the story.

In the meantime, here is another nice post from my esteemed colleague Ben Eltham, who I am pleased to say is going to be a Melbourne arts correspondent for SAJ. There's nothing like bridging the gap between these two fair cities... even though we are the much poorer sibling in the arts debate.

Today he offers another tidy summary of Australia 2020 and ties it in nicely with Mr Garrett's performance so far.

It sits nicely next to an article I previously wrote for Crikey. For those outside of New South Wales, it appears that the correlation between the Iemma Government's attitude to the arts is disturbingly similar to Mr Rudd.


Earlier this year, the Australia Council's marketing website Fuel4Arts commissioned me to examine the incoming Labor Government's arts policy agenda.

That paper has now been published at Fuel4Arts HERE. You will need to be a Fuel4Arts member to read the post, however it is free to sign up.

For those of you who aren't Fuel4Arts members, I've posted the full text of my paper over at New Matilda's Pollie Graph blog.

As can be seen by the conspicuous lack of game design, new media arts or interactive digital media practitioners on the 2020 summit list, Peter Garrett's emerging policy agenda is surprisingly traditional in shape.

Screen, music and major performing arts look set for continued high levels of government support, while new media arts, community arts and publishing look like they will languish.

On the other hand,there is one big positive: we now have a Federal Government which is actually prepared to say it supports the arts. This is an important symbolic improvement.

If you do want a say on what will be tabled at Australia 2020, I encourage you to nag dear Alison Croggon who has somewhat foolishly opened herself up as an arts messenger.

She has tabled a number of key issues HERE.

Get amongst the fray.

Who's who in the creative 2020

Much thanks to my esteemed colleague Ben Eltham, Fellow from the Centre for Policy Development who did some research on the candidates in 2020. Not many GP (or working Australian families) surprise surprise but have a gander.

I leave you with Mr Eltham's forward - the picture is mine;

Here's my Googled list of the Towards a Creative Australia summit participants. Detailed statistical analysis to follow ... the early winners by a long shot are screen actors and directors, followed by theatre directors, visual arts curators ... and trailing down the back, two geologists.

The 2020 participants: “Towards a creative Australia”

I've given each participant one or more descriptors:

E = member of the establishment, prominent philanthropist, captain of industry etc.
S = screen including TV
VA = visual arts
M = music including opera and musicals
Th = theatre
D = dance
ABC = employed by ABC, or strongly associated with it
F = festivals
A+D = Architecture + Design
Com = Comedy
U = Universities
Lit = literature
NH = geology, paleontology and natural history
ATSI = Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Media = media executive
AA = arts administrator


Matthew Lutton – talented young theatre director, here's a profile on Arts Hub. Th.

Marshall McGuire – classical harpist who specializes in contemporary and baroque music. M.

Shelagh Magazda – Artistic Director of the Perth International Arts Festival F, AA.

Margaret Seares - Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor at The University of Western Australia. Academic specialist in the keyboard music of the 18th century. M, U.

Louise Adler - CEO and Publisher of Melbourne University Publishing. Board member of Melbourne International Arts Festival. Lit, U, AA, E.

Stephen Armstrong – most likely not the Melbourne painter but instead the experienced producer who has worked with various performing arts companies. Th.

Geraldine Barlow – visual arts curator, collections manager at Monash University Museum of Art. VA, U.

Jennifer Margaret Buckland – is not Googleable

Robert Connolly – film-maker, writer and director of The Bank and director of 3 Dollars. S.

Alison Croggon – theatre reviewer and blogger. Th..

Phoebe Rebecca Dunn – not Googleable under Phoebe Dunn; Rebecca Dunn is highly-rated digital compositor and special effects wizard. S.

Kristy Edmunds – outgoing Artistic Director of the Melbourne International Arts Festival. F, Th, AA.

Saul Eslake – chief economist at ANZ and part-time Chairman of the Tasmanian Arts Advisory Board. Other, E.

Richard Gill – classical music conductor and educator, Artistic Director of OzOpera and Canberra Symphony Orchestra. M, E.

Corinne Grant – comedienne, TV personality. S, Com.

Andrew Kay – the scultptor? The photographer? No, he's the Chair of Live Performance Australia, the peak body for the performing arts industry. AA.

Ana Kikkinos – screen director, best known for Head On and recently The Book of Revelations. S.

Ramona Koval – Radio National presenter. E, ABC.

Rachael Lucas – screen writer and director, best known for Bondi Tsunami. S.

Sue Maslin – screen producer and documentary maker, produced Japanese Story. S.

David McAllister - choreographer and dancer, Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet. D, AA.

Julian Meyrick - associate director and literary advisor of the Melbourne Theatre Company and a theatre director, historian and social scientist. Th, U.

Jan Minchin – visual arts curator, Director of Tolarno Galleries. VA.

Rupert Myer – scion of the Myer dynasty, arts patron, philanthropist and Chairman of the National Gallery of Australia, author of the Federal Government's Visual Arts and Craft Enquiry. E, VA.

Sue Nattrass – arts administrator and consultant, Chair of Collections Council of Australia. AA, E.

David Pledger – theatre director and founder of Not Yet It's Difficult. Th.

John Redmond – Dean, Monash University Faculty of Art and Design. U, A+D.

Astrid Wootton – visual arts curator, General Manager of Design Centre Tasmania. VA, AA.

JM Coetzee – novelist, Nobel Prize winner. Lit, E.

Barrie Kosky – theatre and opera director. Th, M.

Greg Mackie – arts administrator, Executive Director of Arts SA. Lit, AA.

Rose Myers – theatrical director, former Director of Arena Theatre Company. Th.

Katrina Sedgwick – festival director, Director of 2007 Adelaide Film Festival. S, F, AA.

Michael Bryce – designer and architect. Husband of Queensland Governor Quentin Bryce. A+D, VA, E, U.

Stuart Cunningham – academic and cultural industries policy expert. Chair of QUT's ARC Centre of Excellence in Creative Industries. S, U, E.

Michael Gow – playwright and theatrical director. Artistic Director of Qld Theatre Company. Th, AA.

Scott Hocknall – paleontologist, former Young Australian of the Year. U, NH.

Cathy Hunt – arts consultant and administrator, author of A Sustainable Arts Sector: what will it take? AA..

Liza Lim – composer and member of ELISION Ensemble. M.

Anna Malgorzewicz – visual arts curator, Director of Musuem and Art Gallery of the NT. VA, AA.

Neil Armfield – theatrical, screen and opera director. S, Th, AA.

Geoffrey Atherden – screen writer, best known for Mother and Son. ABC, S, Lit.

Larissa Berhendt - Professor of Law and and Director of Research at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology, Sydney. U, ATSI.

Shaun Michael Brown – SBS Managing Director. Media, E.

Letecia Caceras – emerging director and dramaturg. Th.

Kate Champion – dancer and choreographer, Director of Force Majeure movement collective. D, AA.

Andrew Denton – TV personality, screen producer, comedian. S, Media, Com.

Rachel Dixon – screen and multimedia producer, arts administrator, Chair of MetroScreen. S, AA.

Khoa Do - actor, writer and director who received the Young Australian of the Year award in 2005. S.

Jo Dyer – screen producer, arts administrator, Executive Manager of Sydney Theatre and Major Projects Manager of Sydney Theatre Company. Th, AA.

Robyn Ewing - Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney. U.

Anna Funder – writer and historian, author of the highly-rated Stasiland. Lit.

Peter Goldsworthy – writer. Former Chair of Australia Council Literature Board. Lit.

David Gonski – businessman, philantrhopist, former Chair of the Austraila Council. AA, E.

Rachel Healy – theatrical producer, arts administrator, Director of Performing Arts, Sydney Opera House.Th, AA.

Frank Howarth – geologist, museum administrator, Director of the Australian Museum. NH, AA.

Hugh Jackman – actor, Hollywood celebrity. S.

Sandra Levy – screen producer, high-profile TV executive. S, Media.

Fergus Linehan – Sydney Festival director. F, M, AA.

Liz Ann McGregor – visual arts curator, musuem administrator, Director of the MCA. VA, AA, E.

Nick Marchand – theatrical director, Artistic Director of Griffin Theatre. Th, AA.

Hal McElroy – screen producer, ubiquitous maker of Australian TV drama. S, Media.

Enda Murray - documentary film-maker. S.

Alison Page – interior designer, TV personality (“The New Inventors”). A+D, S

Marion Potts – theatrical director, arts administrator, Artistic Director of Bell Shakespeare Company's Mind's Eye. Th.

Ian Robertson – is hard to track down but could well be this printmaker with works in the NGA. VA.

Mark Scott – media executive, Managing Director of the ABC. Media, E.

James Strong – businessman, philantrhopist, current Chair of the Australia Council. AA, E.

Mary Valentine – arts administrator and consultant, former Managing Director of the Sydney Symphony. M, AA.

Kim Williams – media executive, CEO of Foxtel. S, E.

Ron Radford – visual arts curator, museum administrator, Director of the NGA. VA, E, AA.

James Baker – not the former US Defence Secretary, but most likely this Queensland journalist, political staffer and 2007 Senate candidate . Other.

Daryl Buckley – musician, composer, Artistic Director of ELISION Ensemble. M, AA.

Bob Campbell – this is a tough one. Is he a leading New Zealand wine expert? Dianne Fossey's cinematographer? CEO of Bananas NSW? You tell us ...

Karen Casey – Indigenous visual artist. VA, ATSI.

Joel Edgerton – actor and screen producer. Was in Star Wars. S.

Wesley Enoch – theatrical director and playwright. Th, AA, ATSI.

Paul Grabowsky – pianist, composer and arts administrator. Former head of ABC arts, incoming Artistic Director of Adelaide Festival. M, Th, ABC, F, AA.

Anna Haebich – academic, visual arts curator, Director of Griffith University Centre for Public Culture and Ideas. U, VA, AA, ATSI

Marieke Hardy – screen writer, screen producer, actor, comedienne. S, ABC, E, Com.

Sam Haren – theatrical director, academic at Flinders University Drama School. Th, U.

Nick Jose – writer, President of Sydney PEN. Lit.

Claudia Karvan – ubiquitous Australian screen actress Also was in Star Wars. S.

Catherine Martin – production designer, screen producer, set designer. S.

Callum Morton – emerging visual artist. Recently exhibited at Venice Biennale. VA.

Rhys Muldoon – screen actor. S.

Lena Nahlous – community arts producer, arts administrator, Director, Information and Cultural Exchange (Sydney). CCD, AA.

Margot Neale – visual arts curator, museum administrator, Senior Curator on Indigenous matters at the National Museum of Australia. VA, ATSI, AA.

Helen O'Neil – arts administrator and lobbyist, Executive Director of performing arts peak body AMPAG. Th, D, M, AA.

Stephen Page – choreographer, Artistic Director of Bangarra Dance Company. D, ATSI, AA.

Charles Parkinson – theatrical director, Artistic Director of IS Theatre in Tasmania. Th, AA.

Rachel Perkins – screen producer and director, best known for directing Radiance and One Night The Moon. S, ATSI.

John Polson – actor, screen producer and director, arts administrator, founder of TropFest. S, AA.

Ivan Sen – screen director and documentary maker. S, ATSI.

Brett Sheehy – festival director, current Artistic Director of Adelaide Festival, former Director of Sydney Festival. F, AA.

Adam Simpson – not the AFL footballer but the Adelaide-based entertainment lawyer and Convenor of the Contemporary Music Working Group. Law.

David Throsby – cultural economist and arts policy expert, Professor of Economics at Macquarie University. U.

Richard Tognetti – musician, composer, conductor, arts administrator. Artistic Director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra. M, E, AA.