WYD wash-up: NSW put on a great party (even if it snubbed most)

As first published in Crikey.


It’s amazing what the NSW State Government can do when it puts its mind to it.

For a week they set up road closures and bus lanes in the heart of the city that created an urban-wonderland for pedestrians and cyclists.

The much maligned rail network was suddenly on time, efficient and quick.

Live music events filled venues from the harbour to the Domain, public debates and discussions were held in halls and a major theatrical event was staged to an audience of thousands creating the ultimate spirit of festival.

The sheer infrastructure of World Youth Day surpassed even APEC and must have made those that run major sporting, cultural and arts events in Sydney weep with envy.

The Greens have alleged that in total the NSW State Government provided at least $108.5 million which included substantial costs in police, public transport, emergency services and road works. This is in addition to half the $41 million costs to the Australian Jockey Club for the use of Randwick Racecourse as a temporary place of worship and as a camping site and does not include the $22 million that the Commonwealth threw in.

Just imagine what type of event could be staged in Sydney for close to $150 million that was for all citizens. The possibilities are endless. Sports fields could host major carnivals. Regional theatres and public halls could be given a breath of new life. It could be a week long event that would reach from the very east to the very west.

It was a model of commitment and a fantastic orchestration of infrastructure. But the problem always will be that World Youth Day was an exclusive event controlled through the compulsory registration of participants. It has left a sour taste in the mouths of those not involved with this particular strand of religion.


Unlike the Olympics or the Sydney Festival, the people of Sydney found themselves catering to a very specific cross-section of society. I can only imagine how the Protestant factions of the Christian Church felt over the last seven days.

There’s something to be said for the tolerance of people who live in Sydney. For those that lived in the inner city, taking the swarming masses of pilgrims in their stride, a secret code emerged. Faced with the youth group chants on your way to get milk or bread, you would come across a local non-participant and give each other that look of understanding that said, "Don’t worry, it will all be over soon."

For the victims of child s-x abuse they saw a real opportunity to engage with the Church, the Vatican and the Pilgrims. The Foster family was on the minds of everyone, not to mention that taxi drivers who listen all day to talk-back radio. But in the end, it was a closed shop. The Foster family didn’t get what they wanted and neither did victims of child abuse.

Others were more freely engaged. A protest of one thousand people gathered in the gay heart of Oxford Street to voice their concerns about the Catholic Church and their dominant political and social policies. Lesbians and gays joined with socially liberal Christians, atheists, disaffected Catholics and representatives from Broken Rites.

They made it clear during all of their speeches that they weren’t anti-Catholic but rather they demanded tolerance and acceptance. Even when a stray group of young American pilgrims found themselves in the middle of the protest they were greeted with smiles and good humour.

And it was smiles and good humour that really summed up the week. I found myself on the final day of World Youth Day sitting on a pub balcony watching the thousands of pilgrims returning. Sitting with a few locals we waved and cheered them for no particular reason.

The local drunk kept yelling at those carrying banners and flags asking where they were from. This was always followed by a cheer. We waved goodbye and found ourselves exactly the same as when the arrived. Nothing has changed and it is such a shame that after all that money, after all those people and all that effort, most of us -- the Foster family -- weren’t included.

Arts funding sticks to status quo

As first published in Crikey.

For the arts, this year’s budget is less about a "Creative Australia" and more like steady-as-she-goes, as Arts Minister Peter Garrett follows on closely from predecessor George Brandis. However, it's what happens over the coming years that could be of most concern to the arts community.

So far, very little has changed from the previous financial year, with the previous government delivering one of the largest injections of federal money to the arts just twelve months ago. Garrett has pretty much maintained the funding for the coming twelve months, adding a few small flourishes of his own that give a little push to arts institutions to foster new talent and new creativity.

The biggest change we will see this year is the creation of Screen Australia, a Howard Government initiative to merge the Australian Film Commission, Film Finance Corporation and Film Australia into one national peak body. It has been kept by Garrett and provided with $103 million for the coming financial year.

A closer look at the finances reveals that this is a funding cut to the film industry when you look at the overall provision of the three organisations from previous years. But a Garrett spokesman has told Crikey that the new 40% producer rebate for qualifying production expenditure will hopefully make more of the film industry "rely less on direct funding".

ArtStart, the controversial programme that will provide artists with improved access to social security has been ignored this year but Crikey has been told that it's "still an election commitment and has not dropped off the radar".

Regional Australia has also been left off the map after a continuing request for $24 million in touring and presentation funding was ignored. The Arts Minister has tried to offset that cut with the creation of a $10 million Creative Communities initiative that takes the arts to outer metropolitan and regional areas.

As well, the Australia Council for the Arts, already hit with an "efficiency dividend" of 2% earlier this year, gets a slight increase in total government funding to $173.2 million. This will no doubt please the major performing arts companies, the small to medium performing arts sector and the visual arts and crafts industry, who profited most from Howard’s previous budget.

But after the slight increase this year, future budget estimates show that Federal Government funding plateaus despite inflation rising by 4%. As well as these increasing costs and the efficiency dividend, the Australia Council will also have to find $6.6 million to fund Garrett’s Young and Emerging Artists program, which aims to increase the exposure of performing arts companies to schools and young people.

Kathy Keele, Australia Council CEO has guaranteed that grants to artists, despite the rising costs, will not be affected. “We are putting in place measures to maintain our funding for artists and arts organisations by streamlining the organisation and making $2 million in administrative savings,” she said.

Another organisation hit by the efficiency dividend has been the National Library of Australia which sees funding drop $600,000 to around $57.6 million for the coming financial year. Already running off the smell of an oily rag, the cut to the NLA has angered many, not only within literary circles but also those who understand the importance of storing digital information – a costly and complicated exercise that will keep the nation's public records for years to come.

One of the positives from this year’s budget is the creation of a resale royalty rights scheme for visual artists that will cost $1.5 million over the next three years. The funding will assist in creating an independent collecting body that will ensure that artists continue to get paid for works when on-sold to other buyers.

“This scheme will bring Australia into line with similar resale royalty arrangements operating in the United Kingdom and Europe and will embody the recognition that visual artists’ rights extend beyond the first sale of an artwork,” Mr Garrett said in a statement on Budget night.

The creation of a new National Film and Sound Archive as an independent statutory authority is another big step and will receive an allocation of $105.2 million over four years.

“As well as continuing its important activities in relation to the national audiovisual collection, the government believes it is important that the National Film and Sound Archive has a strong role in public outreach,” Mr Garrett said.

It’s a solid first budget for Mr Garrett, setting him only slightly apart from his predecessor. He is slowly showing his stripes in favouring additional funding for young and emerging artists. It’s a small step, but it could be the tip of an iceberg as he slowly forces the institutions that previously found favour with the Howard Government to increase their involvement with young people and start investing in the future creativity of the country.

Review: Riverbeats Festival

Riverbeats Festival
Parramatta River
Saturday 10 November

First published in The Daily Telegraph.

The public transport wasn't an option and the parking was a nightmare but neither of these factors was enough to deter anyone attending the second inaugural Riverbeats Festival on the riverside in Parramatta.

While the hustle and bustle of a Saturday night crowd enjoyed the culinary delights of Church Street, down next to the river a festival of water,of lights and of culture was exploding.

The heavy rain in Sydney throughout the week threatened to put a dampener on the proceedings but come the morning of the weekend, the sun burst through the ominous front and created a beautiful spring day. Accordingly, the people of Parramatta emerged in their thousands to celebrate.

Picnic blankets, bottles of wine, laughter and applause greeted the casual observer as you surrounded yourself in a spectacle of beautiful music and a light show that captured the essence of a city that truly honours its creative pulse.

On one side of the river, a stage was set, framed by four enormous inflatable balloons that acted as projection screens for footage, film and the worlds best in digital art.

It was a festival like no other in Sydney. Outdoor sculptures adorned the passage ways into the riverside, the esoteric sounds of CODA filled the estuary and ERTH puppeteers created a magical world that captured the hearts of everyone fortunate enough to be in attendance.

And all this was then supported by the sounds of Paul McNally and the astonishing work of New York based animators Motomichi Nakamura.

Sure, the official speeches dragged things down, but it was clear that this night was for the people. It was a celebration of the spiritual beat from the river and it honoured the forbears of this beautiful land. Parramatta really is the centre of this magnificent city and even more so during this stunning public event.

For more info about Riverbeats CLICK HERE.

the smell, the taste of summer...

Sydney is hot. Over the weekend, Ourania, the Goddess of Summer sent her winds howling down the eastern coast of this island continent and announced her arrival like the Queen of Sheba.

With the heat, seeds burst, flowers bloomed and the insects and animals came crawling out of their winter slumber and the air was filled with an excitement as if the world had organised a grand welcoming party for the sun.

My thoughts travel to Ljubljana. It's summer 2001 and the beginning of my time of absence. Leaving a dark and windy Sydney, I arrive in the middle of a full blown heat wave.

No matter where you are, summer always smells the same. I am not sure what it is, what neurones are released or what senses are enlivened, but the smell of summer always evokes a nostalgia for me.

Summer in Europe is a paganistic celebration that bows to the god Dionysus. It's three months of rebirth, wine and intoxication.

Even in little Ljubljana, a city of no more than 270,000, the drinking, the intoxication and the celebration is coupled with an unquenchable thirst for praznik - festival.

One particular festival which has occurred every year since 1992 is Trnfest held at a community cultural centre named after the country's iconic poet France Preseren.

Without the limitations of archaic liquor licensing or entertainment laws, a festival takes place in the back streets of Ljubljana where the young and the young at heart come together in the one venue to see theatre and dance, look at art work and dance to a line-up of bands, DJ's and musicians.

It's the smell of bursting flowers, of a green canopy of trees lining the city, of afternoon beers watching the world go by. It's the smell of comfortable heat, of anticipation, of roasted corn, of sweat and it all dances to the beat of celebration.

Nostalgia is a beautiful thing. Here's to summer.

Let's Bang a Few Heads Together

The Sydney Morning Herald today published the programme for this years Sydney Writers' Festival.

This is timely, considering my last couple of posts dealt with the lack of theatre industry forums.

I have had a quick look at the programme and have found a few highlights that may interest Arts Journalist readers.

The number one talk is being held on Friday June 1 at the Sydney Dance Company Studio 4 at 1.30-2.30pm - Everyone's a Critic: Has arts criticism become lost in the white noise of "arts and entertainment" journalism? Gerard Windsor, Alan Saunders, Julie Rigg, Andrew Ford and Bruce Elder - argue the importance of critical debate in forwarding cultural and intellectual life.

Other highlights I saw today, from my quick flick through the programme include:

• Jennifer Byrne is in conversation with Wah-Wah director and Withnail & I champion, Richard E Grant (Sydney Opera House)

• this city is a body - a cross disciplinary arts project that blends together the stories of migrants through theatre, dance, music & film (Hyde Park Barracks)

• The Book Thief author, Markus Zusak has a chat about novels set during the holocaust (Sydney Jewish Museum)

• UK writer Andrew O'Hagan gives an address about the power of literature through the media (Sydney Theatre)

• There's a multi-lingual performance of the work of Sufi poet Rumi (Auburn Council Gallery & Liverpool Migrant Centre)

• Internationally acclaimed Russian-French author Andrei Makine is in conversation (Sydney Theatre)

• The co-directors of the German Literature Institute give a talk about the state of German literature (Sydney Philharmonia Choir Studio)

• Blogs also get a guernsey at the festival too (hooray!) when The Monthly writer Gideon Haigh, Bille Brown and a few others talk about the contemporary memoir (The Mint)

• There's a forum on new writing from western Sydney sponsored by Powerhouse Youth Theatre (Museum of Sydney)

• Herald journo David Marr presents his Quarterly Essay on public debate in Howard's Australia (Richard Wherrett Studio) and also hosts a forum about the silencing of dissent by the Howard Government (Sydney Dance Company Studio 4)

• Eric Rasmussen talks about his new edition of the complete works of William Shakespeare (Richard Wherrett Studio)

• Currency House organises a talk about the preservation of Australian stories in the arts (Sydney Dance Company Studio 1)

• The Patrick White Playwrights' Award is announced, followed by a reading (Wharf 2 Theatre)

• The marvellous Don Watson gives a talk about his life's work (Sydney Theatre)

• There's a talk about the two newest British novels that are causing a lot of buzz (Sydney Theatre)

• Richard Flanagan, the Tasmanian author with no shortage of chutzpa has a chat with Malcolm Knox (Sydney Theatre)

• My new favourite journalist Rosemary Neill hosts a forum asking the question; are we neglecting Australian literature? (Sydney Dance Company Studio 1)

• and Chris Masters talks about the Jonestown journey (Sydney Philharmonia Choir Studio)

Sorry.

I didn't quite realise how many events I was excited about. Not surprisingly, it's only a snapshot of the whole programme which is to say the least, vast.


Image: knitsisters.com