The art of funding—looking to tomorrow

Press, 25 January 1989, Page 19

The art of funding—looking to tomorrow

Professor Donald Horne, chairperson of the Australian Arts Council since 1985, recently visited New Zealand. The former editor of the “Observer” and “The Bulletin” talked to the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council’s publication “Arts Times” about changes in the practice and development of the arts.

Max Bourke, General Manager of the Australia Council, recently told us of funding problems in Australia. Is the funding declining in real terms?

The situation is that over the period of the Hawke Government, funding has increased in real terms although not as much as promised before they were elected to office. And the reason for that is the perception of the economic crisis. However, last year there wasn’t full indexation for inflation.

Are the arts perceived to be suffering from the Government constriction on its own expenditure? Not in regard to the national Australia Council. What happened last year was that instead of having across-the-board cuts we abandoned a couple of programmes, but nobody else lost out. One was the Design Board, I don’t consider our reductions in arts income as having had any great effect yet for which I think the government deserves credit. We did have a problem re-

garding the question of administration expenses. There the reduction has been quite considerable over the last couple of years and it simply has reached a point at which the council could become paralysed if there were any further restrictions. But you think the reduction in administration costs was essential? No, I think it has now reached danger point. No it wasn’t essential but I mean that when it comes to economising in that area you go as far as you can and I think we have now reached the point in which any further economising in that area threatens arts support. Indeed arts support needs new definitions. I have made the example

there that arts support means a great deal more than just grants. It requires advocacy, it requires advice to people, it requires local government to engage more fully in arts activities to try to persuade regional galleries and others to try and make greater use of their cultural facilities. Well those things, if they involve staff or travel expenses, are put down as administration which we’d argue was arts support as well.

Is the Australian Council trying to expand the arts support it offers? Yes, in particular in regard to what is now a Community Cultural Development Unit, previously the Community Arts Board, which still has

grants programmes associated with it. But we are more concerned with infrastructure development, training programmes, information research and also with support of the community arts network and the state arts councils, one per state. We want to encourage greater support by local government authorities and also a greater use of existing cultural facilities, the regional art galleries, a lot of the performing art centres, libraries. You apply two criteria, one artistic and one financial, when assessing the funding for major performing arts companies. Are either of those criteria paramount, and how have your companies responded to them?

They are both paramount. There is no point in subsidising major companies if nobody goes along to see them. There are also other ways of being unfinancial. We were supporting an excellent contemporary music group, Lederean, who were putting on very good work but they were striking financial problems and the audiences weren’t great enough, I think, to support them. But otherwise if they are going broke well then* we just have to let them go broke. I mean after all the Globe Theatre in Shakespeare’s time was going broke and English drama survived! Artistic performance is an absolute pre-essential isn’t it.

We are trying to put some companies, not only in performing arts but in other areas, on a multi-ple-year funding base, two or three years. They don’t get assessed every year. When God created the arts he didn’t create them annually and there is no particular point in assessing people every twelve months.

Are there any suggestions that you will be taking back to the Australia Council from New Zealand?

One particular suggestion I certainly make to New Zealanders and it is something that can have reciprocal interest in Australia is that there should be more selling in Australia of New Zealand art products. I was shocked to learn the other day that Australian film distributors have simply given the thumbs down to New Zealand movies with very very few exceptions. The Australian market could be a natural one for New Zealand films and there must be some way ... I would imagine it wouldn’t be a bad idea, somehow or other, if you assisted the marketing of New Zealand books in Australia. You needn’t do it yourself perhaps but there is a New Zealand Book Publishers Association presumably. That should be a fairly obvious place to expand.

There Is actually a reluctance here in some

circles for people to see that they need to be commercial. They have had the tradition of state support and they say why should they then have to compromise their artistic principles in order to make dollars.

Well I am leaving aside the question of whether they are compromising their artistic principles but certainly as I say, when a writer writes a book and if some New Zealand publisher decides to publish it, then the writer is already compromised. That’s a compact the writer’s entered into.

And in regard to craft then the point is the kinds of things that New Zealand craftspeople make may or may not be the kinds of things that Australians might possibly buy. The whole business of making things to be handled, paintings, so called craft works, is traditionally throughout the ages something people have been quite happy to pay for ...