Crafting Case for a Productive Country

WHEN Simon Crean was younger, he and his brother had lessons with the now celebrated artist Peter Booth. The man who today is federal Arts Minister recalls attempting to paint a copy of van Gogh’s Sunflowers. By his own admission, it wasn’t a success.

“Now, this wasn’t a very pretty picture,” Crean said yesterday amid laughter at the National Press Club in Canberra. “I realised my limitations early. I have kept a strong friendship with Peter ever since, I just wish I had kept his doodlings and drawings.”

Crean’s reflection on his youthful artistic interests is apt. His national cultural policy, Creative Australia, makes a strong case for investing in young people’s talent. Not everyone can become a great artist whose work will hang in the National Gallery of Australia. But those exposed to art and culture may go on to careers in other parts of the creative economy.

In Labor’s policy documents, much is made of the connection between Creative Australia and its policy antecedents under arts-loving prime ministers Gough Whitlam and Paul Keating. But Creative Australia differs from its near namesake, Keating’s Creative Nation, in some significant ways. Keating’s 1994 policy depicted a nation that had barely shrugged off the cultural cringe and faced new challenges from the rapid globalisation of culture.

Crean’s 152-page policy depicts a nation more secure in its cultural identity, but needing a push to take advantage of future opportunities.

His $235 million package puts significant money into revitalising the Australia Council ($75.3m), protecting indigenous languages ($14m), enticing movie producers to film in Australia ($20m), and building arts and cultural infrastructure through the Regional Development Australia Fund ($40m).

Funds are also directed towards young people, with $20.8m going to six elite training academies, $8.1m to be channelled through local electorates in the Creative Young Stars program, and $3.4m for ArtsReady and $9.7m for ArtStart, intended to help artists early in their careers. (The $235m funding package includes $195m of new money, Crean says.)

But the policy initiative that may prove most significant for the future of Australian culture is what Labor calls universal arts education. The inclusion of arts in the new national curriculum was sealed some time ago, and there are no specific funds for school arts education in the cultural policy.

But the links that Labor is seeking between culture and productivity – “creativity is an economic force”, Crean says – make more sense when, for example, the artistic enthusiasms of young people can be channelled into fulfilling careers.

It was underscored by a video shown before Crean’s presentation at the NPC that depicts people of all ages being productive through creative endeavour. The video was made by students at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School.

Crean is at his most compelling when describing the connections between arts, education and future prosperity. Even those young people who cannot become full-time artists may benefit from exposure to arts education.

“They are the ones that end up as the technicians, the cameramen, the designers, the costume designers, the lighting (designers), the marketers, the caterers, the administrators: this is the industry which is behind the artists,” Crean says. “And unless we develop the expertise and the creativity to drive that industry, we are not supporting our artists. So we have to see this as a job lot. The schools have a responsibility, the states have a responsibility.”

Creative Australia outlines key reforms to the arts sector. The Australia Council is being given a shake-up, with its arts-focused council to be replaced with a more business-oriented board. Crean says he will introduce legislation for the changes next week.

The grant-giving process is intended to become more “artist-centric” and flexible, and the funding boost will raise the council’s discretionary grants for artists by 30 per cent. While the changes will end the art-form-specific boards such as those for music and literature, they will be re-established as expert panels able to assess hybrid arts projects.

Acting chief executive Libby Christie says council members have been “deeply involved” in planning for the new structure.

The 28 major performing arts companies will continue to be served by the Australia Council. Crean has not agreed to expose them to competitive funding, as such a move would need agreement from state and territory funding partners.

Crean also has sought to broaden the arts funding base from state, territory and local governments through the new National Arts and Culture Accord, and from the private sector.

The recently established body Creative Partnerships Australia has been allocated an additional $8.6m to encourage new funding models such as micro-loans, crowd-sourcing and matched funding. Crean has left open the possibility of testamentary giving, where promised bequests to the arts attract an immediate tax break. The idea will be referred to the Not-for-Profit Sector Tax Concession Working Group.

Whether Crean’s policy is adopted in full may depend on the outcome of the September 14 federal election. Opposition arts spokesman George Brandis, who in the past has attacked Labor’s arts policies as instrumentalism, has promised to examine the policy closely. He says he is not convinced by the move to abolish the art-form boards at the Australia Council. “Support for the arts has been a bipartisan value in Australian politics for decades,” he says. “But people will have legitimate differences for specific issues.”

Crean also has appealed for bipartisanship, telling the arts professionals at the press club what investment in the arts means: “It helps buy our civilisation, it helps strengthen our culture and it helps define us. Isn’t that what we should be doing together?”

Creative Australia at a glance:

• $75.3 million for the Australia Council across four years, including $60m for artists and arts organisations. New governance structure, with a skills-based board, and redesigned grants model.

• Additional $8.595m to Creative Partnerships Australia to establish new models of funding, including micro-loans, crowd sourcing and matched funding.

• $20.8m for “elite arts training organisations”: National Institute of Dramatic Art, the Australian Ballet School, Australian Youth Orchestra, Flying Fruit Fly Circus School, NAISDA indigenous dance college and the National Institute of Circus Arts.

• $9.3m to six major performing arts companies: Bangarra Dance Theatre, Belvoir, Black Swan State Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre, Circus Oz and West Australian Ballet.

• $20m location offset to attract filmmakers to Australia.

• $13.983m to extend the Indigenous Languages Support program to develop language resources and activities.

• $10m for digital platforms, in addition to Screen Australia’s multi-platform programs.

• $8.1m for a Creative Young Stars Program to support cultural projects in every federal electorate for young people aged up to 25 years.