Page 2625 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 24 August 1993
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
There will always be insiders, people who either have access to money or share the orthodoxy of the day, and there will always be outsiders, those who depart from that artistic orthodoxy or who are not funded by their peers for particular activities.
Despite the shortcomings of the approach outlined in this paper in theory, I believe that the process does, in practice, deliver a cultural offering of great artistic diversity in this Territory. After all, Madam Speaker, this is the approach that we have been taking for a great length of time, certainly long before I was involved or interested in the arts in the ACT. It has certainly been a longstanding practice. Canberra has wanted for very little over the past couple of decades in the way of artistic endeavour. We have had everything from grand opera to theatre of the absurd, from the great masters of European art at the National Gallery to what are called installations at the Canberra Contemporary Art Space. We have had everything from the Australian Ballet to fringe cinema. All these things have been in reasonably plentiful supply to Canberrans. The things we do not get in the ACT, things like Joan Sutherland, Les Miserables and so on, are generally available a short drive or short train ride away in Sydney. We cannot really complain about the offering available to us here in the Capital Territory.
There are many other advantages in our particular position in the arts in the ACT. Not only do we have all these things, but they are quite accessible in terms both of location and of price. The offerings are regular and they are varied. In fact, I would almost say, Madam Speaker, that we have an oversupply problem. In Europe, for example, to take the other extreme, it is often impossible to experience the more popular forms of performing arts with less than several months' notice, especially in the summertime. Also, very often overseas, price is a very considerable barrier to access to the arts, but those things are rarely true in the ACT. Even for the very best things that come here, we generally have accessibility and we generally have reasonable affordability. That is, I think, a thing that we must endeavour to preserve in this sort of strategy.
The challenge for our cultural policy is to retain this precious vitality, both in the things that we bring into the ACT and in the things that we do here with what I might call indigenous artists. We have to do this in an environment of shrinking resources. It might not, of course, be an environment of shrinking resources in terms of the Government's contribution to the arts. I note that both Mr Wood's Government and the Government of which I was a part were able to sustain arts fundings at real or just about real terms, maybe even with some small increases. But, certainly, the arts are facing a shrinking environment of private sector support, whether it is corporate sponsorship or individual patronage of the arts, and that is a considerable challenge.
The excellence of that offering, notwithstanding those difficult circumstances, is illustrated by the tables which can be seen on page 4 of this document which the Minister has tabled. The first of those two tables shows that attendance at major cultural activities in the ACT puts us on a very favourable basis in comparison with other capital cities in Australia. Canberrans are No. 1 on the ranking of capital cities in this country in terms of participation in the activities of libraries, of art galleries, of dance events, of theatre and of classical concerts. That is a very impressive list. No other city comes even close to that kind of achievement.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .