Page 3284 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 22 August 2012
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support community outreach activities through the School of Music and the School of Art. The majority of this funding is provided to the School of Music to support the Centre for Music Outreach, responsible for the delivery of a suite of community outreach programs. There is a provision of $200,000 annually to assist ACT arts organisations with associated costs with the hire of Llewellyn Hall, including $100,000 to the CSO.
That said, the CSO generates a large share of its annual income through ticket sales and sponsorship each year, and I commend its efforts in this regard. St George Bank, Shell, the Molonglo Group, the Macquarie Group, BAE Systems and many local businesses provide valuable private support to the CSO.
The ACT government has advocated, on a number of occasions on behalf of the CSO, for Australian government funding. In May of this year I wrote to the federal Minister for Arts to request consideration of the provision of additional support to the Canberra Symphony Orchestra and to other music organisations in the ACT. This support would ensure that these organisations are able to bring in professional musicians to perform and teach in their programs, something that I know is very important in maintaining the quality of the work performed. I will continue to advocate for this support and ensure that the CSO receives commonwealth funding that is comparable to that received by other states.
I also note that the CSO has recently been supported through the Australian Council for Arts, in partnership with the Mundango Charitable Trust, to assist in its endeavours to grow philanthropic support and sponsorship. Increases to this support in 2011 helped to support the symphony’s heartstrings program, to allow those at risk and most vulnerable to access performances which otherwise might be out of reach of some members in our community.
There is no doubt that the CSO is a responsive, motivated and innovative organisation with high artistic values and outcomes. Its contemporary and unique structure model is an orchestra paid per performance rather than a highly expensive full-time salaried model used by other states. As you are aware, Mr Speaker, conservative Liberal governments across the country are eager to cut the arts programs. We saw this in Queensland, with Campbell Newman axing the state’s literacy prize as one of his first acts as Premier.
Mrs Dunne: Relevance, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Ms Burch, one moment, thank you. Stop the clocks, thank you. Mrs Dunne.
Mrs Dunne: Mr Speaker, this is a motion about support for the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, and Minister Burch cannot let an opportunity go by to have a slap. And this is an opportunity. Minister Burch has obviously made it clear that she is going to go around the world for sixpence again and have a slap at everybody else about what they might do as a way of conjecturing about what might happen in this territory, instead of actually taking the opportunity to show support for a Canberra institution. This is a motion about a Canberra institution, not about Campbell Newman and not about his book prize.
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