Page 22 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 25 February 2014
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We work our guts out day in day out and its some kind of chance we get to put our peers forward and acknowledge the work they do. We were very disappointed and thought, damn this is an important one.
It was, and it was missed because of the inability of the minister to know what is happening on her watch. It was a shame.
Minister Burch also has responsibility for, as we have mentioned, one of the largest events in the Canberra calendar in the Multicultural Festival, and of course the added Fringe Festival. We have just experienced the 18th Multicultural Festival in Canberra. Honestly, I can say it was a good event. Some stallholders had concerns, and I have been pursuing them, and of course it was held on very hot days, and although we have high expectations of ministers in the government, we do not expect the minister to be able to change the weather.
However, despite the generally very good experience of the National Multicultural Festival, a cloud has been cast upon the event by the unprincipled handing over of the fringe as a part of the National Multicultural Festival to a director known to the general community as having questionable judgement, and considered in the arts community as being poorly trained and unsophisticated. His strengths and weaknesses are well known. He was appointed without process. How was his appointment ever going to foster an environment that would help the multicultural community or the arts community to flourish in the ACT? The appointment, without a competitive process, smacked of shady deals and was quite unjustifiable, and this was raised with the minister at the time of the appointment.
A fringe festival is meant to be related to the main event; some would even say that it should complement the main event. Fringe festivals were born out of the experience of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which was an opportunity for those who could not be on the main stage to perform in a low-cost environment. It should be a chance for others who cannot be a Timomatic on the main stage to get a gig and show their talent. The performances, if they are to be directed and carefully selected, should have a narrative that complements the main event. Acts should at least be given the chance to be a part of a general interest process, if not a tender process, to open the event up to all of Canberra’s many talents.
It is my understanding that the Canberra centenary events missed out on the use of the vast well of home-grown talent here at times because of the lack of a scoping study of what capacity the ACT arts community has, and the events for last year were the poorer for the lack of that. There should be some cultural guidelines for acts so that they are appropriate for the time and place of their performance. If Canberra taxpayers are going to fork out for such an event, they have a right not to be overly offended or embarrassed by the content.
Last year there was a burlesque performance in the same location in Civic. It was inside a tent which was closed, and everybody who went along knew what they were getting into. It was very clear to people what the guidelines for that event were. And some really enjoyed the event.
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