Page 4177 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 18 November 2015
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So there you go. In the first arts framework all they did was change the way they fund things. The second arts framework came out in June. What have we done in the past five or six months? It is important to understand that the arts are very much important in driving innovation. One individual has written: “Creativity is fundamental to innovation and business growth, playing an integral role in the social and economic fabric of Canberra. Working together and making connections are essential to achieving our vision for an arts and creative industry sector that is valued locally, nationally and globally.” Creativity seems to drive innovation and technology, according to this person. That person is actually Andrew Barr, the Chief Minister of the ACT. It is here in his document “Connect, Create, Collaborate: DESIGN Canberra 2015”.
Around the world, people are seeing design as a form of art in its own right. For instance, the museum of the arts in Berlin recently added architecture and design as faculties because they see them as an art form. You only have to look at the FINK gallery and the design of those magnificent jugs that we get from the FINK gallery. It is design, but it is art. But then you have to look at what drives creativity. If it is creativity that is fundamental to innovation, how do you break that down? The expert in this field is David Throsby, an Australian who wrote the book The Economics of Cultural Policy. It is a great read if you are bored one night and you want to know about economics and culture. Mr Throsby says:
Once a logical sequence can be established, beginning with art and proceeding through artistic creativity, creativity in general, innovation, technological progress, competitive advantage, and leading in due course to growth in incomes, exports, employment and other indicators of economic success …
Further down it goes on:
Since in many developed countries the cultural industries can indeed be shown to have grown faster than other sectors such as manufacturing and agriculture over the past decade or so when measured in terms of value of output or levels of employment …
There you are. Rhetoric is converted into fact. So what do we know? From the comparison of the government’s own study into the size of the economy, we are underperforming by two-thirds. That is the best outcome. It might be as low as 20 per cent. Here is an area that we can grow, but when you go to the minister’s arts policy framework for 2015, I do not think it mentions business. I do not think it is even in there. It is certainly not in the principles and it is certainly not in the case studies. If it is simply art for art’s sake, okay, let us admit that, but we have got a Chief Minister who actually believes creativity drives innovation and economy. We have got a tool, but we have got a minister who is incapable of using that tool to the greater advantage of all.
Art and culture improve personal wellbeing. People who are more well in themselves are able to participate and are more productive. It is a logical sequence. But we are not using the funding that we have to improve that. I recall at one estimates hearing the Childers Group said, “We cannot engage with the department of education again
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