Page 760 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 19 March 2019
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There are other arts organisations that this Labor-Greens coalition fails to understand—I am hearing it—and one of them that I would like to dwell upon today is radio station ArtSound FM. And may I remind members that I am known to be a passionate and longtime supporter and member of ArtSound, and my senior adviser is an honorary life member.
This government says it does not fund ArtSound to “spin discs”. And, indeed, ArtSound does not use its funding for that purpose. It was dismissive and disrespectful of the organisation when the official used that expression a couple of years ago. And it shows a complete lack of understanding by this government of what ArtSound does. It is completely ignorant of the fact that ArtSound does much more.
Does it know about ArtSound’s presenter training programs that give members of the community the artistic skills of program preparation and presentation, interviewing and public speaking and an awareness of and appreciation for a wide range of music genres? Does it know that ArtSound’s on-air programs are presented to include music by local artists, sometimes recorded in ArtSound’s own recording studio, a studio, I might add, that was put together through the grit and determination of volunteers? The cost of reproducing those studios now would be substantial indeed.
Does the government know that ArtSound’s on-air programs expose audiences to music which they would never have considered before, including by local artists, and which fills a yawning gap in broadcasting practices by other stations in Canberra? Does it know that ArtSound promotes artistic events of Canberra’s arts organisations, both online and on air?
Does the government know that ArtSound is a sponsor of the young virtuoso competition? This national competition is open to aspiring classical instrumentalists under 25 and singers under 30. Canberra has produced two national winners in the past five years, both of them classical guitarists, Andrey Lebedev and Stephanie Jones. The ACT winner in 2017 was young pianist Hanul Lee, who migrated from Korea only six years ago. The competition was broadcast live on ArtSound FM and featured three other young artists, guitarist Owen Elliott, double bass player Hayley Manning, and flautist Ev Ramadan.
Does this government know that the 2017 McNair ingenuity research survey tells us that on average 49,000 Canberrans listen to community radio for almost 12 hours every week and that some 49,000 Canberrans listen mainly to hear local information and diverse specialist programs not heard elsewhere? They listen too because, like all community radio stations, ArtSound is independent; it is not owned by big business or government. They listen because they hear local voices telling local stories and playing local music. That is just what ArtSound does. Madam Assistant Speaker, I am sure you will agree, even if the Labor-Greens coalition government does not, ArtSound does a lot more than spin discs.
Another program that this Labor-Greens coalition has defunded is the music engagement program. This program was run out of the ANU and involved primary
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