Page 766 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 19 March 2019
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ACT students also benefit from Step into the Limelight, the major arts showcase event for ACT public schools, encompassing dance, drama, media, music and visual art. More than 2,000 students participate in these events annually, spending the prior months working closely with teachers, professional artists, tertiary institutions and arts organisations.
There are obviously a great many other organisations fostering the talent of young artists across a broad range of organisations, activities and art forms. My family has been very fortunate to participate over many years. I acknowledge the wonderful contribution of both schools and community bands last year on Remembrance Day as we held the largest simultaneous performance of community bands in ACT history. There is substantial investment and fostering by the ACT government in developing Canberra’s young writers and performing and visual artists, and this paints a very clear picture of the extent to which we value and support our next generations of creatives.
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (4.20): I thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for putting forward this MPI topic. Art in all its forms expands our understanding of ourselves and the world that we live in. There are countless studies that show the benefits of creating and engaging with art, particularly for our young people. Art enriches and strengthens our community and contributes to our health and wellbeing. It should be open and accessible to all members of our community.
We have a great arts community in Canberra. I particularly commend our arts community at the grassroots level: our young people who may not have adequate funding or support but are still creating and sharing their art simply because they can and they love it. It takes courage to do creative work, and a lot of resilience.
I commend the performance art and comedy duo Sweaty Pits Comedy; local bands such as Miss Adventure and Moaning Lisa; Yucky the Drag Queen, who performs at Tuggeranong Arts Centre; and artist Sancho Murphy, who runs the art store Sancho’s Dirty Laundry. I commend the gig guide and bookings provider Canberra DIY, feminist literature and arts journal Feminartsy, and local promoters Mulgara, to name a few. I also commend the ACT government for improving local arts content in its events. I recently asked a question on notice about local content in Enlighten and it came back with a very creditable statement of 88 per cent of the artistic content being local, which is brilliant.
A critical element when it comes to developing our young artists and developing our young people in general is arts education. Not only is this very beneficial for mental development but it is also a great way to get children engaged in learning of any kind. Professor Susan Hallam of the Institute of Education, University of London, discovered that learning music, for instance, improves students’ behaviour and intelligence and actually enlarges the left side of the brain, improving memory by an average of 20 per cent.
Canberra Youth Theatre runs specialised workshops for seven to 25 year olds and also has a young artists advisory panel, which is focused on creating greater accessibility
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