ABOLISH THE AUSTRALIA COUNCIL - QUESTION MARK
By Derek Strahan BA Cantab (Modern Languages, French & Spanish)
Part 4 - A RADICAL PROPOSITION
A RADICAL PROPOSITION - SIX POINTS
The proposition is:
THAT THE INDIVIDUAL CREATIVE ARTIST SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT AND THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEEK SUPPORT FOR HIS OR HER OWN WORK BY DIRECT PRIVATE TREATY WITH INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS WITHIN THE COMMUNITY.
A simple enough Proposition. It is hard to believe that anyone would object to it.
It falls into the category of a motherhood statement. And yet I assure you that after a century of the institutionalisation of art by academia and government sponsorship, it is a radical proposition.
Why do I say this Proposition is radical? Because if it is taken seriously enough to be acted upon, a number of implications would become apparent, and a number of developments would have to follow, which certain groups within the arts community might find threatening. Threatening to what? Threatening to the basis of their employment. By eroding the validity of their job description.
To put it bluntly: if artists are able to find their own support within the community, they will have less need to turn to government agencies to obtain support. Guess whose jobs will be at risk? But let's be systematic about this. Blunt talk does not allow for forensic analysis. For that we must create a points system.
SIX POINTS
Point 1. Direct support from private sector for individual artists?
Point 2. No need for funding from federal or state art bodies?
Point 3. No need for funding bodies?
Point 4. Nervous arts bureaucrats?
Point 5. Individual artists not empowered to find their own patrons.
Point 6 Statistics, damn statistics! Proving artists are poor!
Next >>
