Marcus Westbury and Ben Eltham recently wrote an essay on Australia’s need for a Cultural Policy, and re-thinking how Governments make policy decisions about culture.
Some of the issues and opinions raised in the article are:
- There are numerous examples of regulations restricting cultural activity, often unnecessarily and unintentionally, but often perpetrated by the same Governments that support cultural in other ways.
- Cultural policy cuts across many government portfolios and encompasses a vast swathe of everyday life
- The reliance on the Australia Council as the primary agency for cultural policy is inherently unsustainable.
- There is a need for a holistic approach to culture. This piece lists, as an example, the many seperate Government agencies which are involved in film, but argues that Australia’s cultural policy is hopelessly fragmented across many agencies, leaving great gaps
- Our arts funding focuses too heavily on heritage (mostly European) arts, rather than contemporary Australian arts, and this is unjustified
The article proposes 5 policy solutions:
- Recognise that “cultural policy” is about more than funding for the arts.
- Abandon the false divide between high art and popular culture.
- Create a new cultural agency for contemporary Australian culture.
- Cut the red-tape that affects culture.
- Fund artists and production, not institutions.
If you’re interested, read Cultural Policy in Australia by Marcus Westbury and Ben Eltham on the Centre for Policy Development’s More Than Luck website
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