Background

For several years, the Federal Government has been planning to write a National Cultural Policy.  In early 2010 there was a submission process and we have excerpts of those submissions on this website.  In mid-2011 the Minister, Simon Crean, invited another round of submissions on the National Cultural Policy.  The discussion paper framed the questions and discussion in a different way but many of the issues have not changed since the previous round of written submissions.

Some submissions are online – click here to have a look.

The Music Council of Australia made a very substantial contribution with a detailed and wide ranging submission.  You can read all 104 glorious pages of it here. This is our submission, which is supplementary to the MCA’s.

Submission on the National Cultural Policy

Alongside the submission by the Music Council on a wide range of topics, the Australian  Youth Music Council presents the following discussion of four topics:

• Small Grants
• Youth Participation
• Career Development
• Management

The Australia Council has released another research paper, which “looks at ways in which the policy relationship between these often polarised sectors of arts and creative industries might be re-thought and approached more productively.”

One of the AYMC’s newest members, Asher Christophers, is championing the Green Music movement in Australia.  The Australian Green Music Coalition is looking for interested people to get involved.

Following the green music panel held at Music Council of Australia’s 2010 annual assembly, a plan has been set in motion to form the Australian Green Music Coalition (AusGMC).

At its meeting yesterday, ArtsPeak, the confederation of 25 Australian national
peak arts organisations voiced its concern at the invisibility of the arts in the federal election campaign.

To celebrate the International Year of Youth and AYMC’s first birthday we’re holding a Youth Music Conference on 25 September, 2010. We want to look at the issues facing young musicians, hear from a range of speakers from different backgrounds, and discuss the way forward for the AYMC and youth music in Australia.

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. 

In their discussion paper ‘New Models New Money’, Arts Queensland and the Centre for Social Impact propose the establishment of a Foundation for the Artist – the first of its kind in Australia – to bring together public, private and corporate funding for artists and the creation of new work.

In an ever growing digital environment, where the spread of recorded music has moved from scarcity to ubiquity, young musicians and music professionals are faced with a situation that looks vastly different to that experienced by previous generations.