Right now the grand-sounding new Australian National Cultural Policy is sitting in some desk drawer in Canberra waiting to be announced, and that is not a bad thing. The last one I remember, the Keating Government's Creative Nation announcement, was a disaster for many small studios who were "incentivised" to produce material on CD-ROM at the very moment the internet came of age. They went to market with products nobody wanted and when the seed money ran out closed by the dozen, leaving behind broken dreams and tens of thousands of CD's nobody wanted to buy.
If the new Australian National Cultural Policy remains spectral it left a trace on the Victorian state budget, with millions earmarked for "major Victorian companies" to support innovation and leverage additional (but unannounced) Commonwealth Government support. There are rumours that a fund for artistic excellence will be established, to fund innovation in the performing arts. When I heard about it I asked Minister Crean's office if it would fund (for example) Stelarc's extra ear implant, and got a vague answer about "culturally significant institutions", so I guess not.
The Federal budget allocation for the arts is quite impressive. SBS will be saved with an injection of capital, provided it supports the National Indigenous Television Service, an initiative supported up to now by the Australian Film Television and Radio School and some dedicated individuals. Commercial TV broadcasters get a discount on their license fees, provided they keep producing local dramas. Fox studios gets millions to assist in the production of the new Wolverine movie. Allowing for inflation the Australia Council's budget has been cut, and Screen Australia's has been hacked. Film producers will have to find more development money from the private sector by 2016. All this without the benefit of a policy announcement.
When it does come the new Australian National Cultural Policy looks like maintaining the status-quo. Hey, isn't that the one thing artists are supposed to rebel against?
I think that Stelarc's 'ear on arm' has been well funded through his various grants, the position he holds overseas and his lecture tours. Apparently the Policy has had much input from the community, and although it was to be released a few weeks back has been delayed. Interesting to see if it is ever launched and what it means for the majority of artists, not just those artists who are always funded!
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