The relationship between the art world and the market economy has long been one of Sturm und Drang. Deep down, a battle of weltanschauung plays out between light and dark, sky and earth, imagination and…
Indian artists such as Bhupen Khakhar may be gaining international acclaim, but more is needed to help build and maintain a strong infrastructure for artists at home.
In the words of Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger, “the injustice of it is almost perfect”. Last week, Jason Potts argued here that the cuts made to around 60 cultural organisations under the Australia…
Did Adam Bandt have the numbers right on arts funding?
AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
Last night’s budget failed to offer a compelling overall policy framework and vision for the arts in Australia. Like a Beckett play, narratively not much is going on.
In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was “innovation” – at least, it was this time round. In 2015, the Word was “excellence”. And in the antediluvian era of the 1980s and 1990s, the Word was, variously…
Local voices are more important than ever in a time of global oligopolies.
i naina _94/flickr
In a global era dominated by Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google, we need to find persuasive, creative ways to answer those who claim the national and local are now irrelevant. If we don’t, we will become invisible.
The West Australian Ballet (pictured) is one of the beneficiaries of the Catalyst fund.
Cortlan Bennett/APP
Decisions made by the federal government’s Catalyst arts fund are shrouded in secrecy and mystery. How are they reached and where is the transparency in deciding who receives money?
Artist-run initiatives are a major creative driver in Australia’s art environment.
Lesley Giovanelli 'Continental Drift' Articulate project space 2015/Silversalt photography
Small arts organisations are facing savage cuts in May. These vibrant collectives are a vital part of the Australian art ecology, and deserve better than slow strangulation.
Malcolm is erudite and charming, but that doesn’t translate into a better deal for artists.
Mick Tsikas
Australia has one of the world’s best reference libraries, available freely to anyone with an internet connection. Severe funding cuts will cripple Trove’s capacity – and that should worry everyone.
Graffiti by LMNOPI in Brooklyn, New York.
Carlo Allegri/Reuters
With a change in prime minister and a new arts minister there has been an acknowledgement perhaps that the arts matter. But have the needs and concerns of the arts sector have been understood?
Following a sustained and vocal campaign by the arts sector, the National Program for Excellence in the Arts has been canned.
AAP Image/Alan Porritt
Following a sustained and vocal campaign by the arts sector, the controversial National Program for Excellence in the Arts has been rethought and renamed. Should we be celebrating or concerned?
It’s time to embrace a more collaborative approach to cultural leadership.
opensource.com
Young, experimental arts practitioners are exploring new ways to think about cultural leadership. But if we see leadership as a form of action rather than a role, how should we teach it?
A new discussion paper examines the many challenges faced by Australia’s four flagship opera companies.
Opera Australia
Amid dwindling audiences and rising production costs, Australian opera is facing its first national review. So what are the solutions put forward so far?
The ills that afflict any society can be dealt with much more effectively when the arts are integrated into the national conversation.
John Gollings/AAPONE
What if Malcolm Turbull’s conception of “21st-century government” imagines a healthy civil society and a responsive economy that values debate, imagination, difference and surprise - all provided by the arts.
Through the Gordon Darling Foundation, the Darlings undertook a vast range of activities in keeping with their vision for the arts in Australia.
Gordon Darling handing over a portrait of Sir Donald Bradman AC to Andrew Sayers, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, in 2008. AAP Image/National Portrait Gallery
The death of Gordon Darling last month reminded many in the arts community of the key role that he played in fostering the visual arts in Australia. But should his contribution have been more widely noted?
Art is all around us, all the time. Where does it come from? It’s just ‘there’ …
Adelaide's Follow the White Rabbit, an Alice in Wonderland inspired exhibition in January. AAP Image/NEWZULU/Sam Talbot
The Senate Inquiry into the 2015-16 arts budget cuts continued in Adelaide last week. If nothing else, it provided a timely reminder that art - and the lives of artists - matter.
Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne