Arts funding, Young Turks and old lexiconic straitjackets

Ironically, the euphemistic term “Young Turks” [1] • [2] is used rather loosely currently to imply that these ‘youngsters’ – new kids on the block – are change agents of a kind. Strangely the term is used in ways that seems to be ignorant of  –careless of perhaps? – the euphemism's historic context. You see, “the Young Turks were the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide”. Nonetheless, removed from, and oblivious to, their historic context, these contemporary Young Turks are sometimes lauded as cultural heroes of a kind.

Somewhat curiously, those who see themselves as being ‘put down’, marginalised or oppressed today applaud these so-called Young Turks to some extent – especially those  in 'the arts' who are predisposed to denigrate the ‘c word’. “Craft”, it seems, still carries so much negative cultural cargo despite the circularity and pointlessness of the argument.

The unknown feminist who once asked, ”how good does a female athlete have to be before we just call her an athlete” is rather like the ‘craftspeople’ who were once asking the same kind of question about their credibility as cultural producers. 

For some with long memories recall Daniel Thomas during his tenure as the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ chief curator talking about “high and low arts" – fine art and craft by implication as often as not. As recently as 2006 this idea bobbed up in an address – “ABORIGINAL ART: WHO WAS INTERESTED?”  – he gave at the National Gallery of Victoria, on Mabo Day, June 3 that year.

So, and in so many ways, it is not all that surprising that the  aspirational Young Turks championing new and innovative ‘arts practices’ might covet the funding enjoyed by a sector of arts funding with ‘lead in its saddlebags’. And it seems given that, and Craft Australia’s lexiconic straitjacket, and the 'givens'  implied in the ‘craft brand’ – excuse the mixed metaphors here – the so called ‘craft sector’ has come full circle in 40 years. It's a situation ready for a touch of cultural cleansing perhaps?

If only the pie were bigger or at least my slice was! If you are hungry perhaps the end always justifies the means. Well, it might so long as nobody is looking all that hard.

The Siloing Idea

siloing ... variant of silo ... definition: noun pl. silos ... an airtight pit or tower in which green fodder is preserved OR  a large, underground facility for the control, storage, and launching of a long-range ballistic missile ... transitive verb siloed, siloing ... to store in a silo

Sage Lewis in the context of the Internet writes: "Siloing is the idea of only linking out to other pages on your site and other outside resources that relate to that specific category or topic. So, if you had a cherry ice cream cone page, you would only link to resources discussing cherry ice cream cones. Information about chocolate ice cream cones and ice cream sundaes would either not be linked to or would be linked to using the no follow tag"

Silo effect ... "As of 2010 the phrase "silo effect", popular in the business and organizational communities, refers to a lack of communication and common goals between departments in an organization. It is the opposite of systems thinking in an organization. The silo effect gets its name from the farm storage silo; each silo is designated for one specific grain ... A lack of communication causes departmental thinking to lack ideas from other departments. A notable example of the silo effect in the real world is the beer distribution game, whose goal is to meet customer demand for cases of beer, through a multi-stage supply chain with minimal expenditure on back orders and inventory. Communication is against the rules so feelings of confusion and disappointment are common." ...  a kind of pejorative expression that is useful for describing the absence of operational reciprocity ... derived variants are "silo thinking", "silo vision", and "silo mentality".

Backgrounding The Visual Arts Board's Decision to Defund Craft Australia

CLICK HERE TO SEE CRAFT AUSTRALIA'S RESPONSE

The background for the Visual Arts Board (VAB) decision to defund CRAFT AUSTRALIA has apparently been made against a background of a secure future for contemporary visual arts funding. So it seems that the VAB’s grants and initiatives are not under any threat. But does this proposition stack up?

Therefore, it would seem, Australia's cultural producers can expect (or is it expected to expect?) that the VAB will continue to support the contemporary expression of art through the broadest range of visual media – apparently that will include craft, design, media arts and visual arts. The spin is that this support has included, and it is claimed that it will continue to include, grants to artists and funding for contemporary arts organisations along with the national/international events the VAB has traditionally funded. This has been claimed before albeit that the facts may not have always matched the rhetoric.

So the decision to "defund Craft Australia" requires some perspective and interrogation if these assertions are to be considered against the evidence and the outcomes.

The VAB claims to have assessed the business plans of a number of "Key Organisations"  and apparently this is the first such assessment since 2003. Consequently it seems that two new organisations were invited to submit their business plans.

Once the VAB approved their business plans it has been reported that a number of organisations were offered four year contracts in order that they be aligned with the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy funding – federal and state government initiative.

On the available evidence, all the applicants were required to address the "VAB key organisations selection criteria" along the following lines:

1. An organisation's significant contribution to the development of high quality contemporary art practice – service to the sector, touring initiatives, regional context etc.;
2. The 'appropriateness' of an organisation’s artistic and professional skills base;
3. The ways in which an organisation engages with the public demonstrated by audience development strategies and their outcomes;
4. Quality and Innovation in an organisation’s program; and
5.  Sustainable planning, governance and management that could be demonstrated by effective resource use, appropriate budgeting and the adequate remuneration of artists and staff.

The outcome appears to be that three organisations were unsuccessful – including Craft Australia. It also seems that two organisations will receive Key Organisations funding for the first time and apparently five organisations were put on notice – that is given one year funding and will be asked to resubmit their business plan.

Apparently the VAB "had concerns about the effectiveness of Craft Australia as a peak body". Reportedly there was also a perception that Craft Australia was overly reliant upon Federal Government funding. In some ways this is hardly surprising given that Craft Australia moved away from a membership base as a consequence of VAB requesting(?) that it do so – but that was some time ago.

Apparently this is seen as adversely impacting upon Craft Australia's capacity to be an effective advocate for the craft and design sector. So it can be extrapolated that the VAB wishes to, at the very least, cost shift 'craft funding' to the State agencies given the growth of State funding to the sector. However, it is unlikely to be quite as simple as that.

What seems to be missing in all this is any attempt to deliver an equitable outcome that took into account what was at risk given the unprecedented and unilateral decision making the VAB has engaged in in this case.

Indeed, the decision, once scrutinised, poses a great many questions in regard to the bureaucratic and cultural paradigm within which this defunding decision has been made.

A PROFILE OF AUSTRALIAN CULTURAL POLICIES

The International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) and the Australia Council for the Arts are pleased to publish Cultural policies in Australia.

Cultural policies in Australia offers an invaluable profile of arts and cultural polices across all spheres of government. It charts the development of federal and state cultural agencies, policy relating to all artforms, public and commercial media, Indigenous affairs, heritage, education, training and economic policy.

As well as being an important stand-alone document, the Australian cultural policy profile will also become part of WorldCP, a central, web-based database of country-specific profiles of cultural policies, modeled on the highly regarded Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe (www.culturalpolicies.net) which contains policy profiles of 41 European countries and Canada.

WorldCP is being developed by IFACCA and will be launched at the 5th World Summit on Arts and Culture, to be co-hosted by IFACCA and the Australia Council, with the support of Arts Victoria, in Melbourne in October 2011... CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

Australia Council Strategy Documents

Below is a link to the current Australia Council strategy document for the Visual Arts. During the last funding period has operated under this strategy.

Going forward, The Australia Council has informed Craft Australia that  they are going to develop a national craft and design strategy but as yet there has been no further information published regarding this initiative.

Were Craft Australia to continue, it would be expected to compete with other organisations in the normal funding rounds for this initiative, when they are announced.

Here is a link to the current strategies and policies provided by The Australia Council.

Strategies and policies http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/about_us/strategies_and_policies

New National Cultural Policy

GO TO: http://culture.arts.gov.au/

From the Minister for the Arts

After ten weeks of public consultation the Australian Government will be using your feedback in finalising the development of a new National Cultural Policy – the first in nearly 20 years.

Since the discussion paper on the National Cultural Policy was released in August, organisations, community groups and thousands of Australians – from all around the country and from many different backgrounds – have contributed valuable suggestions and feedback.

This policy will reflect the many conversations that have taken place across the nation. What I have heard, overwhelmingly, is that people do believe a new cultural policy is required.

Through the National Cultural Policy, we will work to support the arts and strengthen its contribution to a dynamic and diverse Australia.

The National Cultural Policy will set the framework for Australian Government support for arts, culture and creativity for the next ten years, providing us with a common strategic direction and rationale for current and future investment.

I would like to thank you all for your responses. It is anticipated that the final policy will be released in 2012.

THE HON SIMON CREAN MP

Crean's chance to make a difference to nation's cultural landscape

BY: LINDY HUME From: The Australian October 21, 2011 12:00AM

Arts Minister Simon Crean will consider responses to the new cultural policy discussion paper. Picture: Kym Smith Source: The Australian

THE preamble to the National Cultural Policy discussion paper envisages an Australian society in 10 years, when the arts are mainstreamed, embedded into the public consciousness via a range of government portfolios from health to tourism.

The core arts are presenting bold new Australian works to more culturally diverse audiences; creative industries are central to the success of nation-building infrastructure (read the National Broadband Network); regional Australia is creatively flourishing; and indigenous culture is front and centre.

Wonderful. I'm in. So how do we get there? ... CLICK HERE TO READ MORE