On Wednesday, Linda Swinfield finished 16 years of teaching at TAFEs in NSW. Her TAFE was advised of cuts in July 2012. Staff reductions began rolling out in October. This year enrolments to arts courses where she taught dropped 50% because students couldn’t afford the sudden and dramatic increase in fees. Fewer students meant fewer teachers. Some had to go. She was one of them.
Swinfield has written this open letter in an appeal to have the cuts reconsidered. She encourages everyone affected by these cuts to submit their views to a House of Representatives inquiry into the role of TAFE before April 18.
I have just been made formally redundant after teaching in TAFE for approximately 16 years across three regional institutes teaching a wide range of subjects including professional arts practice, museum practice, drawing, painting and printmaking. I recently assisted with implementation of a museum and gallery practice course up here at Newcastle Art School that interns students in three regional galleries and many museums throughout this region. Last year two students gained paid employment as artists before the end of their course. One was trained in the Fine Arts at Foster/Tuncurry TAFE.
I handed back my keys last night as I watched three years of students graduate including the first round of museum students from the Hunter TAFE. It was a defining moment for me to see individuals grow confidence and develop skills necessary for the world we live in as artists. I hope this government and/or future governments grow to understand the loss/es of the role of Fine Art funding in TAFE within education and community development, particularly in linking up suburban structures in cities and regional centres.
Fine Arts education has played a key role as a stepping stone for students who have traditionally felt less confident and were less academically inclined to gain skills and confidence to apply for higher degrees. This includes students with many disabilities across neurological and physical spectrums. I have seen many students gain employment and gain confidence to apply for jobs and develop as academics since I arrived at Newcastle Art School in 2000 and from the Western Institute before that.
Many of the local regional and community galleries in the Hunter Region are being run and have been set up by students. Three staff at my local regional gallery (Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery) are ex-students. Cessnock Regional Gallery has also recently appointed a director who is one of our graduates and four of our local artist-run spaces were set up by ex-TAFE teachers and are now being run by TAFE graduates.
There are so many success stories that I cannot name them all in one email. I have seen students gain exhibitions throughout the world, win grants, art prizes, scholarships, develop teaching careers, work as art workers within communities making murals and public artworks and gain local council employment.
I am also an alumni member of the Sydney Gallery School (1979-1980) where I started as a young artist of 17. I did eventually go onto gain a degree as many of our students still do, but my skills were established at Meadowbank TAFE.
I am very proud of my work history within TAFE and connections to TAFE. There are so many other ex-teachers like me that at the moment are grieving the loss of the strength it had. We all hope that returns.
This process of change and the removal of funds in art teaching within TAFE has disrupted the education of the current students and worn down the staff that remain. It has worn down regional communities throughout the state. TAFE Fine Arts courses have a key role within our communities for students who haven’t ‘fitted’ into the system of school training. It is a major mistake to remove this vital funding. Don’t strip it back any more. Please turn this process around and reinstate this VITAL community resource for the future of art in this state and communities throughout Australia.
Whilst I am treading water a little at the moment before I contemplate the next direction, I cannot imagine a life without art as it has been my life. I will spend some time contemplating life after TAFE as a statistic of this tragic decision. I will return as an artist to the community as a community arts worker and continue to provide support for young and emerging artists, as they are the next generation of educators in skills development and the creative process.
Linda Swinfield
