Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says she ‘grew up in a home where art was something that was practiced as part of our day-to-day’. Image supplied.
Cuts and more cuts to the cultural sector by the Coalition Government have seen artists pushed below the poverty line while galleries and studios have shut their doors. Despite this, Australians haven’t given up on the arts, with participation in the arts continuing to grow. The Greens know the cultural and economic importance of the arts. That’s why we have a comprehensive plan to breathe life back into creative Australia.
Like many Australians, I have a long and deep appreciation for the arts. My Mum is an artist. I grew up in a home where art was something that was practiced as part of our day-to-day. My parents went on to run a community arts space in rural Victoria. I know how important this work is both in communities, and now as arts spokesperson, for our economy and our national identity.
Investing in creativity and the arts is essential for helping us solve some of the biggest challenges facing humanity. It is through art that we connect across cultures and celebrate, rather than fear, difference. It is through creativity that we broaden our imagination and create new ideas and solutions to our biggest and smallest challenges.
A Living Arts Fund
The Greens believe that the value of artistic creation is intrinsic as well as extrinsic. The value to Australia’s economy of our cultural output amounts to over $110 billion in 2016-17. At the same time, 98% of Australian artists received Newstart between 2010 and 2015. Our artists create enormous value and are living in poverty. Artists who qualify for Newstart must prove they are looking for work regularly, which reduces their capacity to produce culturally and economically enriching artistic content.
Artists contribute to Australian cultural life, but they are forced to do it part-time and often for no pay at all. The average Australian artist lives below the poverty line, working multiple jobs and sometimes even taking unemployment payments in order to keep the lights on. 98% of Australian artists received Newstart between 2010 and 2015. The arts are too valuable to be a part-time contribution.
The Greens will create an opt-in ‘Living Arts’ fund, to guarantee participating artists an income subsidy equal to the difference between their other income and a living wage. In exchange, the Fund will own a small share of every creative work produced by the participating artist, and have a non-binding right of first bid if and when it is sold.
It is through art that we connect across cultures and celebrate, rather than fear, difference.
Revenue from the Fund will be reinvested into income support for other artists who are yet to make a profit, ensuring that our biggest and brightest stars in the cultural arts sector invest in the next generation of Australian artists.
A Creativity Commission
The future economy will require ‘soft-skills’ – that means we need a society equipped to understand and benefit from the creative sector. With a $10 million a year fund, the Greens will establish a multi-disciplinary Creativity Commission to provide oversight, advice and structural support to the creative sector and beyond.
The Creativity Commission will support the growth of the creative economy while also building our creative capacities and ideas to inform policy, initiatives and industry.
A Creativity Commission will help us transition from STEM thinking to STEAM thinking by integrating the creativity, usually reserved for the arts, throughout the economy and society. The Greens understand that the future will require investment in creativity and innovation, not just ‘hard skills’ in science, technology, engineering and maths, and the Creativity Commission will help create and sustain those integrated pathways.
Restoring and improving funding
Creativity is the bedrock of innovation and, in a fast-changing global economy, couldn’t be more important. But in Australia the creative industries are under threat from funding cuts and policy that is not keeping up with the digital age. Investing in Australian creativity requires a multi-pronged approach. That’s why we will strengthen Australian content quotas, develop a content creator fund and restore funding to the Australia Council. This threefold approach, combined with our Creativity Commission, will set up structures, funding and regulations that lay the foundations to comprehensively support Australian creativity.
The Australia Council
Despite 98% of Australians participating annually in the arts, the peak government funding and advisory body for the arts, the Australia Council, has seen its funding dramatically reduced from pre-2013 levels by the Coalition government. This has disproportionately affected small and medium arts organisations. We will restore and index funding to the Australia Council to support the development and production of the arts at a scale and ambition that reflects Australia’s commitment to and participation in the arts.
Content Quotas
Local content quotas are the greatest boost for Australian creative content we have. They ensure there’s always a market for Australian production and recording companies, writers, directors, musicians, talent and stories. Currently, local content quotas are weak, unambitious and poorly enforced. Children’s content quotas are being filled with the cheapest content possible, instead of the best, while Australian musicians struggle to be heard on Australian airwaves. The Greens will fight for effective local content requirements for broadcast, radio, subscription and streaming services, like Netflix and Stan.
Screen Australia and a Content Creator Fund
As well as restoring funding to Screen Australia, the Greens recognise that grassroots content creation needs access to support and funding. Local content creates jobs and sustains creative industries in Australia. The Greens will establish a Content Creator Fund to set aside a grant fund of $50 million each year for the production of local content. This fund will support high-quality local content, our creative industry and, importantly, allow Australians to keep telling their own stories. As part of the Greens’ commitment to First Nations media, $2 million of this fund will be available exclusively for First Nations content creation.
Artists in classrooms
When students participate in creative enrichment programs and initiatives, their motivation, confidence and aspirations for further education all increase. But too many kids are discouraged from participating in the arts, either because their school can’t afford an arts program or because they’re convinced it’s too hard to turn their passion into a creative career. That’s why the Greens will commit $150 million over four years to an artistic partnership program to fund artists working with teachers in classrooms around the country to deliver artistic education.
The program will offer grants of $10,000 for individual creative professionals to work alongside teachers in a classroom for approximately 20 days, and $30,000 for arts or cultural organisations to work with schools for at least 20 days. Current artists will work alongside aspiring artists to engage them and foster their talent. Whether they want to be a poet, a painter, a sculptor or a musician, the Greens will ensure young Australians can see firsthand that it’s possible.
The Greens long commitment to the arts in Australia will not end with a change in government. We are determined to keep up the pressure and ensure the arts and artists are recognised for the critical role they play in our shared cultural and economic life. We know creativity will be at the centre of our future economy. We want to ensure that artists are recognised for their contribution and supported to help us all make the transition into that future.
Labor’s formal arts policy launch will be held in Melbourne on Saturday 11 May; ArtsHub will be in attendance.
The Coalition Government has yet to release an arts policy; they did not have a formal arts policy at either the 2013 or 2016 elections.
