Arts budgets in the age of catastrophe: the case of NSW
By JUDITH WHITE In the panic over the coronavirus, arts organisation are pleading for support as performances and festivals are cancelled, museums and galleries close and whole areas of the country are threatened with lockdown. The sector’s union, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) [...]
Culture and the climate catastrophe
This summer’s Australian bushfires, says Sir David Attenborough, signal a crisis point for Earth. They also signal a crisis point in the ideological struggle within Australia over the future of the country and the world we live in. Scrambling to repair his prime ministership from [...]
SOS for the arts against government attacks
The Australian summer has begun with two disastrous developments: out-of-control bushfires, and out-of-control governments waging war on the arts, sciences and civil liberties. The Morrison Government in Canberra and the Berejiklian Government in Sydney both seem hell-being on reversing key cultural gains of the past [...]
NSW arts policy officially in ruins
Arm’s length funding of the arts is the hallmark of a government attempting to work in the interests of the people. It prevents the arts being used as a political football, and together with peer assessment fosters the development of creativity. It was the founding [...]
Arts vandalised in NSW
Minister Harwin dismisses key report Buoyed by the re-election of the NSW Berejiklian Government in March, Minister for the Arts Don Harwin is ploughing ahead with the controversial move of the Powerhouse Museum (above) from Ultimo to Parramatta. He has at last responded to the [...]
Arts, culture and the Australian elections
The Federal election on Saturday 18 May has profound implications for culture, heritage and the arts – and voters would be well advised to take heed of what is happening in NSW. By JUDITH WHITE NSW – a case study in cultural vandalism Since its [...]