{"id":12898,"date":"2019-02-22T04:03:50","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T04:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cultureheist.com.au\/?p=12898"},"modified":"2019-02-23T02:33:05","modified_gmt":"2019-02-23T02:33:05","slug":"a-call-to-action-save-our-culture-save-ourselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/2019\/02\/22\/a-call-to-action-save-our-culture-save-ourselves\/","title":{"rendered":"A call to action: Save our culture, save ourselves!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JUDITH WHITE\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Soccer, refugees and the arts<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Former Socceroos captain Craig Foster has written an impassioned open letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten pleading for humane treatment of refugees.<\/p>\n

Waiting until refugee footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi is safely home in Australia (they are pictured together, above), he writes: \u201cThe fact that Parliament faced such a considerable challenge to pass legislation simply to provide medical care to refugees, fellow human beings, shows that we have gone too far, strayed from our basic values of humanity, that we need to step back and consider as a nation who we are and what we stand for. The policy of indefinite, offshore detention does not uphold our international obligations and we need to be strong enough to admit this and to find a fair and humane solution to this crisis of our conscience\u2026 We all saved Hakeem, together, and it will be up to all of our national leaders, irrespective of who ultimately prevails in the forthcoming election, to ensure that we now save ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does this have to do with the crisis in Australia\u2019s cultural institutions? Everything!<\/p>\n

The creative, outward-looking society I found when I arrived in this country as an immigrant in 1986 drew its strength from free education and institutions that encouraged independent thinking and artistic expression. The neoliberal agenda espoused by both major political parties, and rabidly promoted by the Murdoch media, has eroded those values in favour of a culture of greed and xenophobia. The \u201cfair go\u201d was replaced by a tawdry free-for-all, and a few prospered while the rest fell behind.<\/p>\n

In 2014 a group of artists boycotted the Sydney Biennale because its long-term sponsor the Transfield foundation had an indirect connection, through its parent Transfield company, to a $1.2 billion contract for running the refugee camps on Manus and Nauru. The artists were lambasted by then Federal Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Arts Minister George Brandis. Turnbull accused them of \u201cvicious ingratitude\u201d and Brandis asked the Australia Council to deny funding to artists who \u201cunreasonably\u201d rejected private funding.<\/p>\n

There was, and is, a legitimate debate to be had about the relationship between corporate sponsorship and the arts. But in its political context, the Biennale episode became part of a race to the bottom in Australian politics to sideline humanitarian concern for refugees in the name of \u201cstopping the boats\u201d \u2013 which the current Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, was then busy doing as Immigration Minister, something he still boasts about.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Award-winning writer Behrouz Boochani, imprisoned on Manus Island<\/p><\/div>\n

Not everyone has been intimidated. Members of the arts community have been in the forefront of standing up for asylum seekers. Think of the outstanding Refugee Art Project, of the recent award of Victoria\u2019s main literary prize to Manus refugee Behrouz Boochani for his book No Friend but the Mountains, <\/em>of Man Booker prize-winning author Richard Flanagan\u2019s denunciation of the \u201chell for refugees\u201d that successive governments have created.<\/p>\n

There are many Australians who agree with Craig Foster that the time has come to \u201csave ourselves\u201d. That means reasserting our humanitarian obligations to asylum seekers, meeting the requirements of indigenous peoples laid out in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and returning our cultural and educational institutions to the mission for which they were founded: to raise the cultural level of society, give free and open access to everyone, and promote the public good.<\/p>\n

“Toxic planning” in Emerald City<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Premier Gladys Berejiklian\u2019s NSW Government stands accused by some of the State\u2019s most experienced museum professionals and former board members of a culture of \u201ctoxic planning\u201d and of repeatedly using \u201cflawed factoids\u201d, a practice in which Arts Minister Don Harwin is considered \u201cthe worst offender\u201d.<\/p>\n

The accusations came at the most recent hearing, on 11 February, of the Upper House Inquiry into Museums and Galleries. Established in June 2016 and chaired by Shooters and Fishers MLC Robert Borsak, it has focused on the plan, first announced under Premier turned banker Mike Baird, to move the Powerhouse Museum from Ultimo to Parramatta.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The award-winning Ultimo home of the Powerhouse Museum<\/p><\/div>\n

The 11 February hearing, expected to be the last before the 23 March State election, came after January\u2019s announcement by Arts Minister Harwin of new appointments to the museum\u2019s Board of Trustees. New directors include Darren Steinberg, CEO of investment manager Dexus, Paddy Carney of accountancy giant PwC, and David Borger of the Western Sydney Business Chamber.<\/p>\n

In evidence to the inquiry former President Nick Pappas said he considered the new trustees \u201chighly unsuitable\u201d, adding: \u201cThe role and purpose of a great museum is to inspire and to stimulate exploration and thinking, not to tick the boxes of the government of the day. People understand the fiduciary obligations when they take part in trust discussions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hon. SHAOQUETT MOSELMANE: Have they met their fiduciary obligations?<\/p>\n

\u201cMr PAPPAS: I believe they have not.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hon. SHAOQUETT MOSELMANE: They have not?<\/p>\n

\u201cMr PAPPAS: They have not.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hon. SHAOQUETT MOSELMANE: Can you elaborate a little on that? In what way?<\/p>\n

\u201cMr PAPPAS: For the very reasons I have already stated they have become obsequious followers to the whim of Government, which is not why statutory trusts exist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hon. WALT SECORD: Do you believe they have just become cheerleaders for the property deal?<\/p>\n

\u201cMr PAPPAS: Cheerleaders and fawning participants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hon. WALT SECORD: Beneficiaries, maybe.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr PAPPAS: I will stop there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the most colourful evidence came from Lionel Glendenning, the museum\u2019s Architect of Record, who has referred to the Premier as \u201cGladys in Wonderland\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Lionel Glendenning, Architect of Record<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cA broad pattern,\u201d he said, \u201cemerges in almost every government document, consultant report and statement\u2026 There have been factually flawed factoids; unprofessional opinions; false statements; inaccurate figures; an ignorance of impacts, particularly flooding, collection risks, expensive implicit relocation costs and astronomic building costs with no alternatives; and a blind attachment to the slogan \u2018Move the Powerhouse Museum\u2019. In reality it is a semantic and physical impossibility\u2026 It goes back to that very thing that David Williamson wrote about in Emerald City<\/em>. God help us, it has come to pass\u2014the asset stripping; the belief that somehow the highest and best use is a giant apartment building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brad Finley Baker, who was for 25 years Powerhouse manager of exhibition development and design, testified to the Inquiry about the damaging impact of the \u201cefficiency dividend\u201d spending cuts on the entire sector:<\/p>\n

\"\"

Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Arts Minister Don Harwin<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe most significant failure of the [NSW Government\u2019s] report in my opinion is that it underestimates the significance of staff reductions and restructuring which have taken a great deal of corporate knowledge, technical skills and most importantly the personal connections of people around the museum industry both nationally and internationally. The issue is not simply one about failing infrastructure\u2026 the people are an organisation’s greatest asset and I believe that they have been, to a large degree, poorly served\u2026 Over the last few years where I worked at the Powerhouse, efficiency dividends were biting very hard into our ability to change over galleries and to build new exhibitions \u2026 Redundancy programs have been run over the last several years. We have lost incredibly highly skilled staff through the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennifer Sanders, former deputy director of the Powerhouse, picked apart the \u201cbusiness case\u201d which had been kept secret until the Upper House forced its partial disclosure last year. The document was developed in the context of the Government\u2019s 2016 announcement of a $600 million \u201ccultural infrastructure\u201d fund. \u201cThis $600 million,\u201d she said, \u201cwas dangled like a carrot on a stick before NSW cultural entities vying to maximise the dollars for their bailiwicks with little thought given to a coherent, value-for-money approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

The entire transcript<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0of the hearing is worth reading for anyone who cares about these matters.<\/p>\n

What the Inquiry has revealed is that the financial projections for the cultural infrastructure spend are now looking hopelessly over-optimistic. Lionel Glendenning and others have estimated the real cost of the Powerhouse move at between $1.2 and $1.5 billion; while leading museum consultant Kylie Winkworth estimates that the true cost of the grandiose Sydney Modern extension at the Art Gallery of NSW will cost more than double the advertised estimate of $344 million \u2013 not to mention the increase in running costs for which the secret business case has made no known provision.<\/p>\n

Both projects threaten to become millstones around the neck of the next government, whoever wins the March State election. Labor has now said it will halt the Powerhouse move if it wins, and that is to be welcomed, but its published policy<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0fails to address the crucial question of the \u201cefficiency dividend\u201d and the hidden burden of recurrent funding for institutions.<\/p>\n

Supporters of galleries and museums will need to remain ever vigilant if we are to have a chance of saving our culture.<\/p>\n

For more background, order your copy of ‘Culture Heist’ at a special online price, HERE<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

NSW Labor leader Michael Daley announces his arts policy<\/p><\/div>\n

Updated 4pm 22 Feb – an earlier version incorrectly listed the new directors of MAAS. Apologies for any confusion.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By JUDITH WHITE\u00a0 Soccer, refugees and the arts Former Socceroos captain Craig Foster has written an impassioned open letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten pleading for humane treatment of refugees. Waiting until refugee footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi is safely home in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12898"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12898"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12909,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12898\/revisions\/12909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}