Planet of the Apes | Fund the Arts response to the budget and Labor’s budget reply:

Planet of the Apes | Fund the Arts response to the budget and Labor’s budget reply:

Tuesday’s budget was a horror one for many of the 408,000 people working in the arts and creative sector.

In the 2019 election, the LNP entered with no arts policy, Labor only a nominal one. After winning the 2019 election the govt packed up the arts ministry and folded it into infrastructure & regional development – a portent of the type of attitude the creative sector could expect in the next three years.

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Since 2013 the sector has seen an 18.9% fall in investment, 19% fall in artists incomes, Australian content squeezed to 4% of streaming services, Australian literature funding fall from $8.9mn to $5.2mn, the ABC eviscerated, arts education gutted, kids TV budgets halved. The list is interminable.

And that’s before we hit COVID-19 which managed to wipe out music performances for 2 years, theatre for 2 years and close 75% of art galleries. The government responded with a welcome $220mn in RISE funding.

Although there were some strange decisions, like giving Guns n Roses $600,000, that funding was welcome, but the $38mn promised over the next two years doesn’t touch the sides.

Overall the budget forecasts $190mn of further cuts, or 19%. That is on top of the 19% reduction in arts investment in the preceding decade. The full catalogue of horrors can be viewed in the Creativity in Crisis report written by Ben Eltham & Alison Pennington.

This is Planet of the Apes stuff. A return to a period in which the government has either given up on the production of Australian culture or is it happy to see it slowly die in the corner. When you were lucky to see an Australian film or TV show.

But to their credit, both the Liberal Gorton Government, and the Whitlam Government, began investing in Australian stories on the big and small screen, leading us into a Golden Age.

Iconic films like Picnic at Hanging Rock, Gallipoli and Muriel’s Wedding, or uniquely Australian TV shows like Prisoner, Neighbours or Rake. Now we have returned to the late 60s with sub 4% content while other nations like Canada, Italy & France have insisted on content quotas.

That brings us to Labor’s response. Albo says he wants to support Australian industries and Australian jobs through advanced manufacturing, green tech and the services sector. What about the creative sector?

On jobs, there are 9 jobs created for every $1mn invested (construction is 1 job per $1mn). One the economy the sector is worth $111.7bn per year. But the biggest dividend is not limited to the sector but the Australian people.

When you invest in the arts you get something the nation owns forever: film, music, TV shows, books, and art. What is the identity of Australia without The Castle, without Cold Chisel, without My Brilliant Career, with Sidney Nolan’s Ned Kelly?

Albo also said he wants an optimistic future, one that leaves no-one behind and that he’s on your side. If you want an optimistic future Albo and Tony Burke, you can start by supporting the creative sector which is the future as we head into an AI-based world.

The budget and the budget reply doesn’t even mention the sector, doesn’t deign. Too elite? Who is the first to raise money for bushfire victims, for flood victims for a million causes despite living in precarious employment?

It is shameful that this sector has been left out to dry. That an industry always so generous and keen to pitch in is soon deserted. Well, the 408,000 people in the creative sector won’t forget this election. Nor will those who love Australian film, music, TV, literature, art & performances.

If this message resonates with you, please contact us and help campaign to put arts back on the agenda this election. fundthearts@gmail.com

Campaign updates

Here’s what we’ve been up to in the last fortnight…

Update - 6 Feb 2022

Authors, arts bodies, and ex-PMs hop onboard the campaign!

The last fortnight has been a busy time for Fund the Arts on the media, political, and arts front. That activity includes:

• talking to Latika Bourke about an exclusive on the campaign across Fairfax. Jonathan Keasrley from 9 is also interested in a TV piece. We have a spot lined up on PBS radio in Melbourne, an opinion piece in the next edition of Australian Book Review (ABR), as well as an ABR podcast appearance. We have also had recent appearances in The Age and The Australian. Our media lives here.

• we are in discussions with two major arts representative bodies around providing support and possibly talent for the campaign.

• Australian Book Review became an official ally, and Peter Rose and Prof Sarah Holland-Batt both became campaign Ambassadors; helping us do media and meet with politicians

• National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) also became a campaign ally

• Tony Burke's office has contacted us for a meeting

• we are in the process of organising political tours with Voices of candidates in Kooyong (Monique Ryan), Goldstein (Zoe Daniel), North Sydney (Kylea Tink), Wenworth (Allegra Spender), and Boothby (Jo Dyer). We have had other approaches from candidates from Groom and Hughes and are looking at media opportunities there

• we are partnering with Readings on a Livestream event being held in Kooyong and talking about the future of Australian writing with author Emily Bitto, playwright Joanna Murray-Smith, Editor of ABR Peter Rose, and media and arts academic and FTA Ambassador Ben Eltham.

• we believe 5 arts organisations will be officially supporting us in the next month following board meetings

• we have begun the process of reaching out to music promoters for fundraising concerts and PR opportunities with well-known Australian bands.

• and last but not least we will be talking in mid-Feb with a former Australian PM about supporting the campaign!

Fund the Arts response to horror federal budget for the arts

The creative sector has been left exasperated by last night's budget which delivered a 19% cut after a decade of austerity and severe cuts that includes: 

• an 18.9% per capita drop in investment,

• a 19% drop in artists' income,

• $783mn cut from the ABCs annual budgets,

• 2% Australian content on streaming services like Netflix,

• free music and arts programs being hollowed out in schools,

• children's TV budgets halved,

• Australian taxpayer money going to support overseas projects (Guns N Roses concert, Godzilla). That's fine but that's a job's policy, not an industry policy that supports our own screen sector

• Lack of high quality scripted Australian content

• Australian content no longer advertised on free to air and relegated to sub stations like 10 Peach (that's where Neighbours was sent to die)

• Funding for literature falling from $8.9m in 2013-14 to $5.2m in 2020-21

• 75% of art galleries closing during COVID

• funding for youth theatre groups dropping from 21 to 5,

• the National Archives having to crowdfund to literally save our cultural legacy from crumbling to dust after not getting any funding in the 2020 May budget,

• the arts ministry getting rolled into infrastructure and regional development,

'After a torrid 10 years for the arts sector last night's arts budget was a horrific and highly disappointing outcome,' says Dr Ben Eltham, campaign ambassador for the Funder the Arts coalition and media and arts academic at Monash University.

'With the end of RISE and cuts to many programs in the Arts portfolio, funding falls by $200 million this year. Funding keeps falling all the way out to 2025-26.

'There is a tiny $38m in new funding, but overall funding for the Arts portfolio falls by $190m next year, or 19%. The main reason for this is the end of the RISE stimulus program for restarting investment in the sector after COVID -- but the sector is still on its knees, with venues only just re-opening and audiences still well below 2019 levels, says Eltham. 

The budget locks in funding cuts in the forward estimates. In 2025-26, the Arts portfolio will receive just $744m, a 25% reduction from 2022 levels. 

There are significant funding cuts in the forward estimates to:

• arts and cultural development ($157m reduction by 2023-24)

• regional arts ($10.5m reduction this year)

• Australian Music program (complete phase out of funding by 2024-25) 

• the National Gallery of Australia ($4.1m reduction by 2024-25)

• the National Museum ($3.6m reduction by 2024-25)

• the National Library ($10.2m reduction by 2024-25)

• Screen Australia ($27m reduction by 2024-25)

• community broadcasting ($3m reduction by 2025-26)

'All of these funding cuts need to be placed in the context of rising inflation, with the budget papers stating CPI will rise to 4.25% this year,' says Eltham. 

'Funding to the most important federal arts agency, the Australia Council for the Arts, is stagnant this year, with a small but welcome increase in the forward estimates. 

'Funding to the ABC is static at approximately $1.077 billion, a very small $7m increase that amounts to a funding cut in real terms. The SBS has also received an effective budget cut in real terms with a small $6m funding increase not likely to make up for rising costs. 

'There is nothing in the budget for badly needed extra support for priority areas of the arts and culture, such as funding for working artists, small to medium arts organisations, community broadcasting, or First Nations arts and culture. 

'This is a budget that fails Australian culture, at a time when federal support and a vision for the future is needed more than ever.

Campaign director for Fund the Arts, David Latham, says that the time for soft-peddling and 'inside lobbying' one day trips to Canberra in the hope of establishing a bi-partisan consensus on arts funding a national cultural policy look dead in the water.

'This budget shows that the arts and creative sector has negligible influence and respect in Canberra. What needs to happen now is for the 408,000 people employed in the creative sector to get involved in a very public @outside campaign@ in marginal seats and put political candidates to the test. What are they offering in a policy and funding sense to these 408,000 people and the people of Australia?

'We know Australians love Australian TV, film, music, shows and writers. We ask those people to only support candidates who support Australian arts and culture,' says Latham.

Campaign updates

Here’s what we’ve been up to in the last fortnight…

Update - 6 Feb 2022

Authors, arts bodies, and ex-PMs hop onboard the campaign!

The last fortnight has been a busy time for Fund the Arts on the media, political, and arts front. That activity includes:

• talking to Latika Bourke about an exclusive on the campaign across Fairfax. Jonathan Keasrley from 9 is also interested in a TV piece. We have a spot lined up on PBS radio in Melbourne, an opinion piece in the next edition of Australian Book Review (ABR), as well as an ABR podcast appearance. We have also had recent appearances in The Age and The Australian. Our media lives here.

• we are in discussions with two major arts representative bodies around providing support and possibly talent for the campaign.

• Australian Book Review became an official ally, and Peter Rose and Prof Sarah Holland-Batt both became campaign Ambassadors; helping us do media and meet with politicians

• National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) also became a campaign ally

• Tony Burke's office has contacted us for a meeting

• we are in the process of organising political tours with Voices of candidates in Kooyong (Monique Ryan), Goldstein (Zoe Daniel), North Sydney (Kylea Tink), Wenworth (Allegra Spender), and Boothby (Jo Dyer). We have had other approaches from candidates from Groom and Hughes and are looking at media opportunities there

• we are partnering with Readings on a Livestream event being held in Kooyong and talking about the future of Australian writing with author Emily Bitto, playwright Joanna Murray-Smith, Editor of ABR Peter Rose, and media and arts academic and FTA Ambassador Ben Eltham.

• we believe 5 arts organisations will be officially supporting us in the next month following board meetings

• we have begun the process of reaching out to music promoters for fundraising concerts and PR opportunities with well-known Australian bands.

• and last but not least we will be talking in mid-Feb with a former Australian PM about supporting the campaign!

Fund the Arts response to Age article (16 Feb) which claims the government has provided $4bn to the arts sector

Canberra thinktank A New Approach's recent paper on cultural funding in Australia has made some bold statements about the level of support given to the arts and culture during the pandemic. Most notably, A New Approach claims "Arts and culture organisations and businesses accessed more than $4 billion of Covid-19 support in the last four months of the 2019–20 financial year."

Unfortunately, A New Approach has got their figures wrong. The thinktank has misinterpeted some fuzzy data from the federal government, dramatically over-estimating the amount of support given to Australian culture in 2020.

If you drill down into the figures, the $4 billion total in COVID support is made up of around $3 billion in JobKeeper, $1.1 billion from Josh Frydenberg's Boosting Cashflow for Employers measure, but only $38 million in direct federal funding to arts organisations.

The JobKeeper and cashflow stimulus figures come from the Ministry for the Arts, based on an extremely broad definition of the cultural and creative industries that includes industries such as clothing and footwear manufacturing and retail, jewellery and watch retail, and computer system design.

The Arts Ministry doesn't break their JobKeeper figures down by industry, and so we don't actually know how much funding went to core arts and cultural sectors like the performing arts, galleries or music venues. A New Approach doesn't know either, and they shouldn't pretend that the entire $4 billion was cultural funding.

JobKeeper was great for workers at businesses like Best & Less and Just Jeans. But this was not support for culture or artists, and including these sectors in the data shows how ridiculous the $4 billion figure is.

A New Approach's report glosses over many of the problems in the federal response to the pandemic crisis for the cultural sector. Tens of thousands of workers in the arts and culture were ineligible for JobKeeper, because they were casual employees with insecure work. Many parts of the sector, like art galleries, museums and universities, were completely excluded from federal support.

A New Approach has got one thing right, however: federal funding for the arts and culture has declined in per capita terms over more than a decade. That shows why more federal funding is critically needed.

-Dr Ben Eltham on behalf of Fund the Arts

for more information on the state of the arts sector, see the Creativity in Crisis report written by Dr Ben Eltham of Monash University and Senior Economist Alison Pennington of The Australia Institute

Campaign updates

Here’s what we’ve been up to in the last fortnight…

Update - 6 Feb 2022

Authors, arts bodies, and ex-PMs hop onboard the campaign!

The last fortnight has been a busy time for Fund the Arts on the media, political, and arts front. That activity includes:

• talking to Latika Bourke about an exclusive on the campaign across Fairfax. Jonathan Keasrley from 9 is also interested in a TV piece. We have a spot lined up on PBS radio in Melbourne, an opinion piece in the next edition of Australian Book Review (ABR), as well as an ABR podcast appearance. We have also had recent appearances in The Age and The Australian. Our media lives here.

• we are in discussions with two major arts representative bodies around providing support and possibly talent for the campaign.

• Australian Book Review became an official ally, and Peter Rose and Prof Sarah Holland-Batt both became campaign Ambassadors; helping us do media and meet with politicians

• National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) also became a campaign ally

• Tony Burke's office has contacted us for a meeting

• we are in the process of organising political tours with Voices of candidates in Kooyong (Monique Ryan), Goldstein (Zoe Daniel), North Sydney (Kylea Tink), Wenworth (Allegra Spender), and Boothby (Jo Dyer). We have had other approaches from candidates from Groom and Hughes and are looking at media opportunities there

• we are partnering with Readings on a Livestream event being held in Kooyong and talking about the future of Australian writing with author Emily Bitto, playwright Joanna Murray-Smith, Editor of ABR Peter Rose, and media and arts academic and FTA Ambassador Ben Eltham.

• we believe 5 arts organisations will be officially supporting us in the next month following board meetings

• we have begun the process of reaching out to music promoters for fundraising concerts and PR opportunities with well-known Australian bands.

• and last but not least we will be talking in mid-Feb with a former Australian PM about supporting the campaign!