Nothing artful about package by Gunduz Kalic

Is Paul Keating - the architect of the “creative nation” - losing his own creative touch?

The 1993 Labor Party arts launch and the subsequent Creative Nation package release were scenes of near Dionysian triumph for Keating, political performer.  But Labor’s new arts policy, entitled Centrestage under Labor, lacks those election winning ingredients - freshness and zap.

What magic could Keating have conjured to inspire anew the art troupes?  Well, what about improved wages?  The earnings of artists from their art - around $11,000 per annum - are in fact less than seven years ago.

Surely the day-to-day financial difficulties of the arts rank and file, purportedly Labor’s most loyal constituency, would be worthy of attention.  How about a promise of, say, 10,000 new arts jobs in order to significantly reduce arts unemployment and underemployment?

Addressing the hip pocket of the artist in the street could have provided some exciting new horizon-busting territory for Keating to restake his claim to be an “indefatigable warrior of the arts”.

Centrestage contains no such bold new marketing initiatives, but merely makes the rounds of the same of sales territory. 

The web of infrastructure firmly establishing government as the essential Big Daddy of the arts extends itself yet again.  Here an arts city or a concert hall, there a fellowship for a regional arts group.  Here a Festival of the Asia Pacific (art serving the higher purposes of the nation?), there a touring circuit for Aussie bands.

As the vision thing droops, the Prime Minister compensates with “forbidden persuasion”.  Australia’s arts community must never forget the “hostility” and “indifference” of the Coalition - despite the fact that most of Australia’s arts institutions were in fact founded by the Coalition.

As we enter the final stage of the campaign, Labor has begun the now familiar attempt to ignite a broad wave of fears.  “Voters on every front, don’t risk it”, is his cry.

Keating’s clear message to the arts, as to everybody made dependent upon government over past decades, is of course “don’t take a chance on the Liberals cutting your special deal, stick with Labor”.

In the sub-text, this is electioneering via hellfire” a vote for the Libs is a vote for damnation and ruin.  But as Labor discovered in Queensland, fear campaigns sometimes backfire.

In Whitlam’s era, younger artists especially - like Jackie Weaver - were besotted with Labor.  Paul Keating, in 1993 resurrected Whitlam’s promise of a shining new arts future.  Thus wrapped in the colour and aura of the arts, Keating completed his remarking from dour Treasurer to culturally trendy Prime Minister - and retained power.

But after three years, the once brand- new car just doesn’t have the same lustre.  It’s time for a new model.

Without a big and catchy new wave of hype to hold them spellbound, Australia’s artists are inevitably more realistically seeing the real figures - like $11,000 per annum per artist - behind the promise.

As arts policy, Centrestage is more of the same.  Under its arrangements, the arts market and artistic expression will continue to be warped by excessive government involvement in the making of art.

More importantly in this day and age, as political theatre Creative Nation the Sequel is a dud.

Meanwhile, the Tweedledee Coalition has pledged “to at least match” the arts spending of Tweedledum Labor, thereby “naturalising” the arts vote.

Under either policy, the arts dollars spent add up to crumbs for individual artists - except the favoured few.  And arts voters are left up the proverbial creek, as the 1996 arts policy “debate” has been so narrow as to be non-existent.

This article appeared in the Australian Financial Review, February 27, 1996.