Revive the arts and all Australians benefit

Illustration: Eric Lobbecke

Our arts and creative sectors have been affected dramatically by the COVID-19 pandemic. The job losses and wage reductions, as well as deep cost-cutting forced upon some of our brightest cultural lights, have been widely reported. With indications from the Prime Minister and Arts Minister Paul Fletcher that an assistance package is nigh, the scope and nature of this package is generating nervous speculation.

Inevitably, a discussion on public funding for any industry leads to fundamental questions of merit and purpose. Why do the arts matter? This needs to be answered both from the heart and the head.

My late grandfather, George, was an obdurate Yorkshireman with a fascinating mind, although he was denied an education by poverty and war, having served from a young age in some of the bloodiest arenas of World War II across North Africa, Italy and finally Greece, where he met my grandmother, Eleni.

He was blinded for close to three months after reconnoitring a village outside Naples, where he opened the wrong door and was greeted by a Nazi booby trap. Saved from capture and hidden by locals in a barn under a pile of rotting tomatoes, he then spent months in an army hospital not knowing if he would ever see again.

When I was a teenager George would tell me harrowing and often bewildering wartime stories. These talks opened my mind to the sheer wonder and absurdity of life. It was like listening to my own Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. As I grew older, this seed germinated into a powerful belief in the need for creative expression to try to make sense of the world around us, its mystery and unpredictability.

There are many passionate and sincere participants in the arts who bristle at the requirement to define or justify what they do by its economic contribution. Yet it is entirely reasonable for taxpayers and the broader community to want to understand how public funding is applied, and this does not sully the higher purpose of the creative process.

It is beholden on industry leaders to advocate using equal measures of aspiration and reason. There is nothing for the arts to fear, as the numbers paint a compelling picture.

The federal government itself estimated that as of 2017 the creative sector employed more than 193,000 people and generated $14.7bn in economic activity. More broadly, Australia’s creative industries contribute almost $112bn in GDP.

And then there is the pivotal role the arts play in boosting associated activity in the tourism, retail and hospitality sectors. For example, attendance at theatres is a key driver of the night-time economy, directly increasing trade for bars, restaurants, carparks, transport services and other businesses and suppliers.

At a time when international travel is likely to be restricted or depressed for an extended period, it’s both rational and imperative to ensure that cultural activity restarts and thrives within our own borders. It would be enormously beneficial not only for protecting arts industry jobs but for the tourism and hospitality sectors.

There is a range of direct measures and innovative policies available to the federal government. These include a possible extension of the JobKeeper program to underpin arts and culture employment, offering matching funds while creating incentives for philanthropic donations as part of a scheme to rebuild financial reserves, as well as a seed fund to provide for the commissioning of new Australian works and collaborations.

Not-for-profit organisations have few places other than government to look to for a helping hand at a time when revenues have disappeared and will take a long time to recover.

We do not have shareholders to raise capital from to tide us over. And the vast majority of companies and individuals do not have assets on their balance sheets to be able to secure lines of credit or loans.

As the chairman of the Sydney Dance Company, I am often asked my connection to contemporary dance. Why do I devote my time and resources?

Despite antecedents from working-class northern England, I confess there is no Billy Elliot backstory. Like so many other Australians, I simply feel joy and admiration in witnessing artists such as ours — who are as extraordinary as any athletes — create true excellence on stage.

No one should have any doubt that the work of companies like the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Queensland Ballet, Sydney Theatre Company and Bell Shakespeare is world class. And the role of our major performing arts companies in waving the Australian flag abroad, delivering valuable cultural diplomacy, is terribly underappreciated.

If not for COVID-19, the Sydney Dance Company would have been announcing a prestigious two-week September residency at London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, advancing the reputation of the country we all love on the world stage.

From the Joyce Theatre in New York, Theatre National de Chaillot in Paris, the Mercat de les Flors in Barcelona, or the Shanghai Grand Theatre, Sydney Dance has delivered performances in 26 countries around the globe and has been touring internationally since the 1970s.

And, while it is unforgettable to witness the standing ovations of audiences in Europe, Asia or the Americas, our touring in regional Australia is an equal source of pride. My heart stirs just as much, if not more, when Sydney Dance is greeted with the same warmth when we perform where I grew up in the 1980s, Darwin and Alice Springs. The arts should never just be accessible to big-city audiences.

Many Australians are cautious about government support for the arts. Their concerns are not to be disparaged or waved away contemptuously. Despite the spark that he unknowingly lit within his grandson, I suspect George would not be at the vanguard of those exhorting an assistance package. Being a boy from Batley, in West Yorkshire, who played rugby league and later worked for decades as a shop steward at a North Melbourne Schweppes factory, he was as far as anyone from the caricature of an arts-loving elitist. Yet George was also fiercely protective of democracy and what distinguished a country such as Australia from bland, dull and oppressive tyranny.

If he were here today, I would seek to persuade George that a vibrant cultural sector is a priority for our nation — for its economy, international reputation and the wellbeing of its citizens. And it is a sector that is imperilled and in need of help. The Morrison government and national cabinet have an opportunity to create an enduring legacy by enabling future generations of outstanding artists, and rebuilding community access to vibrant arts and creative sectors.

Brett Clegg is chairman of the Sydney Dance Company.