Measured applause greets Labor’s cultural policy
The Revive policy is a $286m boost to the arts and entertainment industry but some say it overlooks the need for immediate aid post-pandemic.
Labor’s pitch to Australians’ hearts and minds with a $286m national cultural policy has been applauded by the arts and entertainment sector, although the five-year “Revive” package is short on much-needed immediate support for the industry still recovering from the pandemic.
Significant investments in Australian contemporary music, writers and First Nations artists are key planks of the policy, which will deliver $241m in new funding and expand the available pool for independent artists and companies.
Speaking to a packed Gershwin Room at the Esplanade Hotel – the legendary live-music venue in Melbourne’s St Kilda – Anthony Albanese declared the Revive policy would appeal to people whether their preferred cultural fix was in a “gallery, the mosh pit or your favourite reading chair”.
The arts sector came out in force for the long-awaited launch, attended by National Gallery of Australia chairman Ryan Stokes, leading philanthropist Rupert Myer, actor Rachel Griffiths, and musicians including Gotye, APRA chair Jenny Morris, and Missy Higgins, who sang for the crowd.
Arts Minister Tony Burke said the policy drew on lessons from the pandemic and brought together three streams of arts activity – government-funded, commercial, and philanthropic – under the umbrella of a newly expanded Australia Council, to be renamed Creative Australia.
“The key change that happened during the lockdown period was that we took a level of government responsibility for caring about the commercial world,” Mr Burke said. “What we are doing with Creative Australia is a structural shift, where you have one body that deals with all three.”
The largest share of a $199m boost for the arts agency will go towards a new body, Music Australia ($69.4m), charged with promoting Australian songwriters and bands locally and internationally.
The policy also establishes a dedicated, First Nations-led board ($35.5m), Writers Australia to promote Australian literature including the naming of a poet laureate ($19.3m), a Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces to help wipe out harassment and bullying in the industry ($8.1m), and a new pool of funds to commission major new Australian works ($19m).
Industry body Live Performance Australia, representing theatre companies, concert promoters and other producers, said the policy was a “significant strategic investment” but did not address a chronic skills shortage that was hampering the sector’s recovery from the pandemic.
“We want to work with the government on a comprehensive skills package and we need to help companies rebuild capacity,” said LPA chief executive Evelyn Richardson.
Former arts minister Paul Fletcher said the cash commitment was “underwhelming” given the Coalition had spent $1.153bn on the sector from 2019-22, including on screen incentives and Covid response measures.
“This policy seems to completely ignore the context of where we are in the recovery from Covid,” he said.
In the visual arts, the resale royalty scheme will be expanded to include international sales, and new legislation will be introduced to protect Indigenous artists from fake art and souvenirs.
The National Gallery of Australia will receive $11.8m to make its collection more widely available through loans to regional and suburban galleries, but the policy has not committed the $265m the gallery says it needs for urgent repairs and maintenance at its Canberra building.
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