Triple J’s new digital radio station — specifically devoted to new and emerging Australian contemporary music — is a step in the right direction for Australian content.
Columns / My Cup Of Tea
More channels but less local content on Australian TV
Australian content is being diluted by multi-channelling, according to a new Screen Australia report released yesterday.
No playing around, video games are an art form
The Freeplay independent games festival is on right now in Melbourne. Ben Eltham talks to festival director Paul Callaghan about the festival’s program and some of the trends affecting the sector.
A political arts discussion with broad strokes
Arts Minister Simon Crean has released a discussion paper on the government’s forthcoming National Cultural Policy. He speaks to Crikey about the competing agendas and the budget belt tightening.
The costly disease in our backing orchestras
An Australia Council-commissioned report into Australia’s ballet and opera orchestras reveals an unsustainable business model. But where will efficiencies come from?
Book barns are dead, long live cosy indies
We can’t save big book barns, but we can save independent cultural retail. It’s independent book stores and music retailers that offer something the big chains rarely mustered: character, passion and charm.
This Is Not worth funding, says Newcastle council, despite tourist draw
Newcastle City Council defunded the This Is Not Art festival despite championing it in the Council’s own Tourism Plan. Now councillors are questioning the decision.
Newcastle arts festival shortfall highlights grant discrimination
The loss of funding for innovative Newcastle festival This Is Not Art highlights the inconsistencies of cultural funding. The majority of grant dollars are not allocated competitively.
Get your Aussie on: defining the authenticity of Australian actors
Australian screen production is still a closed shop and Aussie actors are fighting to keep it that way.
The perks (and toner) corrupting arts administrators
Last week it was Film Victoria’s $45,000 party, this week Arts Victoria is under fire for a $40,000 printer toner bill. The perks, and increasingly corporatised arts funding, is corrupting the provision of cash.
Parties and perks a long way from real filmmaking
An expensive Film Victoria party shows it has almost nothing in common with the penurious artists it represents. Its salaried aristocracy enjoy the kind of wages and conditions struggling freelancers can only dream of.
Hey latte-lovers, art works just as well on the fringe
A down-at-heel suburb attracts artists due to its low rents and ample work space, for instance in former warehouses or lofts. Arts institutions priced out of the inner city should move to the suburbs.
Art galleries are still in the business of public service
The 150th anniversary of the founding of the National Gallery of Victoria is a good time to take stock of our cultural institutions. Galleries and libraries are in many ways models of what “public service” can be in the year 2011.
Picking through the scraps of budget arts funding
It’s been a generally positive federal budget for the arts and culture sectors. But the efficiency dividend will hit smaller cultural institutions hard.
Government converges on growing cultural reality
With the federal government’s Convergence Review under way, Catherine Lumby and Kate Crawford have set forward some new principles for regulatory reform. The current landscape is not a pretty picture.
Crean gets to work on Labor’s cultural fabric
Some broad outlines of Labor’s National Cultural Policy are beginning to finally emerge. But arts minister Simon Crean faces some big questions from industry and artists.
Hatched in Perth, visual artists make it big
One of the best-known graduate art shows iopens tonight at the Perth Institute for Contemporary Art. Hatched is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and has again attracted a vibrant field of 35 of the country’s most promising talents.
In the world of art, everything new is popular again
New art is not just challenging — it’s also very popular. Crikey arts correspondent Ben Eltham fought through the crowds at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art to find a vibrant and pleasing exhibition demonstrating what contemporary art should be.
Shall we dance? Unique challenges confront a vibrant form
Last weekend’s National Dance Forum shows an art form building national connections. But there are challenges in its ephemeral form and undeserved reputation as being difficult to understand.
Hey Cate, you wouldn’t know a cultural heart if you planned it yourself
Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton are out of touch, argues Ben Eltham. From their state-sponsored ivory tower they can’t see where Sydney’s real cultural beats are played.
Taxpayer dollars head to Hollywood
In screen policy, an open-ended and uncapped tax subsidy is considered a good thing. The bigger the film, the larger the tax-payer contribution, writes Ben Eltham.
A question of red tape: iiNet and the Fringe dwellers of arts
While small arts companies struggle with red tape, the big end of town wants more regulation. The juxtaposition will shape future arts policy.
Day the music died (for EMI) is more trouble for industry
EMI is in the hands of its bankers after the iconic British record label was repossessed by Citibank earlier this week. The music industry’s problems are not going away.
The plan to provoke a profound shake-up to the arts
A new report from the Australia Council has big implications for Australian cultural policy, says Ben Eltham. Its conclusions imply a profound shake-up in the current status quo.
