With the recent release of the National Cultural Policy discussion paper, there has been a flurry of interest in understanding its content and the ways in which it might impact on artists and on Australian society generally. Ausdance National has organised a meeting between Arts Minister Simon Crean and the CEOs of 30 arts service organisations on August 17, an event that will see an extremely diverse group coming together in Canberra for a Ministerial briefing. They include members of ArtsPeak and the National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE), and their portfolios range across copyright law, Indigenous arts, arts and disability, literature, publishing, visual and performing arts and arts education.
We are looking forward to Mr Crean's perspective on the National Cultural Policy, and we'd also like to hear about his vision for the National Broadband Network (NBN). Many artists are keen to design work specifically for the online environment, rather than just reproducing existing work and streaming it live to new audiences, especially with the potential for interactive engagement with audiences.
The National Cultural Policy is still a discussion paper, and the government is inviting comment and feedback until 21 October. This week's meeting will be especially valuable in setting the scene for shared ideas and communication with our members.
The ministerial meeting will be preceded by an NAAE meeting to review responses to the draft Arts Shape Paper and to have further discussions with the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). ArtsPeak will have a meeting too, and its agenda will include several current campaigns, e.g. support for more ABC arts programming, the status of creative arts in universities and expanding the membership of ArtsPeak.
Those attending the Canberra meeting are:
- Ananguku Arts (Elizabeth Tregenza and Milyika Carroll)
- Arts Access Australia (Kate Larsen)
- Arts Industry Council SA (Alison Dunn)
- Arts Industry Council Vic (Jacqueline Grenfell)
- Arts Law Centre of Australia (Delwyn Everard)
- Art Education Australia & NAAE (Amanda Poland)
- Australian Dance Council – Ausdance & NAAE (Susan Street and Julie Dyson)
- Australian Major Performing Arts Group (Susan Donnelly)
- Australian Music Centre (John Davis)
- Australian Network for Arts & Technology (Gavin Artz)
- Australian Performing Arts Centres Association (Bruce Carmichael)
- Australian Publishers Association (José Borghino)
- Australian Society of Authors (Angelo Loukakis)
- Australian Teachers of Media & NAAE (Roger Dunscombe and Derek Weeks)
- Australian Writers Guild (Angela Keefe)
- Copyright Agency Ltd (Zoë Rodriguez)
- Craft Australia (Catrina Vignando)
- Feral Arts (Norm Horton and Sarah Moynihan)
- KULTOUR (Magdalena Moreno)
- Museums Australia (Bernice Murphy)
- Music Council of Australia & NAAE (Richard Letts)
- National Association for the Visual Arts & NAAE (Tamara Winikoff)
- Performing Arts Touring Alliance (Greg Randall)
- Regional Arts Australia (Ruth Smiles)
- Theatre Network Victoria (Nicole Beyer)
- Young People and the Arts Australia (Jim Lawson)