AM I RETIRED?

It would appear that I’m not as retired as I thought I was. In early October, I received a call from a colleague if I could help out. An arts organisation needs a locum CEO for a short period. The organisation was the WA Chamber of Arts and Culture. Their General Manager had just resigned and at a crucial time for the survival of the organisation. Over the next month there was an AGM to be held, a report to their funding agency, a new Strategic Plan to be developed, an application to be made for future funding – and so the list went on. 

The Chamber was established nearly 15 years ago as an advocacy and capacity building organisation. A number of friends have been both members and even on the Board so I felt what one might call a moral obligation to offer some help. But not too much. The plan is to do 10 hours a week (although that’s not quite the case at the moment) which suits them financially and me in terms of all the other things I want to do and explore. 

If the Chamber, gets its funding, I’ll help them find a new CEO. If it doesn’t, I’ll help wrap it up. But in the meantime, I’m connecting back to the arts scene in Perth in a major way and this work links to the questions that I have asked for years and years:

Why is it that we can't convince governments to increase funding of the arts? 

Why is it that we don't have political leaders (with rare exceptions) who value the arts?

Why are the arts disappearing from our schools?

Why is it impossible for most artists to make a living doing what they love?

These 'why' questions have been been engaging me for decades and they become particularly problematic when we know that more than two-thirds of Australians attend live performance events, that more tickets are sold for contemporary music and music theatre than the AFL and NRL combined, that 97% of Australians enage with the arts in some way?

A group of us gathered around a pleasant Thai meal to discuss these challenges a couple of months ago. Hundreds of years of experience dealing with politicians and funding bodies and philanthropists between us but still with no magic bullet to solve the problem.

Is it about having the right cultural policy? But there are policies and although they provide a framework to distribute limited government funds, they rarely lead to an increase in funding.

Is it about having research to show the benefit of the arts to individuals and communities? But we have that in spades and no one seems to listen?

Is it about getting our politicians to see our work? But we do that and their genuine interest and/or enjoyment rarely translates into action.

Is it about being more effective advocates? But we do this all the time, in every conversation we have with anyone about our work although maybe, as Rick Heath says maybe we're too passionate or don't understand the touch points which make advocacy work.

Is it about having the right 'value' measurements? But every economic impact study on the arts can be matched by one on sport or health or education. 

Julian Meyrick, a friend and colleague who thinks and writes endlessly about culture said:

....I wonder whether all the industry reports, comparative analyses and impact studies are worth the reading of one book, the seeing of one film, or the hearing of one piece of music. Whether our attempts to replace the experience of culture with numerical proxies are self-defeating, even delusional.

Thinking long term, that's what we must do. Take a child or a teenager or even an adult to the theatre or a museum or a concert or a movie or a library. Make sure that the arts are embedded in people's lives. So that next time a politician threatens to cut arts funding or even refuses to listen to the arguments to increase arts funding, all of us who love the arts will stand up and be heard.