Campaign News

2010 Federal Election

The federal election will be held on Saturday 21 August, and it's time to get the performing arts back on the agenda.

Contact your local candidates and inform them of the importance of performing arts in your community. If you're not sure which electorate you belong to, check out the AMPAG website for links to government directories.

When you're meeting with your local member, make sure you're armed with Key Facts about the performing arts by printing out this document: We All Play a Part Key Facts.

Education

Arts on the National Curriculum

The Australian State & Territory Education Ministers have unanimously endorsed a plan to develop and implement a national curriculum for the arts, from kindergarten to year 12, in the second stage of curriculum development beginning in 2011.

Intensive lobbying by the arts sector highlighted international research proving the value of an arts rich curriculum to children’s cognitive development. This created a rethink by the government regarding their earlier view that subjects such as Music, Dance, Drama and Visual Arts would not be considered in the first two phases of the new curriculum.

On 3 June 2009, the Australian Education Ministers announced the membership of the new Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) which will be responsible for the management of curriculum, assessment and reporting at the national level. Details can be found at www.acara.edu.au/curriculum.html

The Minister for the Arts, the Hon Peter Garrett MP said, in his Opening address to the Museums Australia 2009 conference in Newcastle:

“creativity, lateral thinking, innovation and cultural understanding....are vitally important skills for new and emerging industries in the 21st century and it is my strong conviction that to access an arts-rich education will strengthen the capacity of Australian students to develop these skills......there will be ample opportunity for stakeholders to provide input as the curriculum is developed and I would encourage you all to be part of the consultation process.”
www.environment.gov.au/minister/garrett/2009/pubs/sp20090518.pdf

Artists in residence

The Australia Council, in collaboration with state and territory arts and education departments is managing the Australian Government’s ‘artists-in-residence’ program, which sets up collaborative partnerships between schools and local arts communities.

Over the next few months, the first years’ initiatives will be announced, totalling $1.3 of the $5.2 million to be provided over four years.

The funding will support a combination of programs – residencies & artist/teacher professional development programs – to improve young people’s access to quality arts education and provide opportunities for artists and teachers to develop effective teaching methods and practices for the arts. Contact your state arts agency for more information.

These two initiatives were highlighted in the creative stream of the 2020 Summit.

Building Communities

In a submission to Infrastructure Australia, the Australian Performing Arts Centres Association (APACA), a campaign partner, highlighted the need for local cultural infrastructure investment, “drawing on the overwhelming evidence of the role performing arts play in building stronger communities” (Bronwyn Edinger, President of APACA).

At the Australian Council of Local Government meeting on 25 June 2009, the Former Prime Minister, The Hon Kevin Rudd MP announced additional funding of $220 million for the Community Infrastructure Program. This is in addition to the $800 million that has already been allocated to councils and shires to build and improve community infrastructure and boost local economies.

We are delighted to see that over 40 local community cultural centres and larger Performing Arts Centres were included in these Community Infrastructure allocations.

Some examples are:

NT Darwin Entertainment Centre - Public Lift Upgrade to improve reliability and access for people with limited mobility. $313,000 Darwin City Council
WA Upgrade to the Don Russell Performing Arts Centre, Thornlie. Replacement of seating, expansion of stage and improvements to emergency exits. $54,000 City of Gosnells.
VIC Horsham Town Hall Redevelopment. Redevelopment of the 1939 Art Deco Horsham Town Hall Complex into a state of the art regional performing arts and art gallery. $5,000,000 $12,007,000 Horsham Rural Centre Council
NSW Ashfield Council Centre Stage 2 Redevelopment Project Redevelopment of the Civic Centre of Ashfield into an integrated civic, arts and community space. $2,331,873 $14,778,190
NSW Upgrade of Little Theatre, Parkes. Construction of a new orchestra pit in the Little Theatre including the construction of stage or floor extensions to cover the pit, new seating and roof cover. $63,000 Parkes Shire Council
NSW Disability Access for Bruce Gordon Theatre, Wollongong. Design and construction of a new seating layout at Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, providing disabled access and viewing facilities. $300,000 Wollongong City Council
VIC Athenaeum Community Theatre, Lilydale upgrade. $60,000 Yarra Ranges Shire Council.

For more information go to Infrastructure Australia: www.infrastructure.gov.au/local/cip/cip800.aspx

The Development of National Cultural Policy

On 27th October 2009, the Minister for the Arts, Peter Garrett gave a speech at the National Press Club in which he announced his intention to create a new cultural policy and invited the general public to contribute. This is the first new cultural policy in 12 years. The three key themes for consideration are:

Keeping culture strong;
Engaging the community; and,
Powering the young.

For more information on this and for a copy of the Minister’s speech go to http://nationalculturalpolicy.com.au/