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PROPOSALS for a

NATIONAL
CULTURAL
POLICY

Submission to the
Minister for the Arts,
the Hon Peter Garrett MP

by the
Music Council of Australia
January 15, 2010

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Australia’s representative to the International Music Council

A NATIONAL CULTURAL POLICY


Submission to the Federal Minister for the Arts, the Hon. Peter Garrett MP, by
the Music Council of Australia
January 17, 2010

CONTENTS Page
A Definition of ‘Culture’ Is Necessary 6
An Ethical Basis in Human and Cultural Rights 8
The Australian Context for Cultural Policy 9
o International comparisons on modes and levels of support
o Responsibilities at the three levels of government
o Australian values and attitudes
o What have been the achievements of cultural policy and funding
in Australia?
Role of Government with Regard to Culture 11
Possible Government Policy Considerations 14
• Achieve excellence 14
o General discussion
o ‘Excellence’ in arts policy
• Achieve artistic innovation 16
o Relationship to national identity
o Ingenuity
o Factors in the encouragement of cultural innovation
o National priority
o Innovation and arts education
• Encourage innovation AND sustain the cultural heritage 18
o General discussion

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o The particular situation of classical music
• Achieve equality of access to participation 19
o General discussion
o Cultural democracy
o Art-making is central
o Obstacles to participation
• Achieve equality of access to an effective arts education 21
o General discussion
o Gross inequity of access
o Unskilled teaching
o National curriculum
o Absent resources
o Online resources for school music teachers
o Education for creativity
o Education in cultural diversity
o Pre-school
o Primary schools
o Secondary schools
o Tertiary education
• Encourage successful participation by youth 25
o General discussion
o Small grants program
• Sustain and develop cultural diversity 28
o Definition of cultural diversity
o Ethnic diversity in Australia
o Indigenous arts
o Immigrant arts and innovation
o A cultural right
o Education in diversity
o International undertaking
• Sustain and develop Indigenous Australian art and artists 29
• Sustain and develop a diversity of languages and the ability to use them 34
o Sharing the majority language
o Indigenous Australian languages
o Immigrant languages
• Provide adequate financial and regulatory support 35
o Industry support vs cultural subsidy
o How much subsidy?
o Funding for success
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o Innovative projects
o Australia Council to fund innovation exclusively
o Whole of government support to culture
o Relationship of Commonwealth and State funding policies
o The Australia Council and the arm’s length principle
o The Australia Council and core funding
o The Boards of the Australia Council and policy-making
o The Australia Council and business
o Taxation concessions as cultural subsidy
o The Productivity Commission’s review of the non-profit sector
o Regulation and cultural sovereignty
o Local content requirements in electronic media
o Copyright
o Expert assistance to the field
• Foster financial self-reliance in the arts sector 39
o General principle
o Exceptions
o How do artists earn their livings?
o Build investment incentives scheme to support emerging artists
o Devise and advocate strategies to encourage digital music
innovation and investment
o Build cultural exports
o Promote the creation and use of Australian music
o Achieve best practice regulation of licensed venues by each
state and territory government
o Aussie Musicians Centre Stage
o Go for gold
o Best practice for government and clients
• Develop cultural infrastructure 43
o Definition
o Buildings
o Government policy and funding bodies
o Whole of government
o National cultural sector associations
o Broadcast spectrum
o Broadband infrastructure
• Provide information that supports cultural development 47
o Collect comprehensive statistical data on the music sector: a
music GDP
o Collect comprehensive statistical data on other cultural sectors:
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a culture GDP
o Fund cultural sector research
• Project Australian culture internationally 48
o Project Australian culture internationally through cultural and
trade diplomacy
o Cultural exports – tourism
o Australia’s international free trade agreements
o Implementation of the UNESCO Convention on Protection and
Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions
o Facilitation of touring within Australia of arts and artists from
developing countries
Closing statement 52

Appendix 1:
The Whole of Government: Commonwealth Ministries and Their Relevance to
the Music Sector 56
Appendix 2:
A Very Short History of Australian Government Intervention in the Arts 68
Appendix 3:
Cultural Policy Statements from Other Countries 72
Appendix 4:
A Message from Arts Minister Peter Garrett – National Cultural Policy,
a national dialogue 74
Discussion Framework – Towards a National Cultural Policy 75

-000-

Music is indivisible. The dualism of feeling and thinking must be resolved to


a state of unity in which one thinks with the heart and feels with the brain.
- George Szell

Is it not strange that sheep’s guts should hale souls out of men’s bodies?
- Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing
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A DEFINITION OF ‘CULTURE’ IS NECESSARY
1. The government seeks to state a policy for culture, not just for the arts.
2. The word ‘culture’ has among the largest number of meanings of any in the English
language. It is important to define the intended meaning of ‘culture’ in this context,
to state clearly what this cultural policy will embrace because, presumably, it will be
the basis for government actions and expenditures.
3. The Discussion Framework assists in knowing the government’s purpose but is not
precise. Among the indicators:
‘Culture is at the heart of our nation and the arts are at the heart of our culture.’
There are other statements indicating the centrality of the arts for purposes of this
policy.
‘Culture is expressed in many ways and reflects our way of life. It encompasses our
values, traditions, attitudes and expressions and is shared by us all.’
‘It provides the intellectual and imaginative ground for broad understanding and
connections.’
4. The second of these statements can be interpreted to include everything that
Australians think and do. Our culture defines how we do business, design our
roads, raise our chickens, play our sports, run our newspapers, construct our laws,
perform our plays, write our symphonies. But the other statements in the
Discussion Paper do not seem to support this as the intended definition.
5. What is to be the scope of the policy? Is it, in practical terms, a policy for the
Minister for the Arts, or for the Commonwealth Government? By whom will it be
executed? Is it feasible to enrol all ministries in the application of a cultural policy?
The discussion paper does not suggest such an ambition.
6. Clearly in the discussion paper, there is an intention to place the arts at the centre
of the policy. Given this, to what else might the policy extend? Perhaps we might
take the slightly broader idea of expression or articulation of culture, a reflection to
ourselves or others of who we are. The title of recently ratified “UNESCO
Convention for the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural
expressions” is so unwieldy as to suggest that it was intended to skirt a problem. In
the context of international trade, it was important to avoid a broad interpretation
of ‘culture’ such as would allow, for instance, the French to attempt to shelter
French agriculture under its umbrella. Perhaps the concept ‘cultural expressions’ is
able to do that. (But then perhaps we have to define ‘expressions’!)
7. Some possible non-arts cultural expression:
8. Education: at all levels. The way that education is delivered is an aspect of culture.
Our particular interest will be in education’s role in transmitting the skills needed
for cultural expression and participation.
9. Languages: are in themselves a central aspect of culture and also the tools for the
articulation of culture. In Australia, issues that might find a place in national
cultural policy include:
• The loss of indigenous languages
• The teaching of indigenous languages and English to indigenous people
• Monolinguism and the teaching of second languages generally
10. Print media: while the print and electronic media are an obvious extension from the
arts-based definition of culture, this paper will not address them specifically.
Important current issues in the media include
• Diversity of content and opinion

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• Media ownership
• Quality of reporting and information
• Arts coverage
11. Electronic media:
• As for print media, plus
• Regulation to ensure adequate local content, adequate access by local artists
12. Sport: we leave discussion of sport also to those with appropriate expertise.
13. Computer games
14. In the literature about developed world sponsorship of developmental projects in
developing countries, there is wide recognition that success is much more likely if
the project design fits with the cultural beliefs and practices not of the sponsor, but
of the local population. Culture in the broad definition. The perception might just as
well be applied to ourselves. Would it be possible, for instance, that government
policies that are more alert to Australian values, beliefs, attitudes would have a
better chance of achieving their objectives? Should that be an aspect of the cultural
policy?
15. The report from the government’s 2020 summit includes a proposition that there
should be a “Ministry for Culture for high-level, cross-government advocacy that is
central to and influential in government”. It probably is easy to rename the present
Ministry for Arts as the Ministry for Culture and even broaden its responsibilities –
although the summit’s intended definition of ‘culture’ is not clear. This strategy will
not automatically confer a central and influential place in government – an
aspiration that is at least decades old.
16. Reverting to the arts-based definition, while responsibility then centres on the
Minister for Arts, there is abundant scope for involvement of most of the rest of the
government. An example is found in Appendix 1. It shows the potential for almost
every government ministry to engage with musical activity, consistent with meeting
the ministries’ primary objectives.
17. While this paper includes the appendix detailing possible involvements of non-arts
ministries in supporting music and by extrapolation, the arts, it is beyond our
capacity to propose a policy for culture, on the broad definition, taking in the whole
of government. This paper suggests some principles and detail for a policy for
culture, defined as based in the arts, both heritage and contemporary, with
extensions into related means of expression and communication such as those
suggested above. 1

1
A previous Australian government formulated a very serviceable arts-based definition of culture for use
in the Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement:
“Culture” includes the creative arts(1), cultural heritage(2) and other cultural industries, including
audio-visual services, entertainment services and libraries, archives, museums and other cultural
services;
broadcasting and audio-visual services, including measures relating to planning, licensing and
spectrum management, and including:
services offered in Australia;
international services originating from Australia.
• Creative arts include: the performing arts - including theatre, dance and music - visual arts,
craft and design, literature, film, television, video, radio, creative on-line content, indigenous
traditional practice and contemporary cultural expression, and digital interactive media and
hybrid arts work which uses new technologies to transcend artform divisions. [continued]
• Cultural heritage includes: ethnological, archaeological, historical, literary, artistic, scientific
or technological moveable and built heritage, including the collections which are
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AN ETHICAL BASIS IN HUMAN AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
18. The policy would be given an explicit ethical basis if it is consistent with or better,
manifests relevant international covenants, declarations or agreements to which
Australia is a signatory. The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights supports
most of those listed below and they are further supported by other declarations of
the UN or sections of the UN. Generally, we take inclusion in the Universal
Declaration to be sufficient.
19. The right to freedom of expression. This is a necessary condition for artistic
creation and for artistic innovation. 2
20. The right of everyone to freely participate in the cultural life of the community. 3
We need to remember that in Australia, the community embraces not only a
mainstream but also many minority cultures associated with particular interest
groups or ethnic communities. Note in particular the right of Indigenous people to
participate in their own culture. 4 This implies that circumstances are created in
which these various cultures can be sustained.
(Note also: "(E)ach culture has a dignity and value which must be respected
and preserved" (Article 1, UNESCO Declaration of the Principles of International
Cultural Co-operation (Paris, 1966). This is a basis for support to indigenous
culture and the cultures of immigrant peoples. 5)
21. The right to an education. 6 This education should facilitate the exercise of the
rights to free expression and to participate in one’s culture.
22. The right of artists to attribution of their work, not to have authorship falsely
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applied, not to have their works subjected to derogatory treatment (moral rights).
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23. The right of artists to just remuneration.
24. The right of artists to the means to communicate their work. 9 Freedom of
expression is meaningless if the expression cannot be communicated to others. The
state therefore should facilitate and not withhold access to the communications
media. The public broadcasters in Australia have a special responsibility and there
is some concern about the direction of the current review in this regard. Music is
not mentioned in the main text. 10

documented, preserved and exhibited by museums, galleries, libraries, archives and other
heritage collecting institutions.
2
Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 19
3
Articles 22 and 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and in Article 15 of the United Nations International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the UNESCO Recommendation on Participation by the People at
Large in Cultural Life and their Contribution to It.
4
The Australian government has recently endorsed the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples.
5
Refer also to the Declaration on Cultural Diversity, Council of Europe, 2000; the Cotonou Declaration on
cultural diversity, International Organization of the Francophonie, 2001; the UNESCO Universal Declaration
on Cultural Diversity, 2001, the UNESCO Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of
Cultural Expressions, 2005.
6
Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 26. The article included the statement ‘Education shall be
directed to the full development of the human personality…’ It follows that education must include the
arts and culture.
7
Berne Convention, 1935, signed by Australia in 2000.
8
Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 23.3 gives this right to every person.
9
Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 19. The same article states the right to freedom of
expression and to give and receive information.
10
See especially para 2.2 at
http://www.mca.org.au/pdf/mcaPUBLICBROADCASTINGsubmission%20dec08.pdf
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25. The right of nations to cultural sovereignty, i.e. the right of governments to protect
and promote the culture of their own countries. 11
26. To bring the argument home, all of these rights are aspects, in Australian terms, of
the right to a ‘fair go’.
27. Those rights concerning artists are considered exhaustively in the UNESCO
Recommendation concerning the Status of the Artist. 12
28. As an aspect of its creation of a national cultural policy, the government could
consider implementation of appropriate parts of the UNESCO Recommendation
concerning the Status of the Artist.
29. How will cultural policy interface with the proposed Australian human rights act?

THE AUSTRALIAN CONTEXT FOR CULTURAL POLICY


30. A small music ensemble based in a European city: there, as here, it probably
cannot survive from earnings in its home city. But there are half a dozen population
centres close enough to drive there, play a concert and return home the same
night. In Australia, for some groups the nearest possible touring destination is the
next capital city, 1,000 kilometres away. The travel costs may be more than the
earnings. For Europeans, an international tour can be accomplished by road within
hours. For Australians, touring to the nearest major markets for western art forms
requires a long plane ride, jetlag, downtime as well as hotels. For many, a full time
music career is possible only with subsidy unless they decamp, live in a major
market. A part-time career may be successful to a point, but contrary to rumour,
poverty is not a prerequisite for the expression of artistic genius; material poverty
is more likely to produce artistic poverty. Amelioration through non-arts
employment comes at the cost of a diversion of energy and focus.
31. Across Australia’s arts and cultural sector, successive Australian federal
governments have played a key role in making arts production possible, a role
augmented by state and local governments. Government intervention in the arts
has been and remains important, notably in order to address systemic market
failure caused by a number of factors such as those cited in the previous
paragraph. Australia has a small population base stretched across a large
continent, an obstacle to building financially viable cultural enterprises,
compounded by geographical isolation from the major English language markets
and domination by those same arts markets, notably the United States and the
United Kingdom. (For a very short history of government support to the arts, see
Appendix 2.)
32. International comparisons on modes and levels of support. Total financial support
to culture from Australian governments falls somewhere between the levels in
Europe and the USA. The following comparison is made with other affluent
countries in the western tradition; we are reaching a point where comparisons
might also be made with affluent Asian countries such as Japan and Korea.
33. Direct government support to culture in the USA is low. Legislators do not share a
conviction about the importance of culture or a role for government support.
Funding for the National Endowment for the Arts is about the same as that to the
Australia Council, for a richer country with 15 times the population. It used to be
said that the US Government provided more money to military bands than to all

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UNESCO Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Also the
Declaration of the Principles of International Cultural Co-operation.
12
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13138&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
(1980). Consider also the 1997 commentary on the lack of action by governments in implementing the
Recommendations. http://www.mca.org.au/web/content/view/121/6
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other genres of music under all other forms of management; inferences were made
about value systems. Funding bodies are periodically beset with outrage from
legislatures: artists’ subsidised exercise of their constitutional right of free
expression conflicts with legislators’ opinions, religion, moral beliefs, political
opportunities. Funding cuts can follow.
34. On the other hand, private donations to cultural activities are encouraged through
tax incentives. These are taken up by individuals (mainly), foundations and
corporations (more famous).
35. The US government’s arts budget is in this way greatly increased through loss of
tax income – but the funding decisions are moved out to private interests beyond
legislators’ growling range. Generally, private funds flow much more freely to the
high profile mainstream – major galleries, theatres, opera companies etc. – than to
small-scale, innovative or community-orientated activity.
36. Australian governments have sought by the same methods to shift the burden of
cultural support to the private sector and have done so to some extent. Here, as in
the US, the benefit goes mainly to the big end of town, both donors and recipients.
It may or may not help the budget, but does it implement the government’s
desired cultural policy? (It may be more likely to do so if a government agency
such as the Australia Council brokered cooperative ventures between government,
artists and the private sector for mutual benefit and to broaden the range of
cultural activity receiving private sector support.)
37. European subsidy is lavish by comparison to that in the USA or here. The subsidy
to opera in Berlin a few years ago was about 20% higher than funding to the entire
Australia Council. Subsidy levels in Europe to major companies are at 70-80% of
expenditures (we do not have data for small companies); subsidy to Opera
Australia, for instance, is at around 35%.
38. Some consequences in Europe: more artistic risk-taking is possible; subsidy can be
used to cut ticket prices, increase accessibility; the world’s best artists are
affordable; arts companies can concentrate on producing art instead of private
fund-raising and constantly worrying about staying afloat. Occasional down-side:
too much protection from the judgement of audiences, leading to artistic self-
indulgence. Private support in Europe is relatively undeveloped.
39. Australia falls between the European and American models. Question: where would
it best be located? Answer: if governments were actually enthused by the
possibility of Australian artistic achievement, they would fund for success, not bare
survival; if they strongly believed in universal access to the arts, they would also
fund for wider opportunities, lower ticket prices. What is the context in which
decisions to fund for success, or access, would be made? Who has to be
persuaded, and by what arguments?
40. Responsibilities at the three levels of government. In Australia, there is a division of
responsibilities between the three levels of government. Each addresses the
concerns of its constituencies. There also have been some divisions arrived at
conceptually – for instance, at one time it was agreed that the Commonwealth
would fund individual artists because their merits should be assessed independently
of their state of residence; the Commonwealth also was supposed to take
responsibility for international activity. However, states have blurred the lines in
both of those categories. Except for a few national ‘flagship’ institutions such as the
National Gallery, state and local governments have responsibility for provision of
physical facilities – performing arts venues, art galleries, libraries, museums,. While
it would make sense also for them to take responsibility for community cultural
development, the Australia Council has always been involved because it led from
the beginning in setting up such support programs. We suggest that there is no

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need for rigidity in parcelling out the responsibilities but there is great benefit in
open communication of intentions and discussion of conflicts.
41. Australian values and attitudes. The Australian context for a cultural policy includes
the values and attitudes of the population and its likely response to the various
policy provisions. The study Australians and the arts by Paul Costantoura of Saatchi
and Saatchi, commissioned by the Australia Council and published by it in 2001,
gives a wealth of information about attitudes and also suggests strategies for arts
development that take them into account. This being the arts world, the study
brought a storm of criticism of the Australia Council for ‘wasting money’ on such
work when it could have spent it on an artist, and nit-picking about findings that
various parties found unpalatable. 13
42. The study nevertheless can be used on its merits to assist in the formation of policy
and its strategic implementation. Of course, since it is now nine years old, it is
already all but forgotten.
43. Among the findings of the study: Australians are open to a stronger cultural life
and to Australian achievement; a great majority of Australians are not anti-
intellectual, they do not participate in the tall poppy syndrome. A great majority
value creative expression but perhaps only 40% had any active arts involvement.
Opportunities are scarce in the regions but just as scarce in the outer suburbs.
There is much more.
44. What have been the achievements of cultural policy and funding in Australia? Is
continuation justified by success to date?
45. A quick round-up of the achievements. In music, the existence and achievements
of all of the orchestras, opera companies and chamber ensembles, both traditional
and innovative, and the composers who write for them. Music multimedia. The
existence of a commercial recording industry. The consequent existence of an
Australian contemporary music sector of scale. Australian ballet and dance
companies, high in achievement if rather low in number. Australian literature and
its impressively wide readership. Australian theatre and Australian plays. An
Australian film industry which, despite recent criticism, does as well as the
industries in other small countries – and supplies a rather extraordinary number of
the international industry’s leading actors, cinematographers and directors.
Indigenous Australian art, especially visual art, brought to the mainstream audience
here and internationally.
46. And much, much more. Let there be no doubt, most of this could not have
happened without government subsidy and regulation. There would be no difficulty
in proving that assertion.

ROLE OF GOVERNMENT WITH REGARD TO CULTURE


47. ‘Australian culture is produced by its people. The role of government is not to
directly shape culture but to enable all Australians – whatever their background,
beliefs and abilities – to explore and nurture their creativity and draw on the wealth
of our culture to enrich us all.’ – Discussion paper.
48. The Music Council gives enthusiastic support to this statement.
49. The key word is ‘enable’. How does government best enable?
50. We suggest that complexity theory, theories of cultural evolution and of culture as
a complex adaptive system can introduce a new wisdom into discussion of the best
role for government as an enabling force.

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See also, Australians’ Attitudes to Music, Australian Music Association.
http://www.mca.org.au/web/content/view/107/6
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51. The concept of ‘complex adaptive systems’ is drawn from evolutionary theory in the
biological world but is here applied to the cultural world. Evolution in the biological
world results from accidental physical mutations that successfully adapt the
organism to changes in the natural environment. Cultural evolution depends upon
successful cultural adaptations to changes in the total environment including the
sociocultural environment; it depends upon learning. Culture can be seen as a
complex adaptive system in which government is one of the agents. 14

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In everyday life we are inclined to think of cause and effect as rather cut and dried. We have the daily
experience of moving objects around, and they respond as expected. We are pretty sure that the workings
of the car and the computer player would be just as predictable, if only we knew what they were.
However, contemporary science shows that cause and effect are not in nearly as certain a relationship as
we generally suppose, especially when considering the behaviour of the fundamental particles of matter or
of living beings, whether individually or in association with each other. A new science is evolving to
capture the causal relationships in complex adaptive systems: entities such a biological beings, forests,
economies - or art forms or cultures. These “systems” are obviously causationally “complex”. They are
“adaptive” because they are in constant interplay with their environment, adapting as necessary for their
well-being to the endless changes it presents. Their adaptation is through evolution of their basic
structure, or through learning, so that a “fit” is created between them and their environment.
Complex adaptive systems can be conceived as games played by “agents”, whether cells, plants, humans
or arts organisations, against their environment. It is necessary to win at some level in order to be able to
keep playing, but to win also is to learn, to use feedback from the environment to improve performance.
Since the environment is always changing, this game never ceases, and complex adaptive systems are
characterised by perpetual novelty.
Both evolution and learning are enhanced or transformed by the formation of “building blocks” - for
instance in the former, new cellular structures or in the latter, new conceptual configurations - at ever
higher hierarchical levels. So, to take the next step in learning an artistic discipline, we do not have to
retrace our steps through the immense intellectual space between raw, undefined artistic materials and
the elaborate constructions we have already been able to place on them, but can reshuffle the building
blocks of higher order concepts already organised and understood, sometimes to emerge to a new
hierarchical level. An artistic style can always be seen as building upon aspects of its direct predecessors.
Causality in complex adaptive systems must take account of multiple “agents” acting in parallel, without
central control. The arts world as a complex adaptive system consists of a myriad of artists and arts
organisations, each acting more or less independently but also interacting with the others, as well as the
larger environment of the society, the nation and the natural world. There is no Master Organiser of the
arts to control all this activity; that would be almost impossible. Development in the arts therefore is the
outcome of the sum of the activity and invention of all of the participants. It is characteristically a
“bottom-up” phenomenon, moving in small increments, becoming ever more complex, cumulatively
preparing for an occasional “gateway event”, a significant step in cultural evolution, sometimes introducing
some “emergent” phenomenon not previously conceived - a new artistic style, for instance.
Much of the research into complex adaptive systems uses computer simulations, a scientific tool capable
for the first time of capturing the interactions of many causal agents, quickly processing millions of
calculations in complex mathematical problems or compressing in time representations of the slow moving
processes of biological evolution. (Many of these simulation processes have been adapted by artists for
the production of art on computers.) The outcomes of some of these experiments are astonishing. One,
of special interest to this study, reveals a curious and beautiful phenomenon at a very precise place
between order and chaos as represented on the computer screen. Its discoverer hypothesises that the
“edge of chaos” has real-world correlates, and is in fact the place where life and consciousness emerge. I
conjecture that artistic works, as the products of the minds of beings living on the edge of chaos, are
therefore themselves on the edge of chaos. This could be inferred from the phenomenon of artistic style:
the ordering of the elements of an art form according to a specific set of rules to achieve a specific type of
effect. The execution of an art work within a given style must achieve this order but, to maintain the
interest of the audience - minds on the edge of chaos - must somehow dip into disorder, must tip off
towards chaos but then reclaim the edge, in the process bringing a new order to the chaotic elements
encountered.
In even more condensed summary, then, the concept of the arts as a system of complex adaptive
systems draws our attention to an arts ecology of self-organising, independent artists and arts bodies
freely cooperating, competing and evolving new hierarchies of concepts and structures in a continuing and
surprising way. The processes of cultural evolution and learning can be seen to be at play in deciding the
course of development of arts and arts organisations. The theory of the edge of chaos has the potential to
show a relatedness between fundamental aspects of human existence and its expression through works of
art, and to explain the continuing evolution of art in ordering that which previously was disordered.
Using as the basis for speculation the theory of complex adaptive systems and particularly its formulations
about the evolutionary process, we put forward the following possibilities:
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52. There is an inherent dilemma for a government that aims to proclaim a cultural
policy but wishes to avoid ‘directly shap(ing) culture’. Any government action
intervenes, prefers, directs, influences. But if the intervention is not in exercise of a
policy direction, it may be aimless and we have no basis in policy for perceiving its
success. How to define the fruitful middle ground that ‘does not directly shape
culture’ but ‘enables’?
53. We can make inferences or extrapolations from the theory of complex adaptive
systems about the enabling role of government. It turns out that many of the
normal activities of the Australian government in supporting culture, especially the
grants system, are consistent with this theory.
54. Cultural evolution will be healthier and more rapid if there is a diversity of artists,
organisations, activities interacting with each other. The provision of funds for
cultural activity adds energy to these interactions. The conditions under which they
are offered can unbalance the status quo and stimulate adaptation to the new
circumstances.
55. The system of open applications for government funds encourages a diversity of
applicants with a diversity of approaches and ideas, a condition for more
innovation, more rapid evolution. However, while the guidelines can cause a useful
unsettling of the status quo, they or the application process can be an obstacle for

• Among the conditions for the most rapid and powerful evolution of an arts culture are a non-
equilibrium environment of rich and diverse inputs, permitting the bottom-up self-organising
emergence of arts activity
• Both bottom-up and top-down organisation can be effective; the outcomes of bottom-up organisation
seem to draw more people into the arts development process, to be more diverse and creative, and
more resilient in the longer term; top down organisation might be more efficient in producing more
limited outcomes, but in some circumstances may actually choke off development
• There are general conditions for rapid evolution but to achieve evolution of a particular character, it
must be defined and rewarded by the environment and the environment can include the government
and its interventions
• Diversity of inputs is a general condition for evolution of other qualities, but may also be an end in
itself. In some circumstances, too great a diversity could lead artists into a defensive narrow
specialisation, or could lead to loss of identity and direction.
• Like other qualities, the quality of excellence will emerge if demanded and rewarded by the
environment. Because the criteria are culturally determined, there is a top-down aspect to the
transmission of excellence, and the need to find a delicate balance between top-down and bottom-up
• Innovative art will emerge through urgent needs for adaptation or exploitation of new niches. Diversity
of input is especially important
• The concept of coevolution (e.g. between artists and audiences) is a useful tool for analysis of the
interactions within sectors of the arts world. In our main text, we show possible dangers of long-term
support to innovation without sufficient regard for feed-back into the mainstream
• It may be more fruitful to look to individuals and small organisations for innovation, than to the major
arts organisations
• Other desired outcomes can be similarly encouraged through the mechanisms of cultural evolution
• The culture offers niches of opportunity for new arts developments, but the shape of these niches is
only loosely predetermined. Their ultimate shape depends on the nature of the program that fills them.
The best outcome will result from a flexible adaptation between program and environment rather than
rigid prescription by the programmer
• Government interventions may usually be enabling, but if misconceived may hinder achievement of the
best outcomes
• The most effective intervention by government generally will have found a delicate balance between
prescription and empowerment.
– Richard Letts: The Arts on the Edge of Chaos. Unpublished manuscript, 1995.
Some of these points need further explanation to be understood adequately. We would be happy to
provide more material on request.

13
some applicants, reducing diversity. They also can emphasise the status quo and
so actually constrain innovation.
56. The selection of projects for funding obviously is important, perhaps directing the
outcomes towards policy objectives but on the other hand narrowing the range of
activity that is supported. If the objective is to encourage innovation, policy
direction should be as light as possible and the more diversity among the grantees,
the better. Facilitation of contact among these diverse activities and of public
exposure for them creates the conditions for even more innovation.
57. The above illustration demonstrates that the theory does offer some useful
perspectives on the enabling role of government and warrants consideration in the
formulation of a national cultural policy.

POSSIBLE GOVERNMENT POLICY CONSIDERATIONS


58. Many of these objectives are not new, but their context changes and requires their
reinterpretation. The submission moves fairly freely between discussion of broader
arts and cultural issues and specific references to our area of expertise, music.
Sometimes, it will be possible for the discussion of music to be extrapolated to
wider considerations of the arts or culture.
The achievement of excellence
59. (Depends upon most of the cultural rights found in the various UN declarations.)
____________________________________________________
This section includes the following points:
• Australians could seek to be world’s best in every sphere
• Government could campaign to slowly remove cultural attitudes that place a cap on
aspiration
• We need to know the steps between where we are and achieving world’s best, in
any instance
• In the arts, excellence should be assessed according to criteria relevant to the art
work or activity and its context
• The demands of excellence are more difficult to meet in some arts practices than
others.
• A cultural policy concerned with excellence should consider the entire context of
production, participation and consumption.
____________________________________________________________
60. General discussion. This objective has been ubiquitous in arts policy, here and
elsewhere. It heads the list of objectives in the Australia Council charter.
61. However, this is an issue that can engage a national cultural policy in the broad
definition of ‘culture’: ‘encompass(ing) our values, traditions, attitudes and
expressions … shared by us all.’
62. Why should not Australians seek to achieve excellence in all that we do? Why
should not Australians seek to be world’s best in every sphere, not from a need to
claim superiority so much as accepting that this is as much a possibility for us as
any other people, a consequence not so much of ambition as of imagination, effort
and spirit.
63. (We here put forward some contestable assertions.) On the whole, we prefer
something less, a safe middle-level adequacy. We are citizens of a small country
and we love to hear that we ‘punch above our weight’, better than expected – but
14
then how much could be expected, after all? To achieve greatly is to risk popular
rejection as a member of the ‘elite’ (perhaps confused somehow with privilege of
conferred wealth or status), as a tall poppy with pretensions above those of
‘ordinary’ people. (Costantoura disputes this, para 41.)
64. The notion that Australia might take a leading role in climate negotiations is
dismissed by some politicians as posturing.
65. We still only take our artists really seriously when they have succeeded overseas.
True, overseas acclamation is from a larger market and free of our self-interest.
But Geoffrey Rush was just as good an actor before he won the Oscar.
66. The timidity of Australian businesses in investment in innovation is frequently
reported and is in stark contrast with the systematic daring of the American
business culture. Americans celebrate success; Australians are lost somewhere
between celebration and suspicion.
67. These generalities are not meant to obscure actual Australian achievement. We
have artists and scientists and businesses who go ahead and achieve to the highest
level anyway. Perhaps sport is the model to be emulated. Successful sportspeople
are accepted without suspicion as members of an elite, as tall poppies. The way is
cleared for a systematic public investment in sports performance, with many
relevant disciplines brought to bear. There is an intricate understanding of the
steps between an athlete’s potential and ultimate success. It is ironic that news
reports of the recent paper on sports funding set up an opposition between
investment in this level of activity and support to sports in the broader community,
when they are part of the one picture.
68. In recent decades, it has been widely recognised that cultural values, traditions,
attitudes are important in determining the success or failure of foreign-sponsored
development projects. This developed-world analysis of other cultures might be
applied as well to itself. There is much in Australian culture that is productive, but
the capping of aspiration is not.
69. The theory of complex adaptive systems says, unsurprisingly, that like other
qualities, qualities of excellence will emerge if demanded and rewarded by the
environment.
70. So a cultural policy, broadly defined, might attempt a gradual shift in community
attitudes so that daring, innovation and excellence are more strongly sought and
valued.
71. The government could look for ways to support or create a general attitude in the
population that there is no limit to aspiration, that risk-taking is praiseworthy
(‘having a go’), failure the opportunity to try again, success is to be celebrated.
72. Existing Australian models of success, such as the training of elite athletes, can be
presented as models. They show both that success is possible, and that it is
achieved by intelligent, tenacious, continuing application to traverse the space
between where we are and where we want to be.
73. Where the success is apparent but the method is not clear, studies can be made to
discover the causative factors. How does it happen that we have so many actors
and cinematographers at the top of the professional internationally? 15

15
MCA has observations on this particular issue. However, the main point here is about the need to
acknowledge such successes in the cultural area, to work to understand how they have been achieved, to
avoid interventions that may interfere with further success, to support further success and to transfer and
adapt the methods to other areas of activity. This is all, in a way, obvious, but it is not necessarily what
we would do in Australia. We are just as likely to find ways to bring a successful program down. For
instance, “That program has been very successful. It doesn’t need any more support. It can stand on its
15
74. ‘Excellence’ in arts policy. The concept has been disputed because as concepts of
cultural democracy took hold, they were at odds with the earlier presumption that
real excellence could be achieved only in certain artistic genres, like ballet or
classical music and that therefore, it is such genres that merit support. In a more
pluralistic world, it is recognised that excellence should be recognised according to
the characteristics and criteria of any sphere of art or activity.
75. The Music Council supports this broader concept of excellence. That said, it is time
to recognise again that excellence is more difficult to achieve in a sonnet than a
limerick, a symphony than a folk song, and that various forms offer greater or
lesser possibilities for expressive range, depth or innovation.
76. A study of Sweden’s great success as a music exporter discovered that the music
education system was a very important contributor, not only because it produced a
large pool of skilled musicians, but also an audience capable of discerning quality.
16
A cultural policy concerned with excellence will be more effective if it considers
the entire context of production, participation and consumption.
The achievement of artistic innovation
77. (Depends especially upon the rights of freedom of expression and communication
under UN declarations, as well as the rights to education and others.)
_______________________________________________________
This section includes the following points:
• A distinctive national identity emerges only from cultural innovation
• Ingenuity is no longer enough
• The theory of complex adaptive systems describes the circumstances in which
innovation is stimulated
• A cultural policy that encourages innovation must also encourage risk-taking and
accept failure
• A cultural policy that encourages real innovation cannot rationally demand financial
viability or punish financial loss
• If we wish to encourage innovation, we should consider the behaviour of
innovators
• The cultural policy should include support to diffusion and adoption of innovation
• Arts education can foster creativity and thereby, innovation
_______________________________________________________________
78. Relationship to national identity. The Australian government’s first major foray into
the cultural arena came in the 1930’s with the establishment of the ABC. Post-
WW2, there were some other small initiatives such as the establishment of a fund
for the support of writers. Things took off in the 70s with the establishment of the
Australia Council and then of the state arts ministries. Throughout the post-war
period there was increasingly rapid cultural change, a fascination with progress
through new technologies and a desire that Australia would assert itself as a
modern, independent nation. Long-standing ambitions for a distinctive national
identity were given new currency by the uncertainties created by rapid change and

own two feet now.” – an opinion possibly formed more from prejudice than analysis. The example is
invented, but does it not somehow feel familiar?
16
Chapter 8, Att ta sig ton - om svensk musikexport 1974-1999 (Ds 1999:28) (Tuning In – Swedish Music
Exports 1974-1999). Expertgruppen för studier i offentlig ekonomi (ESO), an independent think tank in the
Ministry for Finance. An appendix gives a summary in English.

16
uncertainty about any cultural consensus between ‘old’ Australians and a flood of
new immigrants.
79. We wanted our art to be ‘distinctively Australian’ while internationally competitive
with contemporary art in the world’s leading artistic centres. This meant that it had
to be unlike almost all art that preceded it; therefore innovation would be highly
valued and receive priority for support. In music, for instance, for decades past the
artform board members in the Australia Council supported the traditional repertoire
of symphony orchestras much less enthusiastically than the work of Australian
composers.
80. Ingenuity. The traditional Australian culture values ingenuity. Ingenuity is
innovation achieved with a scarcity of resources. It is admirable but no longer
adequate. As an adult player in a technologically complex world, we can continue
to value our ingenuity but Australia must also send people out of the backyard
shed into the laboratory and the seminar. Resources must be applied.
81. Factors in the encouragement of cultural innovation. The theory of complex
adaptive systems, since it is concerned with cultural evolution, is especially helpful
in the discussion of innovation.
82. In brief, these factors could be important:
• Changes or disruptions in the culture that impel adaptation. (In our time, we
are not lacking such disruptions, to say the least; witness the effects of digital
creation and dissemination in many artforms, not least, music.)
• A diversity of artists, arts organisations, philosophies and objectives active in
the field. (Applies also to media and communications or any other field.)
• Contact between these ‘agents’.
• An input of energy such as that provided by subsidy, earned financial rewards
or well-directed regulation.
• Other forms of valuing of the activity such as public recognition.
83. Innovation requires risk-taking and frequently does not succeed. It is a step into
the unknown. If cultural policy is to encourage innovation, it is a corollary that it
must also encourage risk-taking and accept failure. Failure is an invitation to try
again. Activities that give advance guarantee of successful outcomes are likely to
repeat formulae from the past. Inflexible requirements for ‘accountability’ divert
time and may demand excessive caution.
84. Innovative art attracts mainly a small, knowledgeable and committed audience that
has the motivation and courage to deal with uncertainty and failure. It will be
unlikely to contribute sufficient funds to meet expenses. A cultural policy that
encourages real innovation cannot at the same time rationally demand financial
viability or punish financial loss.
85. The innovators. If we wish to encourage innovation, we should consider the
behaviour of innovators and what sort of situation they respond to. Perhaps there
is relevant research. At a guess, there are innovators who work steadily over an
extended period to solve a problem but there are also those who work more on
impulse and intuition, get caught up in a situation, an idea, a moment. They need
to be caught on the boil. Funding procedures generally are not friendly to the
latter. Rules to be followed, categories to be conformed to, forms to fill in, months
to wait. By the time the money arrives, the idea is stone cold dead. There are here
and there, quick-response arrangements for small amounts of money. Reapplied,
they could be effective in building a head of steam behind cultural innovation.
86. Because of the level of specialisation across the entire economy, true innovations
are likely to be known and understood by only a small number of people – in the
17
arts, the artists and a small coterie audience. Innovations become culturally
valuable as they are more widely adopted. The cultural policy could include support
to diffusion and adoption of innovation.
87. National priority. The pressure for innovation has intensified across government to
the point where the current government has a Minister for Innovation.
88. Innovation and arts education. From that flows a new emphasis on education to
encourage creativity. The arts claim to be the natural home of creativity and
therefore to have an important place in such education.
89. The Music Council supports the concept that a national cultural policy should
encourage cultural innovation; in an appropriately conceived arts education,
education in creativity should be embedded in the curriculum as an important way
of building a population capable of innovation. 17
Encourage innovation AND sustain the cultural heritage
____________________________________________________
This section includes the following points:
• We appreciate innovation by comparing it to what went before
• Innovation depends upon a living heritage. Innovation is an expedition from today’s
experience to beyond
• The classical music heritage depends on subsidy to high cost organisations and this
faces hostility that must be addressed
• This as much as any other is our music and we are very good at it. Let us own it
and go from there.
___________________________________________________________
90. General discussion. Meaningful innovation builds something new to depart from the
old, builds from the known into the previously unknown. In art, music for instance,
innovation is a departure from expectation and this engages interest, causes
pleasurable surprise.
91. We appreciate the innovation because of the departure. We could not recognise
the departure were we not familiar with the expectations within the genre to that
point – were we not familiar with the ‘heritage’.
92. The heritage gives us the cultural language that allows communication. Self-
expression is not necessarily communicative. One can express one’s self in an
entirely private language. Artist and audience must share a language for the artist
to communicate.
93. So an artist could innovate by creating something entirely new, outside the
heritage, but because it does not share in heritage, it probably does not
communicate to an audience.
94. Innovation requires heritage. For meaningful innovation, the heritage must
therefore be sustained. Sustained not as a museum, musical scores or books in a
drawer, but as a living, breathing art of our time. Innovation will not take off from
an academic study of sources but as an expedition from today’s experience to
beyond.
95. The felt need thirty years ago to emphasise creativity, originality, innovation in arts
policy, was in part a revolt against the dominance of the heritage. The changes in
the world are rapid and relentless and the long emphasis on innovation seems to
be becoming more intense. The present is all, the past is in mist.

17
A literature survey or research project to show how creativity fostered through arts education can be
transferred to non-arts disciplines could be valuable for both pedagogy and advocacy.
18
96. The particular situation of classical music. There is a new sort of untutored
impatience in some circles – including here and there the bureaucracy – with the
heritage. This is especially apparent in symphonic music and opera, which have the
misfortune not only to be centred around heritage but also to require heavy state
funding for their survival. Curiously, the state art galleries, performing a similar
function and not employing local artists, seem to escape this censure.
97. The living heritage of classical music will not survive in this country without the
orchestras and opera companies. They are the major attractors of a very
considerable audience and the major employers of the musicians. Culturally
valuable though it is, small scale classical activity is not viable as the core, or only,
classical music activity.
98. This is our music. Like most traditions, it has come here from elsewhere but it is
now ours as much as anyone’s. We are happy enough to claim jazz, rock music or
other popular genres as our own, while recognising their foreign origins. Classical
music is an internationally negotiable artform and we are very good at it. Let us
own it and go from there.
Achieve equality of access to participation
99. (Supported by the right to participate in one’s own culture under United Nations
declarations.)
____________________________________________________
This section includes the following points:
• The objective is equality of opportunity in the consumption and creation of culture
• ‘Cultural democracy’: cultural production as a means to personal and community
identity and empowerment. Everyone can participate. The internet confirms.
• Art-making is more valuable than art consumption
• Obstacles to participation include price, geography and transport, lack of education,
unfamiliarity, disadvantage of membership in special population groups; all can be
addressed by government
____________________________________________________________
100. General discussion. This objective seeks equality of opportunity. It assumes that
there will be greater participation if more people have access to it.
101. There are two forms of participation: the consumption of culture, and the creation
or re-creation of culture.
102. In Australia in the 80s, official cultural policy moved some way from consumption
to creation. There was increased funding support to community arts; regional
touring programs were in some instances reduced in favour of programs that
encouraged local art-making.
103. In early days, there was an emphasis on access to the high arts. They should not
be available only to those for whom education or wealth made them a normal part
of life. The opportunity to participate in the high arts should be available to
everyone, both as consumers and practitioners.
104. Cultural democracy. It is appropriate that there be universal access to the ‘high
arts’ but at that time, the policy discounted other genres that were already of great
interest to many people. The idea of cultural democracy took hold. The validity of a
genre of art is proven simply by the interest of people in it. Everyone has the right
to participate in cultural production. ‘Community arts’ became ‘community cultural
development’; the objective was broadened (or redefined) – arts participation was
not so much an end as a means to personal and community identity and
empowerment.
19
105. The concept of cultural democracy has been bolstered by new attitudes around the
internet. People expect to contribute as well as to consume.
106. The shift in philosophy has however not so far resulted in a mass movement
towards art-making. Australian artistic life is still largely made viable by arts
consumers.
107. Art-making is central. Nevertheless, those who are concerned with these matters
know that the best personal experience and valuing of the arts results from art-
making rather than simply art-consumption – provided that the conditions are
right: e.g. the teaching is skilful or the circumstances propitious.
108. In a meeting in September 2009, there was unanimity among the members of an
expert reference group for the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting
Authority (ACARA) that the new national arts curricula should be based on art-
making.
109. In the USA in 2006, the Knight Foundation published a study showing that people
who had learnt to perform music as children were likely to become symphony ticket
buyers as adults but that children who attended special concerts by symphony
orchestras were not. 18
110. Obstacles to participation. There have been many studies over the years to
discover obstacles to participation. Obstacles include:
• Price. Subsidy policy was once intended in part to increase accessibility by
supporting lower ticket prices. These days, subsidy simply makes the
production possible. Companies are continually challenged to become financially
self-reliant. Subsidised companies are obliged to charge what the market will
bear and accessibility is thereby diminished. Subsidise to support lower costs of
access.
Note the leap in attendances at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney
when the admission charge was removed.
• Geographical convenience. People are prevented from participating by distance,
the availability of transport and the cost and time of travel. This is one strong
argument for encouragement of cultural activity in every community.
• Educational level. Many studies show that the single most important factor
dividing participants and non-participants is the general level of educational
achievement. 19
A cultural policy that is serious about increasing access must encompass the
provision of arts education and arts-making.
• Unfamiliarity. Artistic work can be inaccessible because it is not understood or
because the audience lacks the flexibility or motivation to go beyond the
familiar. The very serious lack of arts education in Australian schools leaves
much of the population without the exposure to or knowledge of the arts that
make them intellectually or emotionally accessible.
• Some special populations. A general cultural policy to increase access may not
suffice to open opportunities for members of a number of population groups
such as these:
• Disabled. Disabled people encounter the same obstacles in the arts as in
other activities. There have been responses: arts therapies address some

18
Magic of Music. http://www.knightfoundation.org/research_publications/music/magic_of_music.dot
19
Paul Costantura: Australians and the arts. Annandale, NSW: The Federation Press, 2001
2002 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts and Research Note #81 National Endowment for the Arts,
Wahsington DC, USA. http://www.nea.gov/news/news04/SurveyAnnounce.html
20
needs; there are physical access requirements in place in many arts venues.
Among the difficulties to be addressed are assumptions about the limits on
artistic activity among the disabled which can lead to limits on the support
offered to them. For instance, Adelaide’s Tutti Ensemble is demonstrating
that a professional career in the arts is possible for talented disabled
people, given the right circumstances. But the structure of support
mechanisms actually works against these possibilities and so maintains an
unnecessary level of dependency and prevents self-fulfilment. Review the
support mechanisms.
• Ageing. As the population grows older, there is increasing interest in the
value of special arts programs in building a sense of community, keeping
people engaged and healthy – and in providing therapeutic services to
those who are not doing so well. A small financial input can produce
disproportionate benefits to health and wellbeing.
Probably there is a need for more training of practitioners, broader
organisation of opportunities, some additional funds.
The ageing or injured can face some of the same access issues as the
disabled: problems with physical access to venues, transport issues,
assumptions about incapacities. Many also are constrained by financial
problems, e.g. the diminishing value of fixed incomes from savings or
superannuation.
• Indigenous. Issues limiting access can include all of those listed in para
110, exacerbated by extreme distances and isolation for some, poverty,
educational disadvantage, racism, alienation from the dominant culture or
even own culture. An arts access program is probably a designated
component of more comprehensive solutions.
• At-risk youth. There is abundant experience in Australia and elsewhere that
art-making can divert at-risk youth into more constructive lives. Because
these people are probably effectively not within the formal educational
structure, special measures must be taken to reach them. Prevention costs
money, but saves even more.
Achieve equality of access to an effective arts education
111. (Supported by the right to an education and the right to participate in one’s own
culture.)
_________________________________________________
This section includes the following points:
• The discussion here is based especially upon the situation in music education
• In our society, only the schools can provide universal access to arts education
• Yet students of public schools have only one quarter the access to a music
education available to students of independent schools, a gross inequity
• Teaching in the formative primary school years is generally extremely unskilled – or
absent. Primary school teachers with the responsibility of delivering music
education receive on average only 17 hours of music training to deliver 7 years of
classes
• Training in other art forms is even less
• The creation of a national curriculum for the arts is a positive step but does nothing
to address the main problem:

21
• A national curriculum worthy of the name cannot be delivered in most primary
schools with the existing teaching force, facilities and class time; there are serious
gaps at the secondary level
• A cultural policy cannot ignore this fundamental problem; it can be solved only with
resources
• (The Music Council is developing an online music education resource to assist, but
itself lacks resources)
• Early childhood education is crucial but there are no arts accreditation requirements
for the teachers
• Tertiary institutions must prepare Australians to succeed in an international market
that operates in Australia as well as overseas. They are not funded to do so
• There are problems in the lack of preparation of tertiary institution leaders.
___________________________________________________________
112. General discussion. In traditional societies, there was very broad participation in
cultural practices and culture was passed informally from one generation to the
next. In our society, so far as the arts are concerned, this is hardly the case at all
and they are transmitted formally. It is only the school education system that can
offer universal access to arts education.
113. Educationalprovision is not part of the arts portfolio. It must nevertheless be a part
of any meaningful arts policy.
114. Gross inequity of access. 77% of Australian public schools do not offer a competent
music education. This compares with 12% of independent schools. The figure for
other artforms in public schools is possibly higher. There is a startling inequality of
access. 20
115. This inequity inevitably transfers to education for arts careers. If preparation in
school is so lacking, admission to tertiary education is unlikely except for those who
achieve eligibility through private means.
116. Unskilled teaching. It should be noted that one reason for the inadequacy of school
arts education is the very low level of provision of arts instruction in the degree
programs for school classroom teachers. A recent MCA study shows that on
average, primary school classroom teachers receive 17 hours of mandatory music
instruction in their preservice courses, out of an average total of 1125 hours of
instruction. Instruction in the other four arts areas is even less. Some small
proportion of teacher trainees will come to these courses with arts skills acquired
privately or even in the small percentage of schools that do have effective arts
programs. But the great majority whose arts skills depend totally on this instruction
cannot be effective in arts education. Research has shown that a large percentage
of these teachers are frightened to sing, cannot play an instrument, cannot read
music and do not have the confidence to teach it.
117. The Commonwealth has only limited influence over school programs, a state
preserve. However, it funds the universities and this may give it some purchase on
their policies and programs. It could intervene to bring about a major increase in
arts education for primary school classroom teachers. (Nevertheless, the real
solution is for the states to step up their accreditation requirements so that they
can be assured that teachers have the competencies to teach effective and
adequate arts curricula. In music, this would not be an innovation, but a
reclamation of past standards.)

20

22
118. National curriculum. The creation of a national curriculum in the arts is a positive
step. It brings a substantial investment of money, time and skill into consideration
of arts curricula. It will bring a level of harmonisation between jurisdictions that
allows easier transfer of skills and credit when students – and teachers – move
from one to another, provided that the curriculum is genuinely adopted. It will
create a national market in arts education goods and services which will make
possible a more viable private industry to supply them without government
assistance.
119. Absent resources. That said, the key obstacle to provision of an arts
education is not in the availability of curricula, but in the provision of
competent teachers, teaching time and facilities. A cultural or
educational policy that pretends otherwise cannot be taken seriously.
120. Online resources for school music teachers. The Minister for Education’s Music
Education Advisory Group (MEAG) – now unfortunately disbanded – came to the
realisation that primary school classroom teachers, who have the responsibility but
not the training to teach music, are often without curricular resources to do so.
Indeed, in some jurisdictions they are even responsible for inventing their own
music syllabi and lesson plans, despite their lack of skills. In at least one state,
curricular materials were available online but access was so tortuous that teachers
were unable to find them.
121. MEAG proposed a basic and conceptually simple strategy to address the problem:
the creation of an online portal to music education resources. Its proposal to the
Department of Education for funding was refused. It took a small part of its
available funds and commissioned the Music Council to collect the information for a
resource. The Music Council, from its own meagre resources, is building a website
to make the resource available to teachers.
122. This is as far as self-reliance stretches. Funds will be needed by the Music Council
to maintain and if possible, develop, the online resource.
123. Education for creativity. The current government’s emphasis on innovation leads to
a need for the education system to foster creativity. An appropriate arts education
is intrinsic to such a policy. (See the Innovation section above, paras 82-3.)
124. Education in cultural diversity. Schools have the opportunity to take students to a
fascination and engagement with cultural diversity. (See Diversity section below.)
125. Issues at each educational level. The next paragraphs look at some key issues for
arts education at pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
126. Pre-school. It is in infancy/early childhood that neural pathways important to arts
participation are laid down. For this to happen, there has to be arts exposure. It
might be expected that this comes from the parents but in a society that consumes
but does not make art, it often does not happen.21
127. There is no arts training required of early childhood carers and teachers. If it were
provided, they would be bound to use it with children because it is such a positive
experience. There is no additional cost to the institutions.
128. Proof of appropriate competency should be a requirement for accreditation.
129. Primary schools. In all but two government education jurisdictions, primary school
arts education is made the responsibility of classroom teachers. As demonstrated
above, they are not trained to deliver the current curricula. As things stand, except
for those who have acquired sufficient arts skills elsewhere in their lives, they will

21
Early results from a pilot study conducted by Dr Peter de Vries in Melbourne show that many mothers in
their 20s – especially the early 20s – lack the confidence to sing, don’t know how to sing to a baby (as
opposed to singing in the shower etc), and most revealingly, they simply don’t know any lullabies!
23
be equally incompetent to deliver the national curriculum. Two states demonstrate
and pay for the only practicable solution: arts education is delivered by specialists
in the various art forms.
130. This solution will require years to implement because of the necessity to train the
teachers. Obstacles to the employment of those who already have professional
arts skills should be minimised. For instance, the NSW Department will not employ
someone with accredited skills in music and pedagogy to teach music in primary
schools; all primary school teachers must be qualified as general classroom
teachers. This is bizarre. People with professional arts skills should be recruited and
provided with instruction in pedagogy. Success may depend on devising suitable
terms of employment which, for instance, allow parallel careers in teaching and
performance.
131. Classroom teachers should receive rapid interim assistance to develop their arts
teaching skills. Even if arts subjects are taken over by specialists, classroom
teachers’ presence and active collaboration should be required. Pending arrival of
the specialists, they should be brought to a level where they can offer at least
fundamental instruction by themselves. Regional consultants in each of the art
forms should be restored to assist the existing classroom teachers. Accredited
professional development courses should be established, run by the departments
and by professional arts education organisations such as the Kodaly Association.
Ensure that there are funds available to pay substitute teachers when staff attend
training courses.
132. Secondary schools. All subjects in secondary schools are delivered by subject-area
specialists, including the arts. The particular problem besetting primary schools is in
that regard, solved. Nevertheless, there is evidence that there is no, or inadequate,
arts provision in many state secondary schools. 22 This may be a failure in some
cases to deliver the curriculum to which a department is formally committed. In
any case, all jurisdictions are committed to arts education as per the Melbourne
Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (December 2008), endorsed
by all Ministers for Education.
133. Tertiary. Comments here apply especially to tertiary education in music and music-
related disciplines, but some may be extrapolated to other cultural areas.
134. Standards. Australian artists function to a greater or lesser degree in an
international market. Australian orchestras recruit internationally, tour
internationally to some extent, and attempt to promote their recordings
internationally. Australian musicians may work in Australia or overseas but in both
cases, international standards can apply. Australian writers may serve first the
domestic market but the best achieve international success – and reward. The arts
are further internationalised by the internet and the trend accelerates. Australian
tertiary education must assume that it is training students to survive and compete
internationally as well as locally.
135. When we hear that a music conservatorium is reducing the number and/or
duration of instrumental lessons for each student, we must ask whether the
management or the government has considered the lesson time given in Finland or
England, the USA or indeed China. With half the instruction, how do our students
succeed?

22
Stevens, Robin et al: National Report on Trends in School Music Education Provision in Australia. Music
Council of Australia, 2003. http://www.mca.org.au/web/fileadmin/user_upload/PDFs/Stevens/Toc.pdf.
Also Lierse, A. 1999b, The effectiveness of Music Programs in Victorian Government Secondary Schools
1995–1996. Unpublished Ed.D. thesis. Monash University; Clayton. These studies are now ageing but it is
as possible that the situation has declined further than that it has improved.
24
136. Huib Schippers, Music Council Board Member and Director of the Queensland
Conservatorium Griffith University, says teaching a singer or instrumentalist is ‘like
pulling teeth’. He does not mean that it is difficult, although it is, but that the
teaching can proceed only one mouth at a time, for music as for dentistry. But
conservatoria are funded as though music is taught in classes to 100 at a time. For
purposes of funding, they are wrongly categorised and that causes immense
difficulty in achieving high level outcomes. Some instruction can be given in classes
but the instruction upon which professional success for performing musicians most
depends must be given individually. If we do not provide that to an adequate level,
we put our students at a competitive disadvantage with students in most
competing countries.
137. The inadequacy of arts education given to trainee generalist school teachers has
been mentioned above. It is within the powers of the universities to remedy this,
but they need to be told so by the government.
138. Leadership. There is no formal preparation available for leadership of arts
education institutions. When vacancies are announced, few obviously qualified
candidates step forward. It is common to hear the head of a conservatorium or
music department recount that they were talked into taking the leadership position
despite having no preparation and essentially being ‘thrown in at the deep end’.
This is not a strategy for success. This is not a strategy at all.
139. Traditionally, leadership was given to a person with high distinction as a performer
or an academic and they muddled through. Some showed commitment, others took
the salary and suffered the inconvenience of some interruption to their existing
careers. This practice is no longer appropriate. The skills required to run an
educational institution may overlap with but are not the same as those needed by a
performer, a composer, a painter, writer, academic. On the other hand, a person
with management skills but no immersion in arts practice is also only by accident
equipped for these positions.
140. Since so much depends on the successful operation of the tertiary arts education
sector, some provision should be made to ensure the availability of skilled leaders.
141. Graduate outcomes. The success of tertiary institutions is measured in part on the
positions and salaries achieved by graduates. It needs to be understood that a
bachelor’s degree in musical performance is unlikely to suffice to place a graduate
in an orchestral position. That is more likely to follow some time later after
graduate or foreign study. As to study in other areas such as jazz or contemporary
music, there are almost no positions for employees and success would have to be
measured on other criteria.
142. Indigenous. Whatever special provisions are needed should be implemented.
Culture is for Indigenous Australians fundamental and Indigenous arts practice
fulfils cultural needs and is a very substantial contributor to the Indigenous
economy. Build on this strength but honour the nature of Indigenous arts practice.
143. Concerning the broader educational agenda, there is abundant evidence from, for
instance, the Northern Territory, that a music program in schools has dramatic
effects on attendance and engagement.
144. Provision should be universal and continuous.
Encourage successful participation by youth
___________________________________________________
This section includes the following points:
• The interest is not so much in ‘youth arts’ as in participation by youth in all arts

25
• Relevant issues include arts education, innovation, equality of access, schemes to
support emerging artists, the encouragement of digital music investment and
innovation, all dealt with elsewhere in this submission
• The Office of Youth says governments must stop talking to young people, and
start engaging with young people
• The MCA’s Australian Youth Music Council proposes in particular a small grants
program for youth, demonstrated successfully already by the now deceased Buzz
program of the Australia Council
__________________________________________________________
145. General discussion. The Music Council of Australia has established the Australian
Youth Music Council as an advisory body and also one which can undertake its own
projects. Members of the Music Council and the Youth Music Council are agreed
that while there may be musical genres or activities of greater interest to youth,
the interest is in the participation of youth in activities of every type.
146. This philosophy holds for our submission for a national cultural policy. It assumes
that youth has a role in all initiatives except those that are specifically directed to
other populations such as the ageing.
147. There are some issues that especially concern youth cultural participation. These
include:
• any issues concerning arts education, including innovation and arts education
(para 82) and equality of access (para 99 and following)
• investment incentive schemes to support emerging artists (para 239 and
following)
• encouragement of digital music innovation and investment – not confined to
youth but likely to have special relevance (para 246 and following)
148. This section of the Music Council submission is guided by input from the Australian
Youth Music Council. The AYMC writes:
149. A scoping study, which was prepared for the Ministerial Council on Education,
Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, found that Youth participation was
identified as a top priority, and one that should continue to be so over the coming
decades. 23

150. The Australian Government’s own Office for Youth sets out Universality,
Engagement and Inclusion as its three guiding principles. Its rationale for
Engagement is that “in order to be effective, governments must stop talking to
young people, and start engaging with young people. The Office for Youth
respects and understands the value and contributions young people offer as
citizens of today, not just the leaders of tomorrow.” 24

151. Therefore the government seems to value youth participation; we would like to see
more youth participation in the arts.

152. Although most youth participation and involvement with government in the arts
should probably come from the bottom-up, it would be possible (and perhaps
timely) for governments to initiate youth participation initiatives from the top-down.

153. In general the AYMC supports government involvement through:

23
National Youth Affairs Research Scheme. (2005). SCOPING STUDY OF YOUTH POLICY PRIORITIES AND
DIRECTIONS. National Youth Affairs Research Scheme.
24
DEEWR. (2009). Office For Youth. Retrieved December 26, 2009, from www.deewr.gov.au:
http://www.deewr.gov.au/Youth/OfficeForYouth/Pages/default.aspx
26
• Resourcing youth arts activity in the usual way (through education, arts
practice etc)
• Resourcing activities initiated by youth
• Making information services and resources available to young artists and young
people involved in the arts
• Talking and listening to young people.
154. A small grants program. Subsidised projects for emerging artists can, and in many
cases should be, bottom-heavy. That is, a small amount of money can go a long
way with resourceful young people, focussed directly on projects and practical
outcomes. Furthermore, young artists need practical experience in producing
innovative projects (art exhibitions, recordings, tours, performance series, festivals,
theatre productions, new media artworks etc) and this can be facilitated by
governments and philanthropic funding programs. 25
155. Innovation is common in youth arts practice. Young people involved in arts training
of some description are generally engaged in heritage/historical/genre-based study,
but it is inevitable and common that young people choose to and should be
encouraged to innovate.
156. Take as an example the Buzz Grants program, initiated by the Australia Council
(2001 - 2006) and subsequently managed by the Foundation for Young Australians
(2007 – 2008) but no longer running. Buzz was a small grants program which
provided young artists (up to 25 years old) with experience in project management
of practical arts activity, and in grant writing, managing and acquittal processes
which are important in many arts disciplines. It was a flexible and practical
opportunity for funding, which encouraged innovation and ownership, and
delivered practical, educational and career benefits for the young artist and (in
many cases) public outcomes. It gave encouragement to initiate projects, even
when funding was unsuccessful.
157. The last round of funding for Buzz Grants (in 2006) by the Australia Council
distributed $50,000 to 20 applicants (all for Music). The Assessment Report states:
The second round of Buzz for 2006 confirmed that interest remains high in this
program for young artists and that the program continues to be increasingly
competitive. Once again panel members commented on the high calibre of
most applications received. This round the Music Board was pleased to support
projects across the country, demonstrating range of musical styles including
contemporary rock/pop, jazz classical music, and music theatre.
Diverse musical outcomes supported include a contribution to a youth music
event in the Northern Territory, recording projects including CD manufacture,
advanced instrumental study overseas, mentorship programs, touring within
Australia and other key developmental opportunities for emerging artists.26
158. The Australia Council’s Artstart program is a welcome initiative, although it provides
larger grants (projects up to $10,000, compared with a $2500 limit for Buzz
Grants) from a similar pool of money. 27 The first ArtStart round in 2009 distributed
$507,680 (Australia Council, 2009) to 53 successful applicants, six of them for
Music ($56,450). The ArtStart program has a business model / career development

25
The JB Seed is a good example of a philanthropic initiative suitable to young artists. There are also
youth small grants programs in some states. There is probably a lot more that could be done with a
relatively small pot of money.
26
Australia Council. (2006, November). Buzz 2006 round 2 – Assessment Report. Retrieved January 6,
2010, from Australia Council:
http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/31957/buzz_amr_sept2006.pdf
27
Australia Council. (2009, December). ArtStart December 2009. Retrieved January 6, 2010, from
http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/grants/amr/artstart/artstart_december_2009
27
focus which is more specific and may not allow, for example, innovative projects,
tours, a debut album etc 28.
159. There are small grants programs for young artists in some states (WA, QLD) but
not others (NSW). There is probably a bigger discrepancy in ‘youth small grants’
between jurisdictions than in most other areas of arts funding, and it should be
reviewed – although the aim is not a single ‘small grants for young artists’ program
or a model which applies to all states, territories, local government and the
Commonwealth. A strong case could be made for the benefits of funded initiatives
by young artists through small grants, as well as establishing best practice. This
probably concerns the state governments more than federal.
160. Itis proposed that the government reconsider the possibility of flexible small grants
programs for young artists and look at examples of youth arts activity (or the lack
of) as a consequence of small grants programs in different states and territories.
Sustain and develop cultural diversity
161. (Supported by the right to participate in one’s own culture and the culture of
others, along with other UN rights.)

This section includes the following points:


• The arts of immigrant Australians have received only tepid support
• This is one of our greatest lost opportunities
• They present a diversity which could contribute to a powerhouse of cultural
innovation
• Policies should support both heritage and innovation
• For immigrant peoples, the right to participate in one’s own culture takes in the
cultures of their old and their new homes
• School education should impart a familiarity with the diversity of cultures present in
Australia
_______________________________________________________
162. Definition of “cultural diversity”. Culture can be expressed through various and
diverse forms, e.g. poetry, film, painting, music etc. Diversity can be seen in
cultural expression of different geographical areas, whether they are rural regions,
states or countries. Diversity can be a consequence of differing religions, ethnicities
or other sub-cultural groupings, whether inside or outside Australia. Diversity arises
from the creative expression of individual artists or groups of artists, and so is
encouraged by artistic freedom. Cultural diversity may exist as between countries,
and within countries.
163. Ethnic diversity in Australia. Australia has within it representatives of a multitude of
cultures, including those of the Indigenous Australians and cultures brought here
by immigrants, both the earlier, now ‘mainstream’ immigrants and more recent
non-Anglo people.
164. Indigenous arts. In recent decades, the arts of the Indigenous Australians have had
a very significant impact, despite their general oppression. In part, this is the

28
The December 2009 ArtStart Report states that “it was noted that several applicants requested primary
funds for discrete project funding and did not articulate viable strategies to achieve long term aims or
career sustainability”. The program has a career development focus which is welcome, but it does not
support small projects which cannot be justified within a 5-year business plan, limiting the scope to
support innovative small projects.
28
consequence of national cultural policies, confirmed and expanded by the present
government. See next section.
165. Immigrant arts and innovation. There has been no equivalent support to the
cultures of recent immigrants despite a long-standing but weakly implemented
official policy of multiculturalism.
166. This is one of Australia’s greatest missed opportunities.
167. There is an abundance of cultural expressions in an immigrant population that is
largely left to fend for itself. Some immigrant artists simply abandon their practice.
Others continue, perhaps for an audience within their own communities. The
potential for bringing these cultures to the larger community is barely explored,
notwithstanding a scatter of important projects.
168. The lack of contact beyond their own communities and even, in many cases, with
the younger generation within those communities, can lead to ossification of the
arts practice. This could be addressed to some extent if there was cultural contact
between the members of particular ethnicities resident in different centres across
the country but that does not happen either.
169. If
the government is to extend its emphasis on innovation in the arts, one of the
greatest stimuli is the juxtaposition of sufficiently similar/dissimilar arts genres (see
above, innovation and complex adaptive systems). Examples are the hybrids of
various forms of ethnic musics with each other or with more mainstream genres.
There is a world wide audience/market for such music, called ‘world music’.
Compared to its potential, Australia is hardly a player. It should be a leader.
170. Aswith other areas of the arts, innovation and heritage are hand in hand. A
multicultural policy in the arts should support both maintenance of the heritage,
and innovation. Australia could be a major presenter both of traditions and
innovations.
171. Acultural right. There are other ramifications of a multicultural policy. One that
follows from the previous point: The right to participate in one’s own culture
applies, for immigrant people, both to the culture they grew up with and the
culture of their new country.
172. Education in diversity. Arts education for children should give a deep and thorough
experience in some particular genres but also a more general familiarity with the
diversity of cultures, not least the cultures around them.
173. International undertaking. Australia is a new signatory to the UNESCO Convention
for (cultural diversity). It is thereby encouraged, though not obliged, to protect and
promote cultural diversity within its own borders, among other things. Other
aspects to Australia’s participation in this Convention are mentioned in the
international section, below.
Sustain and develop Indigenous Australian arts and artists
174. (Supported by the right to participate in one’s own culture and the culture of
others, along with other UN rights.)
____________________________________________________
This section includes the following points:
• We are privileged to have among us the original inhabitants of this land
• We have two responsibilities: to listen and understand, and to exchange and
support
• Support goes to Indigenous arts and to Indigenous artists practising in any art form
or genre

29
• It is necessary to support the traditions, in some cases by collecting and archiving
them against the passing of the last cultural bearers
• Support should be given to the establishment of a national indigenous theatre
company and to strengthening community arts centres
• Continuing effort should be given to solving the special copyright issues such as
community copyright
• National Indigenous Television should be supported to become a genuine national
public broadcaster with adequate funds to initiate and commission new works
________________________________________________________
175. We in Australia know the great privilege of having among us the original
inhabitants of this land. They bring to us a culture that is traditionally an expression
of a land and a people that are one. Most of us can barely imagine such a world
view. Indigenous Australians offer us an opportunity that we are very slow to take
up.
176. We have two responsibilities: to listen and understand, and to exchange and
support. It is through Indigenous cultural expressions that we have the easiest
access to understanding. Our governments assist in bringing these to the entire
population. They should also ensure that our children discover them from an early
age.
177. Having taken their country, we offer in exchange a modicum of support. In the
cultural area, the support has had outcomes far beyond anticipation. It might be
the one area in which government intervention has had overwhelmingly positive
results.
178. The Music Council notes the present Minister’s active interest in supporting
Indigenous arts activity, including in contemporary music.
179. In considering support policy, a distinction should be made between Indigenous
arts and Indigenous artists, who may practise in any artform or genre. Support
should go to both.
180. Traditional arts. It is important to attend to Indigenous Australian traditional arts.
The last carriers of some traditions are in old age and will pass on. The traditions
must be captured as fully as possible and archived. The archives must be available
to Indigenous community members. This will make revitalisation possible should
the current or future generations desire it. The interest of the current generation
should not necessarily be the deciding factor in such collection efforts. Even if it
lacks interest, its children may have a different view.
181. Contemporary arts. Clearly, Indigenous visual arts is a success story. We are
aware of ethical issues in the marketing of paintings and leave those to the better
informed. There are successes in theatre and film. In contemporary music there
are also successes and a slowly evolving competence in building and managing
careers.
182. To move forward in theatre, it is proposed that support is offered for
establishment of a national indigenous theatre company along the lines proposed
by Wesley Enoch and others, a counterpart of Bangarra as a national Indigenous
dance company.
183. The Commonwealth should review the current levels of financial support for
Indigenous community arts centres in remote Australia, remembering the cultural
and economic importance of arts practice and the advantages of effective, ethical
management.

30
184. If the microfinance / venture capital scheme for investment in music artists and
recordings as proposed in para 238 is set up, efforts should be made to include
production of Indigenous recordings.
185. Copyright issues have special importance. Indigenous Australians in theory enjoy
the moral rights afforded to all others, but in practice there are problems of
attribution and integrity. Community copyright for traditional art has still not been
solved effectively by anyone and it is important that Australia cooperates actively
with WIPO in advancing this issue.
186. There are unrealised opportunities to increase Indigenous access to the general
population through National Indigenous Television. NITV should be supported to
become a genuine national public broadcaster with adequate funds to initiate and
commission new works and, in the lead-up to switching off the analogue signal,
resourced to reach Australia free-to-air.
187. There is a need to ensure spectrum availability for Indigenous community
broadcasting and its capacity to transfer from analogue to digital after the
analogue signal is switched off.

The following is drawn from the submission prepared by Rob Collins, the Indigenous
representative to MCA, and Dean Ormston of APRA. Collins is employed by APRA. The
submission focuses on music. It arrived after the MCA submission had been sent and is
included here for the sake of completeness. It is place separately in a box in order to
allow the paragraph numbers for the remainder of the submission to remain unaltered.
Collaboration: APRA, Viscopy and Arts Law tour of WA. A national cultural policy
should continue to encourage collaboration between arts organisations, focused on
servicing remote Indigenous artists. APRA, together with Viscopy and the Arts Law
Centre of Australia conducted a tour of the Kimberley region of north Western Australia
in May 2009. The tour visited the communities of Derby, Broome and Fitzroy Crossing
with the purpose of raising awareness of Intellectual Property and Copyright issues,
and providing services to remote visual artists and musicians who would ordinarily
have limited access to these services. Limited access for some Indigenous people may
be due to economic disadvantage, social marginalisation, health problems and
geographical isolation. Such a tour provides a holistic approach to Rights
administration, and demonstrates the sectors commitment to meaningfully engage with
remote communities. Local artists had the opportunity to ask questions directly, and
the organisations involved were able to learn valuable lessons about their respective
service delivery through feedback from participants.
The tour was a successful model of how organisations can collaborate to invigorate
Indigenous arts practice in communities. It is our intention to continue the tour in
2010.
Remote Music Touring: A national cultural policy should focus on providing
infrastructure to support music touring in remote communities. Music is a significant
contributor to community harmony, cultural maintenance, and in providing additional
income streams to Indigenous songwriters and composers. The lack of music touring
infrastructure in remote communities - including central Australia, north-east Arnhem
Land, the Kimberley region of West Australia, and the Anangu Pitjantjatjara
Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands of the northern part of South Australia - acts to stifle
music creation, meaningful engagement with the commercial music industry, and
income streams that flow from copyright royalties. We believe that there is an
opportunity to develop performing pathways based on the existing framework available
via community festivals, regional festivals and national events.
Regional Touring: The "Groundswell" tour conducted from September to October
2009 along the east coast (supported by Arts NSW, Arts Vic, Arts QLD and DEWHA)
31
provided performance opportunities and professional development of 5 Indigenous
bands / solo artists, and is a clear demonstration of the success of such an initiative.
Community through Music: Music provides a unique vehicle for community building
projects and the means for those projects to evolve and migrate. There is currently
very little opportunity for Indigenous artists to obtain performance experience in live
music venues. In many regional parts of Australia, clubs and hotels provide the primary
live music venues.
There is an opportunity to bridge the cultural gap that exists between many venues
and Indigenous artists and audiences. APRA, together with other industry groups, has
relationships which could facilitate an Unearthed or Battle of the Bands styled series.
Venues might be utilised during non-peak periods and in alcohol free mode, along the
lines of the Blue Light Disco model. The series could be piloted in Darwin and then
expanded to include major regional towns.
Management workshops: A national cultural policy should address the identified
need in providing skills training in music management; increasing income generation
opportunities in the Indigenous music industry; and improving the music management
and administration skills base. In addition to the support provided to Indigenous
musicians, opportunities for professional development and employment should also
target roles in music administration.
Supporting jobs in music management for Indigenous people empowers communities
to create viable industries locally, and will increase the likelihood of Indigenous
musicians and administrators partaking in the wider industry. Investment in
opportunities for artists and creators need to be balanced with investments in
enterprise development, providing a suitable business framework for long-term
sustainability.
International Development for Indigenous Musicians: There are opportunities
to organise performances for Indigenous artists at international conferences, for
instance Music Matters (Hong Kong) which will have a Live Music focus in 2010.
Assisting Indigenous artists in attending and participating in international events will
focus and develop their international profile.
Song Cycles: APRA supports opportunities to investigate the potential benefits of
traditional and non-traditional indigenous music programs in addressing issues of
isolation, self-esteem, inclusiveness, skills development, self-expression and
employment. APRA’s Song Cycles research, to be published in March, highlighted
amongst other things, basic rights issues and social disadvantage in the lives of
Indigenous music artists.
APRA believes policy and strategic decisions should focus on the following outcomes,
as also expressed in the Indigenous Contemporary Music Action Plan 200829:
• Respect for Indigenous music and music creators
• Creating an environment that fosters cultural and artistic development
• Economic benefit by way of fair compensation to composers, songwriters,
musicians and their communities for the use of creative works
• More reasonable access to funding programs
• Improved access to mainstream markets
• A festival network that builds on the existing infrastructure provided by
community, regional and national festivals to provide a performing pathway for artists.

29
Indigenous  Contemporary  Music  Action  Plan  2008,  
http://www.cmc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/85607/Indigenous_Contemporary_Music_Action_
Plan.pdf  
32
• Creation of opportunities for creative and professional development
• Creation of opportunities for enterprise development which would provide a
business framework to support creative activities
• Vehicles to promote musical works to a wider audience
• Sustainability.
There is an opportunity for education and reconciliation in the process of
commercialising both traditional and contemporary Indigenous music.
Protection of Indigenous/Traditional Cultural Expression (TCEs): APRA
recognises the fundamental importance of “keeping culture strong” in our indigenous
communities. APRA supports the development and implementation of policies that
assist Indigenous creators and communities in owning and controlling their cultural
property - they are the guardians and interpreters of their own culture. For Aborigines
and Torres Strait Islanders, their “traditional cultural expression” is an integrated part
of their spiritual life and the relationship to their land and dreaming stories. Therefore
music, dance and visual art are a fundamental part of their lives, identities, their
relationship to land and to each other.
The issue of the protection of TK and TCEs is being studied in detail at the
international level by the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property,
Genetic Resources Traditional Knowledge and Folklore of WIPO. The study by the
Indigenous lawyer Terri Janke Our Culture, Our Future30 recommended the elaboration
of cultural protocols to govern the use of TCEs in line with expectations of communities
and to foster understanding and respect towards them.
In a paper published last year, Beyond Guarding Ground31 there is a call for the
creation of a National Indigenous Cultural Authority (NICA). APRA supports the
creation of any methods to recognise and promote the indigenous control of their
cultural resources, benefit sharing and the facilitating of obtaining prior informed
consent for the use of TCEs. Such a body could work with existing collecting societies
and advise on questions of provenance, compliance with protocols, dispute resolution
and to assist communities and creators in claims of moral rights abuses. A NICA could
also serve to provide input from communities in policy setting at the WIPO level.
APRA also acknowledges the importance of de-centralised projects instigated by
community elders and drawing on a range of institutional support, such as the National
Recording Project for Indigenous Performance in Australia32. This project seeks to
assist communities record and control the use of their endangered song cycles. In
assisting the communities each community is free to control and implement their own
approaches and requirements in managing their TCEs
In developing policies for benefit sharing for indigenous communities from the
appropriate and authorised commercial use of their TCEs, we recognise that this is only
one aspect of the importance of music to them. Music also serves to renew or teach
law and culture as well as playing a pivotal role in ceremony/storytelling and
preserving language. Indigenous music is also an important tool in sharing culture and
educating the world about these communities. Accordingly, APRA serves as a bridge to
allow communities to participate in the international music industry. The process of
giving assistance, education and professional development to our members and those
communities can be set out as follows:

30
Our  Culture,  Our  Future,  http://www.icip.lawnet.com.au  1999  Author:  Terri  Janke,  ©  Michael  Frankel  
&  Associates,  Solicitors
31
Beyond  Guarding  Ground,  Terri  Janke,  2009
32
National  Recording  Project  for  Indigenous  Performance  in  Australia,  
http://www.aboriginalartists.com.au/NRP.htm
33
Sustain and develop a diversity of languages and the ability to use them
188. (Supported by the right to participate in one’s own culture and the culture of
others, along with other UN rights.)
______________________________________________
This section includes the following points:
• Foster literacy in English as the dominant language
• Support the survival of indigenous languages where this is the wish of their people
• The languages of immigrants are a resource to Australia; support their survival as
appropriate.
_____________________________________________________
189. Languages embody cultures and thus, ways of thinking and creating, cultural
artefacts and histories, and the means of communicating them.
190. Sharing the majority language. We share almost universally through the use of
English, Australia’s official language and the nearest thing currently to a lingua
franca in the world. It is important to a cultural policy that it fosters literacy in and
expression and communication through English.
191. Indigenous Australian languages. Of the 273 languages known to have been
spoken at the time of white settlement, 111 are extinct. Of the 162 living
languages, 111 are considered nearly extinct, spoken by only a handful of people.
Obviously, along with loss of language goes loss of music heritage. 33
192. Ifa language has no utility to its own people, it will not survive, but for marginal
languages, assistance can be given to their survival through archiving and better,
revitalisation. The arts can be a valuable tool. For instance, there are projects

33
For a complete list of the 273 languages and their status, see Endangered Language Initiative see
www.yourdictionary.com/elr.whatis.html. A quotation from that sourc e:
“People from other cultures are also impoverished when any language dies. The history tied up in a
language will go unrecorded; the poetry and rhythm of a singular tongue will be silenced forever. The
scientific search for Universal Grammar, the common starting point for all grammars that human children
seem to be born with, depends on our knowing what all human languages have in common. The
wholesale loss of languages that we face today will greatly restrict how much we can learn about human
cognition, language, and language acquisition at a time when the achievements in these arenas have been
greater than ever before.”

34
which encourage the use of Indigenous language in hip hop, so making them
newly relevant to young people.
193. Immigrant languages. The languages of immigrant groups support cultural diversity
in Australia and could facilitate our cultural and commercial links with the rest of
the world. Their survival could be encouraged through a cultural diversity policy.
Provide adequate financial and regulatory support
194. (Supported by the right to just remuneration and moral rights, among others.)
_______________________________________________
This section includes the following points:
• An important practical distinction is made between industry support and cultural
subsidy; contrasting expectations follow
• What should be the national subsidy to culture? Costing of the National Cultural
Policy is a new possible guide
• Government should fund for success, not survival. Australia should be the model
for daring cultural enterprise
• Infrastructure funding needs to be steady and continuous, cf project funding
• There are many opportunities for cultural funding across government
• Funding assignments among the different levels of government should not be rigid
but they should consult with each other
• The arm’s length principle is important above all as a defence of freedom of
expression
• Government failure to provide untied funding to the Australia Council weakens the
core business of the arts sector. Core funding is always a priority
• A small investment in the policy activities of the Australia Council boards would
bring disproportionate benefit
• The practice of giving leadership of the Australia Council to business people should
be reviewed
• Various regulatory issues are mentioned
• The development of the recording and film industries has been in large part a
result of local content regulations on media. These should be applied so far as
practicable to multichanneling and other new media developments
• The appropriate response to the digital disruption in the copyright industries is to
attach policy to some basic principles: the right of creators and investors to benefit
from their work, the balance between their rights and the public interest.
• In the public interest, it is important to distinguish between file-sharing and fair
dealing
_______________________________________________________
195. Industrysupport vs cultural subsidy. It is important to distinguish between the two.
Industry support in the arts can be provided to lift an artist or arts company
towards financial self-reliance or profit. The main criterion for award of industry
assistance is commercial promise. If the assistance is successful and the recipient
becomes profitable, there is no further need for government support; if it is not
successful, it may be that further support is not justified.
196. Cultural
subsidy assists the production of art judged to be of high artistic value,
which otherwise could not be produced because it cannot achieve financial break-
even through market forces alone. Success is measured primarily through the
35
artistic achievement, although competent management is also expected. Contrary
to the situation with industry support, success heightens the probability of
subsequent funding.
197. Aclear example is found in full-scale opera. A value judgement that operatic
performances should be available to Australian artists and audiences will be
followed by a realisation that in 21C circumstances, opera cannot meet its costs
from earnings. Subsidy will make opera production possible. If the productions are
artistically successful, there are good audiences, management is competent, then
success this year will, under the same rules, justify subsidy next year. Other
examples are found, for instance, in innovative art where costs may be relatively
modest but the appeal is only to small and specialised audiences (although the
eventual impact may be much wider).
198. In assessing the merit of cultural activity for industry assistance, consideration of
its cultural value is entirely optional. The probability of commercial success may be
independent of cultural value and in any case, could be deemed to be so. On the
other hand, there could be a decision that as a matter of policy, industry assistance
will be given only to activities that have both commercial promise and cultural
value. (Decisions about what has cultural value may appear difficult but they are an
inescapable continuing task of subsidising bodies.)
199. In the widening enthusiasm for arts-as-business, we occasionally find funding
bodies and governments urging financial self-reliance upon the recipients of
cultural subsidy when the nature of their work gives them little hope of achieving
it. This invites frustration and disappointment on both sides.
200. How much subsidy? While there have been reviews of the funding of various arts
sectors and activities (e.g. the visual arts, the major performing arts), there is no
overall plan, no big picture for arts subsidy. In bits and pieces, subsidies are
pushed, pulled, squeezed, stretched, piled on, cut, sometimes according to plan,
other times whim or circumstance.
201. Howmuch subsidy is needed, overall? How long is a piece of string? The answer
depends on overall objectives.
202. It
would be very difficult to come to a conclusion on this matter. However, a
comprehensive national cultural (or arts) policy gives a basis for an investigation
and an estimate. What would it cost to implement the policy? Finding an answer
must be preferable to simple acceptance of an accidental and unexamined status
quo.
203. Funding for success. Because the total quantum of cultural subsidy is small
compared to need and demand, generally speaking projects and organisations are
funded to survive rather than to succeed. They are funded to be cautious rather
than to risk.
204. European countries support success and risk-taking. This is one reason, exceptions
notwithstanding, that Australia tends to follow rather than lead. We are a young
country. We should be the model for daring cultural enterprise…
205. Innovative projects. It was observed above that innovation carries financial risk and
that this should be recognised by government funding bodies. There can be a wish
but not an expectation for success. Invocations to financial self-reliance are
misplaced. (Please see the Innovation section above.)
206. Funding of infrastructure. Infrastructure funding for arts and culture needs
permanency and sustainability by comparison with, say, funding for innovation,
which can be short term and one-off. All the more reason why funded
infrastructure should be assessed for performance and quality assurance, but it
needs a different funding model. If the arts are going to enter the 21st century

36
digitally, they need permanent infrastructure to sustain ongoing development. See
discussion of infrastructure beginning para 264.
207. Whole of government support to culture. If a cultural policy is based upon a broad
definition of culture, it can be implemented only with the involvement of the whole
of the government. Even with the narrower definition that is apparently envisioned
for this policy, there are many opportunities for collaborations beyond the arts
portfolio. These would have the merit of increasing the range of government stake-
holders in culture as well as unlocking additional resources from ministries that in
almost all cases are better funded than the Arts Ministry. See Appendix 1 for an
exercise concerning music.
208. Relationshipof Commonwealth and State funding policies. Every so often, there is
a cry for coordination of policies. This would have the merits of bureaucratic
tidiness and relief for those requesting or acquitting funding from reporting
differently to each level of government. Coordination of such matters as budget
format is to be recommended. Also, there is value in some instances in an agreed
shared responsibility for support to particular organisations, especially those which
do have an ongoing existence and serve both national and state objectives, such as
the major performing arts companies.
209. Thereare two arguments against too great a commitment to coordination. Firstly,
national, state and indeed, local objectives are rightly different and this will be
reflected in their funding policies. Secondly, however systematic and objective
decision-making processes for funding may be, inevitably they involve a large
measure of subjectivity. Each of these factors may result in different decisions by
different levels of government. Artists have more opportunities for support if they
can approach a number of uncoordinated sources. The outcome will be a greater
diversity of voices and thereby a more vigorous arts scene.
THE AUSTRALIA COUNCIL
210. TheAustralia Council and the arm’s length principle. The Council is an independent
statutory authority at arm’s length from government. This once meant that it was
independent in matters of both policy and funding. The principle currently is
interpreted as meaning that the Commonwealth can instruct the Australia Council
in matters of policy but may not intervene in the assignment of grant funds under
these policies.
211. Thereis broad agreement among the peak arts organisations that the effect of the
arm’s length principle in inhibiting political censorship of the arts is extremely
important and must be maintained.
212. The
arm’s length principle also works for governments politically. Inevitably, there
are arts funding decisions that are genuinely contentious or are subjected to
gratuitous ridicule by the media. This is the more likely if there is a policy to
support innovation. It can serve the Minister and the government well to be at a
remove from the funding decisions.
213. TheAustralia Council and core funding. Additional funds to the Australia Council
are usually tagged for support to new government policy initiatives. This is
satisfying to a government which can point to specific developments that it has
caused. However, it appears that these initiatives often are paid for by a transfer
from the core ‘discretionary’ funding which supports the ongoing arts
infrastructure. This progressively weakens the sector.
214. TheBoards of the Australia Council and policy-making. There is a strong impression
in the arts community that the Boards, which decide on allocation of grant funds,
are not sufficiently supported in developing the policies that guide those decisions.
Modest additional expenditure could be an effective investment.

37
215. TheAustralia Council and business. There is continuing questioning in the arts
sector about the habit of giving leadership of the Australia Council to business
people. There is value in the inclusion of business people but some mystification as
to why business skills are seen as so desirable as to dominate the leadership. Why
not doctors, or scientists, or architects? Or, goodness us, arts managers or artists?!
True, non-artists may have less conflict of interest artistically when decisions are
needed. But they have not been through the arts fire and their values are not
necessarily appropriate.
216. Itmust be remembered that this body shapes the policy for arts support for the
entire country insofar as it is affected by the national funding body. Why, for
instance, are the major performing arts companies, recipients of most of the
available funds, subject only to a business assessment and not to an artistic
assessment as are all other applicants to the Australia Council? From a business
perspective, it may not seem strange – but their main purpose is to produce great
art, not great balance sheets. From any but a business viewpoint, it seems
anomalous and inappropriate.
TAXATION AND REGULATION
217. Taxationconcessions as cultural subsidy. The recommendations of the Henry
Review will soon be known. There are some issues for arts support that will be
important but comment is best offered once the Review Report is released.
218. The Productivity Commission’s review of the non-profit sector. The report made
some recommendations that could assist the cultural sector: e.g. the harmonisation
of state requirements for registration as a charity, so that a successful application
to one state would permit registration in all states.
219. Regulation and cultural sovereignty. The right of Australian governments to
regulate in support of the cultural sector can be challenged under free trade
agreements. This is discussed in the international section below.
220. Localcontent requirements in electronic media. The Australian contemporary music
industry was of inconsequential size until local content requirements were
introduced for commercial radio. Then it burgeoned. Rental of foreign, especially
US, television productions cost Australian television broadcasters a fraction of the
investment required for local productions. Local content quotas ensure that there is
local production to tell Australian stories to Australian audiences.
221. Withthe fracturing of mass media through digital multichannelling and various
forms of online offerings, the sharing of these stories through a small number of
analogue free to air broadcasters is dissipated. To add to the injury, newly
proposed regulations will not require any Australian content on most additional
channels under multichannelling initiatives. This may serve the interests of the
broadcasters but it does not serve the interests of the culture.
222. We are in ignorance about the availability of Australian content on interactive
media. Is there a need to take steps to attempt to ensure adequate Australian
content? The Australia US Free Trade Agreement would make it difficult to adopt
any regulatory solutions, but we should at least discover whether there is a need.
223. Copyright. There recently has been mild controversy in the cultural sector about
what was seen in a particular instance as Australia Council incomprehension or
vacillation in supporting the intellectual property rights of artists. Copyright is
challenged in practice by free downloading on the internet and in principle by
advocates of alternative systems such as Creative Commons licences. The Australia
Council’s intervention was intended as benign but it is at risk if it takes uninformed
policy positions – or even shows that it might do so.

38
224. The broader point is that there is great disruption in this area. It requires the
application of high expertise but even such expertise can find itself buffeted by
rapid and dramatic change.
225. In the circumstances, it seems to us that policy needs to attach itself firmly to
some basic principles: the right of creators to benefit from their creations, the
rights of those who invest in bringing the creations before the public, their rights to
decide on whether they will forego remuneration and not have that decision made
by others, the balance between their rights and the public interest.
226. With regard to the public interest, it is important to distinguish between the
problems created by file sharing (unrestricted "access" for almost anyone in the
community) and the principles of fair dealing (restricted access to certain persons
or situations). If the two issues are dealt with as one, and further restrictions on
access to works are imposed on end-users in the name of combating file sharing,
this could seriously impact on the fair dealing regime and, among other
things, create problems for arts students/artists seeking to access the arts as part
of their professional development. Such an outcome would not be in the public
interest.
227. Many in this debate propose that principles should be formed by circumstances:
since IPR are abrogated by file-sharing, IPR are in principle at fault. Proponents
often seem to have nothing at stake personally and are happy to give away the
rights of others.
228. On the other hand, the circumstances require flexibility from those affected and
may benefit in due course from cautious and benign intervention from
governments, based on the suggested basic principles.
229. Expert assistance to the field. The Music Council confirms the value to artists of the
legal and copyright services provided by the Arts Law organisation and the
Australian Copyright Council and recommends continued support.
Foster financial self-reliance in the arts sector
230. (The right to just remuneration and attribution of work can be relevant.)
______________________________________________
This section includes the following points:
• For the cultural sector, financial self-reliance gives independence in finance and
decision making
• That said, without cultural subsidy we will not have some valued cultural activities
• For policy development, we need research into how artists earn their livings; this is
not revealed by official statistics
• A microfinance/venture capital scheme is proposed to support emerging musicians
and to begin to create a new investment climate for music
• It is proposed to devise strategies to create a climate for digital music innovation
and investment; (we don’t have them yet)
• Develop further the expertise needed to build music exports
• Promote the creation and use of Australian music among government entities at all
levels, and private sector areas such as tourism and the film industry
• Achieve best practice regulation of licensed venues by each state and territory
government, thus fostering a growth in music presentation
• Support Aussie Musicians Centre Stage to build opportunities and profile for
Australian performers

39
• Make large one- or two-off grants to highly selected cultural enterprises to achieve
large-scale commercial success. Cirque du Soleil is a model.
______________________________________________________
231. Sofar as is possible, the cultural sector should be financially self-reliant and so
independent of government. To that extent it is then free to make its own decisions
independent of political fashion or pressure or for some, objectives or emphases of
funding bodies that run counter to their own.
232. Exceptions. There has been a lot of pressure in recent years in the policies and
practices of funding bodies for grantees to build financial self-reliance. There is
merit in this, as in the push for effective management. It is ironic, however, to find
that for some publicly paid arts bureaucrats, ‘subsidy’ has become a dirty word.
233. Atbase, there is a simple proposition here. Among the cultural activities we value,
there are some that cannot earn their way from the market. If we want them, we
have to subsidise them to cover their operating deficits. Among them, as has been
noted, are projects in innovative arts practice, and others such as film, large scale
dance, music or theatre companies with high labour costs and limited possibilities
to benefit from the efficiencies of new technologies, which cannot earn enough box
office to cover expenditures, even with high attendances.
234. Thatsaid, we move to aspects of financial self-reliance that might be considered in
a national cultural policy.
235. Howdo artists earn their livings? Meaningful policy formation depends in part on
knowing the answer.
236. Ina series of think tanks in 2009 involving music industry figures, those present
came to the conclusion that there is much that they simply do not know about the
level of musicians’ incomes and the ways they earn them. There may be similar
ignorance about artists in other artforms.
237. ABS statistics are only partly informative because they inquire only into the
principal occupation in the week preceding the census. Most musicians work at
music part time. A lot of musicians’ income is gained through door deals, direct
internet transactions, direct CD sales etc., not traceable by the usual methods. The
true level of income is not captured by the ABS.
238. Theforthcoming Australia Council statistical study Don’t Give up Your Day Job may
be more informative if it asks the right questions in these new circumstances.
239. MCA proposes the need for a study. It is interested in conducting it for the music
sector. It is likely that the study will be of a dimension that MCA cannot itself fund.
240. Build investment incentives scheme to support “emerging” artists. In 2009 the
MCA, with QUT collaboration, held four day-long think tanks with, successively,
artists, managers and venues, labels and publishers, retailers, digital distributors
and ISPs. The following proposal concerns only the music sector.
241. It
was revealed that, as a consequence of the changed financial status of record
companies, finance for emerging artists tends to be available only after an
extended period in which they have to establish a market position through their
own efforts. This is a difficult period for these artists.
is proposed that a microfinance / venture capital scheme is set up to invest in
242. It
emerging artists of outstanding promise. This may require tax inducements from
the Commonwealth to attract venture capital. Probably, it would be structured as a
portfolio scheme with selection of artists made by professional managers at arm’s
length from investors.
243. Asecondary objective of the scheme is to familiarise investors with the workings of
the music industry, build investment structures, and so encourage investments.
40
244. To our knowledge, while there are Commonwealth grants to music activities, there
is no investment of the type offered to film. Yet there are some similarities in
circumstances and opportunities.
245. Details depend on further discussion. The scheme could include:
• Commonwealth tax inducements for investors
• Government investment either alone or shared on some percentage basis
• Private entities constructing portfolio ventures in which government and private
investors share
• Guidelines for selection of artists, executed by professional managers
• From the artists’ perspective, investments as a sort of microfinance which
assists them to build their own careers, possibly businesses, produce new work,
maintain rights to the work they produce
• Terms of investment which offer the possibility of profit for the fund but do not
unreasonably constrain the freedom of the artists to move their careers into the
next phase.
246. It
is suggested that successful implementation of this proposal might create a
model for emulation in other sectors.
247. Devise and advocate strategies to encourage digital music innovation and
investment. This proposal also concerns the music sector and is another outcome
of the think tanks. However, the broad issue concerning innovation probably is
relevant in other cultural areas.
248. Australia
is not a notable source of innovation in the digital music arena. This lies
behind many of our problems.
249. The objective is far-reaching. It is about creating an environment in which
innovation flourishes. It is the key generally to the problems identified by the think
tanks, in particular the current urgent problem of successful monetising of the
digital distribution of music.
250. Some planned Music Council projects or concepts could contribute, were funds
available:
• the microfinance proposal (above)
• an incubator model: a concentration of musical artists and businesses in a small
precinct to encourage creative interaction and innovation
• a further think tank to investigate cutting edge digital music business models
• a possible government/ business development forum between the music
industry and ISPs
251. The think tanks identified some successful current practices and new possibilities,
such as the use of online social networking, a diversity of revenue sources, ways of
leveraging recorded music to generate new revenue streams.

252. How can an environment be created in which innovation is encouraged, rewarded


and communicated?
253. Buildcultural exports. The financial self-reliance of Australian artists is limited
domestically by the size of the Australian market. However, the international
market potentially solves that problem and is as open to Australian artists as to
any, given artistic excellence, promotional ingenuity or marketing expertise and
investment. Their success is in the national interest both in the promotion of the
Australian brand abroad and in ameliorating the very negative cultural balance of
payments.

41
254. According to information provided to the Music Council, there is a lack of export
expertise in the music sector that needs to be remedied if it is to take more
successful initiatives. Subject to achievement of the necessary resources, the Music
Council proposes to assist in building effective management in music exports
through publication of a volume of case studies of successful music ventures, with
a special emphasis on export projects. The Harvard Business Review is a possible
model.
255. Austradeis active and the Sounds Australia initiative is believed to be effective and
worthy of continued and expanded support. As with Australian films, limitations on
marketing budgets compared with those of the major economies constrain success.
256. Export is increasingly online and the digital innovation project above would include
digital exports as a matter of course.
257. Promote
the creation and use of Australian music. While the proposals here are for
government action, they seek to produce earned income rather than subsidy.
258. There is a need for adoption of an ethos which leads to a conscious choice by
government agencies and private entities to use Australian music for theme songs,
public performances etc. These are the proposals for government action:
• Bring relevant Ministers and Departments to the realisation that the music
sector is a substantial contributor to the national economy and that on the
evidence presented by some foreign countries, it has the potential to be even
larger. Also that the music sector is an important source of innovation in the
digital arena, and a substantial employer
• Promote to the Commonwealth that it requires that embassies ensure the
inclusion of Australian works in concerts they present
• Promote the use of Australian music in Brand Australia exercises
• Advocate to tourism authorities the inclusion of Australian music as an
attraction in tourist promotion; this may assist in halting the slide in tourism
that might be partly attributed to the narrow profile Australia offers in
international tourist campaigns
• Use of Australian music as a matter of policy should be explored with the
Departments of Arts, Innovation, Education, Tourism, Trade, Small Business
• Cause a national day of Australian music on all three sectors of radio; only
Australian music is programmed.
259. The Music Council is considering the possibilities for facilitating these choices.
260. Achieve best practice regulation of licensed venues by each state and territory
government. MCA research papers by John Wardle and Lynn Gailey have provided
information about current regulations. Further work on the Gailey paper will lead to
proposals for best practice and appropriate strategies for advocacy. The Cultural
Ministers’ Council has engaged with the issue on the basis of the Wardle paper
which, however, was not worked through with regard to best practice.
261. Topromote the findings and to follow through on action goes beyond advocacy.
Therefore, the Music Council supports the APRA proposal to government for a
National Live Music Coordinator who can give continuing assistance for
implementation.
262. Aussie Musicians Centre Stage. This is the Minister’s initiative. MCA supports it as
an important device to promote and remunerate Australian musicians. The Music
Council will make a separate submission on this matter in response to the Minister’s
invitation.

42
263. . ‘Go for Gold’. A proposal from the MCA’s 2008 summit was the creation of a
funding mechanism for large one-off industry assistance grants to a very small
number of arts organisations as a strategy for lifting them to a new, self-reliant
financial level. The example given was Cirque de Soleil, the Canadian circus which
was backed generously by the Quebec government from its inception with
spectacular results. 34 This was a risk for the company but also for the government,
financially certainly and politically too, depending upon the local acceptance that
risks by government, as by anyone, may pay off but also may fail.
264. Best practice for government and clients. The Australia Council analyses of the
business performance of the major performing arts companies are an example of
constructive government intervention. It is reasonable to expect that subsidies will
be spent to good effect. At the same time, government intrusion into company
management should be minimised and it should seek best practice in its own
business with the sector. Because of their basic circumstances, these companies
cannot achieve financial self-reliance, but their financial dependency can be
reduced or stabilised.
Develop cultural infrastructure
______________________________________________
This section includes the following points:
• There are definitional issues about ‘infrastructure’ which we resolve with the help of
the dictionary
• Buildings are mostly the responsibility of state and local government but the
Commonwealth can play a role – e.g. its requirement that newly funded school
halls are available to the community
• National cultural sector organisations are of value to the Commonwealth as sources
of information and opinion, but can be financially marginal. There are ways the
Commonwealth can assist
• Broadcast spectrum will be newly available with the switch-off of analogue. It
should be assigned on condition of meeting diversity, local content requirements
• The National Broadband Network will bring a great range of opportunities to the
cultural sector. It also brings problems
• It will make internet piracy of large files such as those for films much more
practicable; there may be room for government intervention

34
Formed by two stilt walking buskers, in 16 years Cirque du Soleil grew from the street to an
international mega-company. They proposed not so much a new form of circus, but a stripped back circus,
importantly, one without animals, along lines pioneered by Australia’s Circus Oz. They were laughed at by
financiers. However, the city of Montreal backed their talent and they were given rent-free premises for
their base and rehearsal space and the Quebec Government commissioned a performance to
commemorate the 450th anniversary of the arrival of Jacques Cartier in Canada in 1984.
In 1987, the Quebec government provided the company with $1.5 million to purchase equipment. In an
audacious move, the company’s founders, Guy Laliberté and Daniel Gauthier, risked it all on one make-or-
break performance at a Californian arts festival for no fee and only the promise of top billing. As Laliberté
explained, “When first we went in LA, you know, we had no money to put gasoline in our truck to come
back if we failed down there … We went through our last penny in order to go down there, and we risked
everything.”34
Today, the company has more than 4,000 employees from more than 40 countries and its unit companies
have performed to audiences totall ing 90 million on five continents. In 2009, it presented 20 shows
simultaneously world-wide.
(Interview with Guy Laliberté, for PBS, see online at www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/jan-
june01/cirque_03-19.html. Cirque du Soleil, see www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/about/intro/intro.asp

43
• It offers various opportunities to escape local content requirements, with
disadvantage to the Australian community, the production industry, and to
broadcasters who do have to meet the costs of compliance; these should be
blocked
• It is proposed that the Determination made by former Communications Minister
Alston in 2000 that Australia’s broadcasting regulatory framework does not apply to
‘television-like’ services should be rescinded
• Local content requirements should be platform-neutral
• It is proposed that revenue from the sale of analogue spectrum be used to support
local production
• It is proposed that the responsibilities of the NBN company be enshrined in a
charter that specifies its social and cultural obligations inter alia
• It is proposed that NBN is subject to must-carry rules for the publicly funded
broadcasters the ABC, SBS, NITV, and other publicly supported television, radio
and internet services including community television and radio
______________________________________________________
265. Definition.‘Infrastructure’ in the Australian arts sector seems often to be taken to
include, for instance, all the arts companies, or all the large arts companies. This
too broad definition obscures the function of infrastructure. The Macquarie
Dictionary definition: ‘1. the basic framework or underlying foundation (as of an
organisation or a system); 2. the buildings or permanent installations associated
with an organisation, operation etc.’ For a national cultural policy, it would seem
wise to identify the national cultural infrastructure.
266. Whileit is difficult to draw lines, it does seem useful to say that an arts
organisation cannot be simultaneously infrastructure and superstructure,
underlying foundation and arts production.
267. Theunderlying foundation of the arts sector is, in one sense, the artists and their
works. Without them, nothing else is possible. But having acknowledged that, it
does not seem to help the discussion. Day to day, they need an underlying
supportive structure. They are not that structure.
268. Leaders of the jazz community complain that it lacks basic infrastructure. There is,
they say, not a single person is employed full time in Australia as a jazz manager.
There is only one professional venue in the country exclusively committed to jazz.
There is no national coordination or policy, the few existing jazz organisations are
part time, hand to mouth, highly dependent on volunteers, often the musicians
themselves taking non-musical roles. As an instructive exercise, what would a
national infrastructure for jazz look like?
269. Buildings.Buildings seem easily to fit within the definition of infrastructure. As
noted above, the provision of buildings is mostly the responsibility of state and
local governments. The national responsibility is exercised mostly through a few
national facilities located in Canberra – the National Gallery, Library, Museum and
so on. But a national cultural policy might also take an overview of the adequacy of
provision around the country generally. The government did so when it made it a
condition for school halls funded by the current building program to make
themselves available for out-of-hours use by the community.
270. The Australian Performing Arts Centres Association, associations for museums and
galleries and others might give informed opinions about the adequacy of the
building infrastructure. On an informal survey, it seems that Australia may be
served reasonably well by formal public galleries and performing spaces, heritage
preservation and so on.

44
271. Complaints about inadequacies generally are at the level of small companies, artist-
organised spaces, spaces for community arts activity. On a rational distribution of
responsibilities, this would seem at first sight more the concern of state or local
government. Nevertheless, this is the place for diversity, useful ad hockery and
innovation, widespread participation, all of which are very important concerns for a
national cultural policy. Perhaps there are possible strategies for the
Commonwealth to be a partner in provision of such spaces.
272. One possibility is for the Commonwealth to encourage schools with new school
halls to invite artists or arts companies to take up residencies, perhaps in return for
some regular interaction with the students. This could be highly valuable for all
concerned. The artists could use funds saved on rent to assist with, for instance,
touring. There is plenty of room for invention.
273. Whole of government. Most government ministries and departments can provide
elements of cultural infrastructure. Refer again to Appendix 1.
274. National cultural sector associations. For the most part, national associations such
as the Music Council of Australia and its counterparts in other art forms,
associations for the heritage, for arts education and other segments of the cultural
sector do not produce or present art but in various ways support those that do. To
some extent they are the civil society counterparts of the supporting agencies of
governments. Because of this special function, on occasion they miss out with
funding or policy consideration by government agencies. In other ways they are
important to government agencies because they take it as part of their role to
provide information about and articulate the concerns of their sectors, and so can
assist government decision making. They have a role in a national cultural policy.
275. Because of its size, in Australia there can be considerable differences between the
interests and views of national, state and local cultural sector organisations. In
some cases, a national association has been formed by agreement between
existing state associations. Often, in such structures, the national association is
weak and periodically under threat of withdrawal of funds or membership of state
associations. Some do not survive. In other cases, an existing national association
sets up state branches. Here, the national may have greater stability but there still
can be the threat of disruption by its state members.
276. So far as a national cultural policy is concerned, the government is more likely to
get a national viewpoint from national industry associations. The more competent
these organisations are, the more useful they can be to the Commonwealth. It is in
its interests to strengthen them and a good way to do that is to look for ways of
paying for their expert services in, for instance, research, publishing or project
management.
277. Broadcast spectrum. As Australia approaches the transition to digital, a once in a
lifetime opportunity is presented for dramatically enhanced program choices for
Australian audiences. Regulatory requirements must sustain local content levels,
must include appropriate levels of Australian programs that reflect Australia's
cultural diversity and identity - stories about Australia told by Australians to
Australians. This can have flow-on effects of bolstering the viability of the
Australian production industry and introducing greater competition in the broadcast
sector.
278. The Music Council considers that as multi-channels are allowed, they must be
required to broadcast Australian programs (and commercials) in accordance with
the provisions of an Australian content standard at the maximum level allowable
within the restrictions imposed by the Australia United States Free Trade
Agreement.

45
279. Switching off the analogue spectrum will enable new entrants in the media
landscape and the opportunity to enhance diversity of media ownership. It is also a
time to consider licensing a fourth commercial free to air broadcaster.
280. Broadband infrastructure. This is increasingly important to the success of the
cultural sector domestically and internationally. The government’s broadband
rollout will be beneficial in a multitude of ways, including new opportunities for
online teaching, distance education, performances involving multiple locations,
artist self-promotion and others.
281. Nevertheless, it could introduce a number of serious problems that should be
addressed in advance so far as is possible.
282. By facilitating rapid downloading of audio and audiovisual materials the increased
broadband capacity will inadvertently encourage more piracy. The industry does
not necessarily look to government as having the primary responsibility but its
collaboration would be valued and may be necessary in finding solutions that get
royalty income to copyright holders.
283. Further, the introduction of the National Broadband Network has the potential to
adversely affect the viability of the commercial free to air television networks,
dramatically dilute the availability of Australian content, marginalize the presence of
Australian content in the overall media landscape and facilitate the introduction of
unregulated IPTV broadcasting.
284. Of real concern is the Determination made by former Communications Minister
Alston in 2000 wherein he determined that Australia’s broadcasting regulatory
framework does not apply to ‘television-like’ services. As this means that content
and classification regulations cannot be imposed on IPTV or television-like services
distributed through the National Broadband Network, the Music Council
recommends that this Determination be rescinded. Doing so is an essential first
step to ensuring the Government retains the regulatory control it currently has with
respect to free to air and subscription services.
285. The Music Council believes that what we are accustomed to viewing on analogue
television sets should be platform-neutral: so far as is possible, the regulation
should remain fundamentally the same regardless of the technology by which it is
delivered.
286. Free to air commercial broadcasters are required to air certain levels of Australian
content to ensure that they ‘broadcast Australian programming which reflects the
multi-cultural nature of Australia’s population, promote[s] Australian culture and
identity and facilitates the development of the local production industry’.
287. They thus fulfill social and cultural obligations imposed by successive governments
in acknowledgement of the important cultural role they play and in
acknowledgement of the commercial benefits that accrue with access to scarce and
valuable spectrum. The Music Council considers similar obligations should be
imposed in respect of the NBN given that it is Australian taxpayers who are to be
the major investors in the construction of the NBN, delivering a significant benefit
to the commercial operators of the future.
288. Overseas, regulators like those in the United Kingdom and Canada have recognized
that new funding models for local content will be required and are developing a raft
of proposals. The Music Council agrees with Foxtel’s Kim Williams when he says ‘we
must ensure the digital dividend is not lost’ and supports revenue from the sale of
spectrum following the switch-off of the analogue signal being utilised to support
local production, in combination with a range of other measures that the
government might find attractive.

46
289. The Music Council understands that the ABC has called for the NBN company to be
legislatively required to operate in the interests of the Australian public and
suggests that its social and cultural obligations be enshrined in a charter, as is the
case with the ABC and SBS. The Music Council supports this proposal.
290. Finally,the Music Council supports calls for the imposition of must-carry rules for
the NBN to carry publicly funded broadcasters including the ABC, SBS, NITV and
other publicly supported television, radio and internet services including community
television and radio services.
Provide information that supports cultural development
________________________________________________
This section includes the following points:
• By the methods available to us, the Music Council estimates the value of the music
sector at $7 billion, treated as a satellite account (like tourism)
• There is the widest agreement in the music industry on the need for
comprehensive statistical data; only the Commonwealth can meet this need
• There is no doubt a parallel need for data for other cultural sectors
• The Music Council is doing what it can to fill some gaps; there are more gaps than
statistics
• The Music Council supports the research initiatives of the Australia Council
_______________________________________________________
291. Collect
comprehensive statistical data on the music sector: a music GDP. This
would support intelligent policy formulation and for the private sector, business
planning. There is no issue on which there is wider industry agreement
than the need for adequate statistical data on the music sector.
292. The Music Council:
• has prepared a theoretical framework for a statistical collection for the music
sector, commissioned by the Cultural Ministers’ Council
http://www.mca.org.au/pdf/Music_Sector_Report_April_2005.pdf
• has begun to analyse all available statistics collected by music sector
organisations
• has begun to analyse all relevant ABS statistics
• is assembling all of this data for ready reference on its Music in Australia
Knowledge Base http://www.mca.org.au/web/component/option,com_kb/
• will confirm the gaps after these statistics are collected.
293. However, we know already that there are more gaps than statistics.
294. The Music Council cannot do more than the above without more resources.
295. Comprehensive statistics would of course include the value of the music activity in
licensed venues, a proposal recently presented to the Minister by Dean Ormston of
APRA and the MCA Board.
296. Our economist estimates that the music sector, treated as a satellite account (as is
the tourist industry), has a value, a music GDP, of approximately $7 billion.
http://www.mca.org.au/web/component/option,com_kb/task,article/article,78/
Treatment as a satellite account would mean, for instance, inclusion of the value of
the broadcasting industry insofar as it is playing a role in disseminating music; a
large part of the industry would not exist without music as content. The non-music
section of the industry is not included. In the national accounts, broadcasting
would not be counted twice.
47
297. Totalgovernment direct funding to music through grants totalled about $120
million in 2005-6.
http://www.mca.org.au/web/component/option,com_kb/task,article/article,104/
298. Ourestimate of the cost for ABS to collect comprehensive statistics for the sector
on a three-year rolling basis is of the order of $400,000 per annum. This is a very
small proportion of the expenditures of government and especially of the sector as
a whole.
299. Collect
comprehensive statistical data on other cultural sectors: a culture GDP.
Presumably, other sectors have similar need.
300. Fund cultural sector research. The Australia Council has expanded its research
activities. This is an appropriate role for the government through the Council and is
supported in principle by the Music Council. The (self-interested) point can be
made that if the Australia Council contracted its research out to arts service
organisations, it would both receive the sought information and increase the
capacity and financial resilience of the organisations.
Project Australian culture internationally
__________________________________________
This section includes the following points:
• Project Australian culture internationally through cultural and trade diplomacy; a
method used by other sophisticated countries
• Investigate the possibility of establishing an Australian counterpart of the British
Council
• Use Australian culture to promote inbound tourism
• Assert Australia’s cultural sovereignty in the negotiation of free trade agreements;
continue to exclude culture; seal off new agreements from the errors in FTA’s with
the USA and NZ
• Implement the UNESCO Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of
Cultural Expressions
• Foster cultural diversity within national borders
• Support, through a more generous financial contribution, the cultural fund
established under the Convention
• Increase cross-border cultural relations especially with developing countries
• Facilitate touring within Australia of arts and artists from developing countries –
now made excessively difficult by the administration of our visa requirements
• Provide assistance to cultural development in developing countries through NGO’s
as well as governments
_________________________________________________
301. Project Australian culture internationally through cultural and trade diplomacy. If a
country is seen to have a sophisticated and highly accomplished culture, by
inference it may be similarly sophisticated in its industry and technology. European
countries and the USA understand the value of projecting their cultures through
their diplomatic structures, general trade fairs and special organisations such as the
British Council, the Alliance Francaise and the Goethe Institute.
302. Lackingan Australian counterpart of these organisations, cultural officers have
been attached to major embassies and small cultural budgets allocated to the
ambassadors. But even this provision was terminated by the present government
at the beginning of its term.

48
303. Itis suggested that the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Trade reconsider their
position in this area and inquire into the most effective means of cultural
diplomacy. Any scheme should be integrated into overall policy for the
development of the cultural sector and the development of international markets as
undertaken by such bodies as the Australia Council, so that they are at the service
both of the needs and opportunities for trade and cultural diplomacy as well as the
considered choices of the cultural bodies in building artists’ careers.
304. Perhaps even more effective could be the creation of the Australian counterpart of
the British Council or other foreign cultural promotion agencies, for international
promotion of Australian culture. This could be a joint project of Arts, Foreign Affairs
and Trade Ministries (and even possibly, Tourism). The objectives could be
• international promotion of Australian culture for diplomatic objectives
• increase in cultural exports through presence and sales overseas
• increase in cultural exports through inwards tourism
• assistance to Australian artists, suitably qualified, committed and
prepared, to build international careers.
305. Cultural exports - tourism. Already addressed in the section on financial self-
reliance. It might be noted that cultural diplomacy can also be used in the
promotion of inbound tourism if Australian culture is an attraction included in
tourist promotions.
306. Australia’s international free trade agreements. The Australia United States Free
Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) has imposed limits on the Australian government’s
cultural sovereignty – its prerogatives in protecting and promoting Australian
culture. These apply in particular to electronic communications. There are
limitations on local content requirements for free to air media and for digital
interactive media, a web of conditions and obstacles obviously designed to
intimidate any government from any action whatever. 35

35
The relevant exception in AUSFTA concerns ‘interactive media’ and can be invoked if a party believes
that local content is not readily available to local audiences. In activating this exception, there is a
requirement to invite "participation" by “any affected parties” in any preparations to change the
regulations. The USA is obviously an affected party. The negotiators seemed to want to obscure this by
noting only that the requirement will oblige consultation with domestic stake holders. Such consultation
should be expected and it does not seem necessary to make such a stipulation in an international trade
agreement. The requirement, however softened by the language of the FTA, to invite participation from
the US is a de facto requirement for approval by the US.
Given the realities of the situation, probably both Australia and the USA have to agree that Australian
audiovisual content or genres thereof are not, in the language of the exception, “readily available” to
Australian consumers and that access is not “unreasonably denied”. This already invites major differences
of opinion. Furthermore, they would have to agree on all of the following: that measures to address such
a situation are “based on objective criteria”, are the “minimum necessary”, are “not more trade restrictive
than necessary”, are not “unreasonably burdensome”. Each of these requirements could be subject to
radically different interpretation between two parties, one of which wants to defend its own culture and
the other which wants to remove all obstructions to its access to the market.
What happens if, having consulted, the Australian government wishes to proceed with regulations with
which the US has stated it is in disagreement. Can the US then retaliate (as it has been seen to do
elsewhere, and disproportionately)? Is the knowledge that the US is capable of retaliating likely to inhibit
the Australian government from placing Australian cultural interests first? Are they to be constrained a
priori by the US's view of its own trade priorities?
It might be noted that according to our film industry colleagues at the time of negotiation of AUSFTA,
94% of content on US free-to-air television was locally produced. According to the new UNESCO World
Report, about 94% of sales in the US of recorded media (CDs etc) are again of domestic product. While
there are no statistics known to us of sales of interactive media, it is unlikely that it would be the US that
feels a need to invoke the interactive media exception. Our guess is that it was proposed by the Australian
side but worded by the US side.

49
307. So far, we simply do not know how Australian content is faring in the digital realm
and a study is needed to find out. Perhaps there is no problem, or no problem that
can be solved by regulatory intervention. However, if such intervention is advisable,
the government will have to traverse the AUSFTA minefield.
308. The Music Council’s policy is that the government should maintain an unfettered
right to protect and promote Australian culture, as specified in the UNESCO
Convention (below). The Australian government’s right to support Australian
culture should not be dictated by the trade ambitions of another country. New free
trade agreements should therefore be sealed off from AUSFTA and from CER, the
agreement with New Zealand which also has had unfortunate cultural
consequences. 36
309. Parenthetically, it appeared that Australia’s concessions to the US in AUSFTA were
a trade-off to gain US concessions to Australia in other industries. A survey just
published by the Australian Industry Group suggests that to date, the benefits to
Australia have been minimal. 37

36
Cultural sovereignty. Excluding audiovisual industries from general trade agreements has been
Government policy for forty years, enjoying bipartisan support, most often given effect by Coalition
Governments.
The Federal Government made no offers in respect of its cultural industries in the General Agreement on
Trade and Tariffs, first negotiated at Bretton Woods against the backdrop of World War II.
The Menzies Government introduced a 100% Australian content quota for commercials on free to air
television in 1960, followed by the introduction of quotas requiring commercial television licensees to show
40% Australian programs, and at least one hour a week between 7.30pm and 9.30pm of programs which
were “distinctly Australian in content and character”.
In the early 1960s, in ongoing GATT negotiations, the United States sought liberalisation of access to
television markets. The Menzies Government’s instructions to the Australian delegation were that Australia
“would prefer to retain complete freedom of action and not enter into any commitment on the matter,
particularly at a time when the television industry in Australia is in its infancy and the lines of its
development are uncertain”.
Australia made no offers in respect of its cultural and audiovisual industries in the GATT, nor in the
subsequent General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), signed in April 1994.
In Geneva in July 2001, the Australian Government made an intervention in the GATS negotiations
stating: “Australia has long recognised the essential role of creative artists and cultural organisations in
reflecting the intrinsic values and characteristics of our society, and is committed to sustaining our cultural
policy objectives within the context of multilateral trade agreements.” In 2003, the Australian Government
negotiated two trade agreements, a negative listing agreement with Singapore, and a positive listing
agreement with Thailand. In the agreement with Singapore, Australia negotiated a comprehensive Annex
II reservation for all of Australia’s cultural industries.
In 1984, Australia negotiated the Closer Economic Relations agreement with New Zealand. More than a
decade later, New Zealand identified an unintended consequence of the way in which the agreement had
been drafted and successfully argued before the High Court that New Zealand television programs should
count as eligible Australian programs for the purposes of the Australian content standard applying to
commercial free to air television broadcasters. With this exception, Australia consistently argued that its
national culture could not be subject to the vagaries of trade agreements. Only with the Australia United
States Free Trade Agreements were any concessions to cultural sovereignty knowingly negotiated. Since
that agreement Australia has returned to is otherwise bipartisan and consistent support for the
maintenance of cultural sovereignty.
37
Results of FTAs disappointing. The Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) reports that late last year it
surveyed exporting companies of various sizes across industries including manufacturing, construction,
and food and beverage on the effectiveness of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), with a particular focus on
the US.
It showed that less than half of those exporting to the United States are seeing any direct benefits from
AUSFTA. Also, 87 per cent believe the arrangement hasn't improved their access to US government
contracts, and three-quarters of exporters reported that AUSFTA isn't effective in creating new export
opportunities.
Companies are experiencing similar problems with FTAs in other countries including Chile, Singapore and
Thailand and the Closer Economic Agreement (CER) with New Zealand.
50
310. Implementation of the UNESCO Convention on Protection and Promotion of the
Diversity of Cultural Expressions. The government has acceded to this Convention.
Presumably its national cultural policy will incorporate the Convention’s objectives.
311. Among them:
• The assertion of Australia’s cultural sovereignty in the context of international
agreements. To date, this government appears to be doing so consistently.
• Fostering cultural diversity within national borders. Government and Australia
Council policy are congruent with this objective but seem to have low priority
and support. We have argued already for increased support.
• Support, through financial contribution, to the cultural fund established under
the Convention. Australia has made a token payment. If it gave ten times more,
the contribution would still be modest but would set an example for other
countries that might lead to a fund sufficient to give useful support.
• Increased cross-border cultural relations and in particular, support to the
development of culturally diverse activities in developing countries.

"If we consider the amount of government time and effort invested in negotiating FTAs compared with the
benefits that Australian companies are gaining from these arrangements, the results are concerning," Ai
Group Chief Executive, Heather Ridout said.
"The survey shows that FTAs alone do not motivate companies to seek new export opportunities but do
provide some advantages to those already exporting to that market.
"This demonstrates that in an increasingly competitive global market where Australian exporters are
carrying the burden of a relatively high Australian dollar, government support programs such as the Export
Market Development Grants Scheme are crucial to assisting companies explore the potential of entering
new markets.
Australia is going to increasingly rely on exports to help steer us through the global economic downturn.
"However, our survey results suggest the potential benefits of FTAs are not being fully realised by
Australian exporters due to excessive red tape, complex compliance regimes and subtle protectionism. Ai
Group supports the principles of expanding free trade and recognises the many potential benefits for
companies including the reduction of import duties, improved market opportunities, and under AUSFTA,
increased labour mobility. It is how the government can assist companies to better access these
opportunities which we want to explore further," Mrs Ridout said.
The survey will contribute to Ai Group's submission to the recently announced Productivity Commission
study into the effectiveness of bilateral and regional FTAs.
Reported benefits of the free trade agreements in assisting companies' export activities:
Destination Country Reported benefits Reported no benefits
Thailand 44% 56%
USA 40% 60%
New Zealand 33% 67%
Singapore 31% 69%
Chile 29% 71%

Reported effectiveness of AUSFTA in assisting with specific exporting activities:


Activity Moderate to Highly Effective Low or Not Effective
Access to new export opportunities 22% 78%
Access to US domestic markets 59% 41%
Access to set up US operations/base 15% 85%
Access to US Government contracts 13% 87%
Access to US inward investment 0% 100%

Results based on survey of 50 small to large Australian based exporting companies.


51
312. The Music Council is interested in supporting cultural projects in developing
countries as a means to meeting the anti-poverty Millennium Goals, assisting in
cultural development and in building the contribution of the cultural sector to the
national economies. It sought government support for projects in Afghanistan and
Timor Leste, both countries that already receive foreign aid from Australia. We
were informed that Australia does not give direct aid to NGO activities of this sort
and that it could only respond to direct requests from foreign governments. These
two countries already receive substantial aid and while they may wish to use the
existing aid for cultural projects, they cannot apply for supplemental aid.
313. Itis understandable that the Australian government works government-to-
government in matters of foreign aid and that it would wish to have an indication
from a foreign government of its interest in particular types of development.
314. However, there are other possible indicators of merit for proposed developmental
projects. Concerning the arts in developing countries: in many instances they
traditionally have been a part of daily cultural life but not of the economy.
Governments may need persuasion by successful examples before they understand
the potential contribution of the cultural sector to the economy.
315. Inany case, work may be carried out by non-government entities more cost-
effectively and with less danger of corrupt use of funds. There is a case for direct
assistance to cultural activists in the country or to Australian NGOs with convincing
partnerships with effective local groups.
316. Alsoan important objective of the Convention: Facilitation of touring within
Australia of arts and artists from developing countries. Currently, overseas
musicians are able to enter Australia on 420 visas raised in one of two ways:
electronically, or physically in passports. For citizens of developing and under-
developed countries the latter applies, giving rise to considerable difficulties
because Australia has neither embassies nor consulates in many countries. The
process is lengthy and made more difficult if the musical group wishes to tour to
other countries. Often it can take more than a year to organize a tour and quite
often Australia is simply considered too difficult a destination to contemplate.
317. The Music Council will investigate ways in which visa applications for overseas
touring bands and musicians from developing and under-developed countries might
be streamlined.
318. We hope to propose how electronic travel authority visas might be made available
to citizens of developing and under-developed countries in a manner that does not
pose over-stay risks for the Commonwealth Government.

CLOSING STATEMENT
We trust that there are here some useful concepts and observations to contribute to
the Minister’s considerations. We would be pleased to elaborate upon request on any
particular issues and to discuss the merits of our suggestions.
Australia has never had a comprehensive cultural policy. PM Paul Keating’s Creative
Nation took a step forward, introduced new concepts in response to the developments
of the time, but left very wide gaps. The Music Council applauds the initiative of the
Minister for the Arts in this bold attempt to envision a way forward and wishes it every
success.

52
Sincerely
Richard Letts, Executive Director
For the Music Council of Australia

BOARD
Dr. HELEN LANCASTER (2010) Chair
ROBYN HOLMES (2011) Deputy Chair
IAN HARVEY (2011) (Treasurer)
Dr. RICHARD LETTS (Secretary, Executive Director)
MARK CALLAGHAN (2011)
Prof. JULIAN KNOWLES (2010)
DEAN ORMSTON [2012]
Dr. HUIB SCHIPPERS (2010)
MICHAEL SMELLIE (2012)

NOMINEES OF NATIONAL ORGANISATIONS


Australasian Performing Right Association Ltd/Australasian Mechanical Copyright
Owners Society Ltd (APRA/AMCOS): DEAN ORMSTON, Company Secretary and Director of
Corporate Affairs
Australian Music Centre: JOHN DAVIS, GM
Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB): MIKE TYLER, Chair, Queensland Advisory
Committee; Chair, Federal Board. Principal Education Officer (The Arts), Queensland
Department of Education
Australian Music Industry Network: ELIZA SARLOS, Creative Director, Music NSW
Australian Music Therapy Association: CATHERINE THRELFALL, AMTA National Council,
Councillor for External Liaison, Making Music Being Well National Coordinator
Australian National Choral Association: CAROL BERG, President, NSW Branch; Director,
Bundanon Trust
Australian Society for Music Education (ASME): Dr KAY HARTWIG, Vice-President
Australian Youth Music Council (AYMC) ANDREW STONE, Chair. Co-Director, The Quills;
Research Assistant, Centre of National Research on Disability and Rehabilitation Medicine
(CONROD), University of Queensland, Herston.
Australian Youth Orchestras (AYO) COLIN CORNISH, CEO
International Association of Music Libraries (Australian Branch) (IAML)
/Australasian Sound Recordings Association (ASRA): ROBYN HOLMES, Music Curator,
National Library of Australia
Musica Viva Australia: MARY JO CAPPS, GM
Musicians’ Union of Australia: TERRY NOONE, Federal Secretary
National Council of Tertiary Music Schools (NACTMUS) Prof. JULIAN KNOWLES, QUT

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS, BY FIELD REPRESENTED

EDUCATION/YOUTH
Early Childhood Education: (2011) Dr PETER DE VRIES (VIC) Senior Lecturer, Faculty of
Education, Monash University, Melbourne

53
Private Music Instruction: (2011) JOHN COLWILL, President, Music Teachers’ Association of
Queensland (QLD)
School Music Education: (2010) JANE LAW, school principal, Department of Education, NSW.
Deputy Chair, Music Education Advisory Group, Commonwealth Minister for Education (NSW)

MUSIC COMPOSITION AND PERFORMANCE


Composition: (2012) DR. ROBERT DAVIDSON. Lecturer in Composition, School of Music,
University of Queensland. Artistic Director, Topology. Member, Circle of Friends, Mt Gravatt
West Special School. (QLD)
Brass and Concert Bands: (20012) TBA
Computer Music, Multimedia: (2011) SARAH LAST, project manager, Australian Network
for Arts and Technology (NSW)
Contemporary Classical Performance: (2010) DR. VANESSA TOMLINSON. Head of
Percussion, Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University. Artistic Advisor, Clocked Out;
Ensemble-in-Residence (QLD)
Country Music: (2012) DOBE NEWTON, musician, Bushwackers Band; Executive Committee
member, Country Music Association of Australia (VIC)
Early Music: (2010) DR. HELEN RUSAK. Lecturer in Arts and Cultural Management, University
of South Australia (SA)
Folk Music: (2011) JAMIE MCKEW, Festival Director, Port Fairy Folk Festival (VIC)
Indigenous Music: (2010] ROBERT COLLINS, National Indigenous & NT Writer Services
Representative, APRA|AMCOS (NT)
Jazz: (2011) Dr. SYLVAN "SCHMOE" ELHAY, musician, Leader, Schmoe and Co., academic,
Computer Science, University of Adelaide (SA)
Opera and Music Theatre: (2012) STEPHEN PHILLIPS, General Director, State Opera of
South Australia. (SA)
Popular Music: (2010) JOHN FOREMAN, Music Director, Australian Idol, Channel 10 (NSW)
Professional Orchestras [2012]. RORY JEFFES, Managing Director, Sydney Symphony (NSW)
World Music: (2012) A/Prof. HUIB SCHIPPERS, sitarist,. Director, Queensland Conservatorium
Research Centre, Griffith University; formerly Director, Jazz, Pop and World Music Department,
Rotterdam Conservatoire, Netherlands (QLD)
World Music: (2010) CHRIS BOWEN, Director, Dance and Music, Arts Development, Arts
Queensland (QLD)

INFRASTRUCTURE/DISSEMINATION
Community Music Development: (2010) PAT RIX, composer, musician, playwright, Director,
Tutti Ensemble, Board Member, Arts in Action (SA)
Community Music Development: (2012) MICHELLE LEONARD, Director, Leichhardt
Espresso Choir (NSW)
For-profit music industry: (2010) IAN HARVEY, Executive Officer, Australian Music
Association; Deputy Chair, Music Education Advisory Group, Commonwealth Minister for
Director, Morton Group (sales and marketing consultancy). (VIC)
International Promotion (2011) MICHAEL SMELLIE, President Media Development, Asia
Pacific, Bertelsmann AG (NSW)
Legal and Copyright: (2012) NATHAN SHEPHERD, solicitor, Herbert Geer. Jazz and world
musician. (NSW)
Music Broadcasting (public): (2011) GRAEME HINCKLEY, Development and Operations
Manager, ABC Classic FM (SA)
Music Broadcasting (Community or Commercial): (2010) CHRIS JOHNSON, Manager,
Australian Music Radio Airplay Project (AMRAP), Community Broadcasting Association of
Australia. (NSW)

54
Music Criticism/Journalism: (2010) Dr. GRAHAM STRAHLE, critic, The Australian, Adelaide
Review, Music Forum, performer, viola da gamba; Visiting Research Fellow, Performing Arts,
Adelaide University; Public Officer, Musicological Society of Australia (South Australia) (SA)
Music in Creative Industries (2010) Prof. PHIL GRAHAM, Director, Institute of Creative
Industries and Innovation, QUT (QLD)
Music in Film and Television: (2011) ART PHILLIPS, screen composer, President, Australian
Guild of Screen Composers (NSW)
Music Management: (2012) MICHAEL MCMARTIN, Director, Melody Management P/L ;
Director, Association of Artist Managers (Australia) and Vice Chairman (Asia / Africa)
International Music Managers Forum (IMMF) (NSW)
Policy: (2012) Dr. RICHARD LETTS AM; Executive Director, Music Council of Australia;
President, International Music Council. Author, editor, researcher. (NSW)
Publishing: (2011) MARK CALLAGHAN, GM, General Manager, Australian Music Publishers’
Association Ltd. (AMPAL); musician, The Riptides and GANGagang. (NSW)
Record Industry: (2012) STEPHEN PEACH, CEO, Australian Record Industry Association
(ARIA) and Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) (NSW)
Record Industry: (2011) ROB APPEL, CEO, Chaos Music, online distribution company. (VIC)
Research: (2011) Dr SHANE HOMAN, author, researcher, lecturer, Monash University (VIC)
Venues or Festivals: (2011) DEBORAH CONWAY, Artistic Director, Queensland Festival of
Music, musician (VIC)

SPECIAL MEMBERS
Special Member: (2011) HANS HOEGH-GULDBERG. Managing Director, Economic Strategies
Pty Ltd, cultural and ecological economic consultants (NSW)
Special Member: (2012) TBA
Special Member: (2010) Dr HELEN LANCASTER. Former director of tertiary music schools in
Australia, Thailand. Studies of music leadership. (QLD)

Thank for their direct contributions to this paper go to


Mary Jo Capps
Helen Colman
Lynn Gailey
Robyn Holmes
Dr Helen Lancaster
Jane Law
Alex Masso
Prof Huib Schippers
Nathan Shepherd
Dr David Worrall

55
APPENDIX 1
THE WHOLE OF GOVERNMENT:
COMMONWEALTH MINISTRIES WITH RELEVANCE TO THE MUSIC SECTOR
Adapted from an article in Music Forum Vol.15 No. 1, November 2008. Richard Letts

INTRODUCTION
Some thoughts on this currently much-used phrase, whole of government. Clearly, the
implication is not that every part of government collaborates in addressing some issue
of development, but that depending on the issue, relevant parts of government
collaborate. So for instance, for “new music industry” issues, there could be a fruitful
collaboration between the Ministers/Departments for Attorney-General,
Broadband/Communications, Innovation/Industry and of course, Arts. Music as a tool
for social cohesion might be taken up by some or all of the Ministries for Social
Inclusion, Community Services, Health, Immigration/Multicultural Affairs, Regional
Development and Arts. There could be configurations for health, for education and so
on. There could also be collaborations between unlike departments: for instance,
between Education and Industry to consider how well the outcomes of the education
system meet the needs of employers.
The question is perhaps about the agony/benefit ratio of pulling Ministers and
departments out of their silos in order to achieve these collaborations. And there might
be some issues also around whether there needs to be a similar united effort from the
music sector or some parts of it. If the government is to be asked to make these
difficult arrangements, then the project would need to be on a relevant scale.
How would these collaborations be brought about? One suspects that unless the
arrangements are brokered by some within the government, the game would never
really begin. The Australia Council, as noted elsewhere, has seen a role for itself – but
is it in the right position to be effective and also, does it envisage taking on a brokering
role for sector initiatives or only for its own? Would a Minister be more inclined and
better positioned to deal with sectoral initiatives? But we need not prejudge this.
It is suggested that it is by far preferable that the sector invents these initiatives than
that it depends upon government for them.
The place of the arts in government’s pecking order. The whole of government notion
arises probably from the ongoing concern about the peripheral place of the arts in
most Australian governments.
In the report on the government’s 2020 summit, the idea is put forward that the Prime
Minister should [always?] be the Minister for the Arts. This could be a good idea,
depending upon the PM’s view of the arts. PM Howard showed no interest whatever,
and the arts would have been officially ignored at the highest level. [PM Rudd’s
interests seem so far to have reached the public only when he has made negative
moral judgements on matters such as the Henson photographs.]
More commonly, it is proposed that the arts should be coupled with another portfolio
that is included in the inner Cabinet. In recent years, the arts have been under the
Ministers for Education and for Communications. At present, they are coupled with
Environment. In the first two cases, there were junior Arts Ministers assisting the
Education or Communications Ministers. The position in Cabinet presumably does give
the Minister more opportunity to achieve favourable outcomes for the arts; the
question is whether he or she has sufficient interest to use the opportunity. Judging by
outcomes in recent years, the strategy has not been very effective although we cannot
know the detail of Arts Ministers’ representations or their reception. Would outcomes
have been better if there were a separate Arts Minister in the outer Cabinet? Well,
probably not.
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Incidentally, the coupling of Arts with another portfolio was also envisaged as lifting
arts’ status in that area. For instance, making arts a part of the Education Ministry
would result in the elevation of the arts in the curriculum. How well did that work?! It’s
a nice theory but again, there will be a result only if the Education Minister is
committed to the arts.
The government’s 2020 summit includes a proposition that there should be a “Ministry
for Culture for high-level, cross-government advocacy that is central to and influential
in government”. It probably is easy to rename the present Ministry for Arts as the
Ministry for Culture and even broaden its responsibilities in this way. This will not
automatically confer a central and influential place in government – an aspiration that
is at least decades old. Possibly it will work; possibly this centrality will be achieved
only when it reflects a broad cultural change in the population.
Whole of government and the creative sector
Both governments and industry show high interest in concepts of the “creative
economy”, of which the “creative industries” are a part. Music is a creative industry.
Generally when music is discussed as a creative industry the focus is upon its economic
contribution. However, the Creative Economy Report 2008 (published as a
collaboration between the UN Conference on Trade and Development, UN
Development Programme, UNESCO, WIPO and ITC) observes that the creative
economy is not one-dimensionally about economic issues. From the Executive
Summary:
Cross-cutting linkages
The “creative economy” is a multidimensional concept with linkages to a
number of different sectors in the overall economy. Different approaches to
analysing the creative economy lead to different emphases on its various
aspects. For example, a sociological approach has examined the notion of a
“creative class” in society, comprising professional, scientific and artistic
workers whose presence generates economic, social and cultural dynamism.
Other approaches have stressed the role of culture in terms of social
empowerment. Even beyond urban planning circles, the concept of the
“creative city” has become established, while geographers focus on the
locational aspects of creative activity in the form of creative clusters, networks
and districts. The multifaceted nature of the creative economy means that it
cuts across a wide range of areas of economic and social policy in addition to
any intrinsic value. Thus policy-making in relation to the creative economy is
not confined to a single ministry or government department; rather, it is likely
to implicate a number of different policy fields, including:
• economic development and regional growth;
• urban planning;
• international trade;
• labour and industrial relations;
• migration;
• domestic and foreign investment;
• technology and communications;
• art and culture;
• tourism;
• social welfare; and
• education.

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Moreover, there is a similar multiplicity of involvement across the public sector,
the corporate sector, the non-profit sector and civil society.
COMMONWEALTH MINISTRIES WITH RELEVANCE TO THE MUSIC SECTOR
a) Ageing
Music therapy is an important resource for the ageing and has special application for
instance in the treatment of dementia. There are unresolved issues around
government recognition of music therapy and access to medicare or health insurance
for music therapy services.
Music also has a valuable role to play in provision of recreational services for older
people, with opportunities growing as the ageing population expands. There is
potential for government funding of some of these services. (See also Health and
Ageing)
b) Attorney-General
Perhaps the activity by the Attorney-General of greatest moment for the music sector
is the drafting and oversight of intellectual property legislation.
There are some unresolved copyright issues in his charge, notably the 1% cap on
broadcast music royalties paid by commercial radio stations to record companies and
music performers. MCA’s position is that there should be no cap and the rate should be
negotiated among the parties.
More broadly, the rapidly evolving digital world requires continuing development of the
copyright structure.
c) Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy
This ministry is responsible for the development of the online environment and for
broadcasting: the funding of the public broadcasters, the ABC and SBS, and the
regulation of the commercial and community broadcast sectors.
The public broadcasters are statutory authorities. The government appoints their
boards of directors, writes the charters under which they operate, and provides their
funding. Through these means it influences their activities but does not have hands-on
control of their programs. While it has, for instance, set local content quotas for
commercial radio and television in the past (now for radio, the quotas are ‘self-
regulated’), for public broadcasters it has only given broad direction through the
language of the charters.
The Charter of the ABC requires it
‘to encourage and promote the musical, dramatic and other performing arts in
Australia.’ See http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/ABCcharter.htm
The SBS Charter is not quite as forthright. It begins:
“The principal function of SBS is to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and
television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so,
reflect Australia's multicultural society.” There follows quite a complicated list of the
methods by which it carries out this function. It perhaps adds up to the same thing as
the ABC’s requirement, with multicultural bells and whistles. But if it came to a dispute,
there is abundant slither room.
http://www20.sbs.com.au/sbscorporate/index.php?id=378
The government’s 2020 summit recommends a review of the charters, without clearly
explaining the purpose of such an exercise.
Radio is the main vehicle for music. The funds available for live music production and
broadcasts have declined over the years. There would be cause for the music sector to

58
seek an increased allocation of funds to and by the ABC to live music production by its
radio networks, especially perhaps Classic FM and Triple J.
An MCA attempt a few years ago to get SBS Radio to define its commitment to
Australian music was met with positive sounding generalities but short of intensive
monitoring, actual performance is unknown. Hypothesis: SBS could do a lot more to
encourage locally based world music production. An approach to SBS met with a very
positive response. The music sector could seek a clearly stated commitment by SBS
radio to music made by Australians.
The music sector could also seek an increase in music productions shown on ABC and
SBS TV.
As digital broadcasting is implemented, the digital spectrum is being divided among
various interest groups and companies. There is strong pressure from commercial radio
to simply divide the available spectrum among the existing broadcasters. The MCA’s
position is that commercial radio should be suitably provided for but that there is an
opportunity to support much greater musical diversity than is currently provided by
commercial radio, by allocating spectrum to community and public radio and perhaps
to commercial companies undertaking to present genres now under-represented in its
programming. An inquiry seemed to adopt such a position. Note that these issues also
apply to digital television spectrum.
The Australian government has committed to provision of broadband access
throughout the country. The disparities of access between cities and the regions is a
handicap for the latter. When musical activity depends on a live audience but the
population is small, there is a constraint on development. Broadband access will give
new opportunities for regional musical development.
NOTE. The Rudd summit recommended: “Introduce a levy on commercial
broadcasters, with funds raised going to public broadcasters in exchange for the lifting
of the mandatory Australian content quota.” This hare-brained idea could mean a
decline in, or virtual disappearance of Australian content on the music stations listened
to by 80-90% of the population. Remember that the profit-motivated commercial radio
stations pay no broadcast royalty on US tracks. They may or may not continue to play
Australian content. Note also that in 2009, Commercial Radio Australia attempted to
effectively dismantle the local content standards, only the most recent display of its
antipathy to them.
d) Defence
The Armed Services have been major employers of musicians through the various
armed forces bands. This came into focus last year when Air Force authorities
disbanded the band at Richmond air base near Sydney.
No more cuts to/of armed services bands.
e) Education
Employment and Workplace Relations
Social Inclusion
These are three separate Ministries but all are under the control of one Minister, Julia
Gillard. She is also the Deputy Prime Minister. While we have the greatest respect for
Ms Gillard’s abilities, it is not surprising that she so far does not appear to have
considered issues around music education except, after energetic advocacy from the
Arts Minister and the field, to include the arts in the national curriculum agenda.
There are of course important links between the areas represented by these three
portfolios. The creation of a Ministry for Social Inclusion reveals an ideological interest
and leads to the expectation that for instance equity of access to education will be an
important objective. With the great inequity of access to an effective music education
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as between students at public vs independent schools (23% vs 88%!), equity must be
an important aspect of music sector advocacy to the Education Minister.
Issues of social inclusion also arise in other areas in which provision of music and
music-related services can be factors – e.g. in regional and remote areas, or for
migrants and refugees. Music can reinforce separateness but more importantly, it can
be an instrument of social cohesion.
The sector might make a proposal to the Minister for appropriate use of music
activities to achieve social inclusion, perhaps for identified population groups. The
objective would be to create a coherent policy position that envisages a partnership
between the government and the sector in this area, rather than the present
scattershot ad hockery.
The state governments have the main responsibility for provision of music education in
schools, both through direct funding and control of public schools and through the
definition of curriculum requirements for all schools public and private. The
Commonwealth provides additional funding to all school sectors with, at present,
disproportionate support to non-public schools relative to population. It places
conditions on some of this funding to realise particular policy objectives. So far as the
public schools are concerned, the states can accept the conditions or possibly lose the
funding.
The Commonwealth’s National Review into School Music Education made 99
recommendations, only one of which has been acted upon by the Commonwealth.
Among the states, only one, SA, has taken any action. A substantial continuing
commitment of funds is required, led by the Commonwealth but even more
importantly, multiplied by the states. Everything else follows from that. It is of the
highest priority. However, Labor’s election promise to produce a satisfactory level of
school music education has not been honoured.
The Commonwealth has responsibility for funding and regulating the tertiary sector.
Training of professional musicians, music teachers and experts in some activities in the
music sector thus is strongly dependent upon Commonwealth provision.
Musicians are more likely to be independent contractors than employees, excepting in
the professional orchestras, armed forces bands and some limited private sector
employment. There have long been special awards governing such positions. Other job
categories in the sector are predominantly offered as regular employment and at the
least, are covered by regulations covering all employees.
f) Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
This grouping of portfolios makes little sense except that they combine the interests of
the current minister. We are often told that the arts should take a page from the
environmentalists’ book in planning its advocacy, but that is another matter. Heritage
is usually about material rather than intangible heritage and so far music seems not to
be included under that heading, except possibly for Indigenous traditional music.
Commonwealth support to the arts is administered directly by this Department or
through statutory authorities such as the Australia Council and Screen Australia.
The Australia Council is the official advisor to the Commonwealth on arts policy and is
officially the main conduit through which it funds the arts. In fact, more funds go to
film which was once also under the Australia Council but long ago was moved out. The
Australia Council is a statutory authority at arm’s length from government, which is to
say that the government cannot dictate its funding decisions, and operates on a
principle of peer assessment in deciding grants. It is structured basically into art form
boards. The government influences its decisions by appointing the Council itself, and
the members of the Boards, and may dictate its policies.
Music is supported by the Australia Council via:
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• The Music Board
• The Major Performing Arts Board, which is responsible for the major companies in
dance, theatre, and the symphony orchestras, opera companies and Musica Viva
Australia.
• The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Board, responsible for artistic activities of
all types by Indigenous Australians
• The Community Partnerships Committee, which could include support to music
activity in the community but probably would first consider whether funding could be
provided by the Music Board
• Inter-Arts Office supports “creative processes such as interdisciplinary and hybrid
arts, and crossdisciplinary projects involving artists and practitioners from other fields.”
The Department is directly responsible for some arts programs. These include
competitive grants programs: Contemporary Music Touring Program, Festivals
Australia, Regional Arts Fund, Playing Australia (for national touring), Maintenance of
Indigenous Languages and Records (not a music program but for instance MCA has
made an award to a school music program designed to sustain a local language).
Some national music organizations receive direct funding from the Minister via the
Department – i.e. the funding is not routed through the Australia Council nor through
competitive grants programs. There are arts training organisations, which interestingly
are not funded through the Education Department: Australian Youth Orchestra,
Australian National Academy of Music. Other training institutions that include music in
the curriculum are the Australian Film Television and Radio School and National
Institute of Dramatic Arts NIDA. Also relevant is the little known Australian Roundtable
for Arts Training Excellence : “members are considered the elite training institute in
their field - offering intensive professional training with close links to the sector,
exceptional facilities and high-quality student intake.”
Non-training institutions receiving direct funding and in which music is a program
component include the National Film and Sound Archive, the National Library of
Australia (which has a music collection and curator), and programs of some relevance
are the Australia Business Arts Foundation and Screen Australia (film production etc.).
Screen Australia is the Commonwealth Agency that invests in or otherwise supports
film production, skills development and other relevant activities. In order to win Screen
Australia investments or funding, films have to tick a number of boxes for Australian-
ness. There is no mandatory box for music soundtrack. Perhaps more importance could
be attached to music here, as in the film industry generally.
The music sector might seek the establishment of a music counterpart to the film
investment scheme.
Creative Industries is a concept that has captured government attention. The
Commonwealth Arts Ministry has these initiatives underway (direct quote):
“Creative industries development
• Strategic Digital Industry Plan
The Government has committed to develop a Strategic Digital Industry Plan in
response to the Digital Content Industry Action Agenda.
• Creative Industries Innovation Centre
The Government has committed to provide $17 million over four years for business
guidance to emerging creative enterprises nationally.
• Creative Digital Industries National Mapping Project
A three-year study that determined the size and growth of the creative industries in
Australia, both by the number of creative businesses and the size of the creative
workforce.
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Cultural sector engagement in the digital environment
• Cultural Ministers Council Creative Innovation Economy Roundtable
In February 2008 the Roundtable reported on opportunities for the creative sector’s
engagement in the online, broadband and mobile digital environment.
• Culture and Recreation Portal
The Culture and Recreation Portal encourages and provides online access to over
4000 websites about Australian cultural activities and events.”
Should ‘industry assistance’ subsidies come from this budget or from the Department
of Industry?
Perhaps the Department could facilitate multi-department support to suitable music
initiatives.
g) Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
There are programs that support Indigenous arts, mostly visual arts but in principle,
they probably can include music. As noted, the Australia Council has an Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Arts Board and the Department for the Arts a number of
programs directed to Indigenous arts practice. Music and the arts presumably can also
find support within this department if projects are suitably designed.
There are issues about adequate marketing of Indigenous music productions. They
may be of interest to this Ministry.
An objective of the Ministry is to bring communities together. Can music be proposed
effectively to this Ministry as an effective tool for doing that?
h) Finance and Deregulation
“The Department of Finance and Deregulation (Finance) plays an important role in
assisting government across a wide range of policy areas to ensure its outcomes are
met, particularly with regard to expenditure and financial management, deregulation
reform and the operations of government.” It assists in preparation of the budget and
oversees expenditures and the efficient operation of government. Residence of the
razor gang.
i) Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs and Trade are separate ministries but share a single department, the
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. There are two Parliamentary Secretaries in
Foreign Affairs, each with distinct portfolios: Pacific Island Affairs, and International
Development Assistance. (See below for the latter.)
The present government has terminated a program which funded touring by Australian
musicians to perform at trade fairs and diplomatic posts. The purpose was more to
show the flag, demonstrate Australian accomplishments, than to provide cultural
subsidy or industry assistance. Perhaps it should be regarded as fee for service. And
perhaps it will be restored in future. Other countries have much more active
international promotion programs of this character – e.g. the British Council, Alliance
Francaise, Goethe Institute.
The Department offers grant programs through a number of councils that foster
bilateral relations between Australia and other countries or regions – e.g. the Australia-
China Council.
j) Health and Ageing
Music is recognised as a contributor to public health by some government agencies. Vic
Health (Victoria) has a long record of grant support to projects in which music is used
therapeutically.

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There are basically two types of health issues specifically involving music: 1)
occupational disorders of musicians, in particular the physical issues that grow up
around instrumental or vocal performance and 2) the use of music as an aspect of
treatment for various conditions through the various forms of music therapy. There is a
good summary on the MCA Knowledge Base at
http://www.mca.org.au/web/component/option,com_kb/task,article/article,97/ An
excellent summary of music therapy can be found in the same section.
There are issues around official recognition of, and health insurance support for music
therapy, in which the Commonwealth is a player.
k) Human Services
Department of Human Services administers the Child Support Agency and CRS
Australia (employment agency) —and the Human Services agencies, Centrelink,
Medicare Australia, Australian Hearing and the HSA Group, the latter covering
occupational health.
At this point, we have no special insights into the possibilities here except that it could
assist with occupational health issues for musicians.
l) Immigration and Citizenship
“The purpose of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) is to 'enrich
Australia through the well managed entry and settlement of people'.” Obviously, it
manages immigration, refugees, illegal immigrants and detention centres. It is not so
famous for well managed settlement of people. But its description of activities includes
the statement “We also contribute to a society that values Australian citizenship and
social cohesion and enables migrants and refugees to participate equitably.”
http://www.immi.gov.au/about/department/diac-plan/diac-plan.pdf
A section of the Department deals with multiculturalism through the following four
programs, three of them offering grant funding. Since these are not widely known,
here are brief descriptions.
Harmony Day is celebrated on 21 March each year and is about bringing people
together to celebrate Australia's community harmony, participation and cultural
diversity. No funding mentioned here, but it appears to have survived from the
previous government in these three progams:
Community relations funding is available to help incorporated not for profit
organisations address issues of cultural, racial and religious intolerance.
Projects should target all people living in a community or local government area
and promote respect, fairness, inclusion and a sense of belonging for everyone.
Through the Living in Harmony Partnerships program the Australian
Government establishes partnerships with peak bodies and national
organisations to work together to address issues on a regional or national scale,
to promote Australian values, mutual respect and participation.
The Emerging Priorities Program enables the Australian Government to support
community responses to emerging issues. Under the program project based
responses are developed with the support of the relevant community and
government organisations.
Recalling the Parliamentary Secretary’s responsibility for Multiculturalism and
Settlement Services, is there a way that the sector can work with the Minister to
support and develop ethnic and multicultural music as a major instrument for meeting
its goals of social cohesion, participation, cultural diversity and so on, and at the same
time achieve benefits for musical life by bringing a lot of this music out into the larger
community and from it building new hybrids, new genres?

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m) Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local
Government
With Richard Florida’s theories of the creative class and its contribution to urban vitality
and growth so much in favour, there should be an opportunity to engage some regions
and local governments in the concept that a strong arts life will have benefits for the
local economy and attractiveness for new residents. However, it is not immediately
apparent from the programs of this Department that direct approaches have anywhere
to go. It funds local government to the tune of nearly half a billion a year, but it is the
local councils that decide upon the allocation of funds. There is an associated grant-
giving foundation, which is to be approached directly. There ought to be opportunities
here, but it may take some ingenuity to discover or more probably, create them.
Is there a way that the sector could work with this Minister to build musical life and
opportunities as an element of the cultural and economic development of the regions?
n) Innovation, Industry, Science and Research
An important Ministry for music development.
Through its industry face, it is a potential source of advice and support on industry
development. There is an array of industry assistance programs including, for instance,
one to encourage venture capital investments.
The Minister conducted a Review of the National Innovation System, headed by Terry
Cutler, a former Chair of the Australia Council. It sought submissions and these can be
read on the Department’s website.
The Department administers the Australian Research Council (ARC) which provides
research grants to applicants from the tertiary education sector. These projects often
involve industry partners (MCA is such a partner, for instance, and the possibility is
there also for private businesses).
There are current issues around the inclusion of “creative practice” in the arts as
activity eligible for ARC funding. These seem to be headed towards satisfactory
resolution. The major sectoral advocate has been CHASS, the Council for Humanities,
Arts and Social Sciences.
This Department administers support to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Studies, a long-time actor in the collection and study of
traditional ATSI music and culture, and to the Cooperative Research Centres, CSIRO
and IP Australia. The latter is a website to assist in the use of IP rights such as patents
(e.g. in new music instruments, hardware) and trademarks but not copyright.
At present, only tertiary education institutions can apply for research funds from the
Australian Research Council. There is a strong argument for removing that restriction
and considering applications from both academic institutions and non-profit
organisations/industry associations on their merits.
Ausindustry has a venture capital initiative that may be worth exploring.
o) Tourism
The Department operates the promotional agency, Tourism Australia. It has long been
a complaint of the arts sector that Tourism Australia presents Australia as barbies,
sport, nature, the outback, and does not include arts/culture. A few years ago, the
average stay of tourists was rather short and the percentage making a second or
subsequent visit was low. The length of stay and level of expenditure was higher for
Western visitors than Asian visitors, but the promotion was concentrated on Asia. The
rate of cultural attendances for Asians was comparatively low; this was not necessarily
because they saw Australian culture as inferior – the Japanese, for instance, also had
low attendance rates at home.

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So as things stood at that time, there were good arguments for attracting more
Western tourists – stayed longer, spent more, and are more interested in the arts.
The Victorians tourist campaign has brought many more tourists and includes culture.
Culture should be included as an attraction in tourist promotions by Tourism Australia.
p) Trade
As noted, the Ministries of Trade and Foreign Affairs are closely linked through a
shared department.
The Department of Trade might be renamed the Department of International Trade
since international trade, in various aspects, is its main concern.
An important aspect of its work is the negotiation of international trade agreements. A
few years ago it negotiated a “free trade agreement” with the USA with negative
consequences for Australian music. It is engaged currently in negotiation of
agreements with other countries. Basically, the issue of concern in these agreements is
that they can reduce our government’s “cultural sovereignty” – its prerogatives to
support Australian culture by, especially, regulations that ensure that it has some
presence in the market, possibly at the cost to foreign suppliers that their access to the
Australian market is not totally uninhibited.
Culture should be excluded totally from these agreements.
It was proposed to the Rudd summit that “The government should take immediate
steps to remove culture from all free trade agreements, including the Australia-US Free
Trade Agreement, to ensure Australian content restrictions.” The proposer probably did
not understand the difficulty. New Zealand undertook under GATS not to have local
content quotas. When Labor came to power, its platform included a promise to
repudiate this undertaking, but it discovered that the financial penalties were so
onerous that it could not proceed, and instead developed a subsidy scheme to promote
local music on the market.
The music sector is very interested in building music exports, and this aspiration has
easy in-principle support from both sides of politics. The Department of Trade’s agency
Austrade supports international promotion of Australian musicians, mostly in the
popular field. It maintains a music office in Los Angeles and supports the Music
Australia promotional initiative. Matching grants are available for export promotion and
the Music Office itself assists with promotions e.g. at music trade fairs such as MIDEM
and SXSW. www.austrade.gov.au
There were negotiations around the creation of an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade
Agreement (ACTA), initiated by the USA and intended “to establish a new standard of
intellectual property (IP) enforcement to combat the high levels of commercial scale
trade in counterfeit and pirated goods worldwide. These participants intend that the
ACTA improves intellectual property enforcement by: 1) improving enforcement
international cooperation; 2) establishing enforcement best practice; and 3) enhancing
the enforcement legal framework.
“The participants in ACTA negotiations do not intend for the ACTA to target individuals,
the privacy of individuals or the property of individuals where those individuals are not
engaged in commercial scale trade in counterfeit and pirate goods.”
There are problems experienced by Australian musicians in getting visas for touring in
the USA in particular and to a lesser extent in Europe. Other countries’ visa
arrangements have been negotiated by the Minister for Trade in agreements such as
that with the USA. Whether in all cases it is a Trade responsibility or whether it also
can be influenced by Foreign Affairs or even Immigration, there apparently is a need
for action.
q) Treasury
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Treasury is concerned mainly with economic policy. This distinguishes it from the
Department of Finance, which deals with financial management of government
programs.
The department is divided into four groups, Fiscal, Macroeconomic, Revenue and
Markets with support coming from the Corporate Services Group. These groups were
established to meet four policy outcomes (quote):
• Sound macroeconomic environment
The Treasury monitors and assesses economic conditions and prospects, both
in Australia and overseas, and provides advice on the formulation and
implementation of effective macroeconomic policy, including monetary and
fiscal policy, and labour market issues.
• Effective government spending and taxation arrangements
The Treasury provides advice on budget policy issues, trends in Commonwealth
revenue and major fiscal and financial aggregates, major expenditure
programmes, taxation policy, retirement income, Commonwealth-State financial
policy and actuarial services.
• Effective taxation and retirement income arrangements
• Well functioning markets
The Treasury provides advice on policy processes and reforms that promote a
secure financial system and sound corporate practices, remove impediments to
competition in product and services markets and safeguard the public interest
in matters such as consumer protection and foreign investment.
The Treasurer is responsible for the preparation of the budget, which is to say,
responsible for the decisions about what funds are raised and where they are spent. By
and large, one does not expect to present a case for music directly to the Treasurer
although no harm would be done, especially for arguments focused around economic
outcomes such as offered by the creative industries agenda.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics is responsible to the Assistant Treasurer. The ABS
runs the national census and conducts various other surveys.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics provides most of the available statistical data about
the music sector. Unfortunately, there are large gaps.
r) Veterans' Affairs
A possible location of interest in services of the genres provided to the ageing, for
instance.
There is a grants program.
Parliamentary Secretaries
Assist Ministers in particular aspects of their portfolios. They are essentially junior
ministers and manage the following portfolios of relevance to music.
s) Disabilities and Children's Services
Music plays an important role in support to and treatment of children with disabilities.
There is scope in this program for development of those services.
t) Early Childhood Education and Child Care
The fact that there is a special Secretary for Early Childhood Education may be an
indication that it tends to slip off the radar in the education portfolio. Music education
in the early childhood years is extremely important. Most early childhood practitioners
have had no training in music or its use and in the MCA’s view, such music preparation
should be a mandatory requirement in courses leading to qualification to practice. If
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the teachers have the necessary skills, it seems a foregone conclusion that they would
find them valuable and enjoyable in their work and no other special provision would be
necessary.
u) International Development Assistance
The Australian sector could give assistance to the development of music sectors in
developing countries. In fact, APRA already does so, for instance assisting the
implementation of copyright law in Papua New Guinea. In order to get financial
involvement by this section of the Department of Foreign Affairs, a request must be
received from the country in question. It cannot come about simply because an
Australian entity wishes to initiate a program.
v) Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services
Under the auspices of the Minister for Immigration and Settlement Services.
w) Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector
The Secretary assists the Minister for Social Inclusion. This issue is given high status:
the PM formed a Social Inclusion Committee of Cabinet, with as members the PM,
Deputy PM and Parliamentary Secretary. A Social Inclusion Board has been formed,
with a membership of distinguished citizens. The portfolio deals with such things as
how to measure disadvantage and social exclusion, how to increase economic and
social participation, and how communities can be engaged with social inclusion
matters. It deals with homelessness, issues of health and disability.
There are existing projects in which music contributes to rehabilitation of prisoners,
diversion of at-risk youth, and building community cohesion/social inclusion/social
integration. ACMF, for instance, runs government-funded programs in prisons. Hip hop
seems much favoured in such programs. There are wonderfully successful music
programs for the disabled, such as the Tutti Ensemble in Adelaide, which assists
disabled people to achieve professional status as performers.

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APPENDIX 2
A VERY SHORT HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION IN
THE ARTS
Across Australia’s arts and cultural sector, successive Australian federal governments
have played a key role, a role augmented by state and local governments. Government
intervention in the arts has been and remains important, notably in order to address
systemic market failure caused by a number of factors. Australia has a small
population base stretched across a large continent on which to build financially viable
cultural enterprises; this is compounded by geographical isolation from the major
English language markets and domination by those same arts markets, notably the
United States and the United Kingdom.
Support for news, current affairs and advertising commenced with the government
establishing the first newspaper in Sydney in 1803. The establishment of the first state
government maintained free lending library in 1853 in Victoria marked the beginning of
government support for the arts in Australia.
The Australian Museum was opened in 1857 and the Art Gallery of New South Wales
opened in rented premises in Elizabeth Street in 1875. Galleries, museums and
libraries, variously funded by all three levels of Government are now available across
the country.
Visual arts and craft, performing arts, literature
Commonwealth patronage of the arts began with the formation of the Commonwealth
Literary Fund in 1908 and the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board in 1912, the latter
established to develop a national art collection and, from 1927, to advise on the visual
arts. Substantial financial commitment to the performing arts commenced with the
establishment of the ABC in 1932. The ABC’s policy of offering Australians fine music
initiated a phase of Commonwealth activity that lasted until 1968 when the Australian
Council for the Arts was established as a division of the Prime Minister’s Department.
The ABC was obliged by its Act to broadcast music and so established a number of
musical ensembles in addition to broadcasting music recorded on disc. By 1936, ABC
orchestras had been established in all six capital cities and in 1942 the ABC Act was
amended requiring it to produce concerts with its orchestras. While the ABC
maintained its other musical ensembles only until the 1950s, the orchestras continued
until the 1990s, when they were corporatised and funding for the orchestras moved
from the ABC to the Australia Council.
The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust was established by public subscription and
Commonwealth grant following Queen Elizabeth II’s tour in 1954 and benefited from
the better funded entrepreneurship of the ABC, utilising ABC orchestras to support
opera and ballet productions. Established with high ambitions, by the end of the
decade it was facing financial uncertainty, despite funding from all three levels of
Government. In 1965 the Federal Government increased its grant and then moved
support for the Trust to the Australian Council for the Arts.
Opera Australia began as a Trust initiative in 1956. Initially, the ABC subsidised the
Trust’s opera performances by providing orchestras in each of the capital cities. As the
Opera House took shape, the New South Wales Government provided further subsidy
from 1967 and, in the same year, the Trust formed an orchestra to work with the
Opera and the Australian Ballet which had been established in 1962. When the
Australian Council for the Arts was established, it assumed responsibility for funding
the Opera company. NIDA was another organisation facilitated in 1962 by the Trust,
now funded by direct Federal Government appropriation.
World War II provided an impetus for support for the performing arts. “[T]he
Government was unprecedently prepared [not surprisingly] to encourage any effort to

68
maintain the morale of troops and civilians, and there was a democratic emphasis in
the rhetoric of the times which included the argument that culture should not be the
inheritance of a privileged minority but was the birthright of all.”4 It was a climate that
fostered a belief in the universality of people’s cultural needs, a belief that has received
consistent bipartisan support ever since.
Nonetheless, the years between the war and 1965 Australia struggled to develop a
viable Australian performing arts industry. The Chifley Government turned to Britain for
advice in establishing a national theatre – specifically, to Tyrone Guthrie of the Old Vic.
“From the War until the late sixties, while witness to a confidently Australian tradition
in painting and writing (both forms requiring comparatively few economic resources),
the entrepreneurs of the first phase of [performing arts] patronage were struggling
among themselves over whether to make the (more expensive and risk-laden)
performing arts Australian.”5 Driven in large part by the impact of television, the tide
was turned during the sixties. The desire to see Australian programs on television
reflected a confidence in Australia’s ability to not only produce work that would attract
audiences but a confidence in the audience that Australia’s cultural output was worth
valuing. The years when Australian artists had to leave Australian shores to forge
professional careers were coming to an end along with the cultural cringe of audiences.
The Australia Council was formed as an interim Council in 1973 and given statutory
authority in 1975. It replaced other government arts-related bodies including the
Commonwealth Literary Fund, the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board and the
Australian Council for the Arts. Its primary responsibility is to encourage the creativity
and development of Australia’s creative practitioners in the performing and visual arts
in all art forms excepting only film and television. The Australia Council is now the
principal vehicle through which Federal Government support is delivered to the sectors
for which the Council has responsibility.
The major performing arts companies currently total 31, many of which have now
achieved national and international recognition as companies of excellence and
outstanding achievement.
Film. Commonwealth government support to the arts has been in place since
Federation. At Federation, film was in its infancy and Australia at the leading edge
producing the world’s first feature film. The Commonwealth Government recognised
the power of cinema and sought to use it in the national interest. From 1901,
companies like Pathé Frères and the Limelight Department of the Salvation Army were
commissioned to produce documentaries and record events of significance. In 1911, a
full-time Commonwealth Government Cinematographer and Stills Photographer was
engaged, with a broad brief to travel Australia recording anything of interest. Until
World War II, responsibility for the Commonwealth’s film production output changed
from department to department. After the war, the Government established the
Australian National Film Board, which later became the Commonwealth Film Unit and,
in the 1980s, Film Australia.
Various governments sought to foster Australian film production especially after the
advent of the ‘talkie’ in 1928. In NSW, the Cinematographic Act was introduced to
afford the industry some protection from the onslaught of British and American
distributors but the Act offended the Constitution and was consequently an example of
good intentions delivering no results. However, the attempt evidenced government
recognition of the cultural importance of the arts and entertainment industries and the
need for those industries to have an Australian voice combined with a belief that a role
for government was appropriate.
The Gorton Government established the Australian Film Development Corporation
(AFDC), the precursor to today’s Australian Film Commission (AFC), to provide support
to an indigenous industry. In South Australia, Don Dunstan established the South
Australian Film Corporation and other state governments followed suit.

69
In the 1980s, the Federal Government introduced subsidy by way of Division 10BA of
the Income Tax Assessment Act and in the late 1980s established the Film Finance
Corporation (FFC) with a view to that organisation becoming the principal vehicle
through which government subsidy would be made available to the industry. The AFC,
Film Australia and the FFC were amalgamated in 2007.
Successive Federal Governments have “sought to harness the power of broadcasting to
achieve social, cultural and educational objectives, and to minimise its scope to do
harm, particularly to children”3.
Radio, introduced in 1923, followed cinema and, in the years that followed, developed
from the crystal set to the Walkman and the podcast, from a delivery platform that
dominated the loungeroom where family members gathered to listen in silence to a
delivery platform as mobile as the listener.
Prime Minister Joseph Lyons inaugurated the Australian Broadcasting Commission on 1
July 1932. With 12 stations, the ABC broadcast a wide range of programs, almost half
of which were music. All 36 of Shakespeare’s plays were produced and broadcast
between 1936 and 1938. Support for Australian artists was an early priority with
competitions to encourage Australian dramatists commencing in 1934 and the
establishment of studio broadcasting orchestras in all states commencing in 1936.
The first journalist was hired in 1934 and the first Federal News Editor in 1936. The
first short wave radio broadcasts overseas commenced in 1939 and, with the outbreak
of war, Australia Calling was broadcast in several languages.
The Australian Broadcasting Act was passed in 1942 and, following the war, the ABC’s
news department was expanded, its independent national news service established in
1947. The following year its financial base was changed from licence fees to
government appropriation.
Television. In 1949, Prime Minister Chifley committed the Government to introducing
television. The incoming coalition Government under Prime Minister Menzies approved
the ABC’s request to plan a television station in Sydney. In 1953, a Television Act was
introduced that provided for a national network of television channels and the issuing
of licences to commercial stations. A Royal Commission established to consider the
implementation of the Act recommended two commercial licences be allowed in both
Sydney and Melbourne as the first two cities to receive television.
TCN-9 was the first to broadcast television in Australia in September 1956, followed in
November by the ABC, just in time for the coverage of the 1956 Melbourne Olympic
Games. From 1960, the ABC broadcast to all states.
From the 1960s, the commercial free-to-air broadcasters have been required to
broadcast mandated levels of Australian content. Those requirements have increased
over time, are regularly reviewed and amended as appropriate, and are designed to
ensure that whilst the audio-visual market is an open one, Australians have sufficient
access to programming that emanates from its own cultural context. Today, the
content standard for commercial free to air television broadcasters specifies an overall
Australian content quota of 55% of programs broadcast between 6am and midnight
with subquotas covering drama, documentary and children’s programming while
quotas for Australian music on radio, introduced by the government, today are
contained within industry codes of practice. The obligations to broadcast programs that
reflect Australia’s cultural diversity and character are enshrined in the charters of the
public broadcasters.
In 1975, the Government reviewed Australia’s broadcasting system which had been,
since 1932, a dual system comprising one national service alongside commercial
networks. The resultant report found that the value of a broadcasting system
depended entirely on its ability to serve the diversity of interests in the community. It
led to the three tier broadcasting system of today comprising the national public
70
broadcasters, the commercial service and community services. While the national
services – and now National Indigenous Television (which does not have a free-to-air
national reach) – are publicly funded and the commercial broadcasters operate for
profit relying on advertising revenue, the community broadcasters are not-for-profit
organisations, reliant for the most part on a volunteer workforce.
The 1990s saw the introduction of pay television. Unlike free-to-air television, the only
local content requirement in pay television is in respect of predominantly drama
channels, although it is possible to increase the current drama expenditure
requirement and introduce expenditure requirements for channels that are
predominantly, arts, education and children’s and documentary programs.
The 21st century started with another significant milestone in the history of
broadcasting with the five free-to-air broadcasters (the three commercial broadcasters
and the two public broadcasters) commencing digital transmission in the five
metropolitan markets, obliged by legislation to extend digital broadcasting to regional
markets by January 2004. The legislation required simultaneous analogue and
standard definition television (SDTV) broadcasts with minimum levels of high definition
television (HDTV) required from the beginning of 2003. The analogue signal is being
phased out progressively across Australia starting in regional areas, with full switch-
over to digital scheduled for 1 January 2014.
- Lynn Gailey

71
Appendix 3
CULTURAL POLICY STATEMENTS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/culturalcommission/cultural/files/cultural%20policy%20sta
tement.pdf Scotland.
http://www.hab.gov.hk/en/policy_responsibilities/arts_culture_recreation_and_sport/ar
ts.htm Hong Kong
http://www.cultureandheritage.govt.nz/publications/cultural-
policies/index.html#_Toc71523746 New Zealand. No succinct statement of policy or
purpose but extended description.
http://www.labresearchonline.org/pdf/CDEUEP.pdf A Cultural Dimension to the EU’s
External Policies - from Policy Statements to Practice and Potential
http://www.wwcd.org/policy/US/proposals/CA_policy.html#GOALS California 1978
cultural democracy
http://www.wwcd.org/policy/policy.html USA. Not an official policy. Webster's World
of Cultural Policy. Values and decision-making criteria of an organisation
http://www.culturelink.org/culpol/index.html Culturelink cultural policy database.
Descriptions of cultural arrangements in a good number of countries but on a
sampling, there are no succinct cultural policy statements. These are descriptions
written by an observer.
http://www.culturalprofiles.net/Norway/Directories/Norway_Cultural_Profile/-2192.htm
Norway “ In 2003 the Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs presented the report
'Cultural Policy up to 2014'. This was the first major publication on overall political
cultural issues since 1993. Decentralisation and democratisation are still important
properties. However, there is a new focus on the importance of strong national
institutions that have suffered as a result of decentralisation. The Ministry now stresses
how 'major institutions must continue to be the cornerstones for the implementation of
cultural policy' as only strong national institutions are able to face the growing
degree of globalisation.
“The Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs has therefore prioritised the construction of
a grand New Opera House, a new National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design,
and a strengthening of the central National Library.”
http://www.ignca.nic.in/cd_05013.htm Thailand. Excerpt from paper, which follows
with an alternative set of proposals. However, all theory, presumably.
Current cultural promotion activities
A. OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL CULTURE COMMISSION
Under the Thai Cultural Heritage Program (1994-97), the Office of National
Culture Commission developed six main programmes, each with several
projects, namely:
1 . Public Relations Programme with 3 projects
2. Cultural Activities Promotion Programme with 11 projects
3. Books and Manuals on Culture Learning Programme with 3 projects
4. Public Sector Implementation Coordination Programme with 4 projects
5. Private Sector Implementation Coordination Programme with 7 projects
6. Programme Evaluation Programme with 3 projects (Office of NCC, 1994b:10-
19).

72
While it is not practical to go into the details of all of these programmes and
projects, it is interesting to see the 11 projects in the Cultural Activities
Promotion Programme. Another definition of ‘culture’. They are:
1. Project to promote loyalty to key institutions: the country, religions, and the
monarch.
2. Project to promote family and communal life of the Thai people.
3. Project to promote Thai tradition, both national and local.
4. Project to promote the proper use of Thai language including speech,
reading, writing and poetry.
5. Project to promote order, discipline, and values.
6. Project to promote virtues and ethics.
7. Project to promote the Thai way of life and folk wisdom.
8. Project to promote the Thai way of dressing.
9. Project to promote Thai arts.
10. Project to promote culture and tourism to ensure that tourists understand
and appreciate Thai culture.
11. Project to promote culture and development in order to apply cultural
dimensions to develop quality of life and society along with economic
development with emphasis on sustainable development which balances man,
society and environment (see details in Office of National Culture Commission,
1994c).
http://ocpa.irmo.hr/resources/policy/Uganda_Culture_Policy-en.pdf Uganda. Look at
sections from #3 onwards
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/culture/Reviews/Default_en.asp Council of
Europe
http://www.wwcd.org/policy/clink/Nigeria.html#GEN Nigeria
http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Govern_Political/ANC_Cult.html African national
Congress South Africa 1994 draft
http://www.culturalpolicies.net/web/countries.php Europe 41 countries profiles
http://www.mkcr.cz/assets/kulturni-politika/National-Cultural-Policy_final.pdf Czech
Republic
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Content/LOP/ResearchPublications/933-e.htm Canada
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=a1ARTA000
2068
http://www.culture.info/policy Guide to policies
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-207061086.html Articles

73
National Cultural Policy

A message from Arts Minister Peter Garrett - National Cultural Policy, a


national dialogue.

Welcome to the National Cultural Policy web forum which will allow all Australians to
contribute to the development of a national cultural policy.

This forum gives you an opportunity to help shape Australia’s cultural future. All your
ideas are welcome - whether you are talking about cultural issues in your region or a
grand vision. In my speech to the National Press Club on 27 October I identified three
key themes for consideration:

1. Keeping culture strong; excellence, viability

2. Engaging the community; and, access

3. Powering the young.

These key points, along with other ideas, are expanded on more fully in the discussion
framework. This is not an exhaustive list however, so use the National Cultural Policy
web forum to tell us what you think. With your help, the Australian government will
create a policy which celebrates and strengthens our culture.
There are two ways to contribute your views. You can join the forum by leaving a
comment on any of three questions posed below or you can make a formal
submission.
A formal submission can include supporting documents if you wish. Your submission
will be made available from this web site along with your name and that of any
organisation that you represent.
This national dialogue will remain open until 6 pm (EST) on Monday 1 February 2010.
I am reviewing forum comments and formal submissions and considering all points of
view. I look forward to reading your thoughts on a national cultural policy for
Australia.

74
Discussion framework - Towards a national cultural policy
1. Culture is at the heart of our nation and the arts are at the heart of our culture,
feeding, and in turn, being fed by it. Australian culture is unique, diverse and vital to
our present and future wellbeing.
2. Culture is expressed in many ways and reflects our way of life. It encompasses our
values, traditions, attitudes and expressions and is shared by us all.
3. It provides the intellectual and imaginative ground for broad understanding and
connections. An education rich in culture and arts provides a strong foundation for
learning, social engagement and skills development.
4. There is a primary value in creative expression through the arts which governments
actively support. Our democracy is strengthened by the diversity of cultural and artistic
expression.
5. Australian culture speaks to our identity, it is an important area of common interest
which enriches our quality of life and defines us to ourselves and others. Its rich legacy
provides knowledge of the past and hope for the future; above all it engages with the
moral principles to which we jointly aspire.
6. The culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders is the unique backbone of
Australian identity; it brings meaning to our nation with a culture unbroken in song,
dance and stories over millennia.
7. Culture is a powerful source of wealth for the nation, contributing significantly to the
economy and employing hundreds of thousands of Australians. It adds value, attracts
students and tourists, provides valuable exports and is essential to sustainable
economic activity.
8. Australian culture is a conversation between past understandings and future vision.
Culture must both preserve and innovate, ensuring that the links between the present
and past remain strong, able to incorporate new and varied perspectives.
9. Our culture draws on the creativity found in many walks of life, in traditional forms
which should be preserved and new forms yet to be imagined.
10.Australian culture is produced by its people. The role of government is not to
directly shape culture but to enable all Australians – whatever their background, beliefs
and abilities – to explore and nurture their creativity and draw on the wealth of our
culture to enrich us all.

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