Mind the gap
Nigel Lavender examines the burgeoning arts economy in Queensland, and highlights how the arts can help to build bridges between Australia’s white and indigenous populations.
Thursday Island (TI) is at the tip of Cape York in northern Queensland – on a map it’s the top of the pointy bit on the right. Surrounded by waters full of dugongs, turtles and salt-water crocs, it is 2,200km from the State capital, Brisbane, yet less than 300km from Papua New Guinea, and home to some of the friendliest people you could ever meet: the Torres Strait Islanders. Queensland Music Festival (QMF) began as a community music engagement programme on TI in February, and in July will present its opening concert. Community performers will feature alongside The Black Arm Band, comprising 25 indigenous musicians, and the Queensland Youth Orchestra. They will perform ‘Hidden Republic’, celebrating the spirit of Aboriginal Australia, and it will be the first time a symphony orchestra has ever been heard north of Cairns. The concert will be on the radio and also webcast live to a big screen in the centre of Brisbane.
When the QMF was conceived in the 1990s, in a moment of inspiration by Labour Arts Minister Matt Foley his ambition was to see music as a unifying and aspirational vehicle which would stimulate communities and culture throughout Queensland. Under successive artistic directors including Lyndon Terracini, Paul Grabowsky and now Deborah Conway, the QMF has produced arts projects in towns right across the State. The 2009 Festival is presenting world-class talent, in both urban concert halls and open air community site-specific productions in the remotest parts of Queensland, from Cooktown to Charleville. Much like the recent initiatives of the National Theatre of Scotland’s ‘Transform’ projects, the QMF creates dialogue and new art in the most unexpected places.
International barriers
Although the Australian psyche is fiercely independent, the tyranny of distance makes international interchange a real challenge, especially for young artists. Practically speaking, international artists have to be enticed here to become part of specialist programmes. For example, ‘Inscription’ invites leading international authors (e.g. Edward Albee) to coach developing writers, sharpening skills and confidence through mentorship and workshops. The QMF is bringing over composer Michael Nyman in July, who, apart from his concerts with didgeridoo player William Barton, will work with students and present the top prizes in his role as Patron of our ‘Score IT!’ soundtrack composition competition for schools. Because of the nation’s size, the Australian governmental system is very different to the UK’s. Below Federal Government, each State and Territory has its own Government, composed of elected parties, trickling down to local Shires, with vastly differing levels of population and area. In general, local government has few resources to devote to the arts, and arts development is usually just a small constituent of community portfolios. The impact of touring shows and festival events is therefore crucial.
Arts Queensland (AQ) is a State Government Agency, which is under the supervision of the Queensland Minister for the Arts. After her recent re-election, the Premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh, has taken over the arts portfolio. In terms of policy, AQ’s aims echo those of Arts Council England, encompassing great art, engaged communities, a diverse economy, creative places and ongoing learning. Because the major state funders are departments of government, arts managers with the bigger organisations work much more closely with the legislature than in the UK. The QMF’s sole shareholder is in fact the Premier herself.
Knowing where to look
Former Prime Minister Paul Keating famously remarked that if you are not in Sydney, you’re camping out, but there is plenty going on in the rest of the country. Brisbane has its own South Bank, an impressive vista with a conservatorium (music school), a performing arts centre with 5,000 seats in four auditoria, a museum and gallery complex, the hugely popular State Library, and the magnificent new Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), which has been a phenomenal success with the public. GOMA and its older sibling, the Queensland Art Gallery, achieved a total of 12 out of the top 200 most visited exhibitions of 2008 throughout the world, including a Warhol show publicised with the tag-line, “Brisbane finally gets its fifteen minutes”.
At Queensland Performing Arts Centre, blockbuster shows dominate the programme, and the Paris Opera Ballet are about to visit with a company of 100 dancers. Through its strategic investment in such big attractions, Queensland Events is a main driver for the state’s economic development, while Brisbane Marketing promotes its home as a ‘New World City’, transcending such paltry matters as distance or location. Australian cities see culture as a massively important driver for tourism and economic growth. The winter marketing campaign for ‘Visit Sydney’ has capitalised on Australia’s greatest icon, the Opera House, by inviting Brian Eno to curate a music festival. Inter-state rivalry boils over into international campaigns, and the entrepreneurial spirit and bold imagination of the Australians is typified by the recent ‘Best Job in the World’ tourism publicity campaign – competitive, proud, brash, and pretty funny when you realise it’s actually a viral ad campaign.
Strength and stability
Funding from the Federal Government is largely administered through the Australia Council for the Arts (Ozco), under Minister Peter Garrett, (ex-singer with rock band, Midnight Oil). It has a current budget of $250m (£125m), and is led by dynamic American Chief Executive Officer Kathy Keele. Although her agency’s clients are predominantly major urban institutions, Keele clearly subscribes to the importance of regional arts as ‘social glue’, engaging young people and providing a bridge between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. Her belief that regional arts strengthen and stabilise regional communities is strong, and although the winds of change have struck some of Ozco well-established organisations, new funds are being distributed through a Community Partnerships programme across the country. Of course, it is a difficult balance to change funding patterns without new investment, and the global financial crisis is biting hard here too.
It is just over a year ago that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd fulfilled his promise to apologise to the stolen generation, but saying sorry is only the first step in addressing the most difficult social problem facing Australia as a nation: the poverty, education and health gap between white Australia and its indigenous population. Hidden Republic is a show full of hope and optimism for the future of all Australians. When it premiered last November at the Melbourne Festival, the applause almost lifted the roof off the State Theatre. I have no doubt the reaction in the open air on Thursday Island in July will be even better.
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