Australia Council Cut

Acclaimed theatre and film director Neil Armfield has expressed alarm at the decision by the Federal Government to cut ten percent of the budget from the Australia Council in this week's budget.

Instead the Minister for the Arts George Brandis has created a new $100 million dollar fund which his Ministry will administer called the National Programme for Excellence in the Arts. This is expected to focus on more popular programs and international touring.

While the 28 major performing arts companies, such as the state theatre and opera companies, will not have their funding changed the fate of many smaller performing arts companies is is now under threat.

Stage Whispers republishes the transcript of an interview on the ABC's Latline Program on May 14 with Neil Armfield.

WATCH THE VIDEO AT THIS LINK. http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2015/s4236080.htm

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: Few people have traversed the landscape of artistic production like Neil Armfield. He's directed plays and operas in every state in Australia and across the world. His latest film, Holding the Man, will be released next month and he's also directing Geoffrey Rush in a Sydney Theatre Company production of King Lear later this year. And just this week he was - last week, I should say, he was announced as the co-director of the Adelaide Festival from 2017. Neil Armfield is also extremely worried about the impact of Senator Brandis' new arts funding model and he joins us now.

Thanks for being here.

NEIL ARMFIELD, THEATRE AND FILM DIRECTOR: Hi, Tony.

TONY JONES: Now the system of arts funding has been an arm's-length process for decades. How big a change is this?

NEIL ARMFIELD: Well, it's not clear what this change really means yet. It has not - the implications, listening to Senator Brandis there, would suggest that he's setting himself up as a kind of a salon des refusés- somewhere where someone who's been - or a company who's been rejected by the Australia Council can go to his ministry and receive support. That happened a few months ago with the Melba recording label in Melbourne, who were granted out of the minister's own funds $275,000, I believe, after having been rejected by the Australia Council.

TONY JONES: So he's got form in a way. I mean, he's intervened directly before.

NEIL ARMFIELD: Yeah. And I think, I think ...

TONY JONES: But this is $100 million. How do you think it'll be administered?

NEIL ARMFIELD: $100 million is a lot more than has ever happened. Like, I think ministerial discretion is absolutely, you know, an understandable and common practice, but the practice of arts funding which is protected by this arm's-length relationship, developed over - a practice over the last 40 years, is fundamental to the idea of keeping the arts as quarantined, really, from political influence.

TONY JONES: And - well, when you say quarantined from political influence, how much changes potentially if you put a politician, that is, the minister, effectively in charge of it? He effectively will be the arbiter in the same way that the Defence Minister and the cabinet are the arbiter of projects done by the Defence Ministry.

NEIL ARMFIELD: If that is what is being suggested - and again, this is very unclear - it's - you know, some people are arguing that it is the greatest change to the relationship between government and the arts community of Australia in 40 years, that it is a really significant and baffling change.

TONY JONES: What are the potential problems in the way you look at it?

NEIL ARMFIELD: Well, is - is the second offer set up in which companies who are seeking funding go to the minister? Do they put in parallel applications to the Australia Council and to the ministry? It should be pointed out that half of the Australia Council's money is already quarantined for the major organisations. And so ...

TONY JONES: And so the - in fact that's not going to change.

NEIL ARMFIELD: That won't change.

TONY JONES: The 28 major performing arts companies have pretty much been quarantined from this process.

NEIL ARMFIELD: And the major festivals initiative in fact have received an increase in funding. But what worries me is that this $100 million therefore comes from that other half, which is where the small-to-medium companies need for their survival. And these are companies which don't have - depending on where they are in that food chain, they have less and less ability to - or profile to raise sponsorship. They have less time to develop relationships with government there. They're really out there at the barricades in a sense developing the work. This is the sort of the seeding place. These are the seedbeds of our culture. These are the small companies. It's like Back to Back in Geelong, it's Yirra Yaakin Noongar Theatre in WA, it's Griffin in Sydney, it's - it's - they're really the most vulnerable and some of them of course have been majorly successful. Back to Back is possibly Australia's greatest cultural export.

TONY JONES: Are they under threat? Will they be looking over their shoulders? Will they not do the sort of daring productions or get involved in political discussions in the way that they have in the past?

NEIL ARMFIELD: I think that's the danger. These things are always - when you're operating in a situation of reduced circumstances, you're always kind of fearful about your own survival. And I think the danger is that it encourages a kind of conformity and a safety in programming.

TONY JONES: Senator Brandis does have a bit of a history of intervention with the Australia Council. Last year he wrote to the chair demanding it implement a policy to deny funding to any artist who refused to take private sector support. Now this came out of a controversy with the Biennale where funding was refused from the Transfield corporation because they were involved in running offshore detention centres. I mean, is that the sort of thing that's led to this, do you think?

NEIL ARMFIELD: Yes. I would imagine that would. Like, that was a really significant moment, I think, in the recent history of the relationship between the Arts Minister and the Council. I don't think that that resulted in a change of policy from the Australia Council. I think it would be a very difficult thing to administer, a kind of notion that artists mustn't - must vet the money that they come - that comes to them from - you know, in - however - however they receive it. The issue of - of the funding of artists through - through sponsorship is really a very complex and delicate thing. And obviously, some of the artists who were coming into the Biennale chose to boycott. The senator's reaction was to go in in a rather punitive way, I thought, and - rather than acknowledging the complexity of this issue.

TONY JONES: Do we know anything about George Brandis' taste, if he's going to be, in a way, the final arbiter in very large funding decisions in the arts?

NEIL ARMFIELD: Um, I think that George is certainly an opera lover. I think that his - Craig Hassler has described him as a very engaged minister. Of course that's something that can have great benefits as well as create anxieties for those whose work he might not know about. And I think that's the fear. Like, there's ...

TONY JONES: Do you think there will be - I mean, fear is one of the key points here and we found it as we were speaking to a lot of people in the arts community, a kind of nascent fear really, that if the minister's going to be involved in distributing their funds in the future, we better not be critical.

NEIL ARMFIELD: Yes. At this stage, it's, what?, 15, 16 per cent of what the Australia Council has done. There is, I think, an anxiety around. There is this little company called - which I wanted to mention in the western suburbs of Sydney called Branch Nebula. They - they were - they had a show in the 2013 Sydney Festival. That show was at Hurlstone Park in a skating - a skating park. That show then went to - and this is a tiny company of a few professional artists but who work with non-professional people from a community. That show then went to San Diego in Chile - Santiago in Chile and it's now gone to Helsinki. This is the kind of little company that has no - like, who depend completely, really, on Australia Council support, who would have no way, I would've imagined, of getting through to the minister and for whom the Australia Council is perfectly set up to look after and to nurture. The Australia Council has been in the process of a review to streamline operations. That was a government-supported process that has just been put in place which involves all sorts of broadening the reach of the organisation.

TONY JONES: Sorry, we're nearly out of time, Neil. We probably ...

NEIL ARMFIELD: It's just - it's odd that what Brandis is setting up seems to be a replacement or an alternative for the Council.

TONY JONES: Neil Armfield, great to talk to you. Thanks for joining us on Lateline tonight.

NEIL ARMFIELD: Thanks, Tony.

Circus Oz has also issued a statement about its concerns.

In the budget on Tuesday, Senator Brandis announced a transfer of $104.7 million from the Australia Council to a new “National Program for Excellence in the Arts”, to be administered by the Federal Arts Ministry.

Circus Oz has significant concerns about the broad potential impact of this decision on the fragile and symbiotic ecosystem of arts in Australia.

Circus Oz is a member of the Major Performing Arts Group of 28 companies. Therefore, our funding is not directly affected by this recent announcement.  However, Circus Oz is also an active member of the vibrant, yet delicate arts ecosystem.  Changes to any part of this ecology can have dramatic affects on all artists creating work for the audiences of Australia. 

We know, for example, that the success of Circus Oz is built on the incredibly vibrant work of all the individual artists, independent, small and medium companies that are eligible for the funding that has been moved. These artists form the creative understory of each sector, be it circus, theatre, music, dance or opera, and as a major organization we feel to not acknowledge this would be conceited and disrespectful.  Therefore, Circus Oz will continue to advocate for, work with, and support the independent sector, building conversations and bridges.

In partnership with both sides of politics, the Australia Council has worked over many years to establish a rigorous, fair and economical process for artists to seek support for their work.  Whilst no system is ever perfect, this decision-making framework has at its core transparent and efficient access for artists and their audiences.   The Australia Council processes are built around artists’ individual planning timelines and requirements – be they large or small organisations or individual artists - across a variety of art practices and from a broad diversity of backgrounds.  

There are also expert voices within the Ministry for the Arts, well experienced with the establishment of appropriate processes for distribution of taxpayer funds.  However, this new program will likely duplicate systems for funding bodies and artists, increasing red tape.  This will absorb valuable time and resources that could otherwise be devoted to the creation of the art.

Unfortunately, the impact on the delicate ecology is likely to be more substantial than just this likely duplication.  First, the Australia Council has signalled that emerging artists will be directly affected by programs being cut due to the imposed efficiency dividend on their operations - ArtStart, Capacity Building and Artists in Residence.   

With much of the small and medium sector artists also awaiting the outcome of funding Expressions of Interest, the removal of $104.7milion of project funding from the Australia Council at this moment is deeply destabilising and could have an immediate impact on their survival.  

In the longer term, the viability of all parts of the ecosystem will be dependent on an ongoing commitment to efficient funding mechanisms for artists of all sizes, backgrounds and artforms.   Only through this will Australia audiences continue to reap the benefits that come from a flourishing, diverse and healthy arts community.