AFL Seeks Volunteer Dancers
The AFL has attracted the ire of the arts community for requesting that dancers work at the Grand Final for free as volunteers.
This social media post by singing teacher Erin Kennedy has gone viral.
"After the year that has just occurred, where the arts have been one of the most widely affected industries, this request is shocking, insulting and infuriating to the arts community.
The age specification is dancers above 15 years old. This provides an opportunity to not only take advantage of young dancers, but sets a precedent, signalling to them their skillset, whilst being valuable enough to provide quality entertainment at the biggest sporting event in Australia, isn't valuable enough to actually be paid for.
Young dancers are always the most likely to want to get in front of an audience and do what they love. They see this as an opportunity for experience, for something to put on their CV, or perhaps just a fun experience, and don't understand it undermines the entire industry. Older, more experienced dancers understand this is not a "once in a lifetime opportunity", but simply artists being exploited. The AFL are therefore more likely to actually receive offers from young dancers to fill these positions, which continues the broader cycle of artists being undervalued and asked to work for free.
It takes years of training to become a dancer, not to mention the thousands and thousands of dollars it costs. A year of full-time performing arts training costs between $12-17K in Australia at the moment, and often, dancers do multiple years of full-time training, with this coming after already training since childhood. It costs serious money to become a performing artist.
As a professional performing artist who has worked in the industry for 15 years and now teaches young performers, I am outraged that once again, the arts are being devalued.
What will it take for the arts and the people who work in it to be taken seriously and given the respect they deserve as genuine professionals in their field? The public is happy to consume the fruits of their labour, but rarely are artists truly respected for their contribution to our society.
Artists are always happy to volunteer time and skills for charity events. I have done countless free performances for many charities, even organising charity events myself. We all do it and do it happily. What we cannot stand for is huge organisations exploiting the arts, particularly its youngest and most vulnerable sector.
There has been a request to keep the entertainment quiet, because "it's going to be a surprise".