All quotes attributed to Jo Clay MLA, ACT Greens arts spokesperson.
“I welcome today’s new Statement of Ambition for the Arts in Canberra and the funding to be delivered in the upcoming ACT Budget, but it is overwhelmingly focussed on infrastructure. Only a fraction of this funding is going to jobs, and of those jobs, administration jobs take priority over artists.
“While I understand the need to upgrade ageing infrastructure, I don’t consider government maintenance of government assets and new buildings to be arts funding. That is business as usual for a city.
“We need our arts institutions, certainly, but investing in facilities over artists is like building schools with no teachers. Funding $89 million for arts-related infrastructure across the Statement of Ambition is good, but we should be able to prioritise more than $4 million to invest in artists themselves.
“During the pandemic, the arts scene in Canberra changed significantly. Many creative endeavours moved online. Many artists lost most or all of their income. This package doesn’t recognise that if we want great art, we need to make sure artists get paid.
“The ACT Greens took a comprehensive Arts Package to the election that is creative and bold and we will continue working with our partners in government and through the Legislative Assembly to see that vision realised.
“The initiatives listed in the Statement of Ambition go some way to delivering the Greens’ commitment to Jobs for Artist, with 8 residencies, and one new public artwork to be commissioned from a female or non-binary artist, but the Greens want a three-year creative industries program that provides jobs for 100 artists.
“Buildings plus administration don’t add up to a thriving creative community. Creative people do. Artists need to be at the heart of investments in the arts to connect and enliven our community.
“Too often artists are paid last, and under the poverty line. The ACT Greens want to ensure all government funding that incorporates an arts element pays professional practising artists first, before others in line get paid.
“I would also like to see transparent open funding rounds for arts organisations and concrete strategies to elevate artists from diverse communities, from whom we can all learn and grow.”
