The Australian arts community did a pretty good job on the opening and closing ceremonies at the Sydney Olympics and the Commonwealth Games. Well, I was impressed anyway.

If we withdraw support for the people who make those things happen we'll likely end up having to ask others to do it for us. Americans probably. Or miss out altogether.

It' the nature of arts projects that some turn out to be duds, but if you don't risk funding the duds you don't get the good stuff either.

Yep, arts people have had many jokes at the expense of rednecks, Kath and Kim types, Edna Everages, but they've also celebrated that stuff. Bryan Brown wouldn't have had a career otherwise. Reg Mombassa has done really well out of suburbia with his Mambo stuff.

Geez Australia, lighten up. Whatever happened to our famous ability to have a laugh at ourselves?

HasBeen - hairdressers are one of the skills we desperately need and it is a profession cited frequently by the government as needing more people.
Just because a profession isn't building bridges or slaving over a microscope doesn't mean it isn't an integral part of the economy.

I agree with the last three posts. I think we can laugh at ourselves and comedy is also a valid part of the film and arts industry.

It is only in recent years that the arts are growing up to realise the framework also includes the audience or market. This is the same framework principle as the one used in advertising. I would not be against the principles of marketing and advertising being taught in film and art schools.

Some artists are learning to apply for Church grants to decorate Churches with some magnificent murals and new arts technology. Artists like Dr Paula Dawson's holography at St Brigid's Church in Coogee South has placed a holographic area for prayer. It is now on the tourist map.

http://www.artnews.com.au/details.php?e=425

Once the creatives think on the lines of good business and balance this with their artistic integrity, then there will be more spinning, less money being wasted and more reasons to stay in Australia. The arts can challenge the media, be provocative, interesting and exciting, but some how the community, including Government, Church, and Corporations, also would benefit from considering how this can make life so much more interesting.

It is similar for science, although for purely scientific integrity, there is an ethical arguement for some of the sciences to be fully Government funded. Private corporations too often use science for profit rather than the betterment of humanity and the earth.

I think artists can meet half way in business practice and Australian Scientists have never let us down anyway. Its a matter of mending good faith and a belief in Australia. Surely this is a key in nation building.

Whenever I hear this stuff about arty elites wasting the honest battlers tax money I'm reminded of Blue Poles. When Australia bought that there was much fury and consternation over wasting so much money on a piece of work many doubted could even be called art.

What's the current value of Blue Poles? I have no idea, but it was a worthwhile investment that accumulated value for the country's portfolio as a whole. Whether honest battlers like Blue Poles or not, they now have a stake in a very valuable piece. It was worth the risk, no?

Good point Chainsmoker, in the overall picture, the Blue Poles didn't cost that much money. It was a bold statement from a world known artist. It is now worth a fortune and is one of the most famous works in the Australian National Gallery.

Some trivia about the Blue Poles, about 5 years ago, the ANG moved the painting to the new wall and it didn't fit. In their wisdon, they cut about 2 feet off the bottom of the painting so that they didn't have to find another wall. There were plenty of other walls to put it. Australian curators have this habit of cutting paintings.

Just like the tapestry in the Great Hall at Parliament House Canberra. Someone in their wisdom decided to cut a piece out for the top of a doorway to fit along the bottom. No one thought of moving the artwork up. They just cut.

Utzen who designed the Opera House who is too sicked by the way his masterpiece was cut by former Premier Asken to actuall return to Australia to see it. Imagine how the artists of the Blue Poles and the tapestry in the Grand Hall of Parliament house feel. A gallery or your customer buys the work, you lose control over their propensity to destroy or cut up the work.