DON’T GIVE UP YOUR DAY JOB
DAVID THROSBY
THE CONVERSATION
31 August 2016
One of the casualties of the
ill-starred reorganisation of arts funding proposed last year by the then
Minister for the Arts, Senator George Brandis, was support for individual
artists. If his plan had gone ahead, it would have resulted in a further
consolidation of funding for the major performing companies at the expense of
the lone creative practitioner.
But in its replacement – the Catalyst fund put in
place by the new Minister Senator Mitch Fifield – the support prospects for
individual artists have not improved much. Catalyst does not fund individuals
directly.
Policy conflicts between the
funding demands of large performing companies and the needs of the individual
creative artist are by no means new. In Australia, they can be traced back as
far as the years immediately following the establishment of the Australia
Council.
An early vision of the Council’s
inaugural chair, Nugget Coombs, was the
setting up of well-funded performing companies of international standard in
theatre, music and ballet. A consequence of this policy was that during the
late 1970s, support for these organisations was absorbing what was seen as a
disproportionate share of the available money.
To counteract this trend, a
proposal was put to the Council in 1980 by the Literature Board, supported by
the Visual Arts and Crafts Boards, for a study into the circumstances of the
individual creative artist, in the expectation that such a study would
highlight the disadvantage suffered by these boards’ clientele, and would
propose remedies. The proposal led to the establishment in 1981 of the
Individual Artists Inquiry.
I was invited to chair the
Inquiry. Its committee comprised senior artists and arts industry personnel
with a wide range of experience and expertise representing writers, visual
artists, craftspeople, actors, dancers, musicians, composers, directors and
community artists.
Given the lack of data about
artists’ economic circumstances, we began by designing and commissioning the
first ever national survey of Australian artists to gather the essential
information to guide our deliberations. The Inquiry completed its work in
August 1983 and its report, entitled The Artist in Australia Today, was
published later that year.
What can we learn looking back on
the findings and recommendations of this Inquiry from a vantage point 33 years
later? The first observation is how little has changed.
The survey documented the
relatively low incomes earned from creative work, the extent to which artists
were obliged by economic necessity to seek other jobs to support their creative
practice, and the difficulties artists faced in establishing their right to
recognition in a world where being an artist was not looked upon as a
professional occupation. All remain serious issues affecting art practice
today.
The Inquiry’s wide-ranging
recommendations dealt with the status of the artist, issues relating to
artists’ employment and working conditions, and the various means for providing
assistance to support their work. Not surprisingly the 1983 Committee
recommended an increase in funding for “initial creative artists”, an outcome
argued as being achievable without disadvantaging the big performing companies.
Many of the Inquiry’s
observations have some continuing resonance: the importance of supporting
emerging artists; the need for more effective copyright protection; the role of
artists’ residencies; dealing with obstacles in the way of a full recognition
of artists’ rights; and so on.
To its credit, the Australia
Council acted on many of the Inquiry’s recommendations, elevating a concern for
the professional welfare of the individual artist in its policy priorities, a
position the Council still holds to today, even when government intentions
point in another direction.
All committees of inquiry end
with proposals for further research and this one was no exception. In
particular the report stressed the need to keep the data about practising
professional artists up to date.
Accordingly, successive Australia
Councils have commissioned new surveys every few years since the 1980s, all of
which have been undertaken by me and my colleagues at Macquarie University, and
all of which have continued to paint a bleak picture of artists’ circumstances.
Their incomes have remained
relatively low; full-time work as a creative artist continues to be out of
reach for most practitioners; economic factors are still the major impediment
to artists’ opportunities to expand their work profile; and ongoing
shortcomings persist in the public and administrative recognition of artists’
professional status.
The last-mentioned problem is
reflected in the ironic titles of the survey reports we have published over the
years: When are you going to get a real job? (1989); But what do you do for a
living? (1994); Don’t give up your day job! (2003); Do you really expect to get
paid? (2010).
At present we are in the midst of
conducting a new edition of the survey, again funded by a grant from the
Australia Council. The hunt is on for a title for the report from the survey,
to be published early next year. Suggestions please!
