Arts funding and support are a complex matter in many ways...especially when one looks at the basic drive for many artists in that they just want or need to make art.Art and creativity some times become used interchangeably and so can also confuse our argument.In summary this is what I think.
Creativity and perhaps artmaking in the broadest sense is a right and indeed I believe an essential to become psychologially fully human persons.The development, expression of such can be limited and or sociallised out of us to greater and lesser degrees (at our own risk as individuals,families and societies) ....without a long theses it could be said that it is an essential and integral part of being human to be creators or co creators in the world we live in.Professional artists go one step further in that they have chosen to make more explicit and heighten there potentiality and try to make a more fulltime, less compromised occupation of this.Most artists fund themselves by many jobseeking ventures including their own work,free service and types of exchanges,sponsorships etc.They do this to make ends meet and feed their addiction.Their product is a contribution to both the social,community and societal culture which we all contribute towards in as beneficial way as we can.Additional funding comes in many forms such as art markets,"one per cents' for the arts in architectural projects of over $1million and speculation/auctioning of art works,creative commons rights that can earn money as well as copyrights.Artists also are a very large and broad church so to speak from the writer,website designer,sculptor/installations creator,digital artists,musicians etc.They contribute broadly to the Australian infrastructure of culture and real dollar and lifestyle terms as much as BHP Billiton(BHP Billiton which sponsors many arts projects themselves through various organisations that are both Government and private eg.ABAF http://www.abaf.org.au/,CANWA etc).Funding the arts through government and other partnerhips is no different to the existing stakeholder partnerships that exist bewtween welfare,church welfare,government instrumentalities, councils,independent community groups and other NGOs,corporations and philanthropic organisations including for profits such as big record labels or small record labels such as Jarrah records http://www.jarrahrecords.com/ etc.Many co contributed funding sources and work both voluntary and paid.We benefit from this type of system of culture development in many and diverse ways that doesnt always see direct compensation to the artist or creator.As a value and since we contribute to the running of this great country of ours through our goverment instrumentalies...I would like to see the system support the values of the artist broadly and with many partners...and in essence promoted in the same way we promote the defence forces as a key value...essential to the socio cultural and psychological health of our society.To see artists as spongeing is to call other big corporations ' spongers ' too...I wont name them all.such as Telstra etc.
I am happy for my dollars that are taxed to support the arts in all its forms both by way of commercial and various other initiatives.No man is an island...nor do any of us fund ourselves completely with no help from others.
Michaelangelo was both corporate funded,self funded,patron and church funded employee who worked on many types of employee contracts...sure he had some good employers and bad (the popes at times were a bit cranky...but the Medicis weren't too bad...sort of like the Transfields http://www.transfield.com.au/arts/walshbay_sculptures.htm and Holmes A Courts of their days http://www.visualarts.net.au/grantsprizes/vcags
).Anyway enough said what do you think?Ciao and regards Warren xx ;) :)Much more can be said of course....!
