July 2009

Welcome to the first Point of View a bi-monthly bulletin from the Anzarts Institute 

Also get connected and stay connected through our newly operating BLOG  www.anzarts-institute.com/blog

In which we plan to air and debate some hot arts topics

Getting off the Ground

Looking back on the first year of operation, we feel a great sense of satisfaction that the Institute has already achieved so much. It has undertaken commissions for Federal, State and local government; engaged in  research and produced reports with national implications;  been invited to tender for international projects; and has begun to have its voice heard in important arts and cultural forums. 

During 2008 the Institute undertook the following commissions:

City of Sydney/NEPA

We conducted a feasibility study for a new alternative arts festival in inner Sydney to commence in 2010. This was completed in August 2008.  The Newtown Entertainment Precinct Association has undertaken to manage the event, hopefully with seed funding from local government and the private sector.

Plans are now underway to implement the study in detail.

International Market Development

The Australia Council sought advice on export strategies for North and South America which included leading negotiations with potential partners in arts markets in Montreal and New York in 2008/09. The findings for North America were delivered in February 2009 and a pilot project is due to commence later this year. The Latin American aspect of the work began in November 2008, continued with a visit to Mexico in February 2009 and Argentina. Colombia and Mexico in June/July 2009. Negotiations will continue throughout this year. 

Arts NT

This involved a review of and the performing arts in the North Territory and was completed in September, 2008. The report was released for discussion in October though somewhat delayed because of the state elections there and is now being progressively implemented. 

Multicultural Arts Issues

This was a study into some aspects of Multicultural arts advocacy which involved consulting stakeholders in the field across Australia, notably state and territory arts and multicultural agencies. An interim report was delivered in August and the Australia Council is working its way through its recommendations.

Theatre Companies in Western Australia 

The parties sought a review of the potential for a merger between Black Swan and Perth Theatre companies In WA.  Again elections and their results intervened. The report was delivered in December, 2008 but the new government has decided to put talk of a merger and its financial implications on hold.

In 2009 the Institute is busy at work on the following commissions:

Music Theatre Review

In December last year the Institute was successful in tendering to undertake a study in support of a three year Music Theatre Initiative which had been announced by the Music and Theatre Boards of the Australia Council. This involved nationwide consultations throughout January and February in the course of which over 100 persons across the sector were interviewed. An options paper was presented to the Music Board in mid March and a draft report in early May with the final report delivered in June. 

Short+Sweet

This rapidly emerging organization runs what is claimed to be the largest short play festival in the world.  Since 2003 it has run 40 festivals of 10 minute plays, dance works, and music theatre pieces and is now adding cabaret.  S+S operates across Australia and now in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.  It is an extraordinarily innovative creative process with strong grassroots/community participation.  But in its haste, it has grown like Topsy.  Short+Sweet has commissioned the Institute to help it design an international and domestic business and financial model that can retain its present organic flexibility while providing a strong base for future expansion.  The task is due for completion later this year. 

Gadigal Information Service

Gadigal Information Service Aboriginal Corporation is, amongst other things, the proprietors of Koori Radio and the producers of a range of Indigenous events in Sydney including the Yabun Survival Day concert, the Gadigal Music label and the cabaret brand Klub Koori. It is making a bid to be recognized as a national leader of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and cultural productions and broadcast and “the home of blackfella music”.  In March GIS commissioned the Institute to facilitate its strategic review and to reshape its Business Plan for the next six years. This task was completed in July.

Creative Conversations   

A key plank in the Institute’s platform is to stimulate debate on critical arts issues in which we would hope as far as possible to AVOID the dreary perennial topic of funding.  We want to look at what’s working in the arts and what’s not and to encourage everyone to have their say. This newsletter is one way we’ll do this. Our new blog site is another: www.anzarts-institute.com/blog But we also value face to face encounters. Later this year we’ll launch a series of Creative Conversations in association with partners ranging from festivals to the private sector.  They’ll start at this year’s  Brisbane Festival on September 19 and 20 with a series called A Kick in the Arts.  We’ll follow later in Canberra and then  extend to other cities. Our plan is have an ongoing series of these encounters around the country.  Details of the Brisbane event can be found on the festival’s website:  http://www.brisbanefestival.com.au/Events/0,65,4646,06500906.aspx. 

In general they’ll consist of dialogues between our Executive Director, Justin Macdonnell and two or three outspoken interlocutors on some controversial issues.   For the weeks leading up to and after the conversations themselves Justin will also host a blog around the issues to which we hope you will all feel free to contribute.

Creative Producing

Once again in Australia we’re experiencing “title creep”. Remember how those who were once administrators or managers became General Managers, then Executive Directors and now CEOs?  We’ve reached a point in the arts where every second person seems to be called a “producer”.  Mostly they mean project manager, at best.  Somewhat belatedly, the funding agencies have taken note of the trend and have set up initiatives around the country called MAPS (Management and Producing Services). The problem is that there are hardly any real producers to provide the services and part of the reason is that there are no tertiary education institutions in the country that offer appropriate training. On August 7 and 8 this year the Institute and the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), through its Executive Development Unit will join forces to run a pilot two day intensive course to test the field with a view to a longer term training initiative. For more information visit http://www.shortcourses.uts.edu.au/code/coursedetails.php?&sc_code=CP  

Boards now and then
About a year ago I caused a minor stir in easily stirred circles by making a few observations about governance in the non-profit sector. In a speech for Currency House which was actually about innovation I noted that among the barriers to better positioning creativity in our arts companies was the often arcane way we manage and govern ourselves. The full text can be found at www.anzarts-institute.com/news.htm

I noted that the one size fits all company limited by guarantee with a board of seven loaded with business people was not the only or necessarily the best way forward. 

I stated that in Australia and in many comparable countries there was misgiving about the efficacy of the current governance model. I also observed - mildly I thought - that while the preoccupation of government agencies with recruiting business skills to arts boards had delivered some benefits there had also been a concomitant erosion of board capacity to make critical decisions about creative and artistic matters.

The media pounced on this as a denunciation of arts boards, which it was not. Others saw it as an attack on business people on boards, which it was far from being. My point was simply that the pendulum had swung too far one way and needed to be rebalanced. Judging by the mail I received worldwide, I have to conclude that my view is shared well beyond Australia.

I also believe that for a community that calls itself creative we have been remarkably uncreative when it comes to forms of management and governance.  That concern is also being expressed in other countries and at last we are starting to see arts companies break the mould and experiment with new models. I have been working with one medium sized company that looked at itself and decided that how it operated was more like a legal or accounting practice than the "top down" board model.  So it has shifted to a more partnership, self-managed model and like firms in other professions invited a knowledgeable outside person to be their volunteer executive chair.

It is but one of many possibilities. If others, anywhere have models they would like to propose, Anzarts is happy to give them a platform to describe and discuss in Point of View. We've just launched our blog site you can find this piece reproduced there and can contribute to the online discussion on Point of View

www.anzarts-institute.com/blog