Too big to fail: rethinking the foundations of Australia’s performing arts policies

ABSTRACT

This research examines three political moments in the Australian theatre sector as turning points in contemporary understanding of the sector’s financial foundations. Socio-cultural and economic conditions leading to the establishment of The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1954, the instigation of the Industries Assistance Commission Inquiry in 1976, and the commissioning of the Major Performing Arts Inquiry in 1999, and their impact on the theatre sector, are reviewed in this paper. These political moments took place against changing economic policies in Australia. By reviewing the economic transition from Keynesian 'welfare' to economic rationalism, the interventionalist nature of these policy moments and their effect on the artistic vibrancy of the sector is understood. This paper reveals a tension between the sector’s Keynesian foundations, which underpinned the Trust's intentions to establish a financially sustainable sector, and the now dominant economic rationalist model which restricts the performing arts’ capacity to flourish. Through analysing secondary documents and scholarly discussion, this research reconsiders the legacy of the Trust as a key policy landmark. It proposes that The Trust succeeded in delivering artistic outcomes, but failed in its financial objective to establish a sustainable sector. The role of the Trust is often misconstrued in scholarly and professional discussions about the necessity of arts funding, and by reconceptualising these political moments as interventions of policy, a new perspective of the foundation of Australian arts funding can be appreciated.

KEYWORDS:

• Arts policy
• cultural policy
• performing arts
• political inquiry
• Australian arts

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

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Karen Hands

Karen Hands is a Lecturer in Creative Industries at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. Her research focuses on the social and political aspects of the arts, creative industries and publishing sectors, and she researches career trajectories in the creative industries. Her work takes a dual scholarly–industry approach. Current projects include exploring the value of the creative sectors and education in the arts and creative industries in a Covid-19/post-Covid-19 world, and examining staff and student responses to the rapid transition to online work and learning spaces as a result of the pandemic. Between 2017–2019 she was Associate Publisher of Griffith Review, Australia's leading quarterly publication of writing and ideas, and she has worked as a producer and administrator in performing arts and writing organisations.