I was very lucky Saturday afternoon. I was sitting on the bike at the gym and as I flicked through the channels I came across the very beginning of the live telecast of the beginning of the creative forum/discussions, just as Cate Blanchett had begun her opening. So for the next 40 minutes or so (give or take – yes, my legs were sore by the end!) I watched many people speak on what ideas they thought would be best implemented or instituted by 2020 in order to foster properly the talent our fair land has to offer.
I’ve rabbited on before about my Cultural Studies past (and how you get to ‘study’ pornography) but I’ve never talked about the second part of the degree – the Cultural Policy part. That’s because there was barely any. I can only recall one subject which explicitly looked at matters to do with policy. Once we did, we only studied local examples: a heritage museum, an art exhibition space.
I wonder perhaps if our lack of content was because our former government wasn’t as generous with its money and grants for the Arts as our new one – hopefully – will be? (More on that later).
My understanding of the subject was that we were supposed to be looking critically at the steps and measures of those in elected power as it directly pertained to the cultural and artistic worlds. What was their ideology? Did this bring up elements of exclusion/inclusion as it related not only to race, but creed? Economics? Geography?
Then it hit me as I sat on the bike yesterday that I was witnessing possibly the biggest attempt at a cultural policy mandate: in my memory, at least.
There were 100 people in that room, each with their own agendas and areas of expertise. When you think of the collective experience, you have reason to hope.
Will all this talk come to anything? I do not know. Part of me wishes it; part of me thinks it’s all wishful thinking.
But I did laugh at this:
Imagine: a room full of Important People. Cate was there (not even a week after giving birth), Peter Garrett was there. There was even a bewhiskered Hugh Jackman.
Then one of the facilitators gets up and goes through the administrative business, including, “Okay, we’ve staggered the lunch times so the cafeteria won’t get too busy or cramped but if you do fall short of time, feel free to bring your lunches back here and keep eating as you talk.”
Cafeteria food?!
I LOVE IT!
Some of our greatest actors and thinkers being served up bulk fare!? I wonder what was on offer as they all lined up with their plastic trays, as they tried to pick between the red jelly cup or the green?
At the very least I hope there was a decent salad section and that the chicken parmas were a decent size!
To be serious for a second, though, it was a nice touch, I think: a small sign of the egalitarian spirit I’m sure most of the people attended in.
Are you watching the summit? Or paying attention to the updates in the news? Do you care?
