There is one industry that was shut down almost instantly with the introduction of lockdown measures and has received a lot less attention than it deserves in the stimulus discourse. Yet, it never ceases to be part of our lives. I refer to the arts and entertainment industry, spanning from stage, to film and television, to literature.
The Federal government announced $27 million in targeted relief for the arts sector in the most recent stimulus package, including support for regional and Indigenous arts organisations, as well as Support Act, which delivers crisis relief to artists. This is a small slice of the $850 million support package proposed by Live Arts Australia.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data revealed that as of 30 March, only 47 per cent of arts and recreational services businesses were in operation, a snapshot which does not cover the many not-for-profit organisations in the sector. Arts and entertainment are invariably linked to accommodation and food services, which were operating at 69 per cent.
The live performance industry alone had a $2.2 billion turnover last year, not including pubs and clubs. Broader stimulus measures so far for those left without work include a JobSeeker (formerly Newstart allowance) payment boost of $550 per fortnight as well as the newly established JobKeeper program. Unfortunately, the latter does not cater for the unique nature of the industry.
One of the prerequisites of JobKeeper is that an employee has been employed casually for at least twelve months continuously or in the case of sole traders, that they are actively engaged in the operation of a business. The case for sole traders, however, does not apply to not-for-profit organisations. Many arts festivals and organisations are therefore excluded. Arts workers ranging from performers to backstage crew to front-of-house staff may work the duration of a particular festival in any given year over consecutive years, therefore not meeting the continuous employment test either.
In a recent webinar from The Australia Institute, Chief Economist Richard Denniss pointed out ‘There’s 193,000 people employed in the creative arts industry in Australia. To put that into perspective, there’s less than 50,000 people working in coalmining.’ Denniss also raised that Australia has spent 200 billion dollars in stimulus measures so far. ‘One per cent of that would be two billion dollars. Does the arts and entertainment industry deserve one per cent of it? Maybe it deserves two per cent which would be four billion just for this industry.’
'With the rise in neoliberalism over time, we have seen a devaluing of the arts as work.'
Many people are now turning to streaming services more than ever. The trouble is, despite calls for quotas last year, services such as Netflix and Stan don’t currently have an obligation to share Australian-made content. Further, Paul Fletcher MP announced a pause on the quota of Australian content that Australian broadcasters must show, including children’s and documentaries until the end of 2020, a significant set-back for local screen production. This has ripple on effects through the industry, as practitioners work across theatre and screen. This won’t be reviewed until 2021, raising concerns that it could continue well beyond the pandemic. A possible solution as raised by Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is rather than reducing Australian content, to place obligations on these foreign companies to stream a certain amount of Australian content.
The arts and entertainment industry has suffered reductions in funding over decades along with the removal of an independent Federal Department of Communications and the Arts that I wrote about last year. This sparks a larger debate that goes beyond economics. It treads into the terrain of ideological underpinnings. With the rise in neoliberalism over time, we have seen a devaluing of the arts as work.
Yet ideology is being challenged in the current climate of stimulus measures going beyond the right versus left discourse. It is about what is good for society in the current scenario. This is an opportunity to look towards the arts as part of our recovery process too. Professor Peter O’Connor offered the reminder that, ‘In the coming days, as the fragility of life is increasingly threatened, the arts will be part of what puts us back together’.
The industry therefore requires a sector-specific bailout created in consultation with a broad cross-section of arts professionals that considers measures for both the shut down and rebuilding. The reality is it cannot simply start up again once lockdown measures lift without support. A greater acknowledgement of the value of the arts could be addressed through what Sarah Hanson-Young raised in the same webinar, as ‘a creativity commission’.
While the announcement of more than $15 million in emergency funding for the arts from the Victorian government is welcome, this is only complementary to a potential federal package. Ultimately, the arts needs to be acknowledged and funded at the federal level in order for the already struggling sector to survive across the country.
From a broader societal wellbeing perspective, we simply cannot afford, as Senator Hanson-Young says, ‘a huge cultural deficit’. Once it is safe to do so, we must also return to the theatres and festivals, in support of an industry which has supported us through difficult times.
Bree Alexander's words have appeared with Enchanting Verses, Westerly Magazine and Australian Multilingual Writing Project. Under pseudonym Lika Posamari, she was shortlisted for the Overland Fair Australia Prize 2018 (NTEU category) and published a poetry chapbook The Eye as it Inhales Onions.
Main image: Microphones on stage (Getty Images/Tiago Macedo)