Chamber of Culture and the Arts Talk –

14th November 2014

• Acknowledgement of Dignitaries

• Her Excellency AO Governor of Western Australia

• Hon John Day MLA, Minister for Planning; Culture and the Arts

• The Hon. Dr Michael (Mike) Nahan MLA, Treasurer; Minister for Energy; Citizenship and Multicultural Interests

• The Hon. Benjamin (Ben) Wyatt MLA, Shadow Treasurer; Shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs; Native Title; Kimberley; Pilbara; Cost of Living

• The Hon. Michelle Roberts MLA, Shadow Minister for Culture and the Arts

• Hon. Chief Justice Wayne Martin AC, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Western Australia

• Malcolm McCusker AC CVO QC and Tonya McCusker

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• I am very grateful for the honour you have

given me tonight.

• But I do need to say that although this has

been given to me, I see it as

acknowledgement of the vision of some our

earlier Board members who first saw the

opportunity to focus more on the arts as well

as our Board members of today who continue

to share that vision.

• And it is a recognition of the people in the

grants team at Lotterywest who do all the hard

work in managing the grant making processes

and work in partnership with the arts

community throughout the state.

• So to the extent some of this recognition is a

personal one, it feels somehow a bit like

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cheating to be given this award for something

that I have love doing as much as I have loved

my work with Lotterywest over the past 26

years.

• That for me has been as much in running the

‘lotto’ business so we can support the

community in the broadest sense of the word

including of course the arts

• Tonight as I said is really about Lotterywest’s

connection with the arts and cultural life of our

state but in response to Henry’s invitation that

I ‘say a few words’ on accepting this honour I

hope you will forgive me if I give quite a

personal reflection of my experiences over the

past 26 years.

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• And one further disclaimer - in talking about

Lotterywest’s role in supporting the arts I

acknowledge that is comparatively a small

contribution compared with that of

Government through it major investment in the

arts through many programs as well as capital

infrastructure like the State Theatre amongst

many others, and the recent commitment to

fund what I am sure will be an absolutely

fantastic new state museum.

• Now a brief history lesson

• As many of you know but some may not,

Lotterywest’s connection with the Arts began

in 1982 when the late Bob Pike, MLA thought

up the very good idea of introducing scratchies

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as a new Lotteries Commission product as a

way of raising money for the arts and also for

sports.

• Until that time the Lotteries Commission’s Act

was very specific that is was really only

traditional charities and hospitals which could

receive Lotterywest funds.

• The amendment to the Act which gave the

Lotteries Commission the authority to sell

scratchies also specified that a fixed amount of

the scratchie sales [it was set at $3M] should

be given to the Arts Lottery Account and to the

Sports Lottery Account.

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• The fixed amount was changed when the

current Act was being drafted in 1990 to a

formula linked directly to overall sales not just

to scratchies.

• Since 1990 2% of sales has gone to the Arts

Lottery account where it is used by the

Minister through DCA to fund the 47 arts

funded agencies – last year that was over

$14M

• The next phase of the development of our

relationship with the arts became possible as a

result of that same new Act which defined

what we could give to far more broadly.

• It meant that we could make grants towards

any purpose which is ‘benevolent or charitable’

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so for the first time the arts became eligible for

direct support.

• The Board of that time in the early 1990s

which included the late Bill Warnock who I am

sure many of you here tonight recall, began to

think about how it could interpret this new and

broader power they had been given for grant

making and began to explore possibilities of

making grants directly to support the Arts.

• Bill, as those who knew him was passionate

about everything – actually Bill was passionate

about life in general - that was going to

improve our community but in particular about

the Arts which I think he loved most of all.

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• So led by the vision of people like Bill and the

then Chairman of our Board Wendy Silver

which was shared by the other Board

members, that was the era when we first

starting funding conservation projects, heritage

and medical research and many other new

projects like Lotteries Houses but the story of

those initiatives is one for another occasion.

• So this is when I came in as the still relatively

new role as a grants consultant.

• That Board in the early 90s and all others

since have understood that building ‘social

capital’ is as important as helping those in

need.

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• They understood the place of the arts in civil

society and its part in contributing to the

quality of life for everyone as well as making a

significant contribution the economy if

justification on economic grounds needed to

be made.

• The principle that we have remained

committed to since then that building social

capital including support for the arts is not just

a nice to have add on when all else is funded

but is fundamental to Lotterywest’s role in the

community was established in that era.

• My first personal venture into an arts funding

program was the small community arts

program which we started in 1990 [Wendy

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Wise] to help small, local community groups

get grants for mostly capital items like pottery

kilns, risers for choirs, embroidery equipment,

musical instruments, costumes for theatre

groups, painting materials – the list has been

endless

• We still give grants like this today because we

believe that these kind of local arts and

cultural groups including in to Aboriginal arts

organisations are the glue that holds our

society together

• The next development at that time was what we

then called the Foundation for

Access to the Performing Arts – that program

was designed to help make the arts accessible

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to people who were geographically isolated or

financially disadvantaged and aimed to build

audience for the arts.

• Although not known by the original name, the

philosophy of making the arts accessible to all

has been an enduring one for us.

• The next really big thing came in 1992 when the

Act was amended,

• That amendment specifically added the screen

industry and the Festival of as named

beneficiaries.

• I had no part in that decision – it was taken by

the Minister Pam Beggs, then the Minister for

Racing and Gaming and Tourism who was

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very interested in the potential benefit of a

strong film industry for WA and Minister Kay

Hallahan then the Minister for the Arts who

was being fiercely lobbied by the Perth

Festival Director, David Blenkinsop for funds

for the festival which was really struggling on a

shoe string back then.

• On the advice of the board that unclaimed

prize money could be used for funding instead

of being held for as many years as the Act

then required led to that amendment.

• I well recall my reaction as a new CEO, still

very wet behind the ears when I was told by

the Minister’s office that I would have to

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administer this new section of the Act about

which I knew nothing at the time.

• I told the Minister’s advisor that it would be a

‘bloody nightmare’ – at least that’s how I recall

I indelicately put it.

• But time has proved me convincingly very

wrong. It has not been a nightmare. It has

been a dream which has been one of the

highlights of my career – to be involved in

being part of building the world class screen

industry we now have in this state

• And in the same way to have been part of

helping the Festival to become the truly

fantastic wonderful annual event during which

Perth really comes alive each summer

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following now the hugely successful

Fringeworld which we also fund.

• I can’t tell you the ridiculous sense of

triumph/pride I felt when the Premier

announced when we thought all was lost that

the Giants would be coming to Perth next year

as the centrepiece of the Festival and in the

year of the Centenary of Anzac – how good is

that?

• So over the years Lotterywest has continued

quietly, based on our vision of building a better

WA together, been expanding our role in

supporting the arts and cultural life of our

community.

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• It has included supporting all kinds of

community festivals – the biggest like Fringe

World as I mentioned to the smallest local

regional or ethnic event

• We have given grants to make sure WASO

would not lose their wonderful voluntary choir

when its sponsorship ran out

• We’ve supported opera in the park and

symphony in the city so everyone can enjoy

those events which are also part of our Perth

Summer.

• And we’ve supported community access

programs by the Ballet and Black Swan – how

moving was it to see blind people see

‘Sleeping Beauty’ or people with terminal

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illness experience the ballet for the first time,

or representatives of refugee groups, foster

parents and their children at Peter Pan and to

see the faces of people who have never been

to a live theatre performance before.

• I could go on all night with many more

examples of specific projects we have

supported over the years– suffice to say that

last year, the total grants amounted to $25m

for culture and the arts in the broadest

definition of what that means – including $1M

for various events and projects associated with

the Anzac Centenary

• But one of the things which Lotterywest has

supported of which I am particularly proud is

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the building of the capacity of the whole arts

sector in this state

• In recent years it became obvious that some

kind of forum was needed which would bring

the sector together to find shared approaches

to the common challenges you were and are

facing and to work together in partnership with

government and with other key supporters of

the arts to do that.

• It would be remiss of me at this point not to

acknowledge the part that the corporate sector

and many generous philanthropists have

played in recent years in supporting the arts –

this has been a true example of community,

business and government working together.

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• Our identification of the need for a forum for

the arts resulted in the pretty significant grants

we have made in recent years to help with the

establishment of this Chamber and to fund

operating costs for the immediate future.

• It is very gratifying to see what the members of

the Board achieved as a voluntary board

before Henry was appointed and what has

been achieved since that time.

• When I look back I can see just how far the

arts in WA have come in the past 20 years but

there is clearly still a way to go as the most

recent piece of work of the Chamber outlines

in your budget submission.

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• That documents the still very real challenges

facing the sector in creating amongst other

goals the kind of city which would lift Perth

further up the list of liveable cities – I note we

fall below Adelaide even which surely is not

acceptable?!.

• In conclusion I want to say a heartfelt personal

thank you to all the arts organisations which

have given me so much personal pleasure

over the years.

• I have no personal artistic skills at all – I can’t

draw or paint.

• I can’t sing – I was dropped aged 12 from the

school choir after one session when the music

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teacher told me I could not sing in tune and

never recovered from the humiliation .

• I can’t dance despite one disastrous term of

classical ballet when it became clear that my

stumpy legs were never going to do a grand

jete.

• I can’t play a musical instrument of any kind

• But I like to think I have made an art form of

appreciation of the arts

• I have transported regularly to other worlds by

our WASO, our WAB, and our WA Opera.

• I have been made to think and made to laugh

by the productions of all our theatre

companies. Page 20 of 22

• And by the many experiences brought to us by

the Festival and Fringeworld.

• I have wondered through our art gallery and

museum in admiration for the visual arts

• I could go on but I won’t – forgive me if I have

not mentioned your company or art form.

• I love all forms of the arts but there is not

enough time for me to talk about them tonight

• So all I can do for now is to just express my

gratitude for all I have experienced over the

years and to say that if I done anything to help

the arts sector of our state, then I have been

more than amply compensated by what it has

given Alan and me and in the personal Page 21 of 22

friendships we have come to enjoy with so

many of you.

• In finishing this speech, if there is one thing I

want to leave you with tonight it is to remind

you to look at what you have achieved.

• I know it is tough for anyone who chooses to

work in this sector but I know you will continue

to do what you have always done – to look

past limitations and see what is possible.

• And always remember that what you do is vital

work which feeds the human spirit and

strengthens our community.

• So again thank you for the privilege of letting

me play some small part in the vital work all of

you do to enrich our community

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