Addendum About the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz & Blues
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Submission to the Senate Enquiry on the Impact of the 2014 and 2015 Commonwealth Budget decisions on the Arts Submitted by Paul Squires, Chair, on behalf of the Board of Wangaratta Festival of Jazz Inc. Summary This submission expresses our concerns about the Commonwealth budget in 2014 and 2015, as it relates to our festival specifically; and expresses our concerns on behalf of the Australian jazz sector on the whole. In brief, our concern is that the cuts in funding for the Arts in the Commonwealth budget in 2014 and 2015, and some of the associated or consequent outcomes, could have a number of serious adverse consequences. The most significant of these is the reduced opportunities for developing excellence in the Australian Jazz and Blues sector, which consists entirely of small to medium organisations, individuals and emerging artists (those most adversely impacted by the cuts), whom our festival depends on to produce artistic excellence during our festival. As the foremost platform for Australian Jazz and Blues music, we need certainty of funding for multi-year operational support so that we can continue to develop and showcase Australia’s reputation for excellence in these art forms, and contribute between $3 and $5 million annually to our local regional economy. wangarattajazz.com.au 1 PO Box 860 Wangaratta VIC 3677 03 5722 1666 Key Issues We urge the Senate to re-examine the budget allocation to the Australia Council in 2014 and 2015, to consider whether a significant budget increase ought to be a priority; and to consider the following key issues for our organisation and the wider sector: 1. Certainty: There are already disturbing signs across the sector that the uncertainty flowing from the current policy initiatives is impacting at a range of levels, particularly in small to medium organisations. Like many other small to medium organisations, we had spent many hours developing an application for multi-year funding from 2016, only to find that funding round cancelled, and no clear picture of whether we can apply for funding in 2016, and when. Cancellations of acts and organisations have already commenced, due to the resulting uncertainty. Within our own organisation, we will be evaluating our capacity to deliver a range of programs including youth development, free public performances and limiting the number of artists both locally and internationally that we can showcase. 2. Focus on rural and regional. The program as drafted would appear to make it more difficult for rural and regional organisations to comply with the selection criteria. This will diminish the overall funding pool available to rural and regional areas and as such the selection criteria are not considered to be equitable. 3. Focus on private sector involvement and support. Our organisation has set new targets in regard to sponsorship and private sector involvement; however such targets are difficult to achieve in rural and regional areas for a number of reasons: a) The total pool of business within the local area is small. b) The scale of local business is usually comparatively small against the major metropolitan areas. c) The reach of regional events in terms of marketing and exposure through the major marketing mediums of print, TV and radio is comparatively small. d) It is difficult to attract artists to regional areas to establish centres of excellence which would in turn attract private support e) There is no structural change in the system to provide support or incentives for the private sector to become involved, sponsor or support the arts particularly in regional areas. 4. Establishing a philanthropic/fundraising strategy, and attracting sponsorship and philanthropy is a difficult proposition in rural and regional areas for the reasons outlined in point 3 above. In addition gaining the levels of support and critical mass to make such programmes worthwhile requires major initial investment both in terms of human capital and knowledge. Undertaking such proposals as volunteers in small to medium organisations is both daunting and difficult. Most small to medium organisations do not have the initial capital to undertake such objectives and as such unless there is a specific funding stream to support this initiative it will remain within the realms of only those large organisations with the capacity to risk the initial funding outlays for longer term returns. wangarattajazz.com.au 2 PO Box 860 Wangaratta VIC 3677 03 5722 1666 5. The current program as drafted does not support operational funding which is key to the many rural/ regional organisations. This is considered vital as project funding alone adds to the costs of the organisation, which is often not fully offset by grants and or sponsorship. Operational funding ensures that organisations have the capacity for creativity and development of projects without constantly spending their time seeking funds to keep the doors open. Impact of budget decisions The most immediate impact on our organisations is the uncertainty established around the future of the festival, due to potential loss of long term funding. As a Board we are already revising plans for the 2017 Festival and may consider significant changes to programming and operations, which may ultimately impact on attendance and economic viability. We are concerned that as a medium sized organisation (we do however qualify in terms of criteria as a key organisation) that the funding pool is biased towards larger city-based organisations that have greater potential for private sponsorship. We are equally concerned that small and medium organisations similar to our own who are supported by volunteers do not have the same level of political influence or capacity to influence the political agenda that larger organisations have, and this will place us potentially at a disadvantage. Other clear areas of concern are: 1. The funding criteria and assessment process do not appear to link to key universal arts and culture strategic objectives such as youth development, audience participation, artistic innovation, development of a genre ecology, ongoing sustainability, performance development and social inclusion. 2. There will be increased administrative costs applying for and complying with grants, particularly if they are project-based, as distinct from long term funding which can enable strategic change to be planned and implemented. In small to medium organisations, this role typically falls to volunteers whereas in large organisations there is capacity for paid staff to focus on submissions, lobbying and compliance. This increased administration, whilst impacting on all organisations, will have a comparatively greater impact on small to medium organisations. 3. There are signs that artists and organisations are already cancelling or modifying planned tours and performances due to funding limitations, which will impact on the quality of the pool of artist to draw upon. 4. The criteria for the Program appear skewed towards larger organisations resulting in the diversity of artists drawn from outside this area being diminished. Ultimately this will lead to a lowering of standards across the industry as the focus is drawn away from supporting young, innovative, engaged talent that can be developed into artists of national significance. 5. It remains unclear what the definition of excellence is and how it relates to key national objectives such as innovation, youth development, community wangarattajazz.com.au 3 PO Box 860 Wangaratta VIC 3677 03 5722 1666 engagement, social cohesion objectives, education, health and well-being, and economic impacts in local areas. Addendum About the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz & Blues Conceived by a group of locals in 1989 as a way to attract visitors and raise the profile of the town, the first Wangaratta Festival of Jazz (as it was then known) was staged in 1990 with attendances at around 2500. Since then – with blues added to the program in 1994 – it has grown to become an internationally renowned event, attracting around 25,000 visitors, and more than 200 jazz and blues artists from the USA, the UK, Europe and Australia each year. The Festival’s program is carefully developed under the artistic direction of Adrian Jackson, who has been with the festival since it began. With a diverse, eclectic mix of jazz greats and rising stars, each year the program showcases jazz and blues of all styles, including original, contemporary, traditional, mainstream, experimental and improvised. Featured artists over its 25 year history include James Morrison, Paul Grabowsky, Don Burrows, Vince Jones, Barney McAll (Aus/USA), Kurt Elling (USA), Tord Gustavsen Trio (Norway), Charlie Musselwhite (USA), the Cat Empire, Bernie McGann, Chris Wilson, Katie Noonan and Graeme Bell. A central feature of the festival remains the National Jazz Awards; a competition designed to encourage and promote young musicians. The Awards have signalled the start of many outstanding national and international careers in Jazz and Blues with recipients including Barney McAll, Phil Slater, Scott Tinkler, Michelle Nicolle and Stephen Magnusson. The festival is an annual event, presented over five days on the last weekend in October, from the Friday night through until the following Tuesday which is Melbourne Cup Day. It is presented in the Rural City of Wangaratta, which is located approximately 240 kilometres north east of Melbourne on the Hume corridor that links Sydney and Melbourne. Musicians perform in a multitude of venues that stretch across Wangaratta’s