AMPAG submission to the

Inquiry into the VET Student Loans Bill 2016, the VET Student Loans (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2016, and the VET Student Loans (Charges) Bill 2016 to the Education and Employment Legislation Committee for inquiry

WHO WE ARE The Australian Major Performing Arts Group, or AMPAG, is the umbrella group for Australia's major performing arts companies (MPAs) who inspire millions through theatre, circus, contemporary dance, classical ballet, classical music, opera, musicals and comedy. See appendix 1 for the full list of member companies.

The MPAs are Australia’s iconic cultural institutions for performance who:

 expand our nation’s reputation across art forms;

 provide substantial and stable employment across artistic and creative disciplines;

 drive R&D with diversity of content and commissioning of major new works;

 deliver creative inspiration, nurturing and empowering communities, art forms and artists.

In 2014, 3.83 million Australians attended a performance, school activity or workshop by an MPA company—an increase of 85,000 on 2013.

Employment: The MPAs employed more than 10,000 people in 2014—7,400 artistic and production (including 4,900 artists), 2,700 admin and management. This represents around 25 per cent of performing arts employment in Australia.

Income: In 2014 MPA companies had a turnover of $509 million, of which $228.5 million was box office income—reflecting a box office increase from 2013 of almost 12 per cent, and an overall income increase of about 9 per cent.

The issue

AMPAG is concerned that the proposed remedy to cut the rorting of government support for vocational training will have a very significant negative impact on access to quality industry focused performing arts training.

The Minister for Education The Hon Simon Birmingham has said of the selection of approved VET Student Loan courses, “To develop this list, the Turnbull Government has run a test over all of the different diploma-level and above qualifications that are out there to ensure they are on at least two state and territory skills needs list and we’ve looked at other areas of high economic need, such as STEM skills or agricultural skills, to make sure the list represents our national economic priorities.”

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We understand government priorities are jobs and growth. The arts sector creates jobs and the creative industries are a growing sector in modern economies and the government’s innovation agenda requires our workforce to be creative – skills that are nurtured through arts- based study and practice and access to high quality arts environment.

The chosen criteria for determining which courses are deemed valuable are based on a narrow approach that fails to recognise the needs and, we believe, the value of the performing arts sector.

The MPAs are significant direct employers and active developers of emerging talent. The impact of the changes from VET Fee Help to the VET Student Loans program raises concern for our group for several reasons:

1. It fails to consider the quality and reputation of the training provider and the contribution this training proves to support industry outcomes in the performing arts,

2. It negatively impacts leading performance-based arts training in some of our leading government funded not-for- profit arts training institutions including; National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA)and West Australia Academy of Performing Academy (WAAPA) as well as smaller private colleges such as Academy of Film, Theatre and Television (AFTT) and the Australian Institute of Music (AIM).

3. It excludes all performance based performing arts training courses1–this includes diplomas in dance, music and acting. Yet these art forms require significant training in technique,

4. It has been derived without research and consultation with the professional performing arts sector or the government agencies that support the sector

5. It is based on criteria that prioritise and support courses building on skills in the science, engineering, technical and mathematics disciplines (STEM) but fails to recognise the significant contribution of arts training to workforce skills in the 21st century economy (STEAM).

The above mentioned training institutions, and the vocational courses they provide, are not rorting the system; they are providing quality training that leads to jobs in the industry directly and indirectly.

For example:

1. NIDA is Australia’s leading institute for education and training in the creative arts. It was established in 1959 in response to the need for a specialist school to develop Australia’s entertainment arts industry and cultural voice. NIDA has a valued commitment to practice-based learning. NIDA is an independent conservatoire recognised for specialist training and national significance through membership of ARTS8 (Australian Roundtable for Arts Training Excellence), through TEQSA (Tertiary

1 See appendix 4

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Education Quality Standards Agency) who granted NIDA self-accrediting authority, and ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) the regulatory body for VET (Vocational Education and Training).

Alongside Higher Education (the BFA and MFA courses), NIDA introduced VET diploma courses in 2015 after extensive consultation with employers in the entertainment industry where it was identified that they were not able to fill the available roles with appropriately trained and skilled candidates.

Selection and training of NIDA VET students is undertaken with rigour and care. NIDA conducts auditions and interviews for prospective VET students according to strict industry-focussed admission criteria for a limited number of places (currently 50 students). NIDA VET students have access to industry standard facilities and equipment and expert teaching staff.

NIDA VET students are subject to stringent governance and quality assurance measures and the rate of NIDA VET graduate employment in the industry is very high.

NIDA has 4 VET diploma offerings, only 2 of which are earmarked as being eligible for student loan access:

a. Diploma of Musical Theatre [not on the new list of courses eligible for VET Student Loans] b. Diploma of Live Production and Technical Services [on the new list of courses eligible for VET Student Loans] c. Diploma of Screen and Media [on the new list of courses eligible for VET Student Loans] d. Diploma of Stage and Screen Performance [not on the new list of courses eligible for VET Student Loans]

Both the Diploma of Musical Theatre and the ASQA accredited, industry required, Diploma of Stage and Screen Performance intakes are small and meet rigorous criteria. Only a limited number of students will graduate. It is essential for students in these courses to have access to loans so that students from all socio-economic backgrounds have the opportunity to participate. If students in these two courses are not able to access VET Student Loans, selection will be limited to fewer, financially privileged candidates.

Similarly- access will be reduced for the two courses that are eligible for the new VET student loan as support is capped at $10,0002 - significantly lower than the previous scheme.

2. The West Australian Ballet Company (WAB) has advised the impact of these changes will be felt on a local, national and international level for generations to come, stating equitable access to training as a major issue.

Financial barriers will mean that the student cohort be increasingly comprised of people who can afford to study the creative industries, as opposed to those who have the talent and aptitude to do so.

The effect for WAB will be on the number of young Australian dancers the company will be able to employ. The company has worked very hard to provide experiences

2 See appendix 5

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and to support career pathways for talented young dancers, meaning they don’t have to leave WA, or the country, to gain the level of training required to be a professional dancer. If they’re not able to afford to study dance at a high level in Australia, the chances of them being able to afford to study it abroad are very slim. The result is we will lose talented young dancers due to lack of financial support. The same applies for the other professions relevant to the performing arts, such as production design.

Currently many elite dance students choose to study a Diploma or Advanced Diploma for the level of the practical aspects of the training provided. The new exclusion of loan support for these courses will lead to a these students shifting to tertiary degrees where financial support is supplied, yet where the quantity, level,( and in some cases quality), of physical training is inferior to a Diploma course due to the requirements of theoretical subjects. While a degree approach to training may be the right pathway for some, theoretical training is not necessarily relevant for the training of all students.

An immediate concern for current and future students follows through to WAAPA. The changes will have a negative direct impact on the talent nurtured in Australia and the stable supply of skills needed by the arts sector.

This is where we will see the direct effects of these changes and we have no doubt the effect on industry will be extremely negative.

3. Examples of AFTT student alumni include; a. Kailah Cabanas who graduated from AFTT with an Advanced Diploma of Stage and Screen Acting and went on to develop into a world-class puppeteer and physical performer, touring with War Horse and for the as a member of Cirque du Soleil.

b. Timomatic (Aka Tim Omaji): graduated with Advanced Diploma of Music Performance in 2008.

After graduating, Tim focused on his music and was signed with Sony in 2011. He released his debut single ‘Set It Off’ and soon after, it peaked at number two on the ARIA charts, and was certified quadruple Platinum, as well as nominated for Song of the Year. Tim was also a judge on Australia’s in 2013.

4. Dance Company -Australia’s leading contemporary dance company with one of the largest dance schools in the country - is planning to offer a Diploma of Dance in 2017, a shift up from a Certificate 4. It is therefore disappointing to see that there will be no support for any VET dance courses at all. Sydney Dance Company’s pre-professional year has resulted in significant carer progress – their remit being to develop arts and the sector, as such they are ‘market’ or sector focused.

Impact on those performing arts course that do qualify for the new VET student Loans Economies of scale are not readily available in the delivery of training in performance. Development of skill sets requires small classes and face-to-face teaching. The Education Minister’s proposal to cap student loans at $10,000 for those performing arts courses that continue to be eligible for student loan support bears no relationship to the cost of delivery.

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This gap between cost and level of support will deter students from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds from accessing training. This raises the issue of the long term impact on the cultural diversity within the performing arts through creating new barriers of entry. This will negatively impact the professional arts sector’s capacity to reflect the diverse culture that makes up Australia on stage. It also impacts the development of broader national creative attributes across the workforce over time.

The nature of the performing arts sector As an industry, Australia’s cultural sector is a major driver of national income, contributing $50 billion towards the nation’s GDP with over $4.2 billion coming from the arts. Last year alone, the combined major performing arts companies directly employed over 10,000 people. Arts companies embrace the very characteristics sought in a 21st century economy. They are agile, and inventive; operating in a very competitive and changeable environment. Training to work in the arts fosters very similar characteristics.

Students who have studied in the arts tend to have diverse types of employment– often referred to as portfolio careers. Pathways can lead to employment directly in a creative organisation or to opportunities to apply creative skills and application in other sectors or both.

While the links between VET programs and employment are fundamental to their success, gaining employment and professional status in the arts sector can be quite different to say the construction or health sector.

A 2015 survey3 of graduates’ employment four months after graduation observed: ‘Respondents in visual/performing arts, life sciences, social sciences, chemistry, physical sciences, psychology, geology, humanities, languages, aeronautical engineering, agriculture, mathematics, and chemical engineering were the most likely to have been seeking full-time employment at the time of the AGS (all with one-in-three or more doing so). ‘… this slower labour market uptake of graduates of such fields reflects more the state of the labour market, and not necessarily the quality of the graduates or their study choices.‘

Economist David Throsby’s research identifies the importance of arts training for artists: ‘About three-quarters of all artists have had formal training of some sort in their artform and almost half have undertaken private training. Formal training by coursework at a tertiary or specialist institution is by far the most important means of training for practising professional artists in Australia today.’4

See Appendix 2 for a full executive summary of the most recent report, Do You Really Want to Get Paid? (research is currently underway for the 9th iteration). The report also identifies the mixed nature of employment, and the delay in identifying oneself as a professional practitioner being linked to certain breakthrough events, exhibitions, published work or performance in mainstage work.

Creative talent takes time to evolve and enter the job market and paid work is often either precarious, freelance or project based, however this is not the same as oversupply.

3 Graduate Careers Australia’s (GCA) annual Australian Graduate Survey (AGS) Dec 2015 * A study of the activities of new higher education graduates around four months after the completion of their qualifications. 4 Do You Really Want to Get Paid?- An economic study of professional artists in Australia, David Throsby and Anita Zednick, Australia Council 2010

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Course Selection The government eligibility criteria place an emphasis on ‘STEM’ training that ignores the fact that industry is increasingly seeking people with creative experience, in order to think and do things differently in a variety of fields. Arts education is not limited to the creation of artists and creatives alone. Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield has publicly acknowledged the STEM approach to education is inadequate and he favours the addition of Arts to enable a STEAM approach.

The UK research report on how innovation is driven in an economy produced National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA)5 concluded;

There are three main ways in which artistic labour is linked into innovation:

1. They have attitudes and skills that are conducive to innovation  Many fine arts graduates describe themselves as brokers across disciplines.  They demonstrate the traits of lifelong learners, including frequent use of informal and formal training throughout their working lives.

2. Artistic labour impacts on innovation in the way that it is organised – project work and portfolio working are the norm  There are very high rates of multi-jobbing in cultural and non-cultural sectors.  Crossover takes place throughout artists’ working lives and policies to support the wider innovation benefits of the fine arts must recognise the complex mechanisms by which crossover takes place.

3. Artistic labour impacts on innovation through the widespread ‘culturalisation’ of activities  Instead of focussing on ‘work in the rest of the economy’ as being the way in which fine arts graduates are linked into innovation.

The report recommends that policies to support the benefits that artists bring to innovation in the wider economy need to recognise these different understandings of culture and creativity, the multi-dimensional nature of crossover and the distinct mechanisms through which fine artists contribute to innovation.

Kee Wong, chair of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) has said ‘I think anyone who is artistic and does STEM will be a better STEM leader than someone who lacks creativity.”6

Course eligibility approach to reform is wrongly limiting access to quality industry orientated providers

If the aim of these changes is to reduce rorting of the system by private training providers, more closely policing the requirements of Registered Training Providers would be a better approach. If the aim is to reduce government spending, a business case that assesses the supply, cost and quality impact that reduced access to training would have on the performing arts sector, the entertainment workforce, and broader workforce creative skills, is critical.

In conclusion

5 The art of innovation -How fine arts graduates contribute to innovation, NESTA, 2008 6 http://www.cio.com.au/article/585493/picking-up-steam-how-arts-can-drive-stem-leadership/

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We do not believe Australia’s innovation potential can be fully realised if the Government’s Innovation and Science Initiative framework fails to incorporate the Arts.

The VET student loans eligibility list of courses is too narrow and utilitarian. The cap on loans access to $10,000 for creative industries courses is also significantly limiting. Legitimate, valuable arts-based programs are no longer accessible to talented students who have no private means available to pay for the course upfront. This penalises the development of artistic talent in Australia and is likely to reduce the cultural diversity of students graduating and seeking work in the sector.

Any legislation that negatively affects access to VET arts-based courses will professional links to the sector will have a long-lasting negative impact on Australia’s creative workforce.

We respectfully request full consideration be given to this issue.

For further information contact:

Bethwyn Serow Executive Director AMPAG [email protected] /

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Appendix 1

AMPAG MEMBER COMPANIES Adelaide Symphony Orchestra Australian Brandenburg Orchestra Australian Chamber Orchestra Bangarra Dance Theatre Bell Shakespeare Belvoir Black Swan State Theatre Company Circus Oz Malthouse Theatre Symphony Orchestra Melbourne Theatre Company Musica Viva Australia Opera Australia Opera Queensland Orchestra Victoria Queensland Ballet Queensland Symphony Orchestra Queensland Theatre Company State Opera South Australia State Theatre Company of South Australia Sydney Dance Company Sydney Symphony Sydney Theatre Company The Australian Ballet Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Western Australian Ballet West Australian Opera West Australian Symphony Orchestra

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See Appendix 2

Do You Really Want to Get Paid?

Supplied digitally as a separate pdf

Appendix 3

The art of innovation -How fine arts graduates contribute to innovation, NESTA, 2008

Supplied as a separate pdf

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Appendix 4

Performing Arts Course excluded form VET Student Loan scheme

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Appendix 5

Creative industries course retained with $10,000 cap

Training Package Code Qualification/Course

Creative Arts and Culture Training Diploma of Live Production and Technical Package CUA50415 Services

Creative Arts and Culture Training Package CUA50715 Diploma of Graphic Design

Creative Arts and Culture Training Package CUA50815 Diploma of Music Industry

Creative Arts and Culture Training Diploma of Photography and Photo Package CUA50915 Imaging

Creative Arts and Culture Training Package CUA51015 Diploma of Screen and Media

Creative Arts and Culture Training Package CUA51115 Diploma of Visual Arts

Creative Arts and Culture Training Advanced Diploma of Live Production and Package CUA60213 Management Services

Creative Arts and Culture Training Package CUA60315 Advanced Diploma of Graphic Design

Creative Arts and Culture Training Advanced Diploma of Creative Product Package CUA60415 Development

Creative Arts and Culture Training Package CUA60515 Advanced Diploma of Music Industry

Creative Arts and Culture Training Package CUA60615 Advanced Diploma of Screen and Media

Creative Arts and Culture Training Package CUA60715 Advanced Diploma of Visual Arts

Furnishing Training Package MSF50313 Diploma of Furniture Design and Technology

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