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In Australia, those of us who appreciate, love and work in the arts are currently feeling a sense of dread and despair, amplified in part by the COVID-19 situation, but mostly brought about by a conservative culture that decries the importance of the arts and the humanities. This week, the ABC has had its budget cut by $84 million and 250 jobs cut. Last week, the federal Education Minister announced a plan to change the structure of university fees, in a blatant show of disregard for the arts and humanities. Last December, the Morrison government merged the Department of Communications and the Arts with the Department of Transport, Infrastructure and Regional Development, dropping the ‘arts’ from the new name, effectively removing representation of the arts at a federal level. What does that say about us as a nation?
When I was little, I read and drew voraciously. Reading was a means of escape for an introvert, and drawing was a means of expression for all the things I was too shy to speak. After high school I did a Bachelor of Arts at the Curtin School of Art, probably to the unspoken dismay of my parents who silently wondered about my employment prospects. There were lots of jokes at my graduation party about being overqualified hospitality workers, and I did work in hospitality for several years before returning to uni to get a teaching qualification. I was not a ‘dole bludging’ artist. Art was made in between waitressing shifts. When I became a teacher, the…
