Tag Archives: Canberra Contemporary Art Space

Arts review: update

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Professor Jacqueline Lo, Professor and Director of the ANU Centre for European Studies, and Acting Director Research School of Social Sciences, ANU

Professor Jacqueline Lo, Professor and Director of the ANU Centre for European Studies, and Acting Director Research School of Social Sciences, ANU

Further to our ongoing advocacy about the ACT Government’s review of its Arts Policy Framework, which is the key document driving how the arts are supported in the ACT region, the ACT Minister for the Arts, Joy Burch MLA, has invited the Childers Group to participate in a Reference Group. The Minister has nominated Childers Group spokesperson David Williams as the Group’s representative.

The letter, which is dated 18 December 2014 and can be founded at Joy Burch MLA to CG re. arts review reference group 18 12 14, states:

…as an ongoing commitment to community participation and engagement, a review of foundations and principles will take place to ensure that it continues to be a relevant and engaged policy.

Other invitees to the Reference Group are:

  • David Broker, director, Canberra Contemporary Art Space
  • Joseph Falsone, director, Ainslie + Gorman Arts Centres
  • Professor Jacqueline Lo, ANU Centre for European Studies
  • Rosanna Stevens [musician, writer, co-founder of Scissors Paper Pen]
  • Gavin Finlay, Music ACT

According to the letter, the first meeting is scheduled for ‘early 2015’. The attached Terms of Reference sheet suggests the review will be complete by ‘mid 2015’.

The Childers Group will continue to advocate for broad and diverse sector consultation beyond the Reference Group.

We note that the letter is an invitation only and the final composition of the Reference Group may not be finalised.

We also note that there continues to be little information about the arts policy review on artsACT’s website. The only reference to the review is: The Framework will be reviewed in 2014 to ensure that it continues to be a relevant and engaged policy.

The Childers Group looks forward to participating in the review.

The Childers Group’s vision for the Kingston Arts Precinct

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At the Canberra Glassworks the public can see art being made and make art themselves.

In terms of the Kingston Arts Precinct, what is most important is that all those committed to the arts and cultural life of our region – especially the ACT Government – have a grand vision, a strategic overview, a long-term plan for what’s needed to develop this area as a lively precinct for arts activity and cultural events.  It is a rare opportunity for the ACT to work with the various development authorities and stakeholders to establish an exciting set of cultural facilities and creative spaces in the vicinity of the iconic Kingston Powerhouse, now the home of the Canberra Glassworks, which is already a major national attraction.

The Childers Group’s vision is a vibrant and accessible arts precinct for the visual arts in all its diversity, including film, new media and creative industries such as architecture, graphic design and digital technologies.  In the Childers Group vision, Kingston is a place for live performance to happen but music would not be the focus.

Possibilities include best-practice adaptive reuse of heritage places for appropriate arts activities, together with high-quality purpose-built venues for use by a range of professional and community groups, for example as exhibition spaces and all kinds of events and performance.  All the key visual arts organisations – Megalo Print Studio, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, PhotoAccess, Craft ACT: Canberra Craft and Design Centre – should be assisted to relocate to Kingston.  Other organisations, such as those relating to film, as well as creative-industry businesses, would also co-locate in the precinct.  Artist studios and artist-in-residency facilities should be a key feature of the developments.  The arts component should be enhanced with appropriate commercial infrastructure, such as cafes, bars, and restaurants.

Maximising public access to arts activity should be a core driving principle at the Kingston Arts Precinct.  All those in the community should have the opportunity to see art being made, and make art themselves.