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Novelist Christos Tsiolkas, arts philanthropist Janet Holmes a Court, and historian and author Clare Wright have been appointed by the federal Labor government to help reboot the nation’s culture policy.
The government will on Friday unveil a seven-person expert advisory group that will “provide overarching strategic advice” as it seeks to develop its new National Cultural Policy. The group will sift through more than 1200 public submissions before tabling its report by December. The government is hoping to have legislation drafted by the first half of 2023.
Christos Tsiolkas has been appointed to a new expert advisory group that will help steer the federal government’s new national cultural policy.Credit:John Tsiavis
Australia Council chief executive Adrian Collette, writer and youth arts worker Alysha Herrmann, choreographer Sinsa Mansell and visual artist Kitty Taylor have also been appointed to the expert advisory group, which will sit atop the five review panels – each consisting of three figures from the cultural sphere – that were announced three weeks ago to “identify key issues and themes” raised through public consultations.
“I’m hoping what it will achieve is a cogent cultural policy for the nation, something we can build on in years to come,” said Collette, a former book publisher and CEO of Opera Australia.
Collette said Arts Minister Tony Burke had told the group, “this is not an arts policy, it’s a cultural policy, a whole-of-government policy”. That meant portfolios such as health, foreign affairs and education might also contribute to it, and benefit from it.
“The arts and cultural expression is fundamental to our cultural policy,” Collette said. “But what lies beyond artistic practice is equally interesting. And I think that’s really got huge potential.”
Professor Clare Wright and Adrian Collette, CEO of the Australia Council, in front of artist D.R.E.Z’s work in Melbourne.Credit:Chris Hopkins
This is Labor’s third stab at trying to embed cultural policy into the fabric of broader Australian society, following the Keating government’s Creative Nation in 1994 and the Gillard government’s Creative Australia in 2013. But each time Labor was voted out of office, the incoming Coalition government abandoned those policies.
Clare Wright, professor of history at La Trobe University, says developing a compelling strategy is “absolutely about putting more money into the space”. But she also knows that convincing mainstream Australia of the value of the sector is crucial if the policy is to have any hope of being longer-lasting than its predecessors.