Have you ever scored a grant from the Australia Council? The answer will probably be the decider on whether you love it or hate it. But with a concerted campaign for change being run for months, nay years, by some ubiquitous squeaky wheels, the Government’s decision to call for a review of the Australia Council as part of its work on a National Cultural Policy was not surprising.
I think we have to agree that newer forms of practice like live art, socially engaged practice, tactical media, bio art and pervasive gaming have had a hard time finding their place in the current Australia Council artform boards structure. There has also been slow burning discontent about issues like the drift of the Council into an increasingly corporate mode of operation and more and more onerous reporting requirements of its clients. You’d think we were talking about real money!
