Culturally Challenged? The Future Cultural Policy of Sydney

Went to a forum held by the Belvoir Street Theatre the other night. It is an open discussion of what the future cultural policy of Sydney should be like. At the forum Rachel Healy, the Executive Cultural Manager was there to understand the concerns and to answer some questions. The current discussion paper was to develop a more cultural Sydney, and in order to develop a more cultural Sydney the voice of the artists must be heard. I am glad that Belvoir Street Theatre held this forum, as I think nothing is better for the officials to hear the voice directly from the artists.

I kicked off the forum with my own questions. I queried about how does the City of Sydney define the culture of Sydney? What is the culture of Sydney made up of? I pointed out that Sydney is a truly multicultural city but was that reflected in the culture of Sydney? Cultural activities for ethnic groups are more compartmentalised and despite they were seen, they could hardly be considered as being part of the culture of Sydney. They look exotic as flavours of the month but did Sydney take advantage of its cultural diversity and integrate this unique element into the greater culture of Sydney? I pointed out that non-Anglo performers especially actors are having hard times looking for work and the situation has not improved with some of the major players in the field. Is the greater Sydney culture ready to recognise multiculturalism as part of it, or multiculturalism is still going to be restricted as individual events on the calendar? If we could have fusion food, why the culture of Sydney cannot be a “fusion culture” that integrates elements of all cultures that built up the city?

Another point I raised was the fact that bureaucracy is working against developing a culturally rich Sydney. While we understand that even as artists we need to be responsible, but when you spent three weeks putting together a grant proposal and only after three months you were informed that you did not get it because it was given to a more experienced applicant, the first thing you would have in mind is, so how could I improve and what did I learn from this experience? I raised that currently there is no mechanism to guide and help new artists and applicants about how to approach the behemoth of that application proposal and if feedback was not given, people won’t be able to learn from the experience and would feel frustrated after all the time and efforts that were put in. There needs to be bigger transparency and assistance for artists to apply for funding so that they could truly help to build a more cultured Sydney. In response to that there were other artists in the room that raised similar concerns and issues. The general understanding was it is too hard to acquire funding and as most artists are not well off, that discourages artists to put out work and continue to develop.  There were recommendations such as doing fund matching when a project could kick off the ground through social fund raising platforms such as Pozible and Kick Start, providing low cost space for artists to get together to develop their art forms, and fully utilise long term deserted space through policy making etc.

For me, I personally think that in order to have a viable cultural policy for Sydney, the most important thing is to have a culturally educated or open-minded bureaucracy. As it was pointed out during the forum, the State Government is willing to invest a lot of money into sports but when it comes to cultural events or performing arts, they became the unwanted kids. There will be little bit of funding to keep them alive so they could not be condemned of child abuse, but then whether it is enough for them to develop healthily that is another question. I am not saying that sport is not part of Sydney’s culture but the truth is that there are more to it. A culturally educated bureaucracy could provide a stronger understanding and support from the artists’ point of view through understanding their concerns better.  Then when it comes to funding decisions and policy making, these concerns are thoroughly considered in an informed manner. Crafting a cultural policy is more than just holding individual events during the year. A culture is a deep-rooted ideology that materialised through the efforts of the people who built it. You may not be aware of it in daily life but then when it was mentioned, everyone notices and agrees with it.  At the moment, if the officials at the City of Sydney could not even understand the cultural significance of the rainbow crossing on Oxford Street, I personally think that there is still a long way to go for Sydney to build its own unique flavour of culture that people would identify to.

I will have another thorough read of the discussion paper and put in my response further in writing. In the mean time if you want to have your say on this subject too go to: http://sydneyyoursay.com.au/, have a read of the discussion paper and respond to it.