HERE IS THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MUSIC COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA.
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At 11.30am on September 7 last year, over 570,000 children from 1977 schools across
Australia sang a song. The song was commissioned, arranged, recorded and distributed
under the MCA’s Music: Count Us In project. It is the biggest musical event in the
country by far and it has had enormous benefits for music education in schools. The
majority of the participating schools become so enthused that they divert more
resources into their music programs.
It has been a cliff-hanger this year while we waited to discover whether the Federal
government would fund Music: Count Us In again. Given the budget squeeze going on
all around us, we were becoming gloomy.
But last week we were told we had funding.
A few days later, we were told we have it for four years! MCA is over the moon about
this because for the first time, we know we will be able to evolve the program to
take advantage of things already achieved and changes in the surrounding society.
And we won’t have to hang around cliffs for a while.
MCA thanks Minister for Education Peter Garrett, whose commitment to arts education
is clear.
—o—
A number of important government reviews have just been published. Let’s stay with
education for a moment.
The Productivity Commission released its report into the School Workforce. We are
extremely unhappy that in this 200 page document, the words ‘arts’ and ‘music’
appear only once – and the words ‘dance’, ‘drama’, ‘media arts’ and ‘visual arts’,
the other arts subjects included in the national curriculum, do not appear at all.
Is this because the report skirts discussion of subject disciplines? No, not at all.
For instance, there are 150 mentions of ‘mathematics’ /‘numeracy’.
Why is this important? MCA members know that the biggest obstacle to music education
in primary schools is that the classroom teachers have been given almost no music
education. When the Australian Curriculum in music is ready to be taught, the
teachers will not be ready to teach it. For music, unless teachers are trained,
nothing will change and most public primary schools in the country will have no real
music education program – unless the parents are paying for it. We might have
expected a study of workforce competency to have noted this – especially since the
MCA submission spelled it out in short words.
The Productivity Commission also published a Report on the Early Childhood Education
Workforce. Negligible mention of music there, too, despite a first submission from
MCA pointing out the problems and a second one pointing out the Commission’s
omissions in its first draft.
MCA is writing a letter to the responsible Federal ministers, pointing out that it
is official policy of every government in the country that all children should have
an arts education and asking whether the Commonwealth will accept and endorse the
Productivity Commission report or require it to report again after reviewing the
situation of the schools workforce vis-à-vis arts education.
Every university music school in the country loses money. The minimum program they
can offer with any self-respect requires more funds than they receive from the
Commonwealth. The recent Higher Education Base Funding Review recognised the
problem, observed the need for more funds, and then in a most peculiar way, failed
to recommend them. All of these schools survive only because their universities find
some way to cross-subsidise them.
This all came home to roost late last week at the ANU, which itself is deeply in
debt. The Vice-Chancellor announced effectively that the School of Music would no
longer be subsidised by the university and would have to live within its budget. The
effect is to impose very serious cuts on the Faculty, the program and the standards.
There is absolutely no point in a music school of low standards attempting to train
music professionals. The students, teachers and indeed, the City, are devastated.
—o—
We heard Kimbra perform at the APRA Awards last year. The arrangement was special to
the event and probably not what we will ever hear on a recording by a pop goddess.
It was interesting, complicated and inventive.
Now she and Dutch-Australian artist Gotye are high in the charts in the US. Well, he
is at the very top, and has just made a world record number of digital sales in the
first three weeks of a release – 400,000. (How much income will he receive for that?
$7.53?)
The money Australia makes from export royalties on its overseas sales has varied
between approximately $40m to $70m over the last decade. (Australia usually pays
royalties of around $230m on the music it imports. That’s a bit of a sad story.) The
export income can be influenced enormously by a single international hit. It will be
interesting to see the effects of Gotye and Kimbra and a couple of others who are
doing well at the moment. Might be a record year no pun intended.
—o—
MCA held its Music and Media Symposium on April 19. One of the things agreed by
everyone present (a few with reservations) was that it is essential to retain the
Australian music content regulations that oblige commercial radio to broadcast some
minimum amount of Australian music. The fear is that without the regulation,
Australian music would virtually disappear from commercial radio, and it certainly
is not without basis.
The Federal government’s Convergence Review had flown a kite: that since these
regulations could not be imposed on online music, they should not be imposed either
on terrestrial radio. This caused anxiety in the music industry.
The Convergence Review has reported and recommended that the quotas be retained and
indeed, extended to digital-only radio. Commercial radio will be very unhappy. The
music industry is delighted. It should be said, however, that the industry is very
keen on a rapprochement with radio. It does not enjoy this polarisation.
These are only the recommendations of a review. They don’t have any reality until
they are adopted by the government.
—o—
The Symposium provided an opportunity for participants to voice their desire once
again for a national body for the commercial music industry. MCA already does a lot
of work for industry interests (alongside its work in music education, community
music development and the non-profit music sector). There is advantage in an
organisation where all of these interests can be supported but also can speak to
each other.
As it happened, days later, the Contemporary Music Working Group, an informal group
that for 10 years had attempted without success to get government support for the
music industry, met to consider its future. (The problems did not lie with CMWG but
with governments.) The MCA offered to serve as CMWG’S convenor and secretariat. CMWG
would be a largely autonomous body within MCA, along similar lines to the Australian
Youth Music Council. The offer was warmly welcomed and creates a situation where
there is some assurance of continuity and the opportunity for effectiveness and
evolution. MCA is delighted.
—o—
The nation’s Arts Ministers met and agreed to create a special fund for the big
performing arts companies supported by the Australia Council Major Performing Arts
Board. The companies would apply for funds for activities that could be seen as
demonstrating ‘excellence’ – a word so far undefined in this context, as is the
amount and timing of the fund.
ArtsPeak is an ad hoc alliance of 31 national arts organisations representing all
art forms. MCA has signed a letter from ArtsPeak to the Federal Arts Minister saying
that while ArtsPeak commends the proposed extra funding for the majors, the small to
medium arts organisations and individual artists have long languished, and have as
great a claim to additional funding. It proposes an increase of 25% in funds over
four years with a first instalment of 10% immediately. Well, it’s worth a go…
(Yours truly invented the ArtsPeak name at its inception around 1999. It could also
have been written ArtSpeak.)
—o—
ArtsPeak has also written to decry the delay in the release of the very long-awaited
National Cultural Policy. It seems slightly uncertain, actually, whether it will be
delayed. There are varying reports and the Office of the Arts will not give a date.
It has been a major effort to pull this thing together. There were 400 submissions
to the Minister. MCA put in a 110-page submission, covering everything that blows,
bows, bangs, chirrups or burps – in retrospect, perhaps more than was needed though
it seemed a good idea at the time. (You can read it on the MCA website under
ADVOCACY. See if it includes your special interest.)
Arts people seem to be taking the National Cultural Policy very seriously. Maybe
it’s because there is that rare feeling that government, for this moment in history,
is taking us seriously. Maybe there is hope of a vision for the arts, endorsed by
the most powerful body in the land.
There is, however, a big problem of timing. Not just whether the NCP is released in
May or September, but whether Mr Crean is Minister for long enough to implement it.
And if as seems likely, he is not, what attitude will the Coalition take? Will it
throw the thing out just because it was a Labor idea? One would hope not.
—o—
Remember the UNESCO Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of
Cultural Expressions? Of course you don’t. Who could remember such a title without
special remuneration?
Anyway, MCA had a big role in causing Australia to ratify it. So when we discovered
that Kate Lundy had been appointed as the newly created category, Minister for
Multiculturalism, we wrote to ask what the government is doing to implement its
requirements and recommendations.
She has written back saying that [as is required by the Convention] the government
is preparing a report of relevant activities, which it will publish. That could be
quite useful in showing where multicultural groups might ally with governments.
MCA has written back saying that is very good, but having accounted for the status
quo, does the government intend to further implement Convention proposals for
support to diverse cultural activities. We’ll keep you posted.
—o—
We finish with an interesting story from the USA. Sarah Jessica Parker, Kerry
Washington and Forest Whitaker are adopting some of the nation's worst-performing
schools and have just pledged to help the Obama administration turn them around by
integrating arts education.
The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities announced a new Turnaround
Arts initiative as a pilot project for eight schools with officials from the White
House and U.S. Department of Education. Organizers said they aim to demonstrate
research that shows the arts can help reduce behavioural problems and increase
student attendance, engagement and academic success.
The two-year initiative will target eight high-poverty elementary and middle
schools. The schools were among the lowest-performing schools in each of their
states and had qualified for about $14 million in federal School Improvement Grants
from the Obama administration. The public-private arts initiative will bring new
training for educators at the Aspen Institute, art supplies, musical instruments and
programs totalling about $1 million per year, funded by the Ford Foundation, the
Herb Alpert Foundation and other sponsors.
Of course, it’s not that the hypothesis needs further demonstration, nor that a mere
eight schools is more than a grain of sand in the US school ‘system’. But it’s not
the gift, it’s the thought behind it.
—o—
Next stop: the Federal budget. We’ll let you know if there is anything there of
significance for the arts.
Best regards
Richard Letts
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Our program song has been recorded and is now up on the website for your listening pleasure. There are already 500 schools registered to take part in this year’s program which will unite more than half a million students in the performance of ‘We’ve Got The Music’ on Thursday, 1st September at 11.30am. Don’t forget participation in the program is FREE. The audio files, arrangements, lyric sheet and classroom activity kit: it’s all downloadable once you register your school.