How do artists survive when they are not able to sell work in galleries -- sales are at a record low and many galleries have folded-- or get commissions through State agencies -- because these are few and far between?
Review A sad thing has happened to the once vibrant visual arts component of the Festival of Perth - the oldest arts festival in Australia. It has become tired if not downright tiresome. The whole event needs a good shake - up.
Artists are particularly vulnerable to economic downturn for two main reasons...the business cycle and the role of other jobs in a tight employment market.
The Premier of Victoria may claim that his government has opened Victoria for business, but it is the important role of local government and the Federal Government in developing arts training and facilities that is really making the running. Artists are no longer in their garrets but in front of pcs in their offices.
"As a practising artist/craftrsperson with an interest in education, teaching and learning, the potential of studio based training greatly appealed to me."
Operating both as an industry training ground and as a space for creative experimentation, low budget film and video production must be thought of as an economic and a cultural investment.
The time is post-recession, the economic climate is uncertain, Australian designers and consumers inhabit the suburbs but are cut off from each other, and someone decided to do something about it in the City of Caulfield, Victoria.
The Thousand Handed Hydra has been an experiment of difference and opposition in practice. Hydra began in May 1993 as a one year pilot program of education, transition and introductin for migrant artists to the professional networks of Australian (Melbourne) art, culture and practice. Includes the work of artists Fernando Ronquillo, Anita Lorina and Rafael Rojas.
Every State has one - a local council that is outstanding in its commitment to the arts and in Western Australia, the credit for innovation and energy goes to the City of Gosnells, who have arguably led the pack for the last 5 years in interesting community arts projects...