Position on Public Funding for Arts Access Arts Australia - Essay Example

Position on Public Funding for Arts – Access Arts Australia (AAA) Name of Student Institutional Affiliation Introduction Public funding is characterized by the allocation of government revenue to public projects. Government revenue mainly constitutes the taxes collected from the public and is often used in financing the provision of public goods, goods that otherwise would not be provided by the private sector (Stiglitz, 2000). Allocation of the government revenue however is determined by the nature, cost, urgency and the availability of the funds. Such determinants of where the government will prioritize its public spending have brought about debate on the criteria of establishing criticality of projects (Withers and Throsby, 1994). The above situation brings with it mixed reaction in Australia from organizations that are beneficiaries of public funding. Access Arts Australia, peak organization in the Arts sector in Australia is one of the beneficiaries of public funding and therefore is affected by all policies that relate to public funding., AAA recognizes that in preparation for the upcoming elections, all interested parties and election stakeholders puts public spending restraint as the main issue in the election platform. At the center of this restraint, proposal is the notion that the use of public funds in the financing of arts is frivolous. Art is interpreted to be of less value to attract public funding (Craik, 2005). Such a kind of perception could be right only if the impacts of activities in this sector to the public are misinterpreted. The concept of public funding is critical to any given country. Projects into which the taxpayers’ dollars go into should be those that are meant to impact positively on the general public as well as the country’s economy (Merino, 2013). The use of public funds in supporting art is not frivolous. The impact of funding the arts and disability sector cannot be underestimated as it shapes livelihoods and give dimension to several households. The use of public funding goes a long way in shaping the lives of the Australian citizens. Such funding helps in the tapping of talents that otherwise would be lost. Arts is one of the major contributors to the country’s GDP; it should, therefore, be funded without any reservation in Australia. Access Arts Australia (AAA) is a national peak organization for arts and disability. The operations of the body are disability-led, and it focuses on increasing opportunities for people with disabilities in Australia. The peak body increases access for artists with disability, arts-workers, audiences and other participants in arts. Members of this body enjoy three distinctive services namely; representation and advocacy, facilitation and development and the provision of information and advice. In order to achieve its objectives, AAR needs a large financial base ranging from donations from individual well-wishers as well as corporate entities. Access Arts Australia (AAA) also receives funding from the government through Australia council, which is the official government body that funds all activities related to arts in Australia. From the organization’s name, it is evident that AAA uses the word disability not to refer to a medical condition or impairment gut it uses the social disability model. In such a model, the word disability is used to refer to barriers and not medical conditions or impairments. The people affected with barriers to opportunities to social exposure in most cases are neglected by the society, and the kind of life they lead is interpreted to be their fate. Access Arts Australia is against such interpretation and in its operations; it tries to depict people with disability in any given areas as those capable of proving themselves if only given opportunities. The role of Arts Access Australia is critical in the sense that it takes care of the neglected members of the society. The criticality of its operation justifies the need for adequate funding from well wishers as well as the government. Funding from well-wishers is never guaranteed as the organization does not know the exact amounts that it may get in form of donation from donors in any given financial year. Budgeting with funds that are yet to be donated is also difficult since some potential donors may fail to honor their pledges. It this kind of the donor uncertainty that makes the arts and disability peak organization seek to have a certain source of funding. The only source of funding that may be considered in Australia for such empowerment projects is the government. Government expenditure in arts is, therefore, a valid requirement (Campbell, 2007). Qualification for public funding should be assessed by the returns realized by the benefitting organizations. The arts and culture organizations in Australia initiate projects that are informed by the needs of the involved participants. Arts access Australia is not an exception in terms of its need for funding. The need for funding by Arts Access Australia is informed by the need to offer representation and advocacy for the artists with disabilities. The projects that are carried out in Australia by Access Arts Australia are comprehensive to cater for all the career development and social uplifting. As an advocacy organization, AAA champions for the interests of the disabled talented artists through seeking to create a level ground where they also have a chance to pursue their careers like their fellows who re not disabled. It is, therefore, cannot be considered frivolous when the government funds organization that promote the development of arts. Through various activities, Access art Australia has proved that it is an institution that qualifies to hold the peak status that it currently assumes. These activities, mostly involve the empowerment of the disabled in the field of arts. The result of this organization’s undertaking significantly leads not only to the development of talent in arts but also consequently lead to economic growth through contribution to the level of Australian GDP. As an organization in Australia, we recognize that a fiscal restraint is a step that will enable the government to control its expenditure. Such control makes the government use the money only on ventures that are critical and those that lead to Economic growth as well as increase the welfare of the citizens. AAA also acknowledges that some areas of public expenditure by the government should experience reduction as much of the funds lies as surplus after the limited financial obligation of such sectors have been met. However, reduction of expenditure on arts is not a move that leads to growth in the economy. In any case, it reduces the level of contribution to the economy from the returns of arts-related economic activities. The AAA as a peak organization has led to the growth of many areas of arts by promoting the development of many disabled artists in Australia. With the funding that the organization gets from donors and the government, it provides advocacy and support for the arts and disability sector in Australia. Some of the activities that AAA gets involved in include; undertaking research on the current trends in the art sector. Such research adds value to the nature of artistic activities that the disabled artists participate in. Access Arts Australia has board members who are from all the country and these people work on the basis of volunteering. Through donor and government funding, these board members are motivated through meeting their travel expenses for their meetings that take place annually. Through the donations and government funding through the Australian council, the disabled artists can be sponsored to national events like the national arts and disability meeting scheduled for the year 2015 in Hobart. To the states in Australia without arts and disability organization, Access Arts Australia gives support in the areas like networking and training on disability awareness. Through its access, fund, Access Arts Australia provides funding to organizations that create accessible programs and services for the people who are disabled. These programs are meant to develop artists, art workers and those who just participate in arts. These activities are meant for the development of talent in the art sector. The fact that AAA deals with people with special need in terms of talent tapping, much funding needs to be available to ensure the success of this kind of undertaking. It is this noble task done by the Access Arts Australia organization that explains why arts cannot be overlooked in the economy of Australia. Such activities are not frivolous and hence should be considered as key areas for funding by the state. As the state considers shrinking the volume of its fiscal expenditure, the reduction or funding exemptions should be imposed on other less critical sectors other than the art sector. Arts as an undertaking require venues for training and performance, conference rooms and resources. It is, therefore, advisable for the relevant art organizations to avail such facilities. This can only be done through funding that either comes from donors and the government through the Australian council. It is in these conferences that the disabled artists are exposed to relevant opportunities. It is in such conferences that the highest numbers of artists with the best talent have emerged. Not all artists from such beginnings make it to national and or international arena, but the number that reaches the ultimate top always leaves a mark (Throsby and Zednik, 2010). Through the development of talents in arts among the disabled by Access Arts Australia, many disabled artists get to very rich professions in arts hence earning their livelihoods. Through the taxes that they pay to the government of Australia, they lead to economic growth as they give back to the system that gave them a pathway to success. The art industry is, therefore, one that is promising in terms of forming a huge base for government revenue collection. The government, therefore, should not include the art sector in the list of sectors where fiscal restraint is to be applied. In any case, the government of Australia should continue pumping more funds into this productive sector of arts. Recently, the government has showed a good gesture by increasing funding to the Access Arts Australia through the Australia council to the tune of $ 150,000 (Arts Access Australia, 2014). This increase is for 2014 and is from the unfunded excellence allocation. The $15,000 represents a 100% increase Australian council funding allocation to the Access Arts Australia for the year 2014 (Arts Access Australia, 2014). Acknowledging the positive decision by Australia council to increase funding, AAA plans to use the funds in career development increase and increase in employment opportunities for the artists with disability. In addition to the career capacity building, AAA looks forward to assisting both small and medium organization that have demonstrated commitment towards people with disability by making more accessible their programs to the artists and audiences. Through the funding, Access Arts Australia will increase the level of staffing. Through increased staffing, AAA will be a strong national voice for the artists with disability in the larger Australia. As the chief executive officer, I thank the Australia council on the behalf of the Australian government for the positive gesture of increasing the funding. As an organization, we don’t take the increment for granted but we will use the opportunity to prove that the art sector deserves to be funded in a great way. To prove the relevance of government spending on arts, AAA will increase the number of disabled artists who get into the industry every year, a move meant to increase government revenue through taxes. Arts and culture go together and are the best ways for any country to preserve its heritage (Babacan, 2011). The culture of any country can best be expressed in art. In arts, representation should be evident in a basis of equality with every group of people represented including the disabled. Through the actions of Access Arts Australia and other organizations dealing with arts and the disabled, the disabled have been empowered. The empowerment enables them to form part of this rich sector (Office for disability, department of planning and community development, 2010). The results have been tremendous, and the Australian culture has been preserved through different works of various artists both the disabled and those without a disability (Holden and John, 2009). The art sector is also a tourists’ attraction and through it the number of tourists visiting Australia have increased (Creative Australia, 2013). The increase in the number of tourists visiting a country leads to an increase in foreign exchange hence stabilizing the balance of payment. The art sector is, therefore, without a doubt, a lucrative one in terms of the growth of the country’s economy. All efforts aimed at expanding the art sector should, therefore, be supported. In this connection, any attempts to restraint fiscal expenditure should not target the sector of arts (Burgan and Mules, 1992). The upcoming election platform means well to the country in terms of the intention to restrain fiscal expenditure. However, the consideration of arts funding as a frivolous expenditure is not well informed because this sector contributes much to the economy relative to other sectors. As we approach the elections, therefore, every stakeholder should rethink the position taken towards funding the art sector. A nation that creates equal opportunities to its citizens is on that is growth oriented (Gylfason and Zoega, 2003). Access Arts Australia plays the role of creating equality among artists in Australia. The organization advocates for the interests of the disabled artists and through such advocacy develops talents to people who otherwise would not be considered capable. Through the efforts of AAA, the artists with disability have been given a chance to experience what other artists enjoy and they have shared the stage with artists that are not disabled. Funding the artist sector is, therefore, an undertaking that promotes a worthy course in Australia as it brings a sense of equality to the country (Throsby, 1994). Conclusion An overview of the government funding of the art sector can lead to uninformed conclusions. Most of these conclusions depict such funding as frivolous and therefore there must be a reduction in government spending, the art sector will be susceptible to loss. However, a keen investigation proves that the art sector is the center of growth in any economy and therefore needs to be funded without any restraint. Funding the art sector in Australia is funding for a worthy course. The above statement ought to be the main slogan in the upcoming elections. References Arts Access Australia - The Australia Council Launches their ...(n.d.). 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