Your Cash at Work - pdf link
The Herald Sun online has published two articles over the weekend damning the way Federal and Local Government agencies (in Melbourne) are allocating grant money to artists.
Entitled The many ways artists gain grants from government by Fiona Hudson and Carly Crawford and Savvy artists collecting multiple grants from federal and state government by Fiona Hudson questioned tax payer money being spent on grants while many other other budgets are being cut.
In the first article they criticize artist Christian Capurro who is currently in a residency in New York, although they mention that he exhibited at the Venice Biennale. Any athlete working at that level would gain funding or sponsorship if they were training overseas - to me there is not much difference. The second article questioned the grants system writing that "Savvy artists are collecting multiple grants from federal, state and local government honey-pots for an array of fringe projects." Both articles also link to a pdf entitled YOUR CASH AT WORK in which they have clearly found unusual projects to make it seem as though most projects that are funded are silly and/or irrelevant, although to me most seemed engaging, interesting and fresh.
These two articles are offensive for several reasons but most obviously the idea that artists are savvy by simply trying to have enough money to complete their work and still be able to eat is absurd. I am sure plenty of artists around Australia would like to know where this honey-pot is before it is used to make something much more "useful"...
Posts
