Join Ben Eltham as he speaks about his Platform Paper
When the Goal Posts Move: Patronage, power and resistance in
Australian cultural policy 2013–2016

In this wide-ranging overview of the now notorious ‘Excellence Raid’ of Budget night 2015, when substantial public funding was ripped from the arts sector and awarded to the federal Ministry, Ben Eltham examines the purposes of power, the extent of the damage done and the future of the crippled Australia Council.

He shows how its foundational pursuit of ‘excellence’ has been diverted from an aspiration to a commodity, counts the culling of artists and long-established service organisations, questions the silence that grasped the major players, records the scattered shrapnel; and reports signs of growing unity of purpose across the sector.

Now, in the shadow of the 2016 federal election, Eltham views the shattered structure and the Opposition’s restorative promises; and concludes that, when called upon, Australians still do recognise cultural value. They can - and do - still rejoice in sharing the idea of the public good.

In this public forum, presented by Arts Industry Council of South Australia, Ben will also touch on the current antithesis to the Federal funding environment, the Victorian Government’s new cultural industries strategy Creative State.

Ben Eltham is currently a Lecturer at Deakin University and National Affairs Correspondent for New Matilda. He writes regularly for the media on culture and politics and publishes in academic journals on cultural policy, social media, and communication theory.

6:30pm Wednesday October 5 (doors/bar open from 6pm)
Mercury Cinema/Media Resource Centre
13 Morphett St Adelaide
Free (bookings recommended)
Donations and new AICSA memberships encouraged on the night

The Arts Industry Council of South Australia is the state’s independent, sector wide representative arts body. www.aicsa.net.au