on 19/2/01 9:57 AM, [log in to unmask] at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> What I think _may_ be a purely local phenomenon is the
> lack of public protest from artists about these policy shifts, and how
> they are being implemented with the minimum of debate; or a "debate" with
> the parameters so fixed beforehand that there is no possibility of
> dissent. Why aren't people screaming?
>
> Or are they? Is it true that in Australia, no one can hear you scream?
Alison,
I do recall some screaming, at least about the Saatchi and Saatchi document,
in Sydney at any rate. Also, I think many don't 'get' the policy shift until
it is implemented in odd corners, like the theatre company in Geelong or the
Writers Centre in outer Woop Woop.
However, I tend to agree with you. And I am speaking as someone who has
worked in an arts bureaucracy and, indeed, I still do in a very odd kind of
way. Some of those I worked with as either bureaucrats and consultants (not
just marketing consultants but research, etc) were also artists just trying
to make a living (which is why I'm back there two days a week fiddling with
a web site - buying some time).
Marketing and publicity are terribly overblown concepts. It has always
fascinated me that, although marketers do treat product as interchangable
widgets, they still cannot or will not 'market' poetry. It resists all the
way down the line. They don't do all that much better marketing the
poetry-containing widgets (ie books, magazines, CDs, broadcasts etc). The
NSW Ministry had a program for a while (maybe they still do- I'm out of that
loop) of ensuring books of poetry got into as many NSW libraries as
possible. It was a simple idea implemented not by a marketing person, just
someone with a bit of nous (not me, by the way). And, of course, did not
mean that people read them but it was a start, and it sold some books.
On a slightly different tack, if money is being waved around, it's those
with the best submissions that will get hold of it. Which is sort of what I
think Komninos was saying. Some artists don't see why they should market
themselves while others play the game well (ie persistence). It's a
difference in perception, I suppose. And writing submissions is 'an art
form'. Cynicism or reality check? Today, it's cynicism but that's because
I'm not feeling well (all self-inflicted, not seeking sympathy).
In Australia people do hear you scream but they also get bored very quickly,
at least in Sydney, and move onto the next scream and ignore the echoes of
the previous. It's a measure of what people think is important (but that's
me now being extremely cynical).
Cheers,
Jill
_________________________________
Jill Jones
50 Ruby Street
Marrickville NSW 2204
AUSTRALIA
[log in to unmask]
http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~jpjones
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