NiTRO + Creative Matters

Perspectives on creative arts in higher education

Are we there yet?: Holt’s 50 year old vision for the Australia Council

Despite its popular association with Gough Whitlam, did you know that it was 50 years ago that Harold Holt first announced the creation of what we now know as the Australia Council? 

Writing in ‘Eureka Street’, Director of Regional Arts Victoria, Esther Anatolis, provides a brief but fascinating insight into its creation and some of the political obstacles that have been put in its way over the past fifty years, including two attempts at its abolition in the 1980s. Given recent events, It seems that fears about its statutory independence may still resonate within Parliament today.

Depending upon your interpretation of ‘significantly’, Holt’s ultimate hope that ‘the Australian Government would have the confidence to invest significantly in the nation’s cultural future by nurturing artistic integrity’ may still be a work in progress.

Source: 1

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