Initially the arts community expressed pleasure - or was it relief - that one of the ten streams was to be titled 'Towards a Creative Australia: The future of the arts, Film and Design'. But not even a government with only a part-time Minister for the Arts could leave that one off the political agenda, given the public profile of some of the Prime Minister's dinner companions this year and concerns in the arts community about the cuts to a numbers of cultural programs already decided.

But I had a problem with the word 'creative'. It was in the title of only one of the ten streams: are the arts, film and design to be considered the only products of creative thinking? Are the arts in a silo, to use the jargon of the day? And would such thinking ever allow the arts to be part of the everyday experience of the Australian community and so enjoy its support?

My concern was heightened when an article appeared in the Fairfax press, attributed to the co-chairs of the Creative Australia committee, Cate Blanchett and Julianne Schultz. Curiously, the article headlined 'Reviving a creative nation' shared a page in The Age newspaper with another article titled 'Tough lessons for the film industry' telling a contrary story of the needs of the film industry. The author, Jim Schembri, wanted more genre pictures to be made, and fewer idiosyncratically original Australian films, if the film industry was to survive.

Though Blanchett, in later media comment, has retreated a little from this hard-line position, in that exclusiveness of thinking lay a problem of perception and a limit to the innovation to the challenge of the 2020 summit.

Creativity is one of the specific qualities of humankind. It is manifested in a zillion different ways each day by drug dealers and divine divas. It gave Australia the stump-jump plough and the bionic ear as well as Reedy River, The One Day of the Year and Mad Max I to III, the Sydney Opera House, Storey Hall in Melbourne, Johnny O'Keefe, Men At Work, Joan Sutherland, and, indeed, Cate Blanchett.

Creativity expresses itself in each individual according to their needs, interests, experiences, training, opportunity and, occasionally, their luck.

The arts are just one manifestation of human creativity. They are commonly more revered than the successful construction of a river crossing, for example, because these expressions of creativity are directed at non-material as well as economic outcomes: some how, we still respond to altruistic motives in human endeavours.

And what are these non-material outcomes? Let's start with the edification, enlightenment, entertainment and education of the consumers of the arts who we dignify with the special title 'audience', asserting the shared experience of consumption.

And unlike crossing a bridge, the audiences' experience of the arts is unique to each exposure, affirming the participatory nature of the experience, thought I must admit repeated exposure to episodes of The Biggest Loser or Border Patrol does seem to fail this test of participatory creativity.

As do the Top Ideas to come from the 2020 summit in Creative Australia.

Artists in residence are not new - even Wilcannia, once the queen city of far-west NSW has an artist-in-residence program - and mandating anything like cultural studies in schools is a sure way to ensure that arts will never be mainstream.

Percent for art programs, too, are problematic. The Queensland government has just replaced their percent for art program for public buildings as it was not delivering good art, and frequently was never completely expended. At best such programs are transitionary, establishing the worth of a practice. In the longer term, they reinforce the perception of the arts as mendicant activities to be defended by statute not supported by popularity or valid purpose.

For Australia to revel in its creativity we have to recognise the creative in everyday life as well as celebrate those with particular gifts; we have to abandon the annual harvest of the tall poppies and admire the local craft worker; we have to abandon the fear of creative failure in ourselves and admire the successful creative endeavours of others. That, then, would become a creative nation for the Australia of the future.

(Responsibility for the Australia 2020 Summit comment is taken by Vincent O'Donnell, as producer of ARTS alive.)

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