[Windows Media - 5 minutes]
NO FUNDING FOR ANAM NEXT YEAR
The Fairfax press has reported that Australian National Academy of Music in South Melbourne has been told by the Commonwealth government that there would be no funding for 2009.
The decision comes as the Academy is proving its worth, with student increasingly winning national and international awards.
The Academy was established by Prime Minister Paul Keating as one of the cultural initiatives announced in the Creative Nation statement of 1994, and provides advanced training for 55 students on a full time basis, with a further 30 students benefiting part time.
The Academy receives just $2.64 million a year from the Commonwealth government. But Minister for the Arts, Peter Garrett, said the academy "no longer represents the most efficient way of delivering support for elite classical music training," and that "the Government was investigating alternative models of training."
The director of the Academy, Brisbane-born and internationally acclaimed composer and viola player, Brett Dean, said that this "is heart-breaking for music education in this country... I'm in a considerable state of shock."
back to top
CHILD-ART PROTOCOLS
The Australia Council has received just 20 written submissions concerning the development of protocols governing the depiction of children in art. It has talked with a further 30 organisations. The development of the protocols was directed by the Minister for the Arts, Peter Garrett, after concerns were raised about the exhibition of art works by photographer, Bill Henson, in Sydney earlier this year.
The Council will publish a summary of the issues raised, but will not make public any of the submissions. At least one arts organisation, the National Association for the Visual Arts, chose not to make a written submission believing that existing laws are comprehensive and capable of dealing with the concerns.
The proposed protocols governing the depiction of children in art will take effect from January 1 next year and adherence to them will be a condition of receiving funding from the Australia Council, the government's peak arts funding body.
back to top
SECURING THE FUTURE REPORT
Australia's 28 major performing arts companies experienced strong growth in box-office, private income, and main stage attendances in 2007, according to a report from the Australia Council.
The report, Securing the Future, tracks the recommendations of the 2001 Major Performing Arts Inquiry around access, artistic vibrancy and financial viability and showed the companies' box office and private income rising to their highest levels since the annual tracking survey began.
back to top
IDEAS FESTIVAL
Queensland Minister for the Arts, Rod Welford, has announced that leading human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson would be a key speaker at the 2009 Ideas Festival. The Festival is the state's most public vehicle to drive debate on the issues that shape our lives today and into the future, Mr Welford said.
The Ideas Festival will be held at the State Library of Queensland and the South Bank cultural precinct from 24-29 March next year. Other speakers confirmed include technologist and innovator Helen Greiner, city futures planner Charles Landry and environmental activist Chris Jordan.
The Ideas Festival will be part of the Q150 celebrations that mark Queensland's 150th year of separation from New South Wales.
In addition, Professor Peter Singer would also speak at a special pre-festival event on 5 February.
Minister Welford has also declared 2009 the Year of Creativity for Queensland.
back to top
PRINGLE'S LAST CURTAIN CALL
John Pringle gave his final performance with Opera Australia on Friday 24 October, in the role of Prus in Janacek's opera 'The Makropulos Secret'.
Pringle has been with Opera Australia for over 40 years. He graduated from Melbourne University as a pharmacist but at the age of 28, music took over.
His first appearance with the Australian Opera, as it was then, was in 'Die Fledermaus' at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne in 1967, and in 1973 he was part of the Company's historic first season at the Sydney Opera House singing the role of Count Almaviva in 'The Marriage of Figaro'.
John Pringle was presented with the Opera Australia Trophy after the performance. Past recipients of the Trophy include Dame Joan Sutherland, Moffatt Oxenbould, Donald Shanks and Joan Carden.
back to top
NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH
The NSW Writers Centre is one of the many organisations around the world who will host this year's National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo for short.
The National Novel Writing Month is a not-for-profit literary crusade that encourages aspiring novelists across the world to write a 50,000 word novel in a month.
At midnight on October 31, more than 100,000 writers from over 80 countries will begin the incredible adventure. By 11.59pm on November 30, organisers hope that tens of thousands of them will be novelists.
Every Thursday from 6-9pm in November, the Centre will be facilitating free write-ins for NaNoWriMo participants and NSW Writers Centre members.
For further information about this novel-making madness call Lachlan, the Workshop and Events Coordinator at the NSW Writers' Centre, on (02) 95559757.
back to top
