ARt MATTERS

In the past few days here in Australia there has been a huge backlash against a Minister for Education who has decreed that ‘the arts’ are not a ‘legitimate’ career and therefore should not be eligible for student loans. I expect that Hugh Jackman, Geoffrey Rush and Cate Blanchett, to name just a few, would soundly disagree.
 
To say that the creative community is dumb-founded, aghast and retaliating with vigour would be an understatement. There has been a huge upswell of support from around the globe in support of continued funding for students who decide on a ‘road less travelled’ as a career.
 
Productions such as Pirates [of the Caribbean] employed almost 1,000 locals and over 5,000 companies in Queensland.
 
That sounds pretty legitimate to me.

​However, this attitude that the ‘arts’ is second-rate, insignificant and ‘not a legitimate’ career is rife in Australia and the students of film & television and theatre that I coach and train are moving into an industry that they feel they have to apologise for.
 
Apologise for following their hearts. Apologise for their career choices. Apologise for using their gifts and talents.
 
We are not all cut from the same cloth. We are not less than for daring to be different and follow our calling.

Where would we be without the gift of the creative arts in our lives: the gift that our creative entrepreneurs, artists, musicians, sculptors, painters, architects, designers, photographers and actors bring to every day.
 
Please do not allow your voice to be stopped, to be diminished, to be anything less than the gift that it is.
Continue to share every bit of your talent with the world.
 
We matter
Our creative voices matter
Art, in all its forms, matters.
 
And you cannot silence us.