Category Archives: Advocacy

Shadow Minister for the Arts Tony Burke promises landmark cultural policy

May 18, 2022Advocacy

AAANZ welcomes news that Shadow Minister for the Arts Tony Burke will spearhead a new national cultural policy if elected to government on Saturday 21 May. Acknowledging that a new direction was needed to give the arts the support it needs, Burke stated that a Labor national cultural policy would be informed by wide consultation with the sector and local and state governments, bringing ‘new drive, direction and vision to Australia’s arts sector’ which has significantly suffered following years of cut backs under the Coalition Government. Beginning with restoring ‘arts’ as part of a named government department, Labor announced its […]

AAANZ Vote for Art Campaign │ Letter to The Hon. Tony Burke MP, Shadow Minister for the Arts

May 4, 2022Advocacy

Dr. Wendy Garden, President of the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand wrote to The Hon. Tony Burke MP, Shadow Minister for the Arts to advocate for the importance of the arts and to encourage the Labor Party to develop a National Arts & Culture policy that offers tangible support to Australia’s creative industries by increasing Australia Council funding to support small and medium arts organisations and by supporting arts education. Access to the arts is a fundamental human right and a precondition to a healthy democracy. It is vital for a healthy economy and the wellbeing of its […]

AAANZ Vote for Art Campaign │ Letter to The Hon. Tanya Plibersek MP, Shadow Minister for Education

May 4, 2022Advocacy

Dr. Wendy Garden, President of the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand wrote to The Hon. Tanya Plibersek MP, Shadow Minister for Education to urge the Albanese Labor Government to reverse the discriminatory decision made by the Liberal government in 2020 to increase university fees for humanities students by 113%. This inherently unfair and short-sighted decision reduced the affordability of university education for many young people in Australia. The decision did not recognise arts an important career path for many Australians from diverse backgrounds and our current art sector is thriving as a result of this diversity. However already […]

AAANZ | INDIGENISATION VALUES STATEMENT

September 20, 2021Advocacy

The Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ) stands in solidarity with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and tangata whenua (Indigenous peoples) of Aotearoa New Zealand and all those who seek racial equality and justice. We recognise that systemic racism extends to people of colour across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, as Australia’s border policies and exclusion of non-white bodies continues across its detention centres and beyond. We abhor state-sanctioned violence that has occurred through the generations and resulted in inequities across all aspects of contemporary life. We see the effects in art galleries and museums, universities and […]

Indigenisation Values Statement

September 20, 2021Advocacy

Advocacy | AAANZ support for the Visual Arts program and the Visual Cultures major at La Trobe University

December 2, 2020AdvocacyAdvocacy, La Trobe University

AAANZ president Wendy Garden has written to the Vice-Chancellor of La Trobe University to express our concerns over proposed changes to the Visual Arts program and the Visual Cultures major at La Trobe University. AAANZ has expressed its concerns stating that: The Art Association of Australia New Zealand (AAANZ) offers its strong support to the Visual Arts program and the Visual Cultures major at La Trobe University. Now facing major challenges due to the University’s restructuring plans, Visual Arts and Visual Cultures are successful and distinctive units which make an important contribution to research and education in this region. It […]

Advocacy Letter | Art History MA program and for the Humanities | University of Hawai’i at Manoa

September 25, 2020Advocacy

As is the case with many other Humanities-related programs at UH-Manoa, the administration is considering “temporarily stopping out” the MA program in Art History until “the faculty can modify the program to attract more students.” This is despite the fact that the department has already successfully corrected every concern listed in the administration’s own recommendation document. In short, like other programs, the decision is not based on the actual value and health of the program, but purely on low graduate student enrolment and a low prioritization of the Humanities at the university. I argue that the MA program in Art […]

Advocacy | Submission to Senate Committee on the Job Ready Graduate Bill

September 10, 2020Advocacy

With the Job Ready Graduate Bill being passed to a Senate Committee AAANZ president Wendy Garden has prepared another submission outlining our concerns about the proposed funding changes. Australia needs to invest in higher education for the future and not skew students to some disciplines at the expense of others. AAANZ recommends that the bill not be passed in its current form and that full consultation is undertaken to ensure that humanities education remains accessible and equitable and does not unfairly discriminate against some cohorts of students. The bill in its current form is out of step with the egalitarian, […]

Submissions Open | Inquiry into Australia’s creative and cultural industries and institutions

September 3, 2020Advocacy

An inquiry into Australia’s creative and cultural industries and institutions has opened for submissions. AAANZ will be making a submission on behalf of our members, but we encourage individual submissions as well. See below for a link to a survey individuals can fill out. You can read an excerpt from the announcement below, and ArtsHub here has an overview of how to contribute ‘Why you should make a submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into the arts‘. On 26 August 2020 Minister for Communications, Hon Paul Fletcher MP asked the Committee to inquire into and report on Australia’s creative and cultural […]

Advocacy | Letters to Crossbench senators on proposed changes to university funding

August 21, 20204 commentsAdvocacy

AAANZ president Wendy Garden has written to the six crossbench senators in federal parliament to express our concerns over the proposed changes to university fees and funding. See our submission on the package here: https://aaanz.info/advocacy-aaanz-letter-to-minister-dan-tehan-on-the-job-ready-graduates-package/ Key concerns include: The increase in fees for Humanities degrees by 113%. The impact on women of these fee hikes, as women make up two-thirds of students enrolled in Humanities degrees, with long term impacts on financial security and widening the gender gap. The basic premise of the ‘Jobs ready’ package which implies that Humanities and the arts does not create graduates with job-relevant skill […]