Pop Art

An article in the New York Times today claims that the number of arts festivals happening nationwide over there has reached a record high of about 3000, drawing audiences of around 130 million.

I roughly estimate those attendances as being about 45% of the USA's population, although it doesn't account for the fact that obviously a much smaller arts-going population must be attending multiple events to give that sort of box office estimate.
And also, that's still only 1 festival every 96,000 head of population.

I wonder what percentage of our population attends arts events? How many festivals do we have in Australia, compared to our population?

And I wonder what sort of similar comparison could be made with the people who attend our traditional form of culture - sporting events?


Is it possible to increase the general status of arts events in Australia? Are we hindered or helped by our smaller population?

Food for thought.


http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/30/arts/30SUMM.html?pagewanted=1&todaysheadlines


Cheers,
Craig

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crgwllms wrote:

"Is it possible to increase the general status of arts events in Australia? Are we hindered or helped by our smaller population?"

I've always maintained that the small (relatively speaking) population of our nation, coupled with a national characteristic toward the apathetic, does make any artistic endeavour difiicult to garner interest in. How do we change it? I don't know, but as a comparatively young nation with a broad and diverse palette of cultural influences to draw on, it shouldn't be too hard to define ourselves and our culture. Or is it that the palette is TOO broad for us? Surely not....

El

I think that at times it can be a bit easy to criticise Australians for being apathetic towards art. Firstly, whilst we don't have a thriving theatre industry over here, I don't know that this is typical of artistic endeavours in general. I remember seeing a survey published in the West Australian not too long back listing artistic hobbies as being up there with sporting events in terms of what people are likely to do with their time. Sure, out of this people were more likely to go to a museum or an art gallery than see a play, but still it does mean that we aren't solely sporting fanatics.

Secondly, I don't think that independent film support in this country is in quite the same dire straits as live theatre. Given the significant number of not quite mainstream films that enjoy commercial success (or at least sufficient support to make them viable) maybe it is the format, rather than the cultural/artistic content that people aren't interested in.

In terms of Australia's (or for that matter Perth's) size making it difficult to support an artistic culture - well, surely that would also apply to the music industry. If a town as small as Perth can sustain numerous professional bands, and produce a quite remarkable number of bands which are known Australia wide, it is all the more disappointing that we can't get the same level of support for live theatre. Frankly I think the question of why do people go to sporting events rather than artistic pursuits is far less significant than that of why a band which has played a handful of gigs can get PAID to play at a venue, whilst independant theatre companies struggle to even find a venue they can perform at.

Given the wider support for artistic pursuits in Australia, I think that it is at times too easy to blame our lack of population for the troubles facing live theatre in Perth. Frankly, if one compares it to the film/music industries, in this country and elsewhere, a better starting point is lack of government or other financial support - there is NO talent-finding equivalent of JJJ whereby new performers/companies are regularly plucked out and discovered - independant companies have to forge their own reputations. Likewise there is no lure of big Hollywood money that we can ride the tail of, like the film industry over east.

The trouble is, for most of us, factors such as large-scale sponsorship or government funding aren't things that we can influence or even count on. Personally, I wouldn't have a clue what an independant company could do to buck the tide and get part of the general sport/music-loving populace to come along to a play. I do think, though, that making it 'easy' for people to see live theatre is a good start - personally I know many people who balk at the thought of the 'effort' of going to see a professional play - having to book tickets, sit in silence (more of a perceived than a real requirement), watch a show that goes for 2 and a half hours when their concentration span runs out after 90 minutes, etc. Of course, that may come at the price of 'cheapening' the artistic content, and hence making the whole effort much less worthwhile for the performers involved. Not that I have any answers mind you - I'm just very wary of blaming demographic factors for the lack fo support for live theatre, when other pursuits don't seem to suffer the same fate.

My 2 cents worth,
Craig Edwards

Interesting responses, thanks.

The original article didn't distinguish how those categories of art festivals were divided - music, theatre, circus, craft, dance, film, hybrid, etc.

I'm interested to maybe try and find out attendance estimates in the US for sporting events, to see how they compare with the arts figures. I'm wondering how much it's all affected by the economic climate, and that's partly why I thought it might be a function of population.


Theatre is a tricky one. On this site we're all largely preaching to the converted, but what is the general public perception? What do they want to see? I suspect they don't actually know.

I'd guess hardly any of the people in my street go to the theatre with any regularity, although I'm sure a pretty decent percentage would regularly see live bands, and probably the majority would see films (although it's debatable how many of those films would be Australian). I reckon they all watch television, and catch a fair bit of Australian drama content, but probably more foreign content.

If the "ordinary Australian" (I don't really know who that is, but John Howard seems to think there's a lot of them out there) isn't aware of what they want in theatre (do they want it at all?) then do they at least know what they DON'T want to see? Or are we truly approaching them across a void of ignorance?

In the same way that we regularly hear (read) the same voices on this website, and see the same faces on our stages; we meet the same audiences in our foyers: in fact more often than not it's the selfsame group of people, just rotating their allegiance between viewer and participant. Artists themselves seem to be the largest subsidising body. Does the theatre industry just exist to amuse itself?

Could a solution to revitalising the industry simply be for every regular patron to introduce a new initiate every time you book your ticket? We could have a secret symbolic ceremonial sacrifice of the theatre virgins?





(Don't know why I'm on this tangent tonight, maybe I'm building a new character?)

Craig (K),

I've gotta disagree with you on your assessment of Perth being a great city for non-theatre based art forms.

The music industry in Perth for example is quite difficult to break into if your band is doing something different. The majority of venues support only indie poprock/chilled electronics and so working as an artist on that level can be an exercise in frustration. Sure, there are sucessful bands outside of that (at least on a local level) but this is only because they band together into genres and form their own scenes, slowly developing a following through CD releases. In fact, for the majority of bands in Perth, CD launches (Fresh Blast! sponsorship pays for ads in X-Press, rtrfm etc) and the occasional (very rare) support slot form the only publicity they really get. As somebody both in a band and promotes a weekly gig (miniplug: Incredible Electronic Sound Machines!, Wednesday night, 8:30, The Orient Hotel Freo, Perth's only 100% live electronica night), I've found the music industry to suffer pretty much the same problems as the theatre industry. That's just my opinion though.

> JJJ whereby new performers/companies are regularly plucked out and > discovered - independant companies have to forge their own
> reputations. Likewise there is no lure of big Hollywood money that > we can ride the tail of, like the film industry over east.

This is a bit of a wrong assumption as JJJ actually plays very little WA content. They play some of the major releases but the struggle of a band to get to that point is usually long and winding. I don't mean to be negative here, but as far as attendances go, both the theatre and the music industry suffer pretty similar problems. It might help to think of a Cartman gig as Black Swan and the gig of a lesser known band (The Wah Trees or Descend Here or Thesaurus Rex or a whole list of people you haven't heard of) as your Blue Room/fully independant production.

And I don't know that visual arts or film has a particularly easy time of it either. Public perception of art galleries is for the most part one of confusion and "wankery" from my experience and local film makers seem confined to short films if they want to attract any public interest.

But I might be wrong.

I agree that it's a matter of public perception. A stand up comedy night will usually, for example, attract a much larger crowd than a similar night of comic theatre, despite the two having pretty much the same content.

But there's a contradiction I have noticed: the public don't come to theatre as often as I think they should mostly because they think it's a special occasion and they have to get dressed up. Unfortunately, they love getting dressed up. I've had this discussion with people numerous times, but they can't lose the perception that going to the theatre should be considered a "classy" thing to do. Even at community theatre shows (I'm thinking Melville's (quite good) "No Names, No Packdrill" and Rockingham's "Pirates Of Penzance" as they're the last couple of things I've seen the audience for) there seems to be a "getting dressed up" vibe that would be better suited to venues such as The Maj.

I think if the public could see that most theatres are places where you can dress like you would if you were going to the cinema, that a performance is better than/equal to a movie, the industry will be better off.

Perhaps though, we need to tailor our work to what our audience are going to relate to. Theatre, if you think about it, doesn't particularly fit into the mass majority Australian psyche very well, for the reasons Craig outlined quite well. People seem to dig theatre in pubs and stand up, in pubs, so alcohol does seem to help the equation. Big musicals seem popular too, and are not seen as too "wanky". The public seems to identify with "honesty" in theatre/television/film/music. They have short attention spans and seem to get off on short film/short performances. Perhaps if we looked at what our audience is most comfortable with, the art form we used would be based more in cabaret and sketches. Theatre is certainly suited to the, as much as I hate to use the term, national identity of European nations, but for Australia it seems somehow inappropriate.

I say this, of course, fully knowing that I love/am addicted to performing and watching theatre. So maybe the public just need education.

Let's do that.

Anyway, I hope my rant makes sense. It's a bit stream of conciousness, but my posts always seem to be that way.

Rant over (for now),

Tomás Ford

ps PLUG ALERT: book into your diary to come experience "Blood Flavoured Sportsdrink", the ultimate Halloween fest featuring local satirical electrofiends Descend Here (my band - think DAAS vs Depeche Mode) performing a one off original Halloween cabaret show! Costumes! Vampires! Lolly bags! Song and dance numbers! For grown ups! Drinkies! The ultimate Halloween experience! Exclaim! It all happens at Club Ergo, Artrage's Festival Club on James St, Northbridge, the 31st October. Be there. Or we WILL hunt you down.

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I think that the major difference between the exposure that is had by sport and the of the arts - whichever form really but particularly live theatre - is that we as a nation are exposed very heavily to sport right throughout school, but less so to theatre. How many school students would be taken to live theatre unless they are studying theatre/drama? And how many students partake in school sporting competitions/programs? Or even how many students are part of weekly footy tipping comps of Melbourne Cup sweeps?
Sure there are numerous companies that regularly go into schools to put on shows, and this is a highly valuable experience, but this is quite a different experience to be TAKEN to live theatre isn't it?
As a trainee drama teacher this is an issue that we discuss at uni, and also as an extension to this, more weight appears to be given to kids that play sport - compulsory sport in independent schools and pe classes - than kids who are involved in school productions.
I know this is a huge generalisation and it is changing, but i don't think we can discount its potency.

Anyway, my 2 cents... I guess what i'm getting at is how can people know what is there and make a choice unless they are exposed to it from a young age?

Cheers
Mike

Hey Tomás


Interesting point about folks expecting to get "dressed up" to go to the theatre. But I'm not sure which way to look at it.


If the masses think that theatre is an elite occasion, and they need to put an effort into getting dolled up, than perhaps we are scaring some away who may feel that they can't or don't want to put the effort in.

We may need to educate people that you can go to the theatre in your trackydaks, the same way that you can just waltz into the cinema in whatever you're wearing. After all, you spend most of the night in the dark, so who cares what you look like?



But maybe, as you also note, people ENJOY making the effort...so maybe we need to encourage even MORE of the sense of occasion that going to the theatre can be.

Maybe, compared to the cinema, theatregoers are aware that the folks onstage can stare back at them, and so they feel self-conscious if they're not dressed properly?

I think maybe many people are put off getting dressed up to go out to our main operating venues, which are in the main pretty grungy and where most of the patrons wear jeans and tshirts. They probably save their money for the one night of the year they can see a flash production at His Maj or Burswood for $60 a head, and they get dressed up and have a great sense of occasion.

Do we need to lift our game in the perception of how one "goes to the theatre"? If there was more sense of importance placed on the event, would it be seen in higher prestige?

I understand that there is a good chance many of our venues will receive a bit of a facelift in the near future, which may help to solve some of the image problem. I actually quite like the bare, raw and unpretentious atmosphere of our smaller venues, but then I'm a slob who always dresses in the aforementioned jeans & tshirts.


Which brings me full circle. Our general population seems extremely casual, in dress and attitude. We can turn up to the cricket, to a concert, to the beach, to the pub, to the movies wearing the same shorts, singlet & thongs... maybe "prestige" is too threatening a concept, and Australians would prefer their entertainment to be "dress: cazsh "...?




Cheers,
Craig

<8>-/====/----------

Hi all,

This is my first post here, and I'd just like to say that I'm happy to be here. I just wanted to add that I think Tomas had a point when referring to the way bands need to find a style, or a niche that can attract their audience. I feel that Australian theatre has a horrible habit of recycling old plays and, even worse, trying to find the easy way on to the stage. So many people, myself included, just try to step up there and tell a story without really considering what we're trying to do when we do get on stage. We see a basic end result nthat involves a big audience and lots of clapping and never take the time to consider why we're up there, what processes we need to go through to get there, and what stories are really worth telling.

Anyway, I'm not a writer or anything, and, when you consider the way the great theatre companies in the past have worked, philosophised and trained, I'm a pretty lazy actor too. But if you look around at the successful smaller companies, they all have something going for them that's uniquely theirs. They've all developed a technique and a purpose and they are all incredibly talented performers.

Maybe we just need to get off our lazy backsides and learn more about our art, or craft, or whatever name you want to give it.

I think this is also where the major discrepancy between music, sport and theatre occurs too. Musicians train for most of their lives to do what they do. Professional sportspersons do the same. Your average, run-of-the-mill theatre group consists of a writer who's not Australian but is dead, a director who probably doesn't even realise that their role has only officially existed for about 100 years, a stage manager who actually believes that their job is to yell at the cast, and a group of actors who are coasting along on natural talent - be it perceived or actual. Is it any wonder then that we have to pay to perform while everyone else gets paid? Is it any wonder that we can't attract the audiences?

Sorry if that was all a bit negative but I think we do need a wake up call. Please feel free to tell me if you think otherwise.

Well, that was fun, I hope to hear from you all soon. I might make this a habit. Good practice for writing your manifesto. Now that's something that's been missing. Crazy manifestos. Get to work people.

AJ

p.s. is this a predominantly west australian group, or does it just look that way?


Thou bawdy fool-born flap-dragon!

Perhaps more emphasis in school would promote the extra effort we might need to put into our industry. I went to a selective school in Sydney that imported good Rugby players. I don't wish to encourage elitism in the theatre but it'd pretty cool to see them import great potential playwrights.
AJ

Just one other thing.

I saw "Alone It Stands" at the Opera house last week. What an awesome merging of sport and theatre. If you like Ireland, Irish accents, Rugby Union, sport generally, theatre (of course), making fun of New Zealanders and interesting use fo the body, find a way to see this show.

AJ

Salutations Al

Thanks for joining the discussion on the site. I find it a great forum to hear very differing viewpoints, and yours is also welcome. However, I do beg to differ on the subject of the skill levels of our local theatrical scene. With all due respect, maybe you need to extend the repertoire of theatre that you see. I certainly see some shoddy work, but most of what I see has been produced by people who are dedicated, skillful and extremely entertaining. As an actor/producer I can vouch for the fact that we put in countless hours of work to get up a new show, and our input is nowhere near recompensed by the meagre living we can make from it. If you want to see new stuff go to the Blue Room; a new show just about every two weeks which are mostly original works, sometimes bizarre but certainly unique and generally of high calibre especially considering they are in their infancy.

Back on the subject of the dress code for theatre, IÂ’m reluctant to lump all of the theatre audiences into one broad category. After all, we wouldnÂ’t presume that someone who goes to hear the Symphony Orchestra will be the same person who attends the local Beap Generation electronic arts scene! I know the importance of marketing a play to the correct audience, and so it also makes sense that the composition of the audience will determine their expectations of what is acceptable/desirable to wear.

As an example, if I were attending a huge costly spectacle type of show at His MajestyÂ’s or The Burswood I would dress differently than if I were attending a play at The Blue Room. In the same way I presume I will see a lavish set at the big theatres although the distance of my seat from the stage means I will see less of the actorÂ’s face. At the Blue Room I happily forgo a fancy set for the intimacy and immediacy of the theatre experience, also knowing the ticket price is less, and that I can rock up in jeans.

Tina

I'm sorry,

perhaps I was being a bit rough on the local scene. I guess you're right about that, at least to a point. I think I really do need to head over to WA to check out this Blue room. It sounds like nothing I've come across in Sydney. If I were to picture say, the Stables theatre or the Old Fitzroy would I be going close? Anyone help me?

And by the way, I don't see why we really need to dress up to go to the theatre anyway. Ever since we started sitting in the dark we removed the need for a costume. Or is it just that we all like to perform a little bit in the foyer. Yuck!

I'll wear jeans when and where I like and only if I like to.