Event Session - A Casual Inquiry

For the second time in five years the Australian arts sector is the focus of a federal government inquiry. 

The latest is a broad ranging investigation initiated by Arts Minister Paul Fletcher and being delivered by the multi-party Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts. The Minister has asked the committee to inquire into and report on Australia’s creative and cultural industries and institutions responding to these terms of reference. Submissions to the Inquiry have now closed and at the latest count 170 submissions have been processed and made public. As a point of comparison, the 2015 Senate Inquiry into the arts received 2,719 submissions. 

The current Inquiry comes at a time of massive change and disruption in the arts and creative industries. Lots of artists and organisations are feeling the effects of exhaustion and consultation fatigue from an already unprecedented year. Are these factors in what looks like it will be a comparatively low number of submissions to a process the could have massive implications on the future of the arts and creative industries in Australia. Which voices are at risk of being missing? 

What is the purpose of this current Inquiry? Why has it been established and why now? How will the findings be used? How many submissions would need to be received for the Inquiry to be considered legitimate? How can/should we respond? 

As part of its Arts Front 2030 project, the team from Feral Arts will lead a three-part, 90-minute format Day of Demonstration session to:

• talk directly with the secretary of the Committee on Communications and the Arts about the status of the current inquiry, and the plans and processes for people likely to be involved in giving evidence through public hearings.
• reflect on the 2015 Senate Inquiry and what it means for the current Inquiry
• invite panelists to respond to key questions and in the process produce a video that will itself be presented as a submission to the Inquiry.