RT51 Editorial: Having a say in the future
New Media Scan 2002
This edition of RealTime is mostly devoted to our annual survey of new media and multimedia arts. While this encompasses a wealth of recent and forthcoming work in all artforms it puts page space at a premium. Consequently you’ll need to turn to the web to find a number of reviews of recent shows (see page 47). You’ll also find in this edition our Prizes & Projections preview of the annual film industry Emirates AFI Awards.
More new media arts & issues in RT 52
New Media Scan 2002 flows over into the next edition of RealTime with Part 2 of both our new media performance survey and Christine Nicholls’ overview of the Indigenous new media arts scene. In a significant development RealTime will host fibreculture’s 2002 publication of essays and reviews. Last year they produced an impressive book, this year there’ll be a 24 page fibreculture insert in RT 52 (December-January). A limited run, stand-alone edition will be launched a few weeks before at fibreculture’s annual national conference at Sydney’s MCA (see page 18).
Dancing on a knife edge
The results of the last funding round of the Dance Board of the Australia Council confirmed just how appalling the situation has become for the small to medium dance sector, not least in New South Wales. Triennial funding has been put on hold as the Board meets to work out how to handle what is clearly a crisis. Meanwhile the report from Rupert Myer on the Federal Government’s inquiry into the contemporary visual arts has finally been released, recommending a raft of proposals including an additional $15m a year for artist grants and infrastructure support as well as tax concessions. The latter could have ramifications for all the arts. Now the hard work really begins in persuading the Federal Government and the States through the Cultural Ministers Council (and presumably in partnership with the Australia Council) to agree to the proposals, or to see if they realistically add up to sufficient support. We’ll look at the issues and developments in RT 52. KG
RealTime issue #51 Oct-Nov 2002 pg. 4
