MUSIC SCENE | The Importance of The Arts
As I have pointed out many times in this very column, the Arts community has been one of the industries hit first and hardest thanks to the ongoing pandemic. In a recent interview with Studio Ten, the frustration was articulated by songstress Tina Arena.
Tina is very opposed to the lockdown, which is not a position I take personally (purely because I don't know what the alternative is without a lot of people becoming really sick or worse). I figure that I'm just smart enough to know there are things I don't know. That said, Tina is based in Melbourne. A city which, as of 4 Oct, will have spent the most days in lockdown of any city in the world. The rest of her point, I couldn't agree more.
When asked by friend and entertainment reporter Angela Bishop if she thought that the arts community had been forgotten, Arena's response was forthright and passionate.
"If anything goes wrong, the artistic community has always lifted their sleeves up. We've gone in there and done what we needed to do. We're very happy to play that role to help people – it's what we do."
"Now we're in trouble. Is someone helping us? No. It's amazing how people just fly away and disappear. However, they're very quick to ask us to work for free, to relinquish any kind of remuneration from sales of records."
"You know what? DONE. We're done, and now we're saying it. Just stop this ridiculous, preposterous behaviour. It's got to stop."
When the question turned to the double standard between arts and sport in the country, Arena was equally vocal.
"I also hate the differentiation between sport and arts in Australia. As the artistic community, we will draw a line in the sand now and say, 'No more of your double standards," Arena said.
"Sport is a great thing, but life is not just about sport; life is about art and culture. I would encourage the artistic community to come forward, and I'd encourage anybody else to start thinking straight now."
Bishop then made a point of referencing things like Bluesfest, which was cancelled at the last minute when set-up was already happening on site. But that never seemed to happen to large scale sporting events.
"That's a categoric disrespect, I'm sorry, that's rude, disrespectful, and shouldn't be at all allowed to play out. Never, ever silence an artist – we play an important role in the social fibre of any country. It's freedom of expression, and I'll fight for it until the day I die."
When discussing the arts, we will also tend to focus on music just because the world without it seems so quiet. But there are other genres that form part of the culture of the arts and entertainment that have also suffered. Let's show them all the same respect (if not more) that we offer our sporting events.
