Dialogue: Give artists the benefit of a real career choice

A new Government programme helps make success in the creative arts a realistic ambition, writes MIKE CHUNN*.

About 20 years ago, my band (Citizen Band) and I checked into a provincial hotel where we were performing for three nights. We were put up in the staff quarters and advised we were to eat in the staff dining room, which had an overpowering ambience of ammonia.

We were not permitted to eat in the public dining room, even when we offered to pay for the meals. So we played our three nights and never went back.

It was a common scenario. Musicians were vagabonds, roaming in an indulgent lifestyle while the rest of society put their noses to the grindstone.

We were supposed to be like everyone else - work for the "man", put in the 9 to 5 graciously and balance our honest work ethic with some rugby, racing and beer.

We rejected that. We balanced our work ethic with some blood, some sweat and (not a few) tears. And we kept on playing.

In the 20 years since, there has been a steady change in society's attitudes to those who pursue a career in entertainment-arts. The most recent step forward is the Government's Pace (Pathways to Arts and Cultural Employment) programme, to be managed by the Department of Work and Income.

"Artist" is now recognised by the department as a legitimate career preference when a benefit is applied for.

Please don't think of an artist only as someone with a palette and paintbrush. An artist might be a painter, a musician, composer, dancer, singer, author and so on.

An artist is someone who believes he or she has the ambition, imaginative prowess and stamina to pursue a career in some field of the creative arts.

A singer-songwriter who has graduated from a tertiary performing arts course, for example, may now apply for departmental assistance while he seeks employment.

Once, that career option would not have been accepted as legitimate and he would have had to proffer some other menial trade and go off sweeping floors or cutting scrub.



And yet, at the same time, a graduate of political history or a would-be rose-grower could apply for the dole. Their career choices would be acceptable and a job-seeking programme would be created.

In the past, an overpowering ignorance of the value of arts in society (with no one in particular to blame) has excluded artists from the department's efforts to find work for our citizens.

But that situation has now been addressed.

Department case managers can now help artists identify and strengthen the skills they need to develop professionally to work full-time.

There is nothing overly radical or liberal in this concept. The programme is conservative in its emphasis on self-determination and reversing the dependency trap.

And as the Pace programme develops and matures, we will see the benefits as the arts industries grow in size and stature in this country.

So what's the beef? Well, we still have a redneck element that believes a musician or dancer applying for a benefit is "bludging off the taxpayer", whereas a pay clerk applying for the dole is not.

In particular, Act MP Muriel Newman has much to say on the subject. While most of it is opposition-party puffery, some insinuations must be addressed.

First, Dr Newman says Pace will suddenly cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars. She says 5000 people have registered "artist" as their first career option on the department's books since the programme started.

What is not stated is how many of those were already registered with the department but forced to register as truck drivers and short-order cooks.

Secondly, Dr Newman tells us the story of a young woman who wanted a career in film design - an "artist" category. But after a "reality check", she decided this career wouldn't put bread on the table, so she turned to computer design and is now earning $50,000 a year and looking to pursue film design as a hobby.

Dr Newman espouses this presumably as common sense and because that person's abandoning of her dream and ambition ties in well with Act's right-wing principles.

These are principles light years away from the pursuit of a knowledge economy and a stimulating and creative environment. And there's the rub.

Too many people who should know better see the pursuit of success in the creative arts as something unrealistic. A musician pursues a "hobby"; a horticulturist pursues a "job".

Perhaps Peter Jackson should have got a job as a computer designer instead of setting his sights on a career as a film director and scriptwriter.

Perhaps Phil Judd, when he was on the dole in 1974 (and working in a lolly factory as a result), should have abandoned his dreams for Split Enz and set his sights on a career in confectionery.

The fact remains that New Zealanders are finding a sense of pride in the creative worth of their country and are celebrating it more and more.

The New Zealand music industry is waxing in a frenzy of activity.

It's one of the few industries that combines creativity, performance skills, ambition, self-discipline, stamina and teamwork in one activity. May it grow and grow.

And, in the end, while Dr Newman and presumably other members of Act decry the Government's Pace programme, it's Bill English and the National Party who should be concerned, heading into election year with Act, seemingly a likely coalition partner, intent on a feeble cultural landscape.

Well, to quote the popular song, "We're not going to take it".

* Mike Chunn is the director of operations for the Australasian Performing Right Association.