‘…The entire sector glides seamlessly from one taxpayer-funded position to another, using other people’s money to finance their own tastes and then taking the high moral ground when it is put to them that they are engaged in a form of larceny: obtaining money from those who have no interest in any of their efforts.’
UPDATE: More arts garbage. And meanwhile, they’re closing Queensland country hospitals to save money…..
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.”
CrusaderRabbit
“Glides seamlessly..” You must be referring to ballet? I am fully supportive of the “arts” provided the followers of it pay their own way. The problem is that the definition of “arts” is flexinble and any old crock can be espoused as of “artisitic merit.” A few years ago Creative New Zealand (a gross misnomer) endorsed a wanked on bed-sheet as having artistic value and funded maori break-dancers on a junket somewhere all in the name of the “arts.” The ever widening trough of “arts” allows for more and more tax to be funnelled into it. Shit also travels through a funnel!
Yep, exactly. I love opera and various other forms of art, but if something can’t stand on it’s own feet without subsidies, that’s no excuse to steal money from people in order to support it.
The Nelson council is exactly like this, full of grandiose artistic plans using ratepayers money.
Amen to that. The Nelson city council is a spendthrift, rudderless wreck presided over by a succession of gormless mayors with governance captured by a lookame fringe of arty-farties obsessed with vanity projects funded by spiralling rates and never-never borrowing.
Most bloody councils are, Medusa.
The council where we’re living is very, very different though–the councillors are mostly hard-headed cattlemen who know a priority when they see it, and also they have a conscience when it comes to using ratepayer’s hard-earned money. This council could serve as a model for the rest.
I’d gladly tip in a few Bob to watch this silly bint from
Mona Foma.
“Among the more unusual performances has been from “extreme drummer” Tina Havelock Stevens.
She will be craned into the Derwent River in a cage and will playing drums “underwater style.”
I’ll keep my money in my pocket when they have a whip-round to crane her out though
Invite the crane driver to the local pub for free drinks at just the right moment……and bingo!..err..bongo! no more “performance art”.
FFS: Any non-fussy sharks in the Derwent?
Any shark is fussier than that, Cad!
I am satisfied that 95% of what passes as “art” today is actually pure s—.Much of what we see is just political ideology or simply the random wasting of medium by no talent hacks strictly in it becuase they are too lazy to work for a living.
Yes indeed. In a nutshell.
Perfect timing! Tim Blair:
‘And in other Greens news, the party is again pleading to its base:
The Greens are calling for room in the federal budget to help young artists make a living and support risk-taking art.
So they want a safety net for risk-takers. Makes sense in GreensWorld.’
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/its_the_usual_story/
What about the people who play as street performers for years to supply their own living?I’ve always had respect for them,one of my oldest nephews friends did just that all across Europe.He bought an old Piano and cut a deal with a shop keeper to keep his Piano inside at night.During the day he rolled it out on the street and played for tips.He made his living and the shop keeper got added business.It was common for him to take in $300-400 a day which s very good coin for a young man of 20.He later landed a gig playing for a Broadway show in NYC.
He would not have gotten there if he didn’t realise that real talent requires real work.
Here’s another guy doing the similar in Paris-
http://youtu.be/9CFFooKjQII
Absolutely. Good for them.
What the Greens want is more Magic Money to support lazy, useless, no-talent parasitic assholes.
Fuck them and the pantomime horse they rode in on.
Yep- I know an artist who makes a living by sign writing. That is the bread & butter and his paintings (he sells quite a few) are the cream.
The wannabes that exist on stolen money AKA grants- that sort of thing would be ‘beneath them’…
Apropos Cad’s earlier mention of wanked-on bedsheets, I’m sure this is something the Greens have already got in hand.
I’ve never understood civic authorities and B-list politicians’ mesmerised attraction to the bloody arty-farty antics.
There is not a single significant vote to be had in this vanity hobby field.