Funding cuts are jeopardising livelihoods in the arts
Ahead of a national roundtable on the future of the industry, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance is warning funding pressures are jeopardising opportunities to make a career in the live performing sector.
MEAA will use the National Arts Roundtable in Sydney on Friday to press for a commitment from the new Minister for the Arts, Senator Mitch Fifield, that he will reverse the deep cuts to the Australia Council in this year’s federal budget.
Research commissioned by the Equity Foundation has found that the typical actor earns more from other jobs they need to take to supplement their income than they do from their chosen career of acting.
Zoe Angus, the Director of MEAA Equity – the union and industry advocate for Australia’s professional performers – said actors, freelance musicians and theatre crews would find it even harder to get decent paid work in their field as a result of the cuts to the Australia Council.
The research, conducted by the University of Sydney, also found that over a five-year period, more than a third (34.5%) of actors earned an average of less than $10,000 per annum from acting. And three-quarters of actors (73.6%) earned less than the average wage from acting in 2011-12.
Even when combined with other jobs, 36% of the actors surveyed earned less than $30,000 a year, and only 21.2% earned more than the poverty line.
Ms Angus said MEAA would be seeking to focus the roundtable on how to create a sustainable performing arts sector that can provide secure careers in the face of funding cuts to arts organisations around Australia.
The Australia Council has suffered a $105 million funding reduction and the impact of this will be felt almost entirely by individual artists and small and medium-sized organisations, Ms Angus said.
“Already, we have seen shows cancelled, tours called off and programs wound back,” Ms Angus said.
“For instance, the Perth Theatre Company has had to cancel the entire remainder of its 2015 season because of financial reasons.
“That means fewer jobs for actors and crews, and more pressure from producers to cut wages and conditions, which we will not accept.”
Ms Angus said the Australian Actors’ Wellbeing Study had interviewed almost 800 performers and provided a groundbreaking empirical benchmark about the financial, physical and mental wellbeing of actors in Australia.
She said in addition to the data gathered about the financial stresses of actors, there was disturbing new evidence of depression, anxiety, substance abuse and bullying in the industry.
“The stereotype is of a champagne lifestyle, but the reality is only a fraction of actors in Australia earn enough from their art to live off,” Ms Angus said.
“Acting is an inherently insecure profession and for most actors the pay is already low.
“The new uncertainty created by the recent cuts to the Australia Council will make it even harder.
“Funding from the Australia Council has long been crucial to sustaining the live performing arts in Australia, but with the recent cuts many actors will be reconsidering whether they can continue in the sector.
“There have been some encouraging noises from the new Minister for the Arts, and at the national roundtable we would like a commitment from Senator Fifield that the cuts to the Australia Council will be reversed.”
The Australian Actors’ Wellbeing Study is available for download at equityfoundation.org.au.
Funding cuts are jeopardising livelihoods in the arts
Ahead of a national roundtable on the future of the industry, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance is warning funding pressures are jeopardising opportunities to make a career in the live performing sector.
Last update: November 10, 2015
