Australia puts up $250 million Covid aid for the arts
mainPrime Minister Scott Morrison said: ‘This package is as much about supporting the tradies who build stage sets or computer specialists who create the latest special effects, as it is about supporting actors and performers in major productions.’
There’s $75 million for new festivals, concerts, tours and events; $90 million in loans for new productions; $50 million for film and television productions; and $35 million in direct aid for theatre, dance, music and circus companies.
Meanwhile, our national carrier Qantas has just sacked 6,000 people and its CEO says it will be 2 years before international travel resumes. Ain’t gonna happen; no billion dollar business is going to survive that kind of haitus. Their A380s are headed for the Mojave Desert.
It’s time for these huge companies to be suing countries on behalf of shareholders. We are facing a bigger Depression than 1929 and debt at historic levels. $250M for the arts is just one more straw for the camel.
HIstory will look back to this time as a period of unmitigated financial suicide and peak stupidity.
The Prime Minister is extremely optimistic concerning the return of the Arts. If only someone would come up with an antidote or cure for the COVID virus. Then we could all have a positive attitude.
Too little, far far far too late, and will do nothing for the musicians out of work. All looks good on the press release but the fine print tells a different story.
It may be a drop in the proverbial bucket, but it is nearly $100 million more than the entire annual budget of the US National Endowment for the Arts.