OPEN LETTER
While Ms Puklowski is correct in saying that “there is no Australian equivalent” to the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery it is actually unprecedented for any council to run or operate such an institution as a cost centre.
Typically, and appropriately, such institutions are ‘funded’ by Local Government, community groups, sponsors, donors and occasionally State Governments but not operated or run by “councils.”
In Australia, Governments, Local, State and Federal, do not run or operate cultural institutions such as art galleries, museums, orchestras, theatres or indeed any other institution like universities, schools or research institutions – but they do fund them however.
Typically, and appropriately, ‘governments’, entrust the operation of such institutions to experts and in order to do so they entrust Boards of Governor (Trustees!) to generate the policies they, as governments, as regulatory authorities, are prepared to fund.
Councils are quite simply 'regulators' and consequently they are entirely ill equipped to operate any ‘enterprise’ – regulate them possibly – and that’s something that is clearly and well understood by Federal, State and Local governance as Ms Puklowski has somewhat poignantly observed.
To quote an anthropologist “A good start [now]might be to figure out what the hell [the QVMAG does] with the huge amount of irreplaceable material cultural artefacts that the museum holds, rather than embarking on yet another “Mission Statement”. That is SOOO 1980s.”
Ray Norman
Launceston
City of Launceston council explains
how its cultural strategy will work
Editors Pick - List
Launceston and the people who call it home are a melting pot of personalities, traditions, places, architecture, events and stories.
That diversity is what makes the city and region unique and it's those stories the City of Launceston council is trying to bottle.
The council has embarked on a goal to develop a cultural strategy and is seeking community input to define what Launceston culture is.
Creative arts and cultural services general manager Tracy Puklowski says the strategy will help underpin the council's understanding of culture and heritage, which will drive its future decision-making.
Ms Puklowski explained how the cultural strategy will work to The Examiner senior journalist CAITLIN JARVIS.
RELATED STORY:Launceston council seeks residents' stories
CJ: How do you, or the council describe culture?
TP: It's the x-factor that turns some paintings on the wall into an exhibition, for example. It's about that sort of power you get when people come together. But for me, this draft strategy isn't about me defining culture, what we're asking of people who participate is for them to take a look at the draft and think, does this have meaning.
The Launceston draft cultural strategy defines culture from respondents to an initial survey in this way:
"Culture springs, first and foremost from human interaction... making culture is a daily public event - not just in schools, in the media, in the 'culture houses', but also in the streets, shops, trains and cafes. Culture is not a pile of artifacts - it is us; the living breathing sum of us...This cultural strategy is people-centred."
Q: Why does the council believe we need this strategy?
A: It's about heading towards having a broader view of the things we need to have a really livable and successful city. The bigger view is the strategic drive for this is the ambition to make Launceston one of Australia's most livable and innovative regional cities.
The culture we have here in Launceston is going to be different to anywhere else. It isn't Melbourne, it isn't the Gold Coast, it's going to have its own distinct flavour. [ACTUALLY IT ALREADY DOES] Collectively it's going to be great for us to have that awareness and use it to tell our stories perhaps more successfully than we might currently.
RELATED STORY:Launceston cultural strategy to be released
Q: Who are you targeting in the community, in terms of what kind of engagement do you want for this strategy?
A: Anyone can be involved in the cultural strategy and we are encouraging that. But we also want to hear from people who are involved in particular activities, to share where they see themselves sitting in this framework.
We want it to be as inclusive as we can. Launceston's migrant community, for example, I would really hope the people who are newer to Launceston see themselves in this and have an opportunity to share their experiences. [IT IS JUST THE CASE THAT ONE MUST EMBRACE AND COMPLY WITH 'THE 'COUNCIL OPERATION'S REGULATORY DETERMINATIONS]
Q: Do you have any examples of types of cultural stories already existing, that you'd like to see in the final strategy?
A: Yeah well, you know, I think one example that we are really aware of is food because the food and beverage offering here is just so stunning. But what we are really interested in are those stories that aren't immediately obvious, what are the stories of the Cataract Gorge, or the stories of the amazing buildings, the architecture we have and stories of our Aboriginal culture, as examples.[HOWEVER ALONG THE WAY CONCEPTS LIKE CITIZEN CURATORSHIP & PARTICIPATION HAVE BEEN BUREAUCRATICALLY RULED OUT WHILE 'CITIZEN FUNDING' IS DEMANDED AND RELIED UPON]
We have a few different case studies in the draft document, and one of those relates to the community kitchen, which is run by the Migrant Resource Centre, so we are absolutely looking for all stories. [HOWEVER, IT IS JUST THE CASE THAT THE COMMUNITY'S SOCIAL SCIENCE & PHYSICAL SCIENCE NETWORKS & OTHER CULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORKS BEING LEFT OUT OF 'THE PROCESS' APPARENTLY AIMED AT SMOOTHING OVER HISTORIES & ON THE RECORD NOW GIVEN THAT A 'CITIZEN'S ASSEMBLY OR ANYTHING OF THE LIKE' HAS BEEN RULED COMPLETELY OUT OF ORDER AT THE MOST RECENT COUNCIL MEETING]
Q: What would you say to criticism that this isn't a core function of the council, as we have all heard the adage of councils being responsible only for "rates, roads and rubbish"?
A: I think that it's more of a "both, and" scenario, I don't think that it's a competition in that way. I think all of those elements actually combine to make a really livable city and a desirable place to spent time or want to move to. Of course, you can never lose sight of the "rates, roads and rubbish" elements, that's absolutely fundamental, but we think the way people engage with culture is also fundamental. [BUT APPARENTLY, ONLY IN WAYS THAT FIT ALREADY DETERMINED WAYS GIVEN 'THE CONSULTATION PROCESS' IN PROGRESS]
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Q: What role will the QVMAG play in the establishment and sharing of Launceston's cultural strategy?
A: Part of this document is looking at our strengths and one of those is absolutely the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. It's the largest regional institution and obviously, we are going to be very soon close neighbours with the University of Tasmania. The interrelationship between the museum and UTAS is going to open up so many opportunities and we see the whole area is going to be activated. [UTAS HAS BEEN IN THE REGION FOR A LONG TIME AND MOVING 'NEXT DOOR' WILL NOT AUTOMATICALLY CHANGE THE INSTITUTIONAL RELATIONSHIP GIVEN THE TWO INSTITUTIONS' DIFFERING OPERATIONAL IMPERATIVES ... SMOKE & MIRRORS]
It's not unusual for a local council to be running a museum, there are a huge amount of regional institutions throughout Australia that are run by councils but they're much smaller than this one, That's what makes us truly unique is that we're effectively a state-sized institution being run by local government. There is no Australian equivalent. [ACTUALLY THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO AUSTRALIAN EQUIVALENT BECAUSE AN INSTITUTION THAT BLENDS 'MANAGEMENT & GOVERNANCE' AND FOR VERY GOOD REASON IT IS 'UNPRECEDENTED' ... IT 'IS UNUSUAL' FOR COUNCILS TO RUN & OPERATE A MUSEUM 'AS A COST CENTRE'... YES COUNCILS (LOCAL GOVT) 'FUND' CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS AND DO SO ALONGSIDE STATE GOVTS. THE CORPORATE SECTOR, PRIVATE DONORS ET AL THAT SUPPORT 'STANDALONE GOVERNING BODIES/ORGANISATIONS' ... ALBEIT IN SOME CASES MORE PROACTIVELY THAN IN OTHERS ... HOWEVER THESE INSTITUTIONS, FEDERAL, STATE & LOCAL GOVT FUNDED 'OPERATE & ARE GOVERNED' AT ARMS LENGTH FROM 'GOVERNMENT' FOR REASONS OF ACCOUNTABILITY & TRANSPARENCY]
Q: How can people get involved and leave their feedback for the cultural strategy?
A: We do have the online survey and that's open until the end of August. But we also have an online Q and A session that's going to be held on August 26th in the evening. That is a good opportunity for people to come along if they have questions and get them answered.
We did a huge amount of work on it in 2018 and last year we did start the community consultation and then COVID hit and we thought it wasn't the right time to be trying to get people to think about this while they were dealing with a pandemic. So, it was put on hold.
But now, with Tasmania at least mostly on top of the COVID-19 situation, we thought it was a good time to put it back out on the table and begin that community consultation again. In terms of timelines, we don't know when we will have the final document but we are hoping to have something done before the end of the year.
The draft cultural strategy and the online survey is found at Your Voice, Your Launceston. [THE 'PROCESS' INDICATED HERE HAS ALL THE HALLMARKS OF A TARGETED 'PUSH POLL' THAT SUPPORTS THE POSITION ALREADY ARRIVED AT ... IT IS CONCERNING THAT THE 'COMMUNITY CONSULTATION PROCESS' COMES AT A POINT WHERE THE COMMUNITY'S INPUT IS BECOMES TOKENISTIC IF NOT ADMINISTRATIVELY IRRELEVANT’ ... AS FOR 'ACCOUNTABILITY & TRANSPARENCY,' NEITHER ARE IN EVIDENCE AND IT SEEMS THAT ALL DETERMINATIONS WILL BE MADE IN CAMERA WELL AWAY FROM PUBLIC SCRUTINY]
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