Sweet tones and off notes. The war upon the print makers.

Dymphna said :

This article is spot on – and it is not a view that the Canberra Times will publish as the editor’s are in bed with Don Aitkin. About time someone publicly pointed out Aitkin’s conflict of interest in the community.

What article and what conflict of interest?

Dymphna said :

As an artist I am really looking forward to seeing the Fitters Workshop being brought back to life. It is on Printers Way! Its true, that’s the name of the street.

Presumably Printers Way was given the name because AGPS (Australian Government Publishing Service) was located there before the area was redeveloped. My main memory of AGPS is when they printed the Commonwealth Government Gazette and in mid 1985 I was hanging out to see if someone in our department had been dismissed. The Gazettes had been delayed by RSI, a rort in the 1980s where public servants who did keyboarding were given months off work on full pay.

My other memory of AGPS is when a printer under the PKIU award was seconded to our office and was being paid twice my salary despite me doing nearly all the work simply because he was in the printing union and I was in the fourth division PS union (APSA – FDO) When I complained to the director he was quickly whisked out of the department and back to AGPS.

This article is spot on – and it is not a view that the Canberra Times will publish as the editor’s are in bed with Don Aitkin. About time someone publicly pointed out Aitkin’s conflict of interest in the community. However, reading these comments it appears there is a general lack of knowledge here of what a print studio is. If you don’t know then you should really check out Megalo’s website http://www.megalo.org, or go and have a look at what people are doing in its current location at Watson. It is pretty exciting and busy. Megalo print studio is not elitist and you will find a broad range of people from the community working there – from Indigenous people, graffiti artists, people with disabilities, women returning to work, mothers, fathers, employed people, and all from a huge rang of ages; young and old – rich and poor! Megalo has been going for over 30 years now. I am a professional artist and I work there too and, like many artists in the community Megalo has supported the development of my art practice. It is somewhere I can go and make work for exhibition and for sale. Megalo also has a great artist in residence program that brings in international and national artists, who you get to meet, and they have a very cool gallery and the openings are fun and packed with people. As an artist I am really looking forward to seeing the Fitters Workshop being brought back to life. It is on Printers Way! Its true, that’s the name of the street.
If you want to see ten really good reasons why Megalo should be at the Fitters Workshop and you can view these at the moment on Megalo’s facebook page. Check it out!

Question that hasn’t been answered by the musicians is – are they prepared to pay rent for any space that they may get? These spaces don’t come at no cost to the community and the Government would have to maintain them somehow. Megalo are at least used to paying rent (I presume) where they are at Watson. CMC and others try to get space at the lowest cost and don’t currently pay for more than occasional use of space – would they pay for full time occupation or expect the Government to fully subsidise their activities?

For emd – Aitkin used to head up the University of Canberra and has gone onto chair various groups around Canberra – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Aitkin

Don’t know who the winners will be, but it’s damn sure that the taxpayers will be the losers!

I’ve read this post several times. Having done that, it still seems like paranoid gibberish. Time to move on.

It’s not just a question of who wins – the printmakers or the musicians – but also the appropriate management of the Fitters’ Workshop itself, which is a remarkable building and part of Canberra’s industrial heritage. I understand that the Megalo printmakers are intending to install a mezzanine level in the workshop, which would completely destroy the monumental nature of the space. Does anyone know if there’s been a proper heritage assessment?

Well,
If its a choice between music and printmakers, I know which one I’d want to be spending money on and listening to.

I gather from 666 discussion that the workshop has brilliant acoustics – not needed for printmaking. I’m actually with Aitken on this one, even though I don’t care for “new art music”. I find the ACT Government’s attempt to create an artificial creative precinct a bit strange – it’s driven purely by visits to the big cultural institutions. Printmakers who are happy to ply their trade while being gawked at by tourists are surely in the minority. Don’t for a moment think, printmakers, that Katy G will let you occupy valuable foreshore real estate without giving your pound of flesh. The Glassworks creative environment must be awful for glassmakers who aren’t showmen. Or who like to keep their workspace a bit messy … Frankly, if I was a printmaker I would be asking for a nice friendly cooperative space in the inner north, nearer where the writers & artists & musicians actually hang out. Trying to create while in what is actually a vacuous developers’ haunt will do nothing for your art, guys.

Music’s elite now?

Do I detect a faint hint of boganinity?