17 February 2008

Tropfest dumped due to NCA cuts?

| morto1980
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The Canberra Times is reporting that due to the recent cutbacks at the NCA, Tropfest may no longer go ahead in the ACT.

Is this just scaremongering? Many other cities and regional centers manage to screen Tropfest – surely the ACT can still manage? It seems like the various states have different methods of sorting out the funding/planning – for example Tassie has an arts centre, a nonprofit org *and* a state government agency all chipping in to help get it off the ground.

I’m surprised that the National Film and Sound Archive don’t get involved, given the good screenings they do at their HQ (admittedly for a fee).

Will this become another reason other cities can bag Canberra? Wagga, Singleton and Port Augusta get screenings for Pete’s sake!

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Ingeegoodbee1:35 pm 19 Feb 08

I’m not anti-art, I just prefer it to be at an auction house rather than a gallery. Anyone can wear head-to-toe black and swan around in a miasma of arty smugness when it’s paid for by someone else. You people wanna show me a real commitment to local art and artists – show me your cheque books.

I say no to battery Civet.

For reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak

I know of three hardcore Labor hopefuls that swear by the stuff, two of whom know it is derived from catpoo.

I reckon now that Troy W has started being full of piss and vinegar when we talked fireworks, we should draw him out on Tropfest.

Is it for the champagne socialist get-together, one for the budget liberals, or for Kopi Luwak Labor?

Ingeegoodbee is such a bundle of joy. Wouldn’t you have just loved to have shared a picnic basket and bottle of wine with him at Tropfest?. What a memorable night it would have been.

You really have no idea.

Not excluding yourself there are you Ingee ?

Ingeegoodbee8:29 am 19 Feb 08

Good riddance to bad rubbish I say – these sort of self congratulatory wankfests are really just an excuse for a bunch of tools (20,000 of them apparently) to swan around pretending to be artistic and cool.

The NCA needs to concentrate on it’s core business of planning and management Canberra wide, because if they drop the ball on that, the useless dipshits in the ACT Government will start to think they’re up to the task and well end up with a frigging statue of Al Grasby on every street corner and other stupidity like settlements at Pierces Creek.

V8 Berlina with a three tier spoiler10:16 pm 18 Feb 08

“The Feds gave Canberra to the local pollies to run, despite opposition from all the citizens.

So they should just let them run it, not interfere all the time.”

Into the ground?

100million in savings yet Stanhope still hasn’t fixed the hospitals.

The Feds gave Canberra to the local pollies to run, despite opposition from all the citizens.

So they should just let them run it, not interfere all the time.

Pandy seems to be taking Tropfest rather personally. Why do you care so much? If 20’000 people like to sit outside on an awesome summer’s evening, having a good time and watching some great short films then why shit on their parade?

Feel free to sit inside and get a TV tan by yourself. Personally i’ll take the fun, relaxed social environment of Tropfest any day of the week.

V8 Berlina with a three tier spoiler5:34 pm 18 Feb 08

Tropfest is a great asset to Canberra’s social calender. I don’t go to it, proffering my own TV, but I know a lot of people enjoy it. Where’s private enterprise? Sure the NCA are being twits dropping it and other activities out of spite, but the Canberra Show, Floriade and so on occur with out NCA financial support because of private sponcership. NCA staff didn’t work last night so it can obviously go ahead without NCA staff.

Canberra needs a variety of events and Tropfest screening is probably not a bad thing. Tropfest itself is fairly major, but screening it in Canberra doesn’t make it nationally significant, so no NCA funding is fine by me.

Does it bring extra tourism to Canberra? I doubt it, so I wouldn’t want to see any local Gov’t money wasted on it either.

Good idea Ralph – someone run it as a private event, charge a few bucks. If done by a non-profit bunch, let them keep the profit. If done by a profit-making bunch, then charge them full-whack for using the venue (ie revenue to the local Gov’t).

Close the NCA and allow the likes of Stanhope and future clown-like-Assembly’s to run roughshod over the National Capital. Emphasis on NATIONAL CAPITAL. Sounds like a plan to me.

I don’t think that’s allowed in the agreement with the festival organisers.

Most of the cost would be covered by the extensive sponsorship, it’s probably just the NCA staff time and use of Commonwealth Park that the NCA currently picks up the tab for.

I’m sure the ACT Government will pick up Tropfest if the NCA drop it (or maybe the ANU – already major local sponsor).

How about if people want to watch it they pay an entry fee.

Novel idea, I know.

Yeah Pandy is right and 20,000 Canberrans are wrong.

I dont see why this is an NCA thing anyway – wheres the griffin legacy in tropfest – or the need to maintain Canberra for all Australians not just Canberrans.

They should just lose the NCA altogether.

Sounds like the NCA are taking their bat and ball and having a cry about their funding / staff cut backs. I was just wondering the other day what NCA actually did – and the more they whinge, the more they seem redundant. As morto says, other states don’t use Federal funding to put the show on, so why does Canberra need the NCA to do this? It seems this would be a good opportunity for Mr Stanhope and crew to pick up some brownie points, and chuck some money towards ensuring next years show goes ahead. I know they love giving money to the arts (giant pears, bounders, girders anyone?)
Oh and congrats to the Canberra and Tassie entries this year, nice to see them picked in the final 16 – and the Canberra guys picking up a prize.

1) Been there, done that. Never again.

2) Typical of boring Canberra. The other States have far better things to be going.

3) So what if Tropfest goes. There will be another one next month somewhere.

1) The view from even a distance wasn’t too shabby.

2) That’s fine, but there’s something to be said for sitting outside with a beer and some folks and watching the shorts there.

3) … such as?

So what?

1/ Watching the show on a screen that subjectively looks smaller than your average telly because you have to sit so far back.

2/ The DVD will be in the newspapers in the next few weeks.

3/ There are way too many short film festivals.

el ......TECortina 250 Deathtrap11:40 pm 17 Feb 08

I hope not. What a great night.

Yeah, apparently 20K+ people at the Canberra showing (frankly, those numbers seem a bit high, but …), and we were #2 in the country behind Sydney. Surely they won’t drop it here, given that. Surely?

adeptacheese11:32 pm 17 Feb 08

im just back from tropfest and they said that canberra had the 2nd highest amount of people there out of any australian city so I certainly hope not.

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