Your thoughts wanted on the Kingston Arts Precinct Precinct

This is an unhelpful and cynical view of the visual arts in Canberra. Artists don’t just live in one suburb in the ACT, they live far and wide. A centralised district for the VISUAL ARTS is a great idea for our community. And there is nothing wrong with having educated, financially independent neighbours. Perhaps the new locals will enjoy having a cultural precinct at their doorstep and will contribute to supporting the work that is made there, or even perhaps joining in. There is already a great relationship between the current residents and the Glassworks. What better ways do you suggest to create an interested and engaged audience? What is wrong with art tourism? Isn’t that what we call an audience? Having a VISUAL ARTS precinct at the Kingston Foreshore will bring life and activity to the area. It would be more helpful to bring fresh ideas to the consultation process and make this new development a great thing for future generations.

I-filed said :

Any arts precinct worth its salt will be in an area where artists actually live and drink their coffee. It simply won’t thrive if the driver is, as in this case, tourism, and it’s set up in an area that has so far been a formulaic, banal yuppie development. The Glassworks artists have put up with the “artist as specimen” approach, but how many artists will ultimately object to being displays on tap for tourists to file past? And has anyone thought of the fact that any urban arts precinct will want its loud live music – how is that going to sit with heavily mortgaged public servants in their apartments who want to go to bed straight after Lateline?

Any arts precinct worth its salt will be in an area where artists actually live and drink their coffee. It simply won’t thrive if the driver is, as in this case, tourism, and it’s set up in an area that has so far been a formulaic, banal yuppie development. The Glassworks artists have put up with the “artist as specimen” approach, but how many artists will ultimately object to being displays on tap for tourists to file past? And has anyone thought of the fact that any urban arts precinct will want its loud live music – how is that going to sit with heavily mortgaged public servants in their apartments who want to go to bed straight after Lateline?