Coming home from Art Dubai and the Diriyah Biennale in Saudi Arabia, the first story I read in the local press was Linda Morris’s report on the Art Gallery of NSW preparing to slash 30 jobs to cope with a budget shortfall of some $4 million. Read on, and one learns this means 10 full-time jobs will be lost and “21 unfilled positions declared ‘excess’”.
This conjures up a few thoughts. Firstly, from my experience within a major art institution (the NGA) and as a long-term observer, I tend to believe that most galleries employ too many staff anyway, or at the very least employ them in an ineffective manner. For instance, a policy of beefing up loans and touring shows can cause mayhem among the ranks of packers and conservators, but leave the curatorial staff idling. In itself, curatorial work is a long game because it requires research, but this only emphasises the need for effective planning and scheduling of exhibitions. If movies were put together like exhibitions they would all cost billions.
To justify staff numbers an institution has to be productive, and the AGNSW is very far from the mark. When it opens a new building and doesn’t hold a single exhibition for the entire first year, it’s easy to predict that projected targets will not be met. By not meeting their targets the AGNSW was hit with the dreaded “efficiency dividend”, which knocked $3 million off an already inadequate budget.
The efficiency dividend is a vicious mechanism that should be abandoned forthwith, but as it is still in place, the AGNSW knew what was going to happen and made no effort to defeat it. Instead, they seem to have relied on the power of wishful thinking, imagining that venue hire, events and functions, and sales from the shop, would get them over the line. But when there is nothing new to see for months on end, all the evening parties won’t raise sufficient revenue – even if we ignore the fact that the gallery has lost sight of its core business -indeed, its raison d’être.
What’s the AGNSW’s solution? More of the same, with turbocharged verbal gymnastics.
The gallery is apparently considering a “realignment of functions and processes” in its four divisions to “better support our new campus model and to ensure efficiency in our operations”. Oh, good. That’s reassuring.
In fact, “the gallery has agreed to raise $40 million from its two gift shops, restaurants, private functions and box office to help its bottom line over the current financial year – at least double what it brought in the previous 12 months.”
Wait! What’s that? Up there, in the sky! It looks like a gigantic pie.
I would respectfully suggest there is little extra revenue to be squeezed out of sales from the shop and venue hire, without a solid foundation of changing exhibitions. The novelty of Sydney Modern has now worn off, and everybody who booked a function during the first year, will be wondering whether they might find a different, less expensive venue this year. Those who have sampled the café at Sydney Modern have learned that it’s nothing special, and they can get a sandwich and coffee more cheaply at the café across the road. If exhibition entry prices are raised from the current $35 benchmark, it will inevitably discourage those visitors who already find these prices to be too high. The only way to sell more stuff in the shop and café is to give people more reasons for attending.
The AGNSW has completely blown its best chance at building an audience by its inertia during year one of Sydney Modern. Now it is is playing a hopeless game of catch-up. As usual, this year’s forthcoming exhibition program doesn’t bear close scrutiny. Take away the Archibald Prize and the Biennale, and the only major show is Alphonse Mucha: The Spirit of Art Nouveau, an exhibition that has been kicking around in various forms since 1998. Solo shows of artists such as Lesley Dumbrell, Wendy Sharpe and Nusra Latif Qureshi are not going to pack ‘em in, and the same might be said for Lee Ufan – one of the great Asian artists of the modern era, but hardly a household name to most Sydneysiders. I’m pleased they are showing Lee Ufan, but this is not a show that should be viewed as a blockbuster.
At no stage has the AGNSW been realistic about the costs of running two huge buildings, or their ability to generate revenue. Now we learn there were 21 “unfilled” positions, on the books, while the gallery was bleeding money.
In the gallery’s defence it has at least tried to raise funds, and give an impression of activity. The Powerhouse, which is now shuttered and un-vistable, has squandered taxpayers’ money in the most profligate fashion, reduced attendances to the same level as the early 1960s, held expensive boutique shows and projects that no-one wanted to see, published a handful of elaborate catalogues no-one wanted to buy, and handed over $1.5 million in “artists fees” to an élite, unaccountable group of errr… colleagues.
The result: AGNSW ends with a shortfall of $16 million and is given a $12 million bail-out, necessitating job cuts. The PHM will be rewarded with $68,574 million in funds, with no museum operations to fund, and a proven record of financial irresponsibility and failure.
In Budgets Estimates, the redoubtable Mark Banasiak, from the Shooters, Fishers & Farmers Party, asked Arts Minister, John Graham, if he was happy with the poor performance of the PHM. (NB. “poor” is an understatement of cosmic proportions). “No absolutely not,” was the reply. So did he have confidence in the CEO? The reply: “I want to be clear: I support the CEO of the Powerhouse, Lisa Havilah. I regard her as a good operator in the arts and culture space, and I’m grateful for the work she’s doing.”
Go figure. Visitation down 33 percent over five years. Education participation down 56 percent. Operating expenses up 86 percent (but virtually no essential maintenance on the Ultimo building – which is now being used as the excuse for closing everything). Exhibition costs up 211 percent. Self-generated revenue down by 90 percent. These are all figures raised by Mark Baniasak in his Estimates questions.
The Minister’s response: Good work, Lisa!
The AGNSW, self-deluding as it may be, has every reason to be outraged by these responses. The gallery has tried to play by the rules, and puts great emphasis on education visitation and self-generated revenue. The PHM has treated such activities with contempt, running up massive overheads while pouring money into pet projects. End result: AGNSW has to initiate staff cuts to make ends meet, while the PHM is given a gigantic pot of taxpayers’ money to keep wasting on frivolous projects, with none of the day-to-day pressures of a functioning museum.
What is going on in John Graham’s mind? If anything. The NSW Arts Ministry is a zone of policy chaos, puffed up by spin and false positivity. Mr Graham is laying the foundations for decades of financial pain while allowing his favourite CEO to trash a hundred years’ worth of cultural heritage. He is equally negligent in expecting the AGNSW to raise huge extra revenues. This is totally unrealistic. As two successive governments have now enthusiastically backed the Sydney Modern project, they must accept they also need to pay for it.
The AGNSW funding crisis was the most predictable thing since the last time the Wallabies played the All-Blacks. A few years from now, the PHM funding debacle will be a scandal that warrants an independent inquiry and many hours in the dock for all concerned. As arts institutions around the state are starved of funds, the PHM has money to burn.
The one big success story in NSW is the Australian Museum: rising attendances, increases in self-generated revenue and membership. A vastly more more complex operation than its peers, in that it incorporates a scientific research facility, but managed with great efficiency. The govt seems to take such success for granted, while lavishing money on failures. Brilliant policy choices in action.
I’ve rattled on for a bit, but I haven’t been able to produce anything else this week but a piece on the 2024 Academy Awards. The SMH has finally published the Fairy Tales piece that they apparently held over in order to make way for 437 articles on Taylor Swift. As I posted Fairy Tales early, I’m down to one article for this mailout.
The Oscars have a predictable appearance this year but surprises do happen. Maybe one day, John Graham will surprise us and do something half sensible.