UNDER EMBARGO 5.3OPM CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER
OPENING OF PICASSO EXHIBITION
MELBOURNE 27 JULY 19834
Mr Premier, Ladies and Gentlemen,-
I am very pleased to have been given the opportunity to open
this Exhibition.
This Exhibition provides Australians with a rare
opportunity: an oppportunity to experience in this country
the full range of work of one of the world's mas~ ter artists
the work of a dominating personality who has significantly
influenced the era in which we live.
Picasso has provided images which are at once enduring and,
at the same time, characteristic of his period. He has
determined in some measure for all of us not just for
practising artists our picture of what it is to be human
in the 20th century.
Picasso willingly accepted the dual responsibility of the
artist to be open to his environment and times and to
record them, but also to contribut~ e further by creating,
communicating and influencing.
If I may paraphrase a quote from Picasso " what do you
suppose an artist is? he is a political being
constantly aware of what is going on in the world and
he cannot help being shaped by it". And, I would add,
shaping it. He more than most challenged the society of
which he was a part.
He acknowledged that he was shaped by his era we
acknowledge in turn his power to shape and influence his
contemporaries and successors.
Part of the artist's task of communicating is to encourage
creativity in others. In this way our artists pass on a
living culture. This Exhibition has a particular value in
this regard.
2.
Picasso' s achievement, innovation, genius must be given its
due. In a culturally vital societ~ y it will also encourage
new creativity. Accordingly while his is acknowledged as a
great view, it should be seen as only one view. Others
should be influenced by it, but be prepared to travel in new
directions and present different views to be influenced
and inspired but not overwhelmed.
It is regrettably a fact that for whatever reasons great
numbers of Australians have not had the opportunity and do
not have the inclination to become involved actively in the
arts at any level. We all consume the arts passively at
least, but too few of us are fully informed consumers, or
practitioners. We need to consider why, for so long, so * many Australians
have been overwhelmed even defeated by the encounter;
why so many have earnestly avoided any contact whatever.
Where does the explanation lie?
A society's attitude to the place of art in everyday living
is established over considerable time. If there is
alienation if there have been restrictions on our ability
to fully express ourselves in this area of life it can
only be overcome by some earnest, steady endeavour in the
opposite direction.
The Government' s responsibility is to provide what support
and encouragement it can. The focal point of our arts
policy is the concept of widening access to and
participation in the arts by all sections of the community.
This is firmly established in ALP policy.
The Australia Council, exercising an independent artistic
judgement, has given particular priority, while not
foresaking the more traditional arts, to encouraging more
community involvement in the arts. Its initiatives have
done much to break down the alienation the distance
which may be separating a large number of Australians from
appreciating that the arts experience in an essential
element in a full and rewarding life.
To encourage people to make this effort to actually
realise their potential requires a skilled and
enthusiastic national resource of professional artists.
Artists who can create, influence and communicate who can
at once integrate effectively with the community and, at
the same time, challenge the society of which they are a
part. This interaction can help to erase the unfortunate
impression, still too widely held, that arts workers and I
use the term worker advisedly do not have a vital
contribution to make to our community.
Artists should work to redress this jaundiced view but the
country must also move more vigorously to recognise its
responsibility towards the artist. Quite rightly the
Australia Council, which has carefully researched the issues
involved, has already acted on a number of fronts.
It has earmarked extra funding for the employment of artists
particularly for work in communities and work places. It
is reviewing the level of direct grants 1: o individual
writers, painters and other artists to attempt to bring its
grants more into line with average weekly earnings. It has
employed artists on community projects using CEP funds, as
have other national, State and local arts agencies. The
Council has also adopted guidelines on the equality of
opportunity for women artists. These are, all necessary
steps. In parallel with these actions, the Council has initiated
further exploratory work. It has, for example, appointed an
Arts Employment Committee, chaired by Michael Crosby, who is
National Secretary of Actors' Equity and also a member of
the Council, to review such things as the factors affecting
employment in all art forms, to recommend measures to
increase employment for artists and to assess the impact of
short-term employment schemes.
These and further programs and discussions in train with
both Commonwealth and State agencies are aimed at improving
the employment, remuneration and protection of artists.
I am confident that the time and energy spent in these areas
will bear fruit will lead not only to individual
fulfilment but will also provide an open, culturally
alive, discriminating society., The sort of society we want
and our professional artists need if they are to add their
own views to the world'd artistic heritage.
Picasso must count among the greatest of contributors to
that heritage.
We are particularly privileged to have this Exhibition in
Australia. The thanks of all of us go out to the
contributors, organisers and sponsors to Marina Picasso
and Mr Jan Krugier, Jim Leslie and the International
Cultural Corporation of Australia, and News Corporation and
Qantas, to name but a few of those who have extended
support. I am sure all here this evening will enjoy this unique
opportunity to see at the one time such wideranging examples
of this great master's work. I have no doubt that many
thousands, both here and in Sydney, will share this
experience in the coming months. They, and hence Australia,
will be the richer for it. It is for this reason I have
particular pleasure in declaring the Exhibition open.
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