The WA Opera this week decided to axe its planned production of the famous opera Carmen because it may glamorise smoking, and the opera company has a significant sponsorship deal with Healthway.
While the decision leaves opera-lovers and anti-nanny campaigners shaking their heads in disbelief – and possibly checking they hadn't become part of some Gilbert and Sullivan farcical comedy – the incident also illuminates something else: the convoluted conduits of government funding.
Healthway is an independent statutory body that answers to the Minister for Health. Its sole purpose is to provide sponsorship for events and causes that promote healthy living, and to this end, it received $21.4 million from the WA Government in 2013. This represents approximately 94% of Healthway's total income.
The WA Opera also receives government funding. It received $1.8 million in 2013 from the West Australian government through the Department of Culture and the Arts, and received a further $445,422 from the federal government through the Australia Council.
Seen this way, the $400,000 two-year sponsorship deal between Healthway and the WA Opera is a drop in an ocean of government funding. But it's also not immediately clear that it's government funding. In the WA Opera's annual report, which isn't itemised, the funding is likely accounted for under 'private and corporate support'. It beggars belief that a sponsorship deal with an organisation that receives the vast majority of its income from the government-and thus from taxpayers-is considered 'private' or 'corporate' support.
The entire saga is instructive, as it suggests that while government sticks its fingers in enough pies in a manner that sufficiently obfuscates what is happening, absurdities such as this one can be met with a shrug of the shoulders, and a belief that it's an isolated bout of insanity.
This, of course, masks the truth. The decision to cancel Carmen to avoid 'glamorising' smoking isn't a decision made by a private organisation to protect its funding from another private organisation.
The WA Government also funds theatre, ballet and the orchestra in Western Australia. Perhaps we can look forward to cancelled productions of Romeo and Juliet due to its 'promotion' of underage sex and suicide, or West Side Story for 'promoting' gang violence.
With so much government money sloshing around, censoring the arts for fear of promoting something unsavoury is inevitably a political decision – and one that should be seen for what it is.
Trisha Jha is a Policy Analyst at The Centre for Independent Studies.
Home > Commentary > Opinion > Stubbing out Carmen leaves smokescreen on money-go-round
Stubbing out Carmen leaves smokescreen on money-go-round
The WA Opera this week decided to axe its planned production of the famous opera Carmen because it may glamorise smoking, and the opera company has a significant sponsorship deal with Healthway.
While the decision leaves opera-lovers and anti-nanny campaigners shaking their heads in disbelief – and possibly checking they hadn't become part of some Gilbert and Sullivan farcical comedy – the incident also illuminates something else: the convoluted conduits of government funding.
Healthway is an independent statutory body that answers to the Minister for Health. Its sole purpose is to provide sponsorship for events and causes that promote healthy living, and to this end, it received $21.4 million from the WA Government in 2013. This represents approximately 94% of Healthway's total income.
The WA Opera also receives government funding. It received $1.8 million in 2013 from the West Australian government through the Department of Culture and the Arts, and received a further $445,422 from the federal government through the Australia Council.
Seen this way, the $400,000 two-year sponsorship deal between Healthway and the WA Opera is a drop in an ocean of government funding. But it's also not immediately clear that it's government funding. In the WA Opera's annual report, which isn't itemised, the funding is likely accounted for under 'private and corporate support'. It beggars belief that a sponsorship deal with an organisation that receives the vast majority of its income from the government-and thus from taxpayers-is considered 'private' or 'corporate' support.
The entire saga is instructive, as it suggests that while government sticks its fingers in enough pies in a manner that sufficiently obfuscates what is happening, absurdities such as this one can be met with a shrug of the shoulders, and a belief that it's an isolated bout of insanity.
This, of course, masks the truth. The decision to cancel Carmen to avoid 'glamorising' smoking isn't a decision made by a private organisation to protect its funding from another private organisation.
The WA Government also funds theatre, ballet and the orchestra in Western Australia. Perhaps we can look forward to cancelled productions of Romeo and Juliet due to its 'promotion' of underage sex and suicide, or West Side Story for 'promoting' gang violence.
With so much government money sloshing around, censoring the arts for fear of promoting something unsavoury is inevitably a political decision – and one that should be seen for what it is.
Trisha Jha is a Policy Analyst at The Centre for Independent Studies.
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