It is clear that Mr Scott isn't fully aware of the truth of the matter and how the axing of Arts on the ABC is being felt in the wider community.
If you dont agree with Mark Scott and want to see ABC Arts programming continued then there is still time to make a submission to the Senate Inquiry which is due 9th September.
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OPEN LETTER TO THE ABC BOARD
Maurice Newman AC – Chairman,
and members of the ABC Board
Dear Mr Newman
Request to Stop the Destruction of ABC TV Arts
For the past fifty years, ABC TV has introduced Australians to an array of extraordinary local artists – from Sir Robert Helpmann to Kate Grenville, from the emerging Western Desert artists to Nick Cave.
The ABC TV arts unit has taken us into our galleries, theatres and museums, sharing the country's evolving cultural life. In the last year alone, the unit produced over 500 stories. It has championed new artists, engaged practitioners, and built a vast record of the work of those who strive to articulate our place in the world. Where else do we turn to celebrate our great artists? When we mourned Dame Joan Sutherland, and Margaret Olley, the ABC helped us pay tribute to their lives and work.
We are deeply disturbed by ABC management’s plan to axe ABC TV’s only arts magazine program, disband the TV arts unit and divert resources to prime time, populist content in pursuit of ratings. It will diminish the ABC’s irreplaceable role as the nation’s cultural memory. And sadly, it will reflect no glory whatsoever on what was once considered the single greatest achievement of Australia's intellectual and artistic life: the ABC itself.
Without a strong in-house unit to create and to commission arts programming, the national broadcaster will fail its charter responsibilities. And it will fail us, by not reminding us that our national character is informed and shaped by the imagination and creativity of artists.
Yours sincerely
Signature (click for the complete list of signatures)***************************
RESPONSE BY MARK SCOTT
As a mirror to our culture, ABC is not sitting on its arts
ABC historian Ken Inglis recalls wartime prime minister John Curtin's opinion of a light entertainment program that imagined listeners were at a party. ''If that is the sort of party that is going to be held after the war, it is a good argument for keeping the war going,'' Curtin complained.Satisfying everyone is impossible and always has been. There has been a lot of debate in recent days about the ABC's commitment to the arts, prompted by the end of one television program, Art Nation, and a new draft schedule for Radio National. The former prompted an open letter to the ABC board, penned by a group of esteemed arts figures protesting about the ''destruction of ABC TV arts''.
I am glad to see the passionate interest in ABC programming and feel obliged to respond. The loss of a 30-minute Sunday afternoon arts magazine program with an audience in significant decline should not be conflated with the end of arts programming.
In making its decision, ABC TV asked an important question: couldn't the ABC, given its place at the centre of Australian cultural life, do better for the arts? We believe it can and it will. And we can do it by increasing the ways arts stories are told, and telling them in greater depth than the magazine format permits. And we will see to it that the heavy lifting for the arts is done right across the ABC - not just on television.
We want the ABC to live up to its charter role ''to encourage and promote the musical, dramatic and other performing arts in Australia'' in the most relevant way possible. Audience tastes and viewing habits are evolving constantly. There is no plan to chase ratings with more populist fare. The ABC will continue to serve niche audiences - we're comfortable with the fact that cultural pursuits won't often draw MasterChef-type figures.
ABC TV's decision to end the Sunday afternoon slot and shift arts stories into prime time should be seen for what it is: a chance for the ABC to connect this content with as wide an audience as possible. We think it deserves no less.
We know from Arts Council research that Australians have a high level of interest and engagement with the arts. It's evident in the books we buy - and hopefully read - in attendances at our galleries and museums, in the vibrancy of our musical life. It's our responsibility to do all we can to see that interest in the arts is reflected in the audiences ABC TV is reaching with its arts programming. We can do better.
The same applies to our other platforms. Artworks may be disappearing from Radio National but the new schedule delivers more arts coverage, more music programming and new specialist programs with fewer repeats.
Only last month, the ABC announced a new digital radio channel, triple j Unearthed, which will be the only 100 per cent Australian music station and the only one capable of drawing solely from unsigned and uncovered artists, including those from regional areas. Only the ABC can take that risk, continuing to promote new Australian music through triple j in a way that has utterly changed Australian cultural life.
The open letter says: ''For the past 50 years, ABC TV has introduced Australians to an array of extraordinary local artists - from Sir Robert Helpmann to Kate Grenville, from the emerging Western Desert artists to Nick Cave . . . Where else do we turn to celebrate our great artists?''
The answer, emphatically, remains the ABC - on television, radio, online and beyond, as our content flows increasingly through the rivers of social networks. Over the remainder of this year and 2012, ABC1 and ABC2 will, for example, feature documentaries on musicians Rowland Howard and Ben Lee, filmmaker Paul Cox and choreographer Tanja Liedtke.
I note that Nick Cave is one of the letter's signatories. Triple j is presenting Straight to You: triple j's Tribute to Nick Cave - a concert tour paying tribute to one of Australia's most loved and respected songwriters in November. ABC TV and triple j will record the Sydney show, to air on ABC2 next year, with a CD and DVD to follow.
It speaks volumes for the community support for the ABC that almost every content decision attracts debate.
But our programmers and schedulers need the freedom to innovate and challenge; to search for better ways to engage the audience. Australia's artists and arts audiences are not standing still, nor are we. To do so would be to consign the public broadcaster's coverage of the arts to the worst of all fates - irrelevance.
Mark Scott is managing director of the ABC.
