Opposing funding for New Media

Thanks to Paul Callaghan from Freeplay for tweeting about this news feature that appeared at The Age a few days ago. Written by a former Australia Council for the Arts member in the 90's and in response to the current discussions of government funding reallocation, Richard Mills confesses his strong opposition tp new media receiving any funds.

He's described it as an "example of meretricious, self-serving claptrap, which confused content with process, masquerading to the weak-minded as new, with a healthy sense of entitlement to whatever funds might happen to drop from the perch of government". Ouch. Richard is quick to point out that new media is not really new as it builds on the creative shoulders of those before it. He says that it also doesn't fit into the "museum culture" that he advocates, so if it wouldn't get the time of day in a museum, why support it, right?

So, by nature, I am sceptical of the new, because very little in any age of artistic enterprise is genuinely new and that which is and attains lasting vitality is almost always nourished by tradition and heritage as a basis for departure into previously uncharted waters.

Unfortunately, Richard believes that new media doesn't require remarkably talented people utilising the traditions refined by generations of masters, and could be done by any "reasonably intelligent" person. Yes, humble game developer, that includes you!

No one buys a ticket to the theatre or concert hall to witness something ordinary, something that can be done by any reasonably intelligent person with a modicum of application and training, such as making a computer game or designing an earring.

To say it's a misunderstanding of the skill requirements for game development is an understatement, but putting down two respectable professions at the same time is a bit heavy.

Our theatres and halls deal in the currency of the extraordinary - anybody who stands and delivers professionally on those stages has a remarkable talent, nurtured by years of training (by the passing on of traditions from the last generation of masters) and sustained by the great literature of the art form in question.

Of course, when he says that new media is nourished by tradition and heritage (and therefore not "new"), wouldn't that mean it requires the same kind of learning and mastering as mentioned in the above quote as well? Oh well.

Don't let that put you off the work of The Australia Council for the Arts, however. They're still supporting new media, with Fee Plumley (Digital Program Officer), providing a talk on some of the other funding opportunities out there for other game related markets.