Senator the Hon Helen Coonan

Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts

Address to the MCA Bella Dinner

Sydney

Tuesday 18 October 2005

As someone who has had a little experience in speaking at dinner engagements, I am always apprehensive about speaking before dessert.

Standing between guests and what will undoubtedly be an exquisite gastronomical experience is difficult, so I will not take too much of your time.

But, if any of you are erring on the side of caution and will avoid dessert, please bear in mind that, particularly tonight, the old adage stands: “In charity, there is no excess”.

Charity can make such an enormous difference to benevolent organisations that have such a profound impact on the lives of ordinary Australians – organisations such as the MCA Bella Education program.

Your attendance here tonight is testimony to the belief you have in culture and the Bella program and to your commitment and enthusiasm to see this program continue to thrive.

A fundraising evening for an arts organisation shows just how interdependent the business community, the political realm and the arts world really are.

I’m pleased in my own portfolio to support the Australian Business Arts Foundation – which really formalises this relationship.

Enabling an understanding of ourselves, our communities, our nation and the globe is a central task of the arts and our cultural institutions.

The Arts provide a window on Australia and Australians and can speak to us in an artistic and cultural language that is uniquely ours.

The Arts can reveal our cultural heart, peeling away the layers of our society and can help us to recognise and appreciate our work, our leisure, our diversity.

It can offer new perspectives, challenge our beliefs, make us think about things bigger than we are. I don’t need to tell you that Arts and culture are all these things that define and shape and interpret who we are.

It is an incontrovertible fact that in order to embrace and support the Arts in a meaningful way requires commitment from business and the community at large. And this is what tonight is all about.

While the economic reality all too often bumps into the art, as Minister for Communications, IT and the Arts, I can assure you that it is the ‘art’ in my title that gives the Ministry its soul.

To borrow from former US president John Adams:

I must study politics so that my grandchildren can study painting, poetry, music and architecture.

Philanthropy and fundraising is the business end of charity. It is vitally important for the survival of so many of our wonderful organisations.

In my previous life as Assistant Treasurer I was pleased to be able to facilitate tax deductible status for a number of charities to help ‘grease the giving wheel’.

At the time I came across a quote from an American mathematician that declared:

‘Real charity doesn’t care if
it’s tax deductible or not’

This may be true, but it certainly makes the process faster, smarter and more efficient for the charities involved.

And what a charity we are here to support tonight.

A pioneer program that started in 1993, the Bella Program is a justifiable and fitting tribute from two wonderful parents – Dr Edward and Mrs Cynthia Jackson – to their late daughter Belinda.

And it is also a tribute to the Museum of Contemporary Art. Bella continues the benevolent bent the MCA has taken in recent years.

For instance, free entry has trebled visitor numbers and the museum’s commitment to its regional touring program helps ensure the MCA’s exhibitions strike a chord with a whole new audience of Australians.

The Museum of Contemporary Art Bella education programme is unique. Bella brings outstanding cultural institutions such as the MCA to people who would simply not have the chance experience them.

The Bella programme also offers free art-making workshops to young people with specific needs, including physical, intellectual, emotional or behavioral disabilities, or who are disadvantaged due to financial, social or geographic factors.

It is a program about access and opportunity – and the program is clearly something strongly supported by the community.

From humble beginnings of a one-day workshop, Bella has grown to accommodate more than 700 visitors in 72 class groups. In its 13 th year, Bella continues to be a regular feature in the yearly calendar for youth groups.

Art as therapy, art as healer, art as a connection between our country and our selves, art to help overcome disadvantage – Bella encompasses all these things.

And it may well be breeding the next generation of Australian artists – we can only hope.

The Government’s guiding philosophy in the arts is to encourage excellence and access to culture and art by creating an environment where art can thrive and arts organisations are free to achieve excellence.

We cannot underestimate the considerable value that visual education has for our young people.

Studies have shown that young people who embrace art early on in life have a greater degree of academic success than those who do not.

This is especially true of the visual arts as it encourages different modes of thought, innovation, analysis and communication. The sorts of skills we call upon throughout our lives.

The MCA, through the Bella program, embodies the important role that art can play in building the capacity of our young Australians, particularly those who may not have as many opportunities to access art as they should.

Tonight, to honour Bella’s namesake, the generosity of its founders as well as its benefactors and its legacy, please, dig deep for a fantastic cause.

In the words of Walt Whitman, US poet:

“The habit of giving only enhances the desire to give.”

So let us all get down to the business of giving and make sure that the Bella programme can continue to stimulate and inspire our young people—now and into the future.

Thank you.