Ben Apfelbaum

AUSTRALIA COUNCIL FUNDING CUTS DEVASTATE ARTS SECTOR

The Australian. arts sector is almost completely demoralised and disheartened by the announcement of the $5.4 million in Australia Council grants which represent a 30% cut over the next twelve months.

Major arts companies are set to lose ongoing funding include major organisations like the Art Gallery Of South Australia, the Australian Theatre for Young People, of which Nicole Kidman, Baz Luhrmann and Rebel Wilson are alumni, Barking Gecko Theatre Company , Ensemble Offspring, La Mama Theatre, Sydney’s Writer’s Festival and the Museum Of Contemporary Art.

For Melbourne’s La Mama Theatre it is another blow as the 53 year old theatre has been ravaged by fire.

Theatre Network Australia Executive Director Nicole Beyer said the arts sector was “devastated and shocked as so many companies, (come forty nine companies), have lost funding.”

She said, “the loss of key funding would result in the closure of some smaller companies whist larger organisations would need to scale back their activities, and cancel some  of their programs. The problem is, with the impact of Covid 19 as well, there is nowhere for companies to get extra funding from.”

Featured pic – The Museum of  Contemporary Art.  All pics by Ben Apfelbaum

 

 

 

 

 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.