Ben Apfelbaum

AUSTRALIAN ARTISTS PLEA FOR THE STRUGGLING ARTS SECTOR

Several of Australia’s leading actors have, in a plea to the Government spoken out about the hardships the arts sector is suffering under the #CreateAustralia’s Future. These include John Bell, Mitchell Butel, Rachael Maza, Richard Roxburgh, Sally Smart and Julia Zemiro.  It is expected that thousands of others will join them.

Television host and Artistic Director of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival Julia Zemiro stated that “if you love TV, Music, Film, Art  gigs you have to love the people who make it happen for you….We are a team that brings you the stuff that makes you laugh, cry, sing, dance and forget. So remember us now.”

Actor, writer, producer and director Richard Roxburgh also spoke out saying  that, “at this moment , every artist has lost their audience and therefore, they’ve lost the income stream they normally generate for themselves…To tell the beautiful, eccentric, crazy, dark and profound stories of who we are as a people. I urge you to support us. ”

The majority of Australia’s 50,000 professional artists and 600,000 creative industry workers will not be covered by the announced stimulus measure either because of their casual work arrangements or because their employers’ complex cash flows render them ineligible to access the Job Seeker benefits.

Jessica Machin, Executive Director of the West Australian Ballet, has pointed out that, “Australia’s cultural and creative sector is a $111 billion industry, six times the size of the aviation industry, employing substantially more people than mining and with several interdependent industries whose success relies on ours, including hospitality and tourism. ”

Featured image Richard Roxburgh. 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.