Academy’s survival proves power of music
By Katie Franklin ABC NEWS

Posted Wed Dec 10, 2008 12:37pm AEDT
Updated Wed Dec 10, 2008 1:25pm AEDT

The ANAM is hopeful the school will stay open beyond 2009. (Getty Images: Micha Theiner, file photo)

Audio: National Music Academy gets reprieve (ABC News)
Map: Melbourne 3000
Music, it is said, has the power to cross barriers of language and culture, to inspire and to move people.

It also apparently has the power to change the mind of Federal Arts Minister Peter Garrett.

The Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) has received a reprieve of sorts from the Government, with enough funding to allow it to stay open for the 2009 tertiary year.

Only last month the fat lady had seemingly sung for the Academy, with Mr Garrett adamant it would not be re-funded because it had failed to fulfil its charter in terms of transparency and accountability.

The funding, Mr Garrett said, would go to a new body operating in conjunction with the Melbourne University.

But the Government now appears to be singing a different tune.

This week it was announced that ANAM, with a new board, would remain open in 2009 with its full-scale program in place.

The academy’s artistic director, Brett Dean, has agreed to stay on in the role, while ANAM’s Nick Bailey will act as general manager.

Mr Bailey says common sense has prevailed.

“They’ve realised the academy’s the best-placed institution to provide the sorts of programs they want to have provided,” Mr Bailey told Radio National’s Fran Kelly.

“It was their intention all along that the sort of training that we do continues, and I suppose while the best way to provide those programs is worked out and worked through - and that’s a discussion we’ll be in, and hopefully leading - we’re able to continue providing our programs for next year.

“I think the thing that changed was probably the realisation that our students in this year, the 2008 year, were going to be left stranded in 2009.

“I think once that message came home that [there was a] concern from the community and from us, and in the end from the Government, to see that those students weren’t left without any programs to participate in, meant that we’ve come to this sort of resolution whereby we continue.”

Politicians face the music
Mr Bailey believes a musical protest at Federal Parliament in Canberra early this month helped to keep the academy’s doors open.

“It sounds a little silly to say, but the sound of the music down the corridors of the House really did have some impact,” he said.

“The minister also met with some students on that day and they were very passionate in the way that they expressed their concerns to him, and I think it was heard. Certainly out of that day in Canberra, this decision has come.”

Mr Bailey acknowledged that ANAM had failed in its governance responsibilities, but was confident the new board would get the job done.

“The Government had said all along that they didn’t have an issue with the programs and the artistic outputs at the academy, but there were problems with the business model and the shortcomings of the business model needed to be addressed,” he said.

“We’d sort of not had issue with that. It’s the way that they went about addressing them. [It] was disruptive for the students and the faculty and that was our concern.

“So bringing in a new board will certainly address those. [It will] empower the artistic work in a more energised and business-like way. We’re not uncomfortable with the decision at all.”

Mr Bailey denies the establishment of a new board is a takeover by stealth.

“The new board is going to be appointed in the same way that the old board was, with representatives or appointments made by the university and appointments made by the Commonwealth Government and the State Government, and we’re not sure about the make-up of that board at the moment,” he said.

“We have input into that. Brett Dean and myself have input into the members of that board, and will feel that our suggestions of people who wish to be involved are being heard.”

Future beyond 2009
The Government says it has always been committed to the continuation of elite classical music training in Melbourne, but had sought changes to the way it is governed.

It says the school will remain open for a further year while a new program and board is finalised.

But Mr Bailey is hopeful that ANAM, which is currently based at the South Melbourne Town Hall, has a future beyond the end of 2009.

“We think once they see our program for next year - which we’re sort of now getting out of the freezer and trying to put back together again having dismantled it six weeks ago - when the quality of the work is realised and the fact that Brett Dean is without doubt the only person in the country to be leading an institution such as this ... I think they’ll see that with a new business model the academy is the place for this type of program to be delivered from,” he said.

The Australian Greens have welcomed the news that the academy’s doors will stay open, but have accused the Government of a backflip.

“They say that music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, and no-one who has heard the beautiful music the Academy produces could consider closing it down,” Greens deputy leader and arts spokesperson Senator Christine Milne said in a statement.

“It is great news that the Government has come to its senses and decided to continue the planned activities of this world-renowned institution.”

After weeks of stress and uncertainty, Mr Bailey says staff and students are breathing a sigh of relief. But the story, he says, at least ends on a positive note.

“The great thing that has come out of the past seven weeks is that the country is talking about music education and music education [is] being talked about in Parliament in a way that it would have never been if this hadn’t happened,” he said.

“A lot of very passionate, very powerful people have come forward in support of the academy and I think they’ll be able to get a first class board out of this sort of energy and momentum that’s been created over the last seven weeks.”

Academy emerges from clash
Robin Usher
December 9, 2008 THE AGE
MUSIC has the power to soothe the savage beast and the evidence is that it also works a treat on irate arts ministers.

The Australian National Academy of Music, which seemed doomed a month ago, will now present its 2009 program in full, with the same staff in its old home and under its old name.

The academy’s artistic director, Brett Dean, has also agreed to continue as artistic director for next year after talks with Arts Minister Peter Garrett in Canberra last week.

Dean travelled to the capital with 12 academy musicians last Tuesday and spent the day playing and meeting government officials, including some from the Prime Minister’s office.

“It was a great school day out,” Dean said. “It was very fruitful.”

Yet the academy appeared to have no future six weeks ago after Mr Garrett suddenly announced its funding would cease at the end of the year.

It was not clear what would take its place except that there would be a “smooth transition” to alternative arrangements for elite classical music training in Melbourne.

A ministerial spokesman said yesterday this had now been achieved. But the transition could hardly be described as smooth, given the storm of protest that erupted, and which included such international figures as writer Peter Carey, Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush, and musicians Sir Simon Rattle, Richard Tognetti and Oleg Caetani.

The minister charged Melbourne University with creating a replacement institution even though it was not clear where it would be located.

Then he said the academy’s name would be retained, as would the base in the old South Melbourne town hall. In a final clarification, the university said yesterday the “full-scale ANAM program will continue for the whole of 2009”.

The ministerial spokesman said the Government’s aims had now been realised because the academy was a new organisation that addressed long-standing issues of governance and supplementary funding.

A new board will be appointed and Melbourne University is bringing together an international advisory board with representatives from New York, London and Paris.

Greens deputy leader and arts spokeswoman Christine Milne said the latest development “appears to be the exact reverse of where Peter Garrett was six weeks ago”. She called it a great outcome for classical music in Australia.

Dean is excited at the opportunity to present the program he has envisaged for 2009, including the international guests. “We’ll have to get the details out of the icebox again. It’s the 200th anniversary of Haydn’s death and we have some great things planned.”

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Govt agrees to keep music academy open
The Age December 8, 2008 - 4:02PM
Weeks of uncertainty for musicians from the National Academy of Music have ended on a high note after they heard their world-class facility would remain open next year.

The Rudd government earlier this year announced plans to strip the academy of $2.5 million in annual funding and put the money into a new institute of music at the University of Melbourne.

The decision caused outrage amongst the classical music community and students who would have had to wait until at least July next year before the new program began.

But the government on Monday announced it would keep the academy’s full program running in 2009 while plans are finalised for a new independent board and program.

The decision follows a weekend meeting between the academy, the university and government.

The academy’s artistic director, Brett Dean, said the decision was welcome news for students.

“It’s been a roller coaster of a ride these past six weeks, but we believe one that has been well worth it,” he said.

“I am confident that as we move into 2009 ... our brilliant young musicians will now have certainty and a firm base on which to realise their full artistic potential.”

The Australian Greens said the government had come to its senses.

“They say that music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, and no-one who has heard the beautiful music the academy produces could consider closing it down,” Senator Christine Milne said.

© 2008 AAP

Elizabeth Perey
It has been interesting to follow this …