Former Opera Australia Chief Joins Conservative Conference, Pushes for Economic Growth to Help the Arts

BRISBANE, Australia—His voice echoed through the halls of Brisbane’s Royal International Convention Centre during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on the weekend.

Baritone Lyndon Terracini and his wife and soprano Noëmi Nadelmann delivered renditions of the national anthem and Waltzing Matilda to a 1,400-strong crowd that gathered for the U.S.-inspired event.

Terracini’s appearance at CPAC marked a new step for Australia’s largest conservative political gathering since its inception in 2019, bringing the world of classical arts into the forum.

The musician is famous for leading the flagship Opera Australia company for over a decade pushing innovations like “Handa Opera on the Harbour.”

He told The Epoch Times why he decided to take the step into the political and public policy arena.

“It’s about the health and state of the economy. You know, if people are doing well and and they’re earning good money, then they’ll go out and see shows, or they’ll buy art, or they’ll sponsor a production or something like that, and so that’s what appeals to me,” Terracini said.

“There was no government funding in Mozart’s time or Verdi’s time, and so the shows had to stand on their own two feet, and so if the economy is healthy and people are doing well, then the arts thrive.”

With Terracini’s own regional event, the Handa Opera at Milthorpe, he made the deliberate choice not to pursue taxpayer-backed grants, preferring box office ticket sales and private philanthropy.

“Look, there are plenty of things that I think the government needs to spend money on: education and health, for example—and I would much prefer the money go in that direction,” Terracini said.

“But I think there have been a lot of governments, certainly in the Western world, that have failed their constituents in terms of the state of the economy and what that has brought about,”

He also reiterated calls for Creative Australia, the country’s leading arts funding body, to place a moratorium on funding for a few years amid concerns certain ideologies are receiving preferential treatment.

“Most artists believe there’s a serious problem with Creative Australia that specific agendas are being funded above what many people would consider general genuine art,” he said. “And once things become ideologically or gender driven—that’s not what art is about.”

Economic Struggle Puts High-End Art World In Tailspin

In late September, the Reserve Bank raised interest rates again to try curb what it calls “elevated” inflation.

“The Board remains focused on ensuring that high inflation does not become embedded. To achieve this, growth in aggregate demand needs to remain subdued for a period to reduce capacity pressures and bring inflation back to target,” it said in its statement.

The Labor government has faced criticism for not slowing public spending fast enough, and and for failing to implement reforms that could streamline business operations and spur economic growth.

Meanwhile, the rate of annual business closures has increased steadily over the last four financial years.

The weakening economy has filtered into the arts world, where a portion of artists follow the traditional ways and rely on selling direct to private collectors or investors.

Leading fine artist Gordon Hanley, a “Living Master” of the U.S.-based Art Renewal Center, says art is a discretionary spend and if private buyers go into hibernation, it means more will gravitate towards state-backed funding channels.

“What’s happened is business confidence has collapsed, completely collapsed. That’s my market, my entire market,” he told The Epoch Times. “Now no one ever thought that we would find this in Australia, a complete collapse in business confidence.”

“Art is the ultimate in discretionary income. Think about it, you can walk into your house, and all of a sudden, you open the fridge and no lights come on, and you think, ‘The light bulb’s gone, I need a new fridge.’ What do you do? You buy a new fridge,’” Hanley said.

“No one would say, ‘I want a $50,000 piece of artwork.’”