The BHP Billiton Youth Arts Fund
South Australia’s children and young people are the focus of a $1 million sponsorship, the largest corporate sponsorship in Australian youth arts history. Lowdown finds out about the BHP Billiton Youth Arts Fund.
At the Odeon Theatre on Friday 4 August, the world’s largest diversified resource company, BHP Billiton, announced their sponsorship of $1 million for the establishment of the BHP Billiton Youth Arts Fund. The Fund will be administered by the South Australian Youth Arts Board (SAYAB), and is designed to contribute significantly to the creative life of SA. It will have a direct impact on thousands of young people, encompassing Adelaide and key priority areas identified by BHP Billiton, such as Roxby Downs and the Upper Spencer Gulf Region (Port Pirie, Port Augusta and Whyalla).
According to Dr Roger Higgins, Vice President, Base Metals Australia, BHP Billiton, the new fund will become BHP Billiton’s flagship sponsorship program in South Australia:
‘This is an exciting new chapter for BHP Billiton in South Australia’, said Dr Higgins. ‘In partnership with SAYAB, the BHP Billiton Youth Arts Fund will help to deliver a significantly expanded arts education program that reaches out to school children everywhere, with an emphasis on regional areas and children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The young people of South Australia are the future of arts in this State, and BHP Billiton is pleased to make this contribution to maintaining South Australia’s place as the leading State for the Arts in Australia.’
According to SAYAB Executive Officer, Jessica Machin, funding will be delivered over four years at the rate of $250,000 per annum: ‘It will be directed initially toward five specific areas: the Artists in Schools program; the Playfull – Live Performance in Schools program; Odeon Theatre; Come Out Festival; and D’Faces of Youth Arts annual workshop program.’
‘What’s terrific about this sponsorship is that it builds on the SA Government’s increases to youth performing arts companies…which addressed the working conditions of those organisations. This sponsorship enables us to build on other areas of our sector, namely our independent artists and smaller organisations..
The Artists In Schools program, based at Norwood’s Odeon Theatre, provides funding to schools for ‘diverse and vibrant arts projects, connecting children and young people with professional artists across all artforms’. Current funding enables up to fifteen residencies per annum, with over 3,000 student participants. According to Machin, the BHP Billiton Youth Arts Fund ‘will provide more employment opportunities for artists to deliver programs in schools… The program can double the amount of residencies and increase regional projects from six to around fourteen within a calendar year.’
Playfull – Live Performance In Schools is a live performance program that promotes SA artists and companies with a commitment to presenting a range of diverse, high quality, accredited shows for schools throughout the state. ‘Playfull supports the smaller operators – the independent artists. Most haven’t got a company behind them – it’s just them… What the sponsorship will do is help with Playfull’s marketing. It means we can increase the brochures that go to schools, it means we can do some direct telemarketing… It’s about promoting quality South Australian work to schools.’
The Odeon Theatre is the only performing arts facility in SA dedicated to children and young people, and provides opportunities for young people to participate as performers, technicians, theatre workers, artists and audience. For Machin, the impact of the sponsorship will be ‘to enable access for disadvantaged schools to come and see work on in the Odeon. In effect, it goes back to companies producing work at the Odeon, because we’re purchasing tickets to their shows.’
Come Out – the Australian Festival For Young People – happens biennially and is the largest and longest running arts festival for children and young people in the Southern Hemisphere. Come Out aims to involve young people aged 3–18 years as audiences and creators of theatre, dance, comedy, visual arts, music, literature, new media and circus. ‘This fund will give Come Out the largest sponsorship in its 30-year history. As you can imagine, that will have a major impact on its programming. There will be an exclusive Primary School Performance Hub program and the production of possibly the largest literary festival for children in Australia. Come Out will also be able to reach many schools and young people in regional SA through its regional touring program.’
D’Faces Of Youth Arts is Whyalla’s own youth arts company. It provides access to arts and skills development for young people, and a platform for creative expression through the performing and visual arts. The annual weekly workshop program provides skills development in dance and drama, with an emphasis on providing opportunities to young people from low socio-economic backgrounds; ‘at risk’ youth; regional youth; Indigenous youth; and youth with a disability. The BHP Billiton fund ‘also gives D’Faces its first program sponsor’, says Machin. ‘They’re going to be able to appoint a full-time Artistic Director, which will again have a major effect on their workshop programming… For the first time in their history they’re going to have a full-time General Manager and full-time Artistic Director. It will enable workshops on a weekly basis over 40 weeks of the year, allow them to build a solid membership structure and undertake future program planning and promotion.’
So, at a time when the broader arts sector is facing difficulties, why the interest in SA youth arts from both the corporate sector and government?
‘I think South Australia has, for a long time, been a leader in its support for youth arts’, says Machin. ‘The Government listened when we went to them a couple of years ago saying that there was a bit of a crisis going on. That recognition was supported by evidence from the Australia Council TYP review. We [SA youth arts] had a high turnover of staff, burnout across the sector, and the Government recognised that the youth arts sector is the foundation, the building block, of the broader arts sector. They knew if we didn’t address this now, then in ten years’ time we could have a major crisis on our hands.
‘So they responded to that. They know the importance of what we do because so much of youth arts work across many government portfolios, and the State Government is really interested at the moment in [issues such as] how we build the capacity of communities, how we deal with health and well being, with incarcerated youth and foster creativity. Much of the work of the youth arts sector intersects with these priorities.
‘In terms of the corporate sector, what’s really interesting about BHP Billiton’s sponsorship is that they recognise the responsiveness of the youth arts sector to addressing community needs. What they’re doing is responding to our charter, to enrich the lives of children and young people by engaging them in the arts. It also provides an opportunity for staff of BHP Billiton to get engaged with what we’re doing.
‘Yes, it’s about being a good corporate citizen, but the sponsorship is also going to give them a big reach… We were able to be very responsive to the priority areas they identified, such as the Upper Spencer Gulf region. We’re going to build our regional presence there, which enables us to fulfil our statewide charter.
‘Their sponsorship is going to have an impact on thousands of children and young people – and their families. ’
From the October 2006 issue of Lowdown.
