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Speaker 1: David Handley from Sculpture by the Sea is joining us now.

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Speaker 2: Hello David, Welcome, Hizy and Lisa. Thanks for having me on.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us. As we said, we speak

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Speaker 1: to you every We've spoken to you every year for

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Speaker 1: the last nineteen years. Next year would have been the twentieth.

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Speaker 1: But this is not the time that we normally talk

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Speaker 1: to you. But Sculpture by the Sea at Codislo Beach

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Speaker 1: has for at least next year been canceled after federal

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Speaker 1: funding dried up for the event. Has this come out

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Speaker 1: of the blue?

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Speaker 2: David sadly no. The federal Arts bureaucrats have not liked

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Speaker 2: Sculpture by the Sea since minute one. It actually took

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Speaker 2: us seven years to even get a meeting with them

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Speaker 2: that we're just not part of the club. They don't

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Speaker 2: want us part of the club's with them. It's going on,

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Speaker 2: well fill us start. They've been allowed to basically take

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Speaker 2: control of public arts funding and they call it arms lengths.

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Speaker 2: The Minister calls it arms length but basically it's it's

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Speaker 2: a very well controlled organization.

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Speaker 3: Okay, So these we're talking about the funding cycles, is

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Speaker 3: that true? That's every three years that things have worked

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Speaker 3: out and this time we missed out.

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Speaker 2: Even if they changed their mind, the multi year funding

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Speaker 2: is not available until twenty twenty nine. That's why we've

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Speaker 2: gone to the minister. And we've been speaking to the

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Speaker 2: minister since March last year. And you know we constantly

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Speaker 2: make invitations to send invitations to him to come Sculpture

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Speaker 2: by the Scene in perf and Bonday. But you know,

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Speaker 2: the last letter just got flicked to some junior bureaucrat

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Speaker 2: who replied from a no reply email address.

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Speaker 1: Great, this is very surprising to me considering the popularity

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Speaker 1: long Sculpture by the Sea. It could run for you know,

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Speaker 1: a month been what part of how many people go

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Speaker 1: to see it and love it are they missing?

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Speaker 2: I think that's actually that's the real point that shows

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Speaker 2: how much of a club this is that even if

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Speaker 2: you've got six hundred and seventy five thousand people a

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Speaker 2: year from Perth and Sydney and all across Australia coming

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Speaker 2: to this, that's irrelevant. And that's how much that's ditched

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Speaker 2: this up. That's how much it's ditched up.

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Speaker 1: I can tell you, David that Channel seven's had their

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Speaker 1: reporters down at Cottislow this morning. Of course, the beach

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Speaker 1: is always very busy with walkers and visitors and people

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Speaker 1: are really very devastated.

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Speaker 2: Well, people need to know how their tax mayor money

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Speaker 2: is spent. Course, yeah, and it shows that democracy is

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Speaker 2: not happening here. You know, who are these couple of

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Speaker 2: people who could tell the huge number of people in

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Speaker 2: Perth and Sydney that their interest in the arts is irrelevant.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, You've got a feel for the artists

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Speaker 3: as well, David, have been so many, over five hundred

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Speaker 3: from around the world, forty forty four countries. It's devastating

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Speaker 3: for them too.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think I don't know if you've seen there's

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Speaker 2: a petition that ninety five percent or a letter that

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Speaker 2: ninety five percent of the WA artists who've been in

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Speaker 2: the show four times or more have sent to the

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Speaker 2: federal Minister asking him to personally intervene in this case.

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Speaker 2: You know, to herd artists together at the best of

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Speaker 2: time is hard, but yet more than ninety five percent

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Speaker 2: of them on board just shows how they all feel

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Speaker 2: about this. And you know, each year the artists from

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Speaker 2: all around the world might not just perf and re

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Speaker 2: John w A spend a million dollars putting the show on.

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Speaker 2: Imagine if you were putting on one of the beautiful

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Speaker 2: free to concert park, free to the public parks in

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Speaker 2: King's Park, so free to the public concerts in king Park,

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Speaker 2: and you're not only said to the performers you're not

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Speaker 2: being paid, but you've got to pay twenty five percent

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Speaker 2: to put this show on.

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Speaker 1: Right, And if there was an international tiddly winks, I'm

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Speaker 1: sure we'd find the money for that. But anyway, I

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Speaker 1: should I shouldn't become on sported. So different, two different things.

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Speaker 1: But we're not taking this line down, David, What can

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Speaker 1: we do to make this a one year I mean,

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Speaker 1: next year is probably lost to us.

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Speaker 2: Next year is lost. Yeah, he is lost. We spoke

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Speaker 2: to all the deep pockets and a month ago the

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Speaker 2: decision was made and we've just been preparing for this

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Speaker 2: sad moment since then. But next year, we say, twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty six. We need to find the money by the

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Speaker 2: start of June, because that's when we normally start the

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Speaker 2: process of calling for artist's submissions. So get onto Elbow,

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Speaker 2: get onto Tony Birth. Yeah, but last time Albow was

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Speaker 2: in Perth. Yes, unscripted came from nowhere. He said, how

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Speaker 2: great the sculpture. Bant to see it?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, well he comes in here, so that'll be

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Speaker 3: our first port of call. Yeah, because you'll with an

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Speaker 3: election coming.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and yeah, it's it's been really heartwarming and touching

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Speaker 2: seeing people's response this morning and someone.

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Speaker 1: We're mortified, absolutely, And I mean, you know, this is

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Speaker 1: this is a wonderful introduction for a lot of young

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Speaker 1: people to this kind of you know, visual arts and

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Speaker 1: sign and it's important, it's important for a balance of life.

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Speaker 2: Over forty thousand school students have come through a school

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Speaker 2: education program that our corresponsors for twenty years.

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Speaker 1: And that's inspiration.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know some of those are now in

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Speaker 2: the exhibition. WA has got a very a very lucrative,

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Speaker 2: very it is the wrong word, a very good budget

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Speaker 2: set up for public, permanent public artworks. The younger artists

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Speaker 2: who are getting those commissions are only being discovered because

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Speaker 2: they've been sculptured by the seat.

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Speaker 3: And some kids, some kids some summers are coming twice

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Speaker 3: because they're coming with family as well as their school groups.

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Speaker 2: Well, you know, it's not going to inspire people to

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Speaker 2: be necessarily be an artist, but it might inspire them

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Speaker 2: to be whatever else they end up. It's the sort

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Speaker 2: of show where PI it sparks imagination.

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Speaker 1: It's magic, David.

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Speaker 2: And what I love is is that look of wonderment

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Speaker 2: on children's bass. It's just unreal.

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Speaker 1: Well, we're not taking this lying down. We're gonna we've

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Speaker 1: got to try to make next year a hiccup, not

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Speaker 1: a death knell for this, because it would be an

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Speaker 1: absolute travesty to lose it. So David, thank you for

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Speaker 1: everything you're doing and and you know, we'll see what

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Speaker 1: we can do.

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Speaker 3: Thanks for the mate for a very disappointing time for you,

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Speaker 3: but we'll keep working on it.

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Speaker 2: Fairly, I've seen this coming for two years. We're not

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Speaker 2: a vested interest. You have a free to the public event.

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Speaker 2: We don't have a vested interest. You think it would

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Speaker 2: be something called Creative Australia.

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Speaker 1: But it's not over yet.

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Speaker 2: No, thank you. It's