The western suburbs arts community has slammed a decision to shut down the successful Big West Festival.
Arts workers and community members have reacted angrily to the festival board’s decision to ‘retire’ the festival by the end of this year.
A public meeting has been called for Wednesday night to hear the board justify its decision and consider ways the festival may be able to continue into the future.
Footscray artist, former board member and spokesman for new community group Save Big West, Hoang Tran Nguyen, said the board’s sudden announcement came as a shock.
“This festival is unique in the west – and you might even argue out of the west – in that no other organisation is exploring community based art in this way, using public spaces and working with groups and schools in the way Big West does,” he said.
“This has been an exciting and innovative arts program and a celebration for the community.”
Big West Festival chair Kirsty Ellem said in a statement the board’s unanimous decision to retire the organisation followed “a period of careful consideration”.
She said the Big West Festival was created in 1997 to address issues of geographic, cultural and social isolation of local residents and challenge perceptions of Melbourne’s west as culturally impoverished.
“The need for our contribution in the contemporary landscape has changed,” she said.
“We are excited that the West is evolving as an engaged, resilient and creative community, blessed with a wide range of organisations that deliver high quality, cutting-edge, multi-cultural and multi-artform programs.”
Ellem said the decision was not based on current arts funding challenges.
Yet Nguyen says there is a sense of “shock and bewilderment” that an organisation that has built up an enormous amount of goodwill, with such a deep community focus, could fold without community input into the decision.
“Part of the frustration is they haven’t shown respect to the community, that they haven’t properly explained their decision,” he said.
“The community holds Big West in high esteem and the public engagement was inadequate.”
Local musician and composer Peter Knight said there has been a lack of transparency around the decision, a view backed by theatre and festival director Ian Pidd.
“The decision to close Big West is a massive failure of the imagination of the festival’s board, and looks like another example of arts managers making highly destructive ‘rational’ strategic choices without the input of artists and communities,” Pidd said.
Former Big West board chair Dr Yoni Prior said she was bewildered by the decision and alarmed at the impact it will have upon future relationships between culturally diverse communities, arts organisations and funding bodies.
“This is terribly damaging to community arts in the west and comes at a time when the arts are already under enormous pressure.”
A public meeting will be held 6.30pm Wednesday at The Dancing Dog Cafe, 42 Albert St Footscray.
Details: www.facebook.com/savebigwest
