Arts needs championing

CAIRNS is ushering in a new era of cultural presentation with the new-look Northsite gallery and Bulmba-ja performing arts centre.

Events such as the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair continue to promote our cultural and creative assets and with its next decade ahead of it, the event ensures greater viability for local and regional artistic output.

As the arts ups its ante and changes face, so too is our local politics. Many incumbents, “professional” campaigners and novices alike are throwing their hats in the ring for divisional and mayoral slots. Across their campaign material there’s much emphasis on the important but negative elements of our community (youth crime, itinerancy) and the socalled shortcomings of the current council (airline visitation to the local airports).

What’s glaringly absent is a positive tone. There doesn’t appear much that indicates candidates are willing to champion the assets of our community, such as the arts, that are poised and ready to expand. Instead, merely a willingness to scrape by on beat-up voter disapproval.

With the strides in cultural and creative might that Cairns and the region has made, innovative-mindedness is what’s needed to shepherd Cairns’ future.

Jack Wilkie-Jans, Earlville

PRIVACY POLICY: Our privacy policy www.apnarm.com.au/privacy includes important information about our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information (including to provide you with targeted advertising based on your online activities). It explains that if you do not provide us with information we have requested from you, we may not be able to provide you with the goods and services you require. It also explains how you can access or seek correction of your personal information, how you can complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles and how we will deal with a complaint of that nature.