| Reference Type |
The Age
newspaper
|
| Title |
The fight to save our old cinemas |
| Author(s) | Kate Shaw |
| Publication Date |
24-09-2005 |
| Page Number |
p. 11. |
| Comments |
Film exhibition industry
Independent cinemas
Government funding (arts/heritage grants) |
| Synopsis |
Shaw explores the declining state of the film exhibition industry by listing recent independent cinema closures (the Lumiere, the Longford, the Valhalla, etc.) and identifying the contributing "usual suspects...DVDs, home-entertainment systems, internet downloads and the recent spate of ordinary films, and they're all partly guilty, contributing as they do to the absence of audiences." Shaw then shifts the focus of her article onto government regulation and support for the industry, and the economic pressure that has forced so many independent venues to close in recent times. Shaw draws a worthy comparison with the music industry's 2003 'Fair Go 4 Live Music' campaign. Lobbyists advocated cultural prosperity over the pressure from the real estate market that dictated the viability of many music venues. The writer makes a similar plea: "The people of a city shape that city's culture, but so too does that culture shape us," warning readers of what is at stake if the trend continues.
Shaw then provides the reader with evidence of government support in Europe and America, that have helped sustain niche arts communities. Furthermore, the writer provides examples of government support in recent years for independents the Sun Thearte in Yarraville and the Classic cinema in Elsternwick. Shaw concludes her article by warning: "In the jungle of the free market, only the biggest and strongest survive. A vital role for government is to protect the small and the weak." |
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