Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to talk about arts funding. The 2016-17 budget was both a slight relief and a disappointment for arts groups—relief that there were not more of the savage cuts from previous budgets but disappointment that there was still the 9.5 per cent in real terms cut through the efficiency dividend, leading to a stream of job losses and undermining arts organisations large and small. Participation in the arts and engagement in musical, artistic or dramatic pursuits does not just make us feel good—it connects us. In my community, where the Blue Mountains is the 'city of the arts' and the Hawkesbury has an active cultural life, we know it.

The Shine Community Choir was founded in 2013 by singer-songwriter and now choir master Nikki Giezekamp-Bakija. Her vision was to create a 200-strong community choir for all voices and ages in the Blue Mountains. Working with the Springwood Neighbourhood Centre, choir members have already performed at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York after a concert group saw a Shine Community Choir performance on YouTube. The choir is made up of people from all walks of life who simply share a passion for singing.

Last month I joined with the Blue Mountains MP, Trish Doyle, and the Shine Community Choir patrons, Mayor Mark Greenhill and Maurice Cooper, to celebrate Shine Community Choir's success. But, like every community arts activity, they have to do it completely on their own or with small amounts of spare change that the neighbourhood centres have. I have to say: it would be great to see these sorts of grassroots groups given some recognition.