I found out yesterday that the Fine Art departments
of both Hornsby and Northern Beaches TAFEs were closed down late last week, one
week before classes were scheduled to start, and despite Hornsby alone having in
the region of one hundred students enrolled at the new commercial fee rate introduced by the O’farrell government last
year.
This just demonstrates the contempt which the O’farrell
government has for arts education in NSW. Indeed all education, the arts may
have been hit first as a soft target, but the government plans to extend the
commercialisation of TAFE to all departments eventually.
You can help by registering your support for the
campaign to stop the cuts at
This morning I was part of a very well attended demo
outside Hornsby TAFE, together with one of my Barry heads, which have already featured
in this blog and which were made for exactly this purpose, after the draconian
fee increases imposed by the O’farrell government last year. This is the first
time he has had the opportunity to appear in person at a demo and I am pleased
to say he has now been adopted by the representative of the NSW Teachers
Federation to use in further action.
Here he is today. The accompanying plaque is meant
to be read on two levels, WANTED ART! And WANTED for crimes against ART! But it
didn’t come out well in the photo so I have agreed to NTF colouring the
lettering red.
No comments:
Post a Comment