Boycott or not? The measures announced by the @DeptAHG yesterday have been met with suitable derision. The dept’s proposal is a kneejerk, easy-fit, populist response, yes. But the key thing here is that the response is forced. Salaried dept officials had to come up with to

justify the existence of the dept and to justify their jobs. This is the nature of bureaucracy. They’re trying to protect the dept and its budget. If artists play ball in this really pathetic game that was proposed yesterday, that’s all it is. A game. The dept now NEEDS artists

to produce digital content for them to make it look like this proposal was a good one. The content doesn’t matter to them. What matters is that the dept and associated orgs are busy for the next few weeks and then they have “proof” to share with the public in a month’s time of

how important the dept and orgs are. And how much they need their budgets. Tempting to boycott this vacuous and meaningless game, yes. BUT, when the next budget is being put together, we know the Arts will be on the chopping block. Dept of Finance rules the roost. And the DCHG

will be examined, both its validity and its budget. And I would fear that a boycott of yesterday’s proposal would be interpreted by finance dept officials as a sign that artists don’t need financial support. Finance dept will WANT that to be the truth so they can cut the budget

So the DCHG is ultimately busying themselves now to try to fend off the worst budget cuts in the near future. That’s good. The dept don’t want a budget cut for their own bureaucratic reasons but artists don’t want budget cuts either, for obvious reasons. A modest suggestion-

the proposal that was outlined yesterday is BS. Unavoidable bureaucratic BS. So artists, consider not boycotting it. That’s dangerous, I think. Instead, make art that does what this measure warrants. Make provocative, socially aware, critical art. Make art that shows that

we all know this is a game. Because in the end, the dept will HAVE to select something to have content to display. But they just might have to select some art that sends the message to the public- the Arts is not a mouthpiece for politics. It means more than that. Much more. END