As online petition site Change.org hits 1 million users, we take a look at the way that the arts are petitioning for change.
The fast-growing website allows people to create and sign online petitions and with 5% of Australia’s Internet population having used the website at one time or another it is fast emerging as an avenue to give voice to the unsung.
‘Change.org has demonstrated that ordinary Australians, armed with technology and the power of social media, can take on powerful institutions and win,’ says campaigns director Karen Skinner.
‘The potential of a platform like change.org is that it makes us more engaged citizens, day in and day out, on the issues that directly affect us – not just every three or four years when we are compelled to vote. ‘
One of its most powerful functions is keeping the media on its toes, demonstrated by the petition against shock jock Alan Jones for his ‘died of shame’ comments. But perhaps one of the most important elements of the website is its ability to engage people on a grass roots level, giving them a platform and a collective voice about issues that directly affect them.
This means that in terms of the arts, the website can be particularly valuable so we thought it might be apt to take a look at some examples of how arts practitioners, organisations and advocates are using change to help their cause.
1. Wagga Wagga City Council: Please do not destroy the Fitzmaurice St Mural by Jason Wing
This petition, signed by 481 supporters, called on local councillors to intervene over the destruction of a mural painted by award-winning Aboriginal artist Jason Wing. The mural was painted in 2011 by Wing and a group of school children, but it was later found to have been painted on a heritage listed building. Since the petition by Eastern Riverina Arts, the council has placed plans to paint over the mural on hold for a further four years. A win for art in Wagga Wagga.
2. Newcastle City Council: Save the Art Gallery Redevelopment Proposal
As ArtsHub reported recently, the Newcastle Art Gallery redevelopment proposal has been placed on hold after councillors voted for a motion to rescind a large portion of its funding. The community of Newcastle has been angered by the motion and have taken to Change.org to voice their concerns. The petition is still open and at the time of writing needed only 96 more names to reach its target. If you wish to add your name to the list click on the link above.
3. A minimum quota of 25% Australian music in the media will revive our music industry
John Prior is petitioning Senator Christine Milne to revive the Australian music industry by introducing a 25% Australian content quota for radio and television. While his petition to change the Federal Government Broadcast Act may be a David and Goliath scenario, the 2,963 supporters he has at the time of writing are nothing to laugh at and will certainly make some of the right heads turn in the direction of this issue, which is the lack of Australian content on our airwaves.
4. Australian Commonwealth Government: Mandated Payment of Fair Artists Fees
The National Association for the Visual Arts managed to drum up 3,534 supporters for its cause to mandate ‘the payment of artists’ fees for the loan or new commissioning of artists’ works for exhibition in public galleries and art spaces.’ The petition also asked that the government support small to medium sized galleries in order for this change to take place.
Not all petitions are successful however and when NAVA presented the petition, which with hard copy signatures totalled over 4,000, to the then Arts Minister Simon Crean his adviser told them that because many of the signatures were electronic it would not be eligible for presentation in the Lower House but that NAVA could find a politician to take it to the Senate.
‘When we asked for its return so we could follow up, we were told it had been ‘misplaced’ by the Minister’s adviser who left when Crean was demoted to the back bench,’ says NAVA Executive Director Tamara Winikoff. ‘ I am still trying to find what happened to it!’
5. Amazon to pay tax in the United Kingdom
This highly contentious issue has already gathered almost 110,000 names. Frances and Ken Smith (who are pictured in the petition and are so cute how could you deny them anything?) are calling on the online retailer to pay tax in United Kingdom. The pair run Kenilworth and Warwick bookshops and have fallen on hard times, as have many book retailers in the country, and find it unfair that Amazon does not pay some of its mega profits in tax, as they have to do. This isn’t the first time Amazon have been asked to put back into the community that they so readily profit from. As ArtsHub has reported, a prominent author Jeanette Winterson called on the book giant to use its tax dodge to save Britain’s libraries. If you wish to lend your support to Ken and Frances Smith and the rest of the UK book retailers, click on the link above.
6. Cultural Secretary of Germany, German Customs Officials: Return Ms. Yuriko Horigome’s violin
This issue might not seem like a big one compared to our struggling book retailers, but it is an example of what Change.org calls a victory. This petition asked for customs officials to return a violin worth $1.2 million confiscated because its owner, Yuriko Horigome, could not provide the required ownership documents. The violin has reportedly been returned to her.
7. Seventeen Magazine: Give Girls Images of Real Girls
While many may not consider the images we see in magazines to be art, we think that photography and the ways it is altered and presented to us is art even if it is presented in a commercial form. This victory scrapes into our list of 10 not only because it is art related, but because it is culturally significant. A whopping 84,439 people demanded that the editor of Seventeen Magazine, one of the most widely read teen magazines in the United States, stop altering the body size and face shape of the girls presented on its pages. The executive editor of the magazine caved to the demands of the people and made a commitment to stop the process.
8. MPAA: Don’t let the bullies win
One girl, Katy Butler, rallied over half a million supporters to change the rating of Lee Hirsch’s 2011 film Bully to a PG-13 rating so that younger people could be more aware of the issues facing those who are bullied across America’s high schools. She even managed to get high profile names such as Meryl Streep and Ellen Degeneres on board and successfully lobbied the Motion Picture Association of America to make the change. Not only is this a good example of how people can make a change, but it indicates the huge role that art can play in educating youngsters.
9. Please bring Dr Who Down Under
Change.org isn’t all about seriousness. A lot of its petitions are outrageous, or just plain silly. This isn’t one of them. Bringing Dr Who Down Under is a cause that 3,045 fans have already leant themselves to and those fans are steadfast in their resolve. To support this unique and valuable cause, please click the link above.
10. Reinstate Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards
Our readers will be more than aware of the fate of the Queensland Premiere’s Literary Awards and the online storm that followed their axing. Over 3,000 people gave their name to the petition to reinstate them. These names demonstrated the many people upset over the removal of the awards and helped create the support that was needed for the to develop the Queensland Literary Awards.
If you have a cause that needs fighting visit Change.org.
