Mark's Say, February 2018
Sydney teacher and writer Catherine Walsh caused a bit of a storm when the Fairfax papers published a talk she gave on volunteering and charities, ‘Volunteering doesn’t make the world a better place’, (Sydney Morning Herald, 5 January). The crux of her argument was that volunteering and donating to charities transfers the collective obligations of society and government to individuals, and those who volunteer or donate are just propping up a broken system. Walsh’s piece attracted a lot of counter-attention from people who volunteer or donate. Yes, bits of the system are broken and many of us feel that government has let down some parts of society, but to ignore that while waiting for government to change would mean that lots of people go without help. Also, governments aren’t necessarily that efficient in targeting need. For example, huge amounts are spent in the Indigenous space, often with little apparent impact.
We support the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, which works in remote communities, both with donations and by soliciting donations. Their fundraiser at Fitzroy Town Hall last November raised $65,000. In the same month, The Readings Foundation approved a record $184,000 in grants. One of the recipients, Kids Under Cover, came in last week to receive the Foundation’s cheque for $7,000 to fund seven scholarships to help cover the basic costs of schooling for young people aged between 15 and 25. Kids Under Cover works with other agencies to provide housing for young people at risk of homelessness. For many low income families or grandparents taking on full time care of grandchildren, it’s often difficult to provide accommodation and space for young adults to grow and study. Kids Under Cover solves those problems by building studios in the backyards of homes. Walsh is right that the opportunity for every child to get an education should be a basic right but the children Kids Under Cover support can’t wait.
The bulk of The Readings Foundation’s grants support literacy and education projects. From the most recent round, money will be given to a VCE support program in Melbourne’s north, an early literacy program in the City of Yarra, and English language classes for migrants and refugees in Meadow Heights. The Foundation is also continuing to fund the Wheeler Centre’s Hot Desk Fellowships, which provide a space and a small stipend for 20 new and emerging writers each year. Many Hot Desk alumni are now published authors who started or finished their books during their time at the Wheeler Centre.
The Victorian Government’s support for the arts is pretty good, but sometimes someone else’s vision and support can do something that governments can’t. John Wylie and his partner Myriam Boisbouvier-Wylie had the vision of endowing a Chair of Australian Literature at the University of Melbourne in partnership with State Library Victoria. Their $5 million donation provides an Australian writer with the opportunity to work and engage with the community and a major university. The appointment isn’t overly prescriptive and gives the occupant financial and creative independence during their tenure. The first chair was Man Booker Prize-winner Richard Flanagan, and just before Christmas the university announced that it had appointed Indigenous writer Alexis Wright as the second Boisbouvier Chair. Wright won the Miles Franklin Award for her novel Carpentaria, and Tracker, her biography of Aboriginal activist Bruce Tilmouth, was published late last year to wide acclaim. The Age’s Jane Gleeson-White called it ‘superb’ and our reviewer Bronte Coates wrote that it pushes ‘new boundaries of the written form’. I reckon a culture of volunteering and philanthropy is a good thing – it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t put pressure on governments to step up too.
