Arts funding - nice if you can get it

If you want to be astonished at how our money is poured into the arts, have a look at this spreadsheet - and this is just what the NSW government hands out.

We, as in the taxpayers, gave the Sydney Theatre Company $712,600 in 2011/12 for a program to employ some resident artists.

How many artists do you think you can get for $712,600? Given that they're all supposed to be starving in garrets, I would have thought that would pay for a few dozen at least.

Nope.

Six.

The Residents in 2011 are:

Cameron Goodall 

Julia Ohannessian 

Zindzi Okenyo 

Richard Pyros 

Sophie Ross 

Tahki Saul

Assuming the STC splits the grant six ways and passes on all of it to these six, that comes to $118,767 each. Not bad going - beats waiting on tables.

Before the kids came along, we used to see up to six shows a year at the STC - most of them were pretty good (as you'd expect when the tickets cost $70-$120 per person). The only show that didn't do much for me was Julius Caesar - I fell asleep half an hour in, and my very loud snores distracted the cast on several occasions.

We'd have dinner at a nice restaurant before the show, and of course there were taxis there and back, so a single play would usually cost the two of us around $400 all up. Nowadays, it's whatever is on TV on Saturday night and some home made popcorn.

I don't recall seeing too many Westies in the audience at the STC. Why the westies should have to subsidise the entertainment preferences of the likes of me is something I will never understand.