Interview?

-         So hello

-         Hello

-         What do you think you’re doing?

-         What do I think I am doing?

-         Yes, why in all that is good and proper are you mucking about with form and silliness when you should be uploading OTHER ARTISTS to Muddy Leaks.

-         I am an artist too!

-         Yes but not ANOTHER ARTIST

-         I am an artist three!

-         You should be blogging about the festival

-         This is about the festival!

-         And how awesome Mudfest is and how hard everyone is working

-         How hard I am working?

-         You?

-         You?

-         You are playing games with interviewing me, myself and I. Clearly you have too much time on your hands.

-         […]

-         What?

-         […]

-         Where have you gone?

-         […]

-         Where have you been?

-         Oh sorry I had to go and re-upload everything from muddyleaks onto the mufest site blog. As well as email photos to someone that I have been promising for ages for concept art that I drew for one of my shows as well as writing and editing other artist interviews and thinking and planning on sorting out comps for people that need to be sorted. Oh and also I am filling out forms for leaving the country and starting Uni overseas in just over two weeks whilst constantly thinking about packing up this house and if everything will end up working out and being ok in the end – which it probably will – but still time, time, time, TIME! And instead what I really should have been doing is sitting here typing bugger all into this document and asking where I have been and gone.

-         I said you should be doing something else.

Did you know?

Did you know that if you accidently type Mudd Leaks (instead of Muddy Leaks) into Google all that comes up are lists of references to Rudd Leaks!

Mudfest? Make that RUDFEST!

MUDfest and the Farrago.

Farrago Edition 3, 2011 was an interesting issue for many reasons. One was the highly amusing horoscopes but there was a lot of more interesting and political stuff as well. Not to be daunted the Editors of Farrago ran a provocative cover and also a feature article about the way forward for the Union/Onion underneath the leader ship of Clemens Unger*. Under the title Westfield Parkville Tim Hall wrote about the the direction the University is taking with the Union. This very interesting and worthwhile article was on page 11.

On page 40 there was an article about about MUDfest: Covered in MUDfest by Vicky Smith (which doesn't seem to be up on the website for some reason - check out the emag. It will be there - page 40). This is not a go at the eds for relegating it to the bag of the magazine - when it really should be in the front news section - instead we would like to draw some parallels between the articles.

For a University Union to be concerning itself to becoming "the Parkville destination...in terms of retail, entertainment and hospitality...a layout like Melbourne Central, you get the drift of what should be there" is a worry. This is Von Westfield on his vision for Onion House. But wait there is more! "I like that Borders principle..." Yes, it is always wise to take business ideas FROM A BANKRUPT COMPANY THAT FORGOT IT WAS A BOOKSHOP. It is clear that the Union is at risk as the article continues of forgetting that "it is a University not a shopping centre." So. We have a mandate (apparent mandate) anyway to move away from being "stuck in the 1970s" and 'moving forward' to to the present. The cynic in the root system of this website asks:

1. How much is the architect being paid to redesign the second floor?
2. How much does this "major make-over" going to cost?
3. Will it actually benefit students and...
4. Why was there no money in the MUSUL budget for MUDfest?

This is where the two articles are linked. On page 11 we have a man with an expansive and expensive vision to transform the Union and 29 pages later there is an article about the same organisation completely annihilating the funding of a student festival. There is of course tough economic times at the moment as we are being constantly reminded by our politicians in the lead up to Federal Budget BUT, the cynic might not accept that there is no money at MUSUL. There is just no money for MUDfest as it is being channelled into other ventures. 

Incidentally factually the report in the Covered in MUDfest article that MUSUL has cut the budget almost in half is incorrect. The money raised for this years festival predominately came from C-CRAG (The Cultural and Community Relations and Advisory Group - hideous sounding acronym but really quite awesome) and ever lovely and supportive Theatre Board. Allegedly MUSUL have not provided any direct funding (as far as Muddy Leaks is aware) but have been assisting with the providing the designs and other materials. Fortunately it finished on a great positive note:

Arts Officer Extroadinaire: "For us it is not about going 'Oh crap, we don't have eighty thousand dollars to spend' it's about producing a festival that's sustainable, raw, and not too loud in terms of expenses - a festival that is about ideas."

Keep up the fight Farrago!

*Henceforth on this site the supreme leader of that darkside of the will be known as Von Westfield, although we are sure he is a lovely chap.

What is the "Melbourne Experience" worth?

On a more serious note, it is indicative of the state of the tertiary education sector that a student operated and run arts festival (MUDfest) goes from a budget of approx. $73, 000 to absolutely nil. ie: 0.

[It is true that the efforts of students involved have managed to ensure a smaller level of funding from some sources but this post in not about that epic journey.]

It would do the University of Melbourne good to realise that the perfect University is not one without students for it is the students and staff that make up a University. A lot of time is invested in promoting campus as a vibrant and exciting place to be but what makes it that? It is not the presence of shops etc. It is the people and the culture that forms around these people that is important. Specifically in this case of MUDfest, we are taking creative people.

Numbers. Student numbers. We all get one, and yet we are surprisingly much, much more than that. Students who come to Melbourne University expecting the "Melbourne Experience" do not necessarily crave the sanitised quotes on screens in a student centre. But they might love theatre, or art, or music. They might love to read, they might just might want to get involved in sharing their passion with others. Dreaming Larger is not about hoarding away the pennies it is about facilitating student programs and initiatives. Proposing to cancel the primary arts festival on campus was a disgrace. And it remains so. A key witness to this manoeuvring remarked that the cause for the funding withdrawal related to previous budget over-spending. This may be the case, but surely the way forward is to work with student representatives to ensure they know how to work within a set budget rather than removing it altogether.

Lilly Pads are famous plants, we inspired Claude Monet and we adorn your mugs and place-mats, but even we do not have a magical solution for money shortages in the tertiary sector. The only thing we can suggest is working  with students and not against them.

Something Fishy.