Theatre Network NSW - 2020 State of the Sector Address

Page 9

THEATRE NETWORK NSW

Mark Swivel Madame Speaker ...

Madame Speaker Honourable Members Today ... illness stalks our wounded earth ... and truth leans into the ditch … but chin up and let these mere words be your balm For today I am your minister With the means and budget to … run amok In short … my er hem … executive summary … Our land needs to sing The story of this earth … Our work of beauty as artists Counts and must be counted That’s it But let me continue briefly so …

Mark Swivel is a lawyer, writer and performer. He is the MC of Dustyesky, Australia’s leading genuine fake Russian choir, has toured widely as a comedian and wrote Water Falling Down, a play about dementia, love of language and becoming our parent’s parents (QTC 2010). Mark runs the community law firm Barefoot Law in Byron Bay and is the treasurer of Spaghetti Circus. He often pops up on ABC radio and Phillip Adams once gave Mark a coveted koala stamp on Late Night Live.

What we need is a campaign From instagram to bumper stickers To get across my big idea, folks, that … The Arts are not a thing A sector A commodity An industry No! The arts are a fact of our hearts. You and me and all of us From the Kimberley to Kiama The invisible Incorrigible Indestructible, fragile

For today I am your minister With the means and budget to … run amok

Magnificent fact of our hearts … That’s the arts

www.tnn.org.au

Mark Swivel

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