By Mark Wilson, AYO Youth Council member and 2026 Media and Communication fellow
The end of January 2023 saw the Esplanade Hotel in Melbourne’s St Kilda packed not with its usual revellers, but with audiences gathered to witness the official launch of the Australian Government’s National Cultural policy, Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place. Three years into Revive’s five-year lifespan, the Australian Government opened the floor for community submissions between between March and May this year to help inform its next National Cultural Policy.
The Australian Youth Orchestra joined in on this national conversation, contributing multiple submissions reflective of the variety of programs and voices involved in the organisation.
The Youth Council took a special interest in this review, with one of our quarterly meetings dedicated to the preparation of our own submission. This coincided perfectly with the planning of our inaugural Changemakers Summit, which took place this past weekend at Sydney Opera House to a roaring success.
As we now reflect on the discussions that arose from this inaugural event, it is important to take some time to zoom in on the connective tissue between Revive, the Youth Council’s National Cultural Policy submission, and the Changemakers Summit.
Centrality of the Artist and AI
Revive was structured around five interconnected pillars: First Nations First, A Place for Every Story, Centrality of the Artist, Strong Intercultural Infrastructure, and Engaging the Audience. The third pillar, Centrality of the Artist, was discussed at length within the Youth Council, given its makeup of active, performing artists.
We noticed a distinct absence of conversation within Revive around artificial intelligence, and the methodologies of language learning models (LLMs). The Youth Council expressed concern in the non-consensual nature of these models appropriating creative work, and the lack of government safeguarding around the acceleration of such technologies. As such, a portion of our submission was dedicated to articulating these concerns through the lens of artist centrality.
Fast forward to the Summit, and the concept of artist centrality was infused throughout the three sessions. I took part in Session Three with speakers Dr Dan Golding from Monash University and ABC Classic, and Zoe Taylor from Creative Australia. In this session we tackled the ‘bogeyman’ that is AI. The discussion tackled the existential threat of AI towards the creative sector, and challenged us to respond with solutions or methods to navigate the current landscape.
What stood out to me was Dr Dan Golding’s response. Rather than subscribe to the ‘doom and gloom’ reaction towards AI, Golding reflected on the historical responses to innovations in technology that threatened the creative sector.
The advent of recording, radio, and streaming services all introduced existential threats to performing artists, and we have historically managed to navigate towards models that attempt to maintain the centrality of the artist. While these models have certainly been far from perfect, it’s indicative of the possibility of responding and co-existing with these technologies.
If we are able to organise and develop methodologies of safeguarding artists regarding AI technologies, perhaps we can come out on the other end with this ‘pillar’ still intact.
