Art funders and art institutions talk a big game about access and inclusion, but are the arts really for everyone? Who wants the arts to be for everyone? Do artists make art for everyone? How is populism shaping art and artists? If the arts are for everyone, why are the humanities struggling? Is everyone for art? Earlier this year, we put these questions to a panel of directors from Brisbane Festival, Queensland Ballet, Queensland Art Gallery, and the Indigenous Art Code. This time, we’re asking two art historians and a cultural-studies theorist: Susan Best (Griffith University), Andrew McNamara (QUT), and Simon During (University of Melbourne).

The panel coincides with the launch of the fifth issue of Town Hall, our free biannual newspaper. It addresses the legacy of William Robinson, profiles Seren Wagstaff and Sancintya Mohini Simpson, and interviews Canadian slop meister Jon Rafman. We look back on a time when the Olympics cultivated minds as well as bodies, explore our love-hate relationship with the corset, and celebrate twenty years of Mono. Plus we consider Vic Hislop, the Hervey Bay shark hunter who supplied sharks to Damien Hirst, and Brucesploitation, the film genre that posthumously cashed in Bruce Lee’s good name.

Registrations essential.