On the steps of Parliament House in Adelaide on Saturday morning, there will be lots of rabbits. Well, children dressed up as rabbits, protesting against the recent news of the imminent closure of the much loved youth theatre company, Urban Myth. 

For over 30 years Urban Myth has seen thousands of young people come through its doors. Although many do go onto the country’s leading drama schools, the company isn’t just about turning children into actors; it’s about nurturing imagination, shaping characters, developing confidence and helping many make great friendships too. Through theatre, all are encouraged to play, act, dream and be whatever they want to be.

However, despite valiant attempts to manage the company, major funding cuts over the last few years have made sustaining itself impossible. It needed $250,000 to continue for another year but, as of Monday, they had nothing. The announcement of its demise has come as a devastating blow to the community.

Funding of the arts is an ongoing issue. In a world where financial accountability is king and box ticking a must, justifying tangible benefits to suit the required terminology is hard. How do you possibly quantify the joy a child can get from being part of a play, writing their first script or standing on stage for the first time? The confidence boost, the smile and the excitement doesn’t have a quantifiable price tag.

Anyone who has been part of Urban Myth – staff, parents and students – can easily see all the wonderful benefits its theatre workshops and classes have brought to for so many children. However, quantifying them for finance boards and accountants is a lot harder. There aren’t many spreadsheets that have boxes for things like ‘handling yourself better against a school bully because you’ve learnt how to speak up for yourself’, or ‘trying harder with homework because you feel better about yourself’, or ‘having the courage to answer questions in class because you’ve found a voice’. 

The announcement of Urban Myth’s closure was followed by a mass of outrage on social media from students, old and new. Alumni celebrities spoke out on television praising the company’s worth and protests took place outside council offices. And the plan for the rabbit themed flash mob to take their fight to government (the costumes that would have been worn for their next production) is gathering momentum.

The sad irony was that the news of the closure came in the same week a new research project was launched with the aim to investigate the “value of culture” in South Australia. Led by many eminent arts figures, over the next three years, the project is tasked with assessing the overall worth of three organisations deemed crucial to Adelaide’s cultural life; the Adelaide Festival, the STCSA and the State Library of South Australia. It will look at developing qualitative and quantitative tools to demonstrate cultural value in more than just economic terms. The project is costing $321,000, money that has been received as a grant from the Australian Research Council. 

Also, in the same week too came the fantastic news that The State Theatre Company of South Australia (STCSA) had just taken over $424,000 in ticket sales with their latest production, The Importance of Being Earnest. The figure broke box office records and became the highest-grossing production in the company’s history.

And then came another financial record for the arts. The Art Gallery of South Australia revealed its latest acquisition; the Prairie a Eragny by French Impressionist Camille Pissarro. At $4.6 million, the painting of a meadow made headlines as the Gallery’s most expensive purchase in its 133-year history and one, curators claim, will ‘significantly enhance the gallery’s impressionist collection.’ The money needed to buy it had been raised by the Gallery Foundation Masterwork Appeal, which received donations from 285 individuals and businesses.

With all this news of financial highs as a backdrop, last Saturday a group of 18 incredibly talented young Urban Myth actors performed Romeo and Juliet. It seemed all too ironic: Shakespeare’s tale of young people and lovers who die, simply because good sense didn’t prevail and help arrived too late? As the lights went down the audience applauded and cheered but all knew it was likely to be the company’s swansong.

Whilst the latest proposal to assess the value of the arts is welcome, sadly it seems the findings will come too late to help Urban Myth. But maybe the committee who have been tasked with this challenge should come to Parliament House on Saturday and they could start their research there. There will undoubtedly be many sources for some qualitative data from Urban Myth staff, parents and friends. But the most important and the most meaningful responses will undoubtedly be from the rabbits.

Who knows what the next headline will be? However it reads, hopefully Urban Myth’s story won’t end with tragedy and woe but from somewhere a knight in shining armour or a magic fairy will appear and it will all end happily. As all great children’s stories should.