Maria cautions first and foremost against over-polarisation: that public funding is somehow good and private funding is bad or vice-versa — the situation today is much more complicated. Secondly she cautions about the passion for artistic autonomy for art is never entirely free. Rather than talking about freedom of art we should talk about space of manoeuvre, and is this space of manoeuvring shifting, shrinking? Elephant in the room is an idiom for an obvious truth that is being ignored, or an obvious problem that no-one wants to discuss. In her introduction, Maria Lind makes a plea to acknowledge this big looming elephant — this 'elephant' are the complicated and sometimes camouflaged conditions of art funding — “let’s talk with him, dance with him and even attack him for he’s definitely here to stay”. If we ignore the elephant our space of manoeuvre will certainly shrink. The first step is to address the elephant and stare him in the eye.