Intention and Serendipity: Investigating Improvisation, Symbolism and Memory in Creating Australian Contemporary Dance. Contemporary dance is one of the major vehicles through which Australian stories and cultural diversity are communicated. Little is known about the processes that underpin creation and performance of communicative dance works, and less still about processes and stylistic traditions unique to the Australian form. We will investigate cognitive and kinaesthetic processes involve ....Intention and Serendipity: Investigating Improvisation, Symbolism and Memory in Creating Australian Contemporary Dance. Contemporary dance is one of the major vehicles through which Australian stories and cultural diversity are communicated. Little is known about the processes that underpin creation and performance of communicative dance works, and less still about processes and stylistic traditions unique to the Australian form. We will investigate cognitive and kinaesthetic processes involved in creating, refining, performing significant works. Combining experimental and practice-based research we examine psychological mechanisms engaged by elite choreographers, and experienced and emerging dancers, and analyse the unique Australian heritage and embodied knowledge evident in leading dancers and choreographers influenced by Gertrud Bodenwieser.Read moreRead less
Precarious Movements: Choreography and the Museum. This project aims to interrogate the relationship between dance and visual art practices and institutions since the turn of the 21st century, developing solutions for emerging and associated challenges for artists and art workers. As a contemporary art form, dance innovates our museums and galleries by foregrounding challenging issues such as the dematerialization of art, the nature of creative labor, digital archives, experience as economy, and ....Precarious Movements: Choreography and the Museum. This project aims to interrogate the relationship between dance and visual art practices and institutions since the turn of the 21st century, developing solutions for emerging and associated challenges for artists and art workers. As a contemporary art form, dance innovates our museums and galleries by foregrounding challenging issues such as the dematerialization of art, the nature of creative labor, digital archives, experience as economy, and participatory aesthetics. Bringing academics, curators, conservators and artists from diverse institutions together, Precarious Movements stages a dialogue between dance artists and art institutions to support exemplary creative arts practices and the production of end user processes and protocols.Read moreRead less
Conceiving Connections: Increasing industry viability through analysis of audience responses to dance performance. The development of audiences is identified by the Australian dance industry as vital to the future of the sector. The current project will investigate how audiences respond to highly evolved dance-works. It will explore the kinds of meaning communicated by such works, and the value assigned to them by tutored and untutored audiences. Methods for enhancing audience engagement will be ....Conceiving Connections: Increasing industry viability through analysis of audience responses to dance performance. The development of audiences is identified by the Australian dance industry as vital to the future of the sector. The current project will investigate how audiences respond to highly evolved dance-works. It will explore the kinds of meaning communicated by such works, and the value assigned to them by tutored and untutored audiences. Methods for enhancing audience engagement will be tested through studies in both metropolitan and regional centres. Dance-scholars, artists and cognitive psychologists collaborate with three industry partners to identify and address significant concerns for artists, presenters, advocates and funding bodies, and to train postgraduate reserachers in inter-disciplinary modes.Read moreRead less
Australian Youth Orchestra's Contribution to Musical Life through Educational/Performance Programs for Aspiring Musicians in Urban, Regional and Rural Australia. The history of AYO, which is Australia's centre for excellence for aspiring orchestral musicians and an arts company responsive to changing socio-artistic conditions, needs investigating re the bridge it provides to the professional music world, its socio-artistic importance, and to answer calls for accountability. Through research int ....Australian Youth Orchestra's Contribution to Musical Life through Educational/Performance Programs for Aspiring Musicians in Urban, Regional and Rural Australia. The history of AYO, which is Australia's centre for excellence for aspiring orchestral musicians and an arts company responsive to changing socio-artistic conditions, needs investigating re the bridge it provides to the professional music world, its socio-artistic importance, and to answer calls for accountability. Through research into its innovative training and performance programs and archives (1948 - the present) and comparisons of its role with state and overseas youth orchestras, this project will measure and interpret AYO's contributions to Australia's cultural life in urban, regional and rural areas, including its participants' accelerated musical development and enhanced career opportunities.Read moreRead less
Sustainable futures for music cultures: Toward an ecology of musical diversity. The project will contribute to a vibrant and diverse musical life in Australia, and by extension the sense of wellbeing of its population. Further, it has the potential to substantially contribute to Australia's reputation as an innovative, forward looking nation by taking the lead in the emerging sub-discipline of applied ethnomusicology. Finally, from the perspective of the National Research Priorities, the project ....Sustainable futures for music cultures: Toward an ecology of musical diversity. The project will contribute to a vibrant and diverse musical life in Australia, and by extension the sense of wellbeing of its population. Further, it has the potential to substantially contribute to Australia's reputation as an innovative, forward looking nation by taking the lead in the emerging sub-discipline of applied ethnomusicology. Finally, from the perspective of the National Research Priorities, the project will contribute to fostering understanding between cultures in Australia and the region by increasing insight into the working of other cultures, focusing on the Asia-Pacific.Read moreRead less
Agile opera: chamber opera in a new era. Chamber Made Opera and university researchers will explore new production and audience models that engage a digitally enabled society. This project will support the creation of innovative performance works, enable the engagement of new audiences, and provide outcomes that promote the sustainability of arts organisations in the digital age.
Thinking brains and bodies: distributed cognition and dynamic memory in Australian Dance Theatre. Creative thinking, learning and memory - key features of human cognition - will be investigated in the context of dance in this project. Complementary quantitative and qualitative methods will shed light on process and communication in the Australian Dance Theatre and the arts more broadly, and inform new accounts of thinking as embodied and distributed.
Flute properties without players, and without flutes. This project will measure how the acoustic impedance spectra of some flutes depend upon the detailed shape of the bore and the size, shape and position of the holes. It will develop a model to predict, for the benefit of instrument makers, the effect of proposed changes in the geometry of the instrument on the pitches and ease of playing of notes played on the instrument. Importantly, it will allow museum curators to determine tunings and (un ....Flute properties without players, and without flutes. This project will measure how the acoustic impedance spectra of some flutes depend upon the detailed shape of the bore and the size, shape and position of the holes. It will develop a model to predict, for the benefit of instrument makers, the effect of proposed changes in the geometry of the instrument on the pitches and ease of playing of notes played on the instrument. Importantly, it will allow museum curators to determine tunings and (uncompensated) temperaments of historic instruments that cannot readily be played.Read moreRead less
A cultural and historical analysis of Australian live theatre recordings preserved in the archives of ABC Television and Channel Nine. This project aims to enhance the study of Australian theatre history with two PhD theses identifying and analysing the motion-picture records of live theatre in the archives of ABC Television and Channel Nine. At a time when Australian theatre practitioners are gaining worldwide recognition, this project will assist scholars to analyse Australian theatre history ....A cultural and historical analysis of Australian live theatre recordings preserved in the archives of ABC Television and Channel Nine. This project aims to enhance the study of Australian theatre history with two PhD theses identifying and analysing the motion-picture records of live theatre in the archives of ABC Television and Channel Nine. At a time when Australian theatre practitioners are gaining worldwide recognition, this project will assist scholars to analyse Australian theatre history with a focus on live performance and production. The project will result in a detailed database/directory of material showing Australian live theatre on film and video, as well as two dissertations providing an in-depth scholarly description and cultural analysis of that material.Read moreRead less
The Role of Arts Education in Academic Motivation, Engagement, and Achievement. Research is needed to examine the impact of arts education on students' motivation, engagement, and achievement. Findings will help better direct funding and policy to arts education that makes a real difference in the academic and non-academic lives of children and young people. In the school context, findings will link directly to aspects of arts education and achievement motivation that enhance educational attainm ....The Role of Arts Education in Academic Motivation, Engagement, and Achievement. Research is needed to examine the impact of arts education on students' motivation, engagement, and achievement. Findings will help better direct funding and policy to arts education that makes a real difference in the academic and non-academic lives of children and young people. In the school context, findings will link directly to aspects of arts education and achievement motivation that enhance educational attainment, reduce disengagement, and instil greater satisfaction with school life. At a national level, findings will provide an evidence base for the integrated development of cultural, educational and social capital that better enable Australia to contribute to leadership and advocacy in the arts internationally.Read moreRead less