Information and Cultural Exchange: a study of best practices in community building, participation and cultural citizenship through creative practices. This study relates to the NRP 2: 'Strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric'. This project offers new approaches to questions of cultural diversity beyond multiculturalism by bringing together the notions of culture and citizenship, thereby reframing the international debate over cultural citizenship within the Australian context. The p ....Information and Cultural Exchange: a study of best practices in community building, participation and cultural citizenship through creative practices. This study relates to the NRP 2: 'Strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric'. This project offers new approaches to questions of cultural diversity beyond multiculturalism by bringing together the notions of culture and citizenship, thereby reframing the international debate over cultural citizenship within the Australian context. The project places Australia at the leading edge of research on new media, creative practices and citizenship by developing models of 'evaluating evaluation' and benchmarking participation, belonging and cultural citizenship. The research will contribute to improved funding, evaluation and policy priorities for key Arts agencies such as The Australia Council and Arts NSW.Read moreRead less
A study of Indigenous art in settled Australia. This project will assemble the first comprehensive data on Indigenous artists who operate outside the areas of Central and Northern Australia generally regarded as the heartlands of Indigenous arts. Its findings may have implications for Indigenous arts funding policies but will be primarily concerned with the task of mapping the artistic landscape of the nation. Apart from the benefits for the participants, for Indigenous and Australian art schola ....A study of Indigenous art in settled Australia. This project will assemble the first comprehensive data on Indigenous artists who operate outside the areas of Central and Northern Australia generally regarded as the heartlands of Indigenous arts. Its findings may have implications for Indigenous arts funding policies but will be primarily concerned with the task of mapping the artistic landscape of the nation. Apart from the benefits for the participants, for Indigenous and Australian art scholarship, and for more soundly based Indigenous arts industry research, the project will help dismantle entrenched attitudes in non-Indigenous Australia against Indigenous people in 'non-remote' Australian society.Read moreRead less
The Art of Engagement: Exploring a contemporary arts -business collaboration. This project will promote an innovation culture and economy by developing new modes of creative collaboration between businesses, artists and local communities. It will provide new knowledge, relevant for arts/cultural policymaking, on how the creativity of contemporary artists can connect with and lead social, economic, community and regional development endeavours, thus enhancing the work, relevance and sustainabilit ....The Art of Engagement: Exploring a contemporary arts -business collaboration. This project will promote an innovation culture and economy by developing new modes of creative collaboration between businesses, artists and local communities. It will provide new knowledge, relevant for arts/cultural policymaking, on how the creativity of contemporary artists can connect with and lead social, economic, community and regional development endeavours, thus enhancing the work, relevance and sustainability of art museums and galleries in the twenty-first century.Read moreRead less
Mapping and augmenting engagement, learning and cultural belonging for children undertaking ArtPlay workshops. The project's triple focus on engagement, learning and cultural citizenship will benefit arts and culture provision for children. Public and private art partnerships are multiplying rapidly, with provision, programming and training largely unmonitored. The project supports both partners' aims: 'promote creative capacity of children, and increased access and engagement in the arts' (Melb ....Mapping and augmenting engagement, learning and cultural belonging for children undertaking ArtPlay workshops. The project's triple focus on engagement, learning and cultural citizenship will benefit arts and culture provision for children. Public and private art partnerships are multiplying rapidly, with provision, programming and training largely unmonitored. The project supports both partners' aims: 'promote creative capacity of children, and increased access and engagement in the arts' (Melbourne City) and 'improved opportunities in education and the arts through productive links and strengthened partnerships between education and arts' (Australia Council). It is in line with the federal Government's Early Childhood Strategy: 'helping people maximise their potential and achieve good, healthy, lifetime outcomes'Read moreRead less
Measuring Asian Art's Contribution to Contemporary Culture in Australia. This project substantially develops the research base of two of Australia's leading community-based arts organisations, advancing the theory and practice of multicultural arts programming. In partnership with a major contemporary art gallery in China, it demonstrates how Asian and Australian art can engender community, regional and international dialogue, offering insight into the transformation of local environments. It ad ....Measuring Asian Art's Contribution to Contemporary Culture in Australia. This project substantially develops the research base of two of Australia's leading community-based arts organisations, advancing the theory and practice of multicultural arts programming. In partnership with a major contemporary art gallery in China, it demonstrates how Asian and Australian art can engender community, regional and international dialogue, offering insight into the transformation of local environments. It addresses existing limitations in multicultural arts programming, positing a model of best practice based on dialogue rather than minority representation. It offers unique doctoral level training in Asian and multicultural arts curatorship and significantly advances the discipline base of visual culture in AustraliaRead 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
Feminist theory meets indigenous art. Aboriginal reconciliation is high on the social and cultural agenda in Australian life. The place of art in this political moment has been critical - the culture of Australian indigenous people has come to international attention, and won recognition, largely through art works. This reflects in many cases a political strategy on the part of indigenous communities to use art to depict their traditional Dreamings, of which the world was ignorant. But underlyin ....Feminist theory meets indigenous art. Aboriginal reconciliation is high on the social and cultural agenda in Australian life. The place of art in this political moment has been critical - the culture of Australian indigenous people has come to international attention, and won recognition, largely through art works. This reflects in many cases a political strategy on the part of indigenous communities to use art to depict their traditional Dreamings, of which the world was ignorant. But underlying this, is the assumption made in Aboriginal philosophies that the art is the knowledge it portrays, which in turn evokes title to land through the law of Dreaming, of belonging to "country". To better understand this negotiation advances debate on issues surrounding reconciliation.Read moreRead less
Aboriginal Femininity and Modern Identity: Gender and Race in the Late Colonial Visual Scene. The project is the first sustained cultural history of Aboriginal femininity in Australian from 1870-1967. It will draw on diverse forms of modern visual culture: painting, black and white drawing, mass commodity spectacle, film and photography, to investigate six modes of production of Aboriginal feminine visibility: the 'primitive' woman in Western exhibiting practices such as colonial museums: the pe ....Aboriginal Femininity and Modern Identity: Gender and Race in the Late Colonial Visual Scene. The project is the first sustained cultural history of Aboriginal femininity in Australian from 1870-1967. It will draw on diverse forms of modern visual culture: painting, black and white drawing, mass commodity spectacle, film and photography, to investigate six modes of production of Aboriginal feminine visibility: the 'primitive' woman in Western exhibiting practices such as colonial museums: the perceived failure of 'Mission Mary' to appear modern; the relation of Aboriginal femininity to imported forms of exoticism; the fetishism of Indigenous women; girl piccaninny kitsch in domestic and tourist ornaments; and the entrance of public Aboriginal women and celebrities into modernity.
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Cape Keerweer 1606-2006: an ethnographic history of the Wik region, Queensland. In this research with Wik Aboriginal people I investigate how key facets of the peoples' lives have changed since the first Dutch visit 400 years ago. I seek a credible empirical explanation for their descent into crisis, especially post-1978, something with wider implications for the national interest. I examine historical causes through shifts in demography, land tenure, occupations, power relations, violence, lang ....Cape Keerweer 1606-2006: an ethnographic history of the Wik region, Queensland. In this research with Wik Aboriginal people I investigate how key facets of the peoples' lives have changed since the first Dutch visit 400 years ago. I seek a credible empirical explanation for their descent into crisis, especially post-1978, something with wider implications for the national interest. I examine historical causes through shifts in demography, land tenure, occupations, power relations, violence, language use, and art production. From the intensely local, the past individuals and cultural landscapes of Cape Keerweer, I move outward in space and onward in time tracing gradual Wik engagement in regional, state, national and global relationships 1606-2006.Read moreRead less
Books as Media: The Cultural Economy of Literary Adaptation. The project will benefit three key Australian communities: (1) researchers; (2) cultural creators; and (3) cultural policy-makers. (1) The project builds upon Australia's existing research excellence in Media and Cultural Studies and cross-blends this with emerging research strengths in publishing studies and book history. (2) Australian authors, publishers and screen producers who seek access and exposure to international audiences wi ....Books as Media: The Cultural Economy of Literary Adaptation. The project will benefit three key Australian communities: (1) researchers; (2) cultural creators; and (3) cultural policy-makers. (1) The project builds upon Australia's existing research excellence in Media and Cultural Studies and cross-blends this with emerging research strengths in publishing studies and book history. (2) Australian authors, publishers and screen producers who seek access and exposure to international audiences will gain a detailed understanding of how adaptation's global economy functions. (3) The project informs Australia's cultural policy framework by focusing on enhanced marketing and promotion of Australian cultural content rather than input assistance schemes.Read moreRead less