Meaningfully communicating the value of arts and culture through reporting. This project aims to investigate how the value of cultural organisations and activities can be effectively communicated in official reporting processes. It aims to change the ways culture’s value is publicly determined by researching two innovative, socially responsible reporting frameworks, thus creating a dedicated framework for culture. Expected outcomes include new on-line reporting processes, principles and forms fo ....Meaningfully communicating the value of arts and culture through reporting. This project aims to investigate how the value of cultural organisations and activities can be effectively communicated in official reporting processes. It aims to change the ways culture’s value is publicly determined by researching two innovative, socially responsible reporting frameworks, thus creating a dedicated framework for culture. Expected outcomes include new on-line reporting processes, principles and forms for cultural practitioners and funding agencies, and enhanced understanding in both policy and cultural domains of meaningful reporting practices. The project will transform the way artists and cultural organisations communicate the value of what they do to governments.Read moreRead less
Making Music Work: Sustainable Portfolio Careers for Australian Musicians. This project plans to explore the conditions and strategies needed for musicians to sustain successful portfolio careers. Most musicians have ‘portfolio careers’, combining aspects of performance, recording, creation, music direction, teaching, community activities, health, retail and a presence in online environments. This phenomenon — often across music genres — is widespread but not well understood. The project involve ....Making Music Work: Sustainable Portfolio Careers for Australian Musicians. This project plans to explore the conditions and strategies needed for musicians to sustain successful portfolio careers. Most musicians have ‘portfolio careers’, combining aspects of performance, recording, creation, music direction, teaching, community activities, health, retail and a presence in online environments. This phenomenon — often across music genres — is widespread but not well understood. The project involves surveys and 12 in-depth case studies of individual musicians or ensembles that will aim to identify key success factors and obstacles. This information is intended to inform opportunities for training, development and support.Read moreRead less
TALKING THEATRE: An Audience Development Programme for Regional Queensland and the Northern Territory. TALKING THEATRE seeks to build new theatre audiences both in the short and long term for regional Queensland and the Northern Territory. Non-theatregoers from 14 regional centres will experience live theatrical performances in their communities, and will participate in post-performance questionnaires and focus group discussions. TALKING THEATRE will thereby ascertain the entertainment, cultu ....TALKING THEATRE: An Audience Development Programme for Regional Queensland and the Northern Territory. TALKING THEATRE seeks to build new theatre audiences both in the short and long term for regional Queensland and the Northern Territory. Non-theatregoers from 14 regional centres will experience live theatrical performances in their communities, and will participate in post-performance questionnaires and focus group discussions. TALKING THEATRE will thereby ascertain the entertainment, cultural, and creative needs of non-theatregoers living in regional areas. This innovative linking of audience reception studies with market development, will create skilled regional theatre staff and volunteers capable of growing new audiences, and will build the efficiency and sustainability of Australia's regional theatre networks.Read moreRead less
Developing refugee resilience and effective settlement through drama-based interventions. The proposed research will impact on national priorities to assist refugees to better negotiate the settlement experience, develop self-sufficiency and resilience, and engage fully with mainstream society (DIMA, 2006). A positive outcome has significant social and economic ramifications as it will address the disproportionate levels of unemployment in Humanitarian entrants, which currently stands at 13.2 pe ....Developing refugee resilience and effective settlement through drama-based interventions. The proposed research will impact on national priorities to assist refugees to better negotiate the settlement experience, develop self-sufficiency and resilience, and engage fully with mainstream society (DIMA, 2006). A positive outcome has significant social and economic ramifications as it will address the disproportionate levels of unemployment in Humanitarian entrants, which currently stands at 13.2 per cent (4.5 per cent for other migrants). The social benefits of an effective approach to working with refugees will be the empowerment to make choices that lead to positive pathways, and thus help individuals to live healthy, productive and fulfilling lives in Australia. 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
Theatres Online: Achieving Theoretical and Practical Solutions to Problems of Theatre Space via Virtual Reality Computational Modeling. This project merges theoretical and practical approaches to theatre production to make the complex phenomenon of theatre space more accessible to both researchers and industry professionals. It achieves this by providing a virtual reality model of selected theatres, so that users might better comprehend a venue's spatial dynamics. This dimensionally-accurate rep ....Theatres Online: Achieving Theoretical and Practical Solutions to Problems of Theatre Space via Virtual Reality Computational Modeling. This project merges theoretical and practical approaches to theatre production to make the complex phenomenon of theatre space more accessible to both researchers and industry professionals. It achieves this by providing a virtual reality model of selected theatres, so that users might better comprehend a venue's spatial dynamics. This dimensionally-accurate representation permits a full understanding of a theatre space (and its potential for performance) even from remote locations, thus potentially making the production of theatre more cost effective. There is no other such project in the theatre world or in computer modelling research.Read moreRead less
Sound Links: Exploring the dynamics of musical communities in Australia, and their potential for informing collaboration with music in schools. While considerable research has been devoted to formal school music programs and their curricula, including the recent National Review of School Music Education (DEST, 2005), little is known about Australia's more informal community contexts and the mechanisms and success factors underlying their approaches to teaching and learning music. Both the Nation ....Sound Links: Exploring the dynamics of musical communities in Australia, and their potential for informing collaboration with music in schools. While considerable research has been devoted to formal school music programs and their curricula, including the recent National Review of School Music Education (DEST, 2005), little is known about Australia's more informal community contexts and the mechanisms and success factors underlying their approaches to teaching and learning music. Both the National Review and the Australia Council for the Arts have recognised this imbalance, and plead for a more integrated approach to formal, school-based arts education and activities outside of schools. This project will deliver the insights to realise such an approach.Read moreRead less
From British Imperialist to Honorary Aussie to International Meeting-Place: How Shakespeare has been spoken and staged in Australia 1910-2003. Aims: To discover how changing ideas of Australia's relationship to Britain and the world relate to performances of Shakespeare for Australian audiences.
Significance: For the last 100 years Shakespeare has been the most performed playwright in Australia, but theatre companies today are more likely to draw on Asian physical theatre than British speech tr ....From British Imperialist to Honorary Aussie to International Meeting-Place: How Shakespeare has been spoken and staged in Australia 1910-2003. Aims: To discover how changing ideas of Australia's relationship to Britain and the world relate to performances of Shakespeare for Australian audiences.
Significance: For the last 100 years Shakespeare has been the most performed playwright in Australia, but theatre companies today are more likely to draw on Asian physical theatre than British speech training. How Shakespeare's plays have been staged and spoken here reflects changing ideas about national character and identity, in terms of independence, sophistication, and sense of cultural geography.
Outcomes: A PhD thesis and a major exhibition catalogue essay by the APAI candidate; research publications by the Chief InvestigatorsRead moreRead less
Countering the bullies : action research on policy change and teacher re-education through innovative and pro-active techniques in schools. Bullying is a major and intractable problem of contemporary schooling. Systemic policy is reactive and imposed on teachers and students. This project aims to effect change by implementing and evaluating an innovative, grass-roots, whole-school approach to bullying through the normal curriculum which empowers teachers and students to address bullying pro-ac ....Countering the bullies : action research on policy change and teacher re-education through innovative and pro-active techniques in schools. Bullying is a major and intractable problem of contemporary schooling. Systemic policy is reactive and imposed on teachers and students. This project aims to effect change by implementing and evaluating an innovative, grass-roots, whole-school approach to bullying through the normal curriculum which empowers teachers and students to address bullying pro-actively. The proposed use of action research places the responsibility for confronting bullying in the hands of the school community. The major outcome will be a system-wide and eventually nation-wide redefinition of bullying policy, and revised structures and practices in schools for bullying management by an alliance of teachers and students.Read moreRead less
The 21st Century Orchestra: researching and developing sustainable models. The project will investigate and prototype innovations which reinvent the orchestra from its current 19th Century form, to one which maintains high quality but resonates with more recent changes in music consumption patterns, musical tastes, performance modes (e.g. immersive), distribution media, and the revolution in instrument design. A musical, technological, social and audience analysis of orchestral history will info ....The 21st Century Orchestra: researching and developing sustainable models. The project will investigate and prototype innovations which reinvent the orchestra from its current 19th Century form, to one which maintains high quality but resonates with more recent changes in music consumption patterns, musical tastes, performance modes (e.g. immersive), distribution media, and the revolution in instrument design. A musical, technological, social and audience analysis of orchestral history will inform an action research inquiry into possible future success paths. Resulting innovations in music repertoire, product and events will produce new revenue models for orchestras around an expanded market base and export of IP. Orchestral sustainability will also strengthen Australia's cultural fabric.Read moreRead less