Voices of dissent in the age of emperor Kennett

Celebrates the company's artistic achievements and successes over the last two decades through interviews, essays and high quality images of key productions, and recounts its history, its evolving relationship with the embattled trade union movement, and its on-going engagement with working class, indigenous and migrant communities.

A creative twist: management theory, creativity and the arts

For many theorists and practitioners in the area of organizational theory, HRM, marketing and other domains of organization studies, organizational creativity is something to be distilled and managed as an element of organizational performance. The article argues, however, that this process of appropriation from the creative arts is subject to a number of problematic transitions. The article's starting point is the notion of creativity itself. Within the creative arts, the question of what constitutes creativity and its relationship to artistic practice is subject to considerable debate. This debate centers on the question of whether creativity represents an essentialist and inexplicable (even spiritual) component of artistic practice or whether creativity is a trait of work and cannot be attributed as a unique aspect of art. The mantra of creativity provides nothing more than a means to control individuals and provide them with a false hope that contributing to the success of business will provide a means to self fulfillment.

Mentoring volunteer festival managers : evaluation of a pilot scheme in regional Australia

Festival managers in regional locations often have limited access to didactic experiences in their field. As such, developing strategies that enhance the skills of festival management in regional locations can be challenging. This paper, set within the context of the Australian regional arts festival sector, evaluates a pilot mentoring scheme developed by Regional Arts Victoria and Arts Victoria to assist volunteer festival managers to enhance the management, and focus the artistic direction, of their festivals. The results of the evaluation, based on six case studies, indicate that mentoring is highly suited to this scenario. Recommendations are made with regard to the future application of mentoring within this context, particularly in relation to communication and formalisation.

Experiential learning in practice as research: context, method, knowledge

Creative arts research is often motivated by emotional, personal and subjective concerns; it operates not only on the basis of explicit and exact knowledge, but also on that of tacit and experiential knowledge. Experience operates within in the domain of the aesthetic and knowledge produced through aesthetic experience is always contextual and situated. The continuity of artistic experience with normal processes of living is derived from an impulse to handle materials and to think and feel through their handling. The key term for understanding the relationship between experience, practice and knowledge is 'aesthetic experience', not as it is understood through traditional eighteenth century accounts, but as 'sense activity'.

In this article, I will draw on the work of John Dewey, Michael Polanyi and others to argue that creative arts practice as research is an intensification of everyday experiences from which new knowledge or knowing emerges. The ideas presented here will be illustrated with reference to case studies based on reflections, by the artists themselves, on successful research projects in dance, creative writing and visual art.

Managerialism and the arts : a complete and utter bloody waste of time

Managerialism has been adopted with alacrity by Australian government agencies across multiple sectors. Studies of managerialism in concept and practice have been undertaken in some public sectors but not from a critical management perspective. This position paper examines the contribution of organization theory to an understanding of managerialism. Here we challenge the appropriateness and effectiveness of new managerialism generally, and for the arts in particular, through an analysis of conflict between an Artistic Director, General Manager and Board in a key Australian community arts organization. We call for further research into the appropriateness of management theory and practice for the arts; and seek better ways of managing our cultural capital.

Using creativity to achieve an entrepreneurial future for arts marketing

The marketing concept fails to explain marketing behaviour of small firms. Similar comments are now being made of large firms. This gap between theory and practice is even more significant in non-profit and arts organisations where sector specific philosophies often determine how marketing is embraced, with its underlying notions of the customer and profitability. Many of these organisations must overcome severe resource constraints by thinking creatively. This paper investigates the relationship between art, marketing, entrepreneurship and creativity in order to reach a clearer understanding of how creativity can assist both the arts organisation and those involved in researching the sector. There have been increasing calls within the academic marketing community to instil a creative philosophy within the research process. This call has not resulted in much research on the phenomenon within marketing, and certainly not from a nonprofit perspective. This paper discusses creativity as a concept drawing on a diverse range of literatures outside the management discipline. The link between creativity, marketing, entrepreneurship and art is analysed. Justification of the incorporation of creativity in the research process is presented for practitioners and theorists in marketing and the arts, so that they can learn from each others' disciplines. Implications for future research are presented, where creativity is viewed as the centre of a non-linear, free thinking understanding of artistic truth.

Class act : Melbourne Workers Theatre, 1987-2007

Celebrates the company's artistic achievements and successes over the last two decades through interviews, essays and high quality images of key productions, and recounts its history, its evolving relationship with the embattled trade union movement, and its on-going engagement with working class, indigenous and migrant communities.

Primary school music

Primary teaching and music qualifications - a rare combination, not only in New Zealand today but in primary schools the world over for more than a decade. Helen Stowasser (1993) writes of 'insecure music teachers' and questions the adequacy of teacher education courses. The Arts in the New Zealand Curriculum states: 'The arts develop the artistic and
aesthetic dimensions of human experience. They contribute to our intellectual ability and to our social, cultural and spiritual understandings. They are an essential element of daily living and of lifelong learning' [the italics are mine]. If our Ministry of Education truly believes this and wants
to ensure that the music discipline is adequately taught, then there are some issues to be addressed, such as recruitment of musically capable teachers; acceptable standards of professional expertise in music; content, length and timing of pre-service programmes; and making provision for teachers' ongoing development.

Vibrant, oppositional culture : the media and Australian political culture, 1880-1910

The notion that Australia has an entrenched “utilitarian political culture” has predominated in representations of political life and political culture in this country. Ostensibly, political life has been characterised above all by materialism and pragmatism, largely devoid of meaningful debate over ideas. There has, however, been a growing recognition that Australian political culture has been richer, more complex and less settled than commonly believed.

This paper examines the experience in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Australia, focussing on the role of the media in tandem with a burgeoning reading public as integral elements of a vibrant oppositional culture. Here, a passion for knowledge and self-improvement combined with a strong sense that cultivation of the mind was intrinsic to goals of moral, political and social development existed. The print media was centrally important in catering to and stimulating the interests, outlooks and aspirations of a diverse community of readers. Radical papers and journals jostled for attention alongside the mainstream press, supported by a spreading carpet of Mechanics Institutes and Schools of Arts, bookshops stocking a vast array of titles, and a comparatively large and increasingly professionalised literary-artistic intelligentsia.

Many different publics were being engaged and indeed constituted, from the very pragmatic to the strongly idealistic; from anarchists through to conservatives; from the strongly nationalistic through to those deeply loyal to God and Empire. Moreover, potentially quite complex patterns of understanding and attachment were being stimulated during this time. Taking clearer account of the media’s contribution to intellectual and literary pursuits during this period increases our understanding of the diverse and often contradictory traditions that have been part of Australian political culture.

What does it meme? The Exegesis as valorization of creative arts research

This paper will draw on Richard Dawkin's idea of the 'meme' to discuss how the creative arts exegesis can operate as valorisation and validation of creative arts research. According to Dawkins, the rate and fecundity of replication permits an artefact to achieve recognition and stability as a meme within a culture. The value and application of traditional forms of research is underpinned by a secondary order of production, publication, that establishes visibility of the work and articulates its empirical processes and findings as sources of social benefit and cultural enhancement.

In the arts, conventional modes of valorisation such as the gallery system, reviews and criticism focus on the artistic product and hence, lack sustained engagement with the creative processes as models of research. Such engagement is necessary to articulate and validate studio practices as modes of enquiry.

A crucial question to initiate this engagement is: 'What did the studio process reveal that could not have been revealed by any other mode of enquiry?'

Re-versioning of the studio process and its significant moments through the exegesis locates the work within the broader field of practice and theory. It is also part of the replication process that establishes the creative arts as a stable research discipline, able to withstand peer and wider assessment. The exegesis is a primary means of realising creative arts research as 'meme'.

The Body of Christ : blasphemy, eroticism and transgression in Martin Scorses's The Last Temptation of Christ

Martin Scorsese’s film The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) has polarised critics and audiences for almost two decades. The film is most often remembered for offending the religious sensibilities of fundamentalist Christians, who objected to Scorsese’s representation of Christ as a neurotic figure who struggles to reconcile his divinity with his sexual impulses.

Even critics who reject the fundamentalist accusations of blasphemy are divided about the film’s value. For example, Rolando Caputo praises the film as an unrecognised masterpiece, which confirms Scorsese’s status as an auteur. Conversely, Leonard W. Levy, dismiss the film as having little artistic merit. This paper re-evaluates the film as a serious theological text by re-examining the film in the light of Michel Foucault’s essay ‘A Preface to Transgression,’ arguing that the film can be read as a sophisticated attempt to examine the connections between corporeality, divinity and human subjectivity.

Experiential learning in practice as research : context, method, knowledge

Creative arts research is often motivated by emotional, personal and subjective concerns; it operates not only on the basis of explicit and exact knowledge, but also on that of tacit and experiential knowledge. Experience operates within in the domain of the aesthetic and knowledge produced through aesthetic experience is always contextual and situated. The continuity of artistic experience with normal processes of living is derived from an impulse to handle materials and to think and feel through their handling. The key term for understanding the relationship between experience, practice and knowledge is ‘aesthetic experience’, not as it is understood through traditional eighteenth century accounts, but as ‘sense activity’. In this article, I will draw on the work of John Dewey, Michael Polanyi and others to argue that creative arts practice as research is an intensification of everyday experiences from which new knowledge or knowing emerges. The ideas presented here will be illustrated with reference to case studies based on reflections, by the artists themselves, on successful research projects in dance, creative writing and visual art.

Economic reforms, cultural policy : opportunities and challenges to the arts and culture in Vietnam in the age of globalization

The author investigates social change in Vietnam in the late 1980s-2000s, a transition from a subsidized economy to a market-oriented economy. The author discusses the influences of socioeconomic changes on the operation of the performing arts sector through analyzing changes in cultural policies, opportunities, and challenges confronted by performing arts organizations. The new cultural policy allows arts organizations, arts managers, and artists more opportunities to develop a greater degree of autonomy and more freedom in performing, programming and other artistic activities. The author believes that open policies will motivate Vietnam to develop its own national identity and to participate in cultural exchange with other parts of the world. However, under the impact of global culture, global economics, cuts in state funding, and rapid technological development, the performing arts sector has faced challenges in terms of financial viability, audience development, and balance between commercialization and artistic creativity. The author suggests that privatization should be implemented depending on the art form. Consideration should be given by the Vietnamese government to implementing appropriate funding policies and schemes, as state funding still forms a significant part of public companies' incomes.

I'm here to save you : a case study of the arts and managerialism in Australia

Managerialism has been adopted with alacrity by Australian government agencies across multiple sectors. A few studies of managerialism in concept and practice have been undertaken in some public sectors. Here we challenge the appropriateness and effectiveness of new managerialism generally, and for the arts in particular, through an analysis of conflict between an artistic director, the general manager(s), and the board of directors in a community arts organization. We outline the implications of the implementation of managerialism for the organization generally and the implications specifically for the workplace rights of some of the artistic and administrative staff. We call for further research into the appropriateness of management theory and practice for the arts, and we seek new ways of managing our cultural capital.

Considerations for performing arts organisations in a climate of transition to the open market context in Vietnam

The emergence of a global economy and culture has created a worldwide climate of change since the 1980s. These changes impact on the growth of a national economy and change the significance of sectors in society, for example the service sector, which increasingly accounts for an important part of the economy (Burbules & Torres, 2000). The arts have also been profoundly influenced by social changes, and technological development. While these changes pose new challenges for the arts, most of which struggle for financial viability in an era of globalisation, privatisation and reduced public funding, the developments also open new opportunities for arts companies/artists but require them to possess the capability to identify and adapt to change. This process underlines the necessary new capacities of arts management, arts marketing, arts leaders and artists.

Doi moi - Vietnamese economic reforms in 1986 - provided impetus for change in every sector, resulting in growth of the service sector in Vietnam (UNDP, 2002). Arts organisations in Vietnam found themselves operating in a more competitive environment, forcing them to adjust to this new economic structure. Improved Vietnamese living standards helped to create more demands for a diverse entertainment industry and allowed both the government and individuals to spend more on the arts. A new cultural policy - socialisation (somewhat equivalent to privatisation in Western countries) was implemented in the arts and cultural sector, producing for performing arts organisations (PAOs) as well as a broader cultural milieu in Vietnam, challenges of being self-sustaining but also more autonomy and greater funding diversity. Simultaneously, this led to upgraded artistic standards, improved infrastructure and higher musicians’ salaries; the latter having only experienced slow improvement during the subsidised era.

This paper investigates how social changes affected organisational operations of selected PAOs in Vietnam and Australia. The analysis of how PAOs in each country adjusted to rapid changes will provide experience for learning from each other, particularly for the Vietnamese case. These analyses provide points of discussion, comparison and implications for development of arts management training in Vietnam. Case studies, personal interviews with key participants and policy actors have been used to discern which direction performing arts management should take in order to correspond with Vietnam’s present and future economic situation and its political position in the world.