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'.

Creative arts research : a pedagogical perspective

This paper emerges from current work related to a number of research projects across several creative arts disciplines. It poses the following questions: What implication does creative arts research have for extending our understandings of the role of experiential, problem-based learning and multiple intelligences in the production of knowledge? How can the application of such understandings influence policy and enhance opportunities for support of creative arts research in the university and the broader arena? In a previous paper examining the function of the exegesis (Barrett, 2004), I referred to the suggestion made by Lauchlan Chipman that: in a knowledge economy, it is necessary for a large number of people to comprehend the creative output of others in order for such output to be sufficiently taken up for the enhancement of society. This paper is an extension of the previous one in its attempt to promote wider understanding of the value of creative arts research. I will focus on the dialogic relationship between the exegesis and studio practice in painting, creative writing, performance and dance, in order to demonstrate that creative arts enquiry can promote a more profound understanding of how knowledge is revealed, acquired and expressed. Four successful research projects will be examined as 'case studies' to show how creative arts research methodologies may be applied in the development of more critical and innovative pedagogies and to argue that the role of creative arts research is still to be fully realized and acknowledged in the knowledge economy.

Full house theory – a new theory for assessing demand for arts centres

Discusses the Full House Theory, a theory for measuring the demand for new arts centers. Information on the Central Place Theory; Implementation of cultural mapping techniques in assessing the demand for arts centers; Marketing research methodologies.

Your genre is black : indigenous performing arts and policy

In February 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised to the Stolen Generations on behalf of the Australian people. Now what? In this Platform Paper, mid-career Indigenous performing artists think about their post-apology future. Indigenous theatre blossomed in the 1990s when it was grasped as a means to expose social issues and advance the goals of Reconciliation. Now that generation of artists questions these motives. For some, history and community are central; others are impatient with 'your genre is black' and demand the professional respect they have earned. "Indigenous artists", says director Wesley Enoch, "have been asked for decades to work at their slowest, to bring everyone along with them. It's the equivalent of asking Cathy Freeman to run slowly, so that everyone can keep up with her." Glow and Johanson provide a forum for practitioners like Rachel Maza-Long, David Milroy, Stephen Page and Rhoda Roberts. Together they call for an end to second-best; and for measures that respond with post-apology confidence to the vision and inspiration that, in the opinion of the Australia Council, "remain at the heart of Australia's culture" .

Audience experience : measuring quality in the performing arts

Traditional measures of quality in the performing arts include critical reviews, awards, attendance data, the reputation of the director, company or lead performers, and attributions of success such as festival participation or sponsorship and grants. However, the recent literature on audience values, quest for authenticity and the personal experience suggests the need for empirical research into the capacity of the audience experience as an appropriate and important measure of quality in the performing arts. The authors use primary research with performing arts audiences to explore notions of quality, audience risk and audience experience to redefine the quality-measurement paradigm.

Academic assessment of arts management journals: a multidimensional rating survey

The authors report the results of a journal rating survey assessing 14 publications dedicated to arts management and related topics. Establishing a rating scheme for journals is an important step in the professionalization of an academic field. The authors argue that the development of a rating system in arts management is in the best interests of the discipline. Academics used weighted multidimensional perceptual ratings to evaluate each journal’s prestige, contribution to theory, contribution to practice and contribution to teaching. Cluster analysis using these four criteria identified three classes of journals: A, B+ and B. The setting of standards serves to identify quality goals for academics and journal editors alike, thus enhancing the standing of arts management as a subdiscipline of management.

Jack of all trades, master of some ...or none? Training teachers in Integrated Arts

This article reports on the integration of music with other ‘Arts’ in teacher training at a South African university where a challenge tertiary educators face is how to successfully integrate music within the Arts and Culture learning area of the school education system. The article firstly provides a brief background to the South African educational context. Secondly, it outlines current practices in the in the implementation of the integrated arts curriculum in schools and teacher training. Thirdly, it discusses pertinent issues and challenges in relation to team teaching, integration and curriculum change in teacher training. Given the constraints and opportunities that universities currently experience, this article investigates and reports on the issue of whether students should be trained as Jack of all trades and master of some…or none or Master of one trade and Jack of some with regard to integrating the Arts.

Teaching literacy in the new media age through the arts

Many school literacy practices often ignore youths' creativity in the 'new media age'. School curricula often do not acknowledge the range of skills adolescents acquire outside formal education. Youths' new multi- modal social and cultural practices - as they fashion themselves creatively in multiple modes as different kinds of people in 'New Times' - points to the liberating power of new technologies that embrace their imagination and creativity. In two middle years classes, adolescents' creativity was recognised and validated when they were encouraged to re-represent curricular knowledge through multi-modal design (New London Group 1996). The results suggest the changed classroom habitus produced new and emergent discursive and material practices where creativity emerges as capital in an economy of practice. Recommendations are put forth for schools to recognise adolescents' creativity - that often manifests itself through their cultural and social capital resources - as they integrate and adapt to the new affordances acquired through their out-of-school literacy practices.

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.

Understanding barriers to attendance and non-attendance at Arts and Cultural Institutions: A Conceptual Framework

This paper draws together themes from within the leisure, arts and other literature related to why people might not attend cultural institutions and identifies eight barriers: 1) Physical; 2) Personal Access; 3) Cost; 4) Time and Timing; 5) Product; 6) Personal Interest; 7) Socialisation/Understanding; and 8) Information. Many of these barriers appear to be interrelated and as such strategies to address non-visitation will most likely need to be complex to allow the full range of barriers to be addressed.

An initial classification of branding strategy in Australian arts organisations

This research examined the corporate branding approaches and strategies adopted by six prominent Australian arts and cultural organisations. The aim of this exploration was to identify patterns in branding across different arts and cultural organisations, and attempt to provide an initial classification for understanding how these organisations approach branding strategy. We found that three factors influenced branding strategy in the surveyed organisations, viz., the focus of branding process, the degree of consistency in branding communication, and the required level of customers’ involvement in the branded products. The organisations studied were then plotted on a continuum that considered each of these factors.