When sparks fly : developing formal mentoring programs for the career development of young and emerging artists

Formal mentoring programs are accepted as a valuable strategy for developing young and emerging artists. This thesis presents the results of an evaluation of the SPARK National Young Artists Mentoring Program (SPARK). SPARK was a ten-month formal mentoring program managed by Youth Arts Queensland (YAQ) on behalf of the Australia Council for the Arts from 2003-2009. The program aimed to assist young and emerging Australian artists between the ages of 18-26 to establish a professional career in the arts. It was a highly successful formal arts mentoring program that facilitated 58 mentorships between young and emerging artists and professional artists from across Australia in five program rounds over its seven year lifespan. Interest from other cultural organisations looking to develop their own formal mentoring programs encouraged YAQ to commission this research to determine how the program works to achieve its effects. This study was conducted with young and emerging artists who participated in SPARK from 2003 to 2008. It took a theory-driven evaluation approach to examine SPARK as an example of what makes formal arts mentoring programs effective. It focused on understanding the program’s theory or how the program worked to achieve its desired outcomes. The program activities and assumed responses to program activities were mapped out in a theories of change model. This theoretical framework was then used to plan the points for data collection. Through the process of data collection, actual program developments were compared to the theoretical framework to see what occurred as expected and what did not. The findings were then generalised for knowledge and wider application. The findings demonstrated that SPARK was a successful and effective program and an exemplar model of a formal mentoring program preparing young and emerging artists for professional careers in the arts. They also indicate several ways in which this already strong program could be further improved, including: looking at the way mentoring relationships are set up and how the mentoring process is managed; considering the balance between artistic and professional development; developing career development competencies and networking skills; taking into account the needs of young and emerging artists to develop their professional identity and build confidence; and giving more thought to the desired program outcomes and considering the issue of timeliness and readiness for career transition. From these findings, together with principles outlined in the mentoring and career development literature, a number of necessary conditions have been identified for developing effective mentoring programs in the career development of young and emerging artists.

Introduction : the South Asia Infant Feeding Research Network (SAIFRN)

The South Asia Infant Feeding Research Network (SAIFRN) was established in 2007 to foster and coordinate a research partnership among South Asian and international research groups interested in infant and young child feeding. SAIFRN has brought together a mix of researchers and program managers from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka together with international partners from Australia. As the first activity, SAIFRN conducted a series of analyses using Demographic and Health Surveys of Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka and the National Family Health Survey of India. The results highlight that most indicators of infant and young child feeding in these four countries have not reached the targeted levels. The rates vary considerably by country, and the factors associated with poor feeding practices were not always consistent across countries. Driven by the ultimate goal of improved child survival in the region, SAIFRN wishes to expand its partnerships with governmental and nongovernmental organizations that share common interests both within and outside the South Asia region. In the future, SAIFRN hopes to provide more opportunities to researchers in the region to improve their skills by participating in capacity-building programs in collaboration with international partner institutions, and looks forward to liaising with potential donors to support such activities.

The application of public asset management in Indonesian local government : a case study in South Sulawesi Province

Purpose To identify the challenges faced by local government in Indonesia when adopting a Public Asset Management Framework. Design A Case Study in South Sulawesi Provincial Government was used as the approach to achieving the research objective. The case study involved two data collection techniques - interviews and document analysis. Findings The result of the study indicates there are significant challenges that the Indonesian local government need to manage when adopting a public asset management framework. Those challenges are: absence of an institutional and legal framework to support the asset management application; non-profit principle of public assets; multiple jurisdictions involved in the public asset management processes; the complexity of local government objectives; unavailability of data for managing public property; and limited human resources. Research Limitation This research is limited to one case study. It is a preliminary study from larger research that uses multiple case studies. The main research also investigates opportunities for local government by adopting and implementing public asset management. Originality/Value Findings from this study provide useful input for the policy makers, academics and asset management practitioners in Indonesia to establish a public asset management framework resulting in efficient and effective organizations, as well as an increase of public services quality. This study has a potential application for other developing countries.

Social infrastructure planning and sustainable community : example from south east Queensland, Australia

Social infrastructure and sustainable development represent two distinct but interlinked concepts bounded by a geographic location. For those involved in the planning of a residential development, the notion of social infrastructure is crucial to the building of a healthy community and sustainable environment. This is because social infrastructure is provided in response to the basic needs of communities and to enhance the quality of life, equity, stability and social well being. It also acts as the building block to the enhancement of human and social capital. While acknowledging the different levels of social infrastructure provision from neighbourhood, local, district and sub-regional levels, past evidence has shown that the provision at neighbourhood and local level and are affecting well-being of residents and the community sustainability. With intense physical development taking place in Australia's South East Queensland (SEQ) region, local councils are under immense pressure to provide adequate social and community facilities for their residents. This paper shows how participation-oriented, need-sensitive Integrated Social Infrastructure Planning Guideline is used to offer a solution for the efficient planning and provision of multi-level social infrastructure for the SEQ region. The paper points out to the successful implementation of the guideline for social infrastructure planning in multiple levels of spatial jurisdictions of Australia's fastest growing region.

The experience of xenophobia in South Africa

In May 2008, xenophobic violence erupted in South Africa. The targets were individuals who had migrated from the north in search of asylum. Emerging first in township communities around Johannesburg, the aggression spread to other provinces. Sixty-two people died, and 100,000 (20,000 in the Western Cape alone) were displaced. As the attacks escalated across the country, thousands of migrants searched for refuge in police stations and churches. Chilling stories spread about mobs armed with axes, metal bars, and clubs. The mobs stormed from shack to shack, assaulted migrants, locked them in their homes, and set the homes on fire. The public reaction was one of shock and horror. The Los Angeles Times declared, “Migrants Burned Alive in S. Africa.” The South African president at the time, Thabo Mbeki, called for an end to “shameful and criminal attacks.” Commentators were stunned by the signs of hatred of foreigners (xenophobia) that emerged in the young South African democracy. The tragedy of the violence in South Africa was magnified by the fact that many of the victims had fled from violence and persecution in their countries of origin. Amid genocidal violations of human rights that had recently occurred in some countries in sub- Saharan Africa, the new South Africa stood as a beacon of democracy and respect for human dignity. With this openness in mind, many immigrants to South Africa sought safety and refuge from the conflicts in their homelands. More than 43,500 refugees and 227,000 asylum seekers now live in South Africa. The majority of people accorded refugee status came from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Somalia. South Africa also hosts thousands of other migrants who remain undocumented.

Humanitarianism or self-serving hypocrisy? : the provision of aid to South Africa under the Hawke-Keating and Howard governments

General perceptions of foreign aid commonly engender images of humanitarianism and altruism, whereby the humanitarian needs of the recipient of development assistance are of the utmost priority of the aid donor. However, the Australian governments led by Hawke, Keating and Howard often gave humanitarianism a low emphasis, frequently placing Australia’s own foreign policy and economic concerns at the forefront of aid allocation – often unashamedly. This self-interest met through aid meant that most was provided to Australia’s regional neighbourhood, neglecting some of the poorest, most struggling states, including South Africa. Other issues and events, including the Cold War, apartheid, terrorism and HIV/AIDS also affected Australia’s aid policy; mostly, they were used as excuses to limit aid to states like South Africa.

Subtropical design in South East Queensland : a handbook for planners, developers and decision makers

Subtropical Design in South East Queensland provides a direct link between climatic design, applied urban design and sustainable planning policy. The role that character and identity of a place plays in achieving environmental sustainability is explained. Values of local distinctiveness to do with climate, landscape and culture are identified and the environmental, social and economic benefits of applying subtropical design principles to planning are described. The handbook provides planners and urban designers with an understanding of how subtropical design principles apply within the different contexts of urban planning including the entire spectrum of urban scales from the regional scale, to the city, neighbourhood, street, individual building or site. Twelve interactive principles, and interrelated strategies, drawn predominantly from the body of knowledge of landscape architecture, architectural science and urban design are described in detail in text, and richly illustrated with diagrams and photographs.

Diversity of community acquired MRSA carrying the PVL gene in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia

Emergence and dissemination of community acquired methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) strains are being reported with increasing frequency in Australia and worldwide. These strains of CA-MRSA are genetically diverse and distinct in Australia. Genotyping of CA-MRSA using eight highly-discriminatory single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is a rapid and robust method for monitoring the dissemination of these strains in the community. In this study, a SNP genotyping method was used to investigate the molecular epidemiology of 249 community acquired non-multiresistant MRSA (nm-MRSA) isolates over a 12-month period from routine diagnostic specimens. A real-time PCR for the presence of Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) was also performed on these isolates. The CA-MRSA isolates were sourced from a large private laboratory in Brisbane, Australia that serves a wide geographic region encompassing Queensland and Northern New South Wales. This study identified 16 different STs and 98% of the CA-MRSA isolates were positive for the PVL gene. The most common ST was ST93 with 41% of isolates testing positive for this clone.

The art of careful listening : children as co-artists in the making of live performance

Since 2007 Kite Arts Education Program (KITE), based at Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), has been engaged in delivering a series of theatre-based experiences for children in low socio-economic primary schools in Queensland. The twelve-week workshop experience culminates in a performance developed by the children with the assistance of the teacher artists from KITE for their community and parents/carers in a peak community cultural institution. Using Wartella’s notion of the socially competent child this analysis interrogates the performance product Precious, child participation modes, the intersection between the professional artists, teacher artists and child artists and outcomes in terms of building capacities for the development of social competencies in children.

Adapting, renewing, subverting : what place the performing arts in the creative industries?

Creative Industries was adopted as a platform in the 90s by the Blair government in the UK to describe the convergence of the arts, media, communication and information technologies as a newly formed cluster, providing economic and cultural capital for the knowledge economy. The philosophy and rhetoric which has grown around this concept (Leadbeater 2000, Castells 2000, Florida 2000, Caves 2000, Hartley 2000) has been influential in re-contextualising culture and the arts in the 21st century. Where governments and educational institutions have embraced the context of the creative industries, it is having a profound effect on the way arts are being positioned, originally as ‘creative content’ for the new economy. Countries and regions which have actively targeted the Creative Industries as an important economic growth factor in a post-industrial environment are numerous, but it is interesting to note that North and South East Asia and Australia have been at the forefront of developing the Creative Industries in its various guises. It could be argued that the initial phase of Creative Industries concentrated on media and communication technologies to provide commercial outcomes in small incubator business models; developing, for example, products for the games industry. Creative Industries is now entering a second phase of development; one in which the broader palette of the arts, though still not at the forefront of debate, is being re-examined. Both phases of Creative Industries have emphasised creativity and innovation as key drivers in the success and effectiveness of this sector, and although the arts by no means has a monopoly on these drivers, it is where they have an important part to play in the creative industries context. Arguably, the second wave of the creative industries acknowledges to a greater extent that commercialisation works in tandem with government and other support in a complex mixed economic model. In relation to the performing arts, the global market has seen an increase in large-scale cultural events such as festivals which are providing employment for the arts industry and multiplier effects in other parts of the economy. Differentiated product is important in this competitive arena and the use of mediated and digitised environments has been able to increase the amount of arts product available to an international market. This changed environment requires the development of new skills for our artists and producers and has given rise to a reappraisal of approaches to arts training and research in the Higher Degree Education sector (Brown 2007, Cunningham 2006). This paper examines pedagogical changes which took place in the first Creative Industries Faculty in the world at Queensland University of Technology as well as the increased opportunities for leading research initiatives. It concludes with the example of an interdisciplinary artwork produced in a creative industries precinct, exemplifying the convergence of arts and communication technologies and that of artistic practice and research.

The legal role of medical professionals in decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment : Part 1 (New South Wales)

This is the first article in a series of three that examines the legal role of medical professionals in decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment from adults who lack capacity. This article considers the position in New South Wales. A review of the law in this State reveals that medical professionals play significant legal roles in these decisions. However, the law is problematic in a number of respects and this is likely to impede medical professionals’ legal knowledge in this area. The article examines the level of training medical professionals receive on issues such as advance directives and substitute decision-making, and the available empirical evidence as to the state of medical professionals’ knowledge of the law at the end of life. It concludes that there are gaps in legal knowledge and that law reform is needed in New South Wales.

Mapping the ethical journey of experienced nurses now practising in rural and remote hospitals in central and south-west Queensland and in domiciliary services in Brisbane : a grounded theory approach

The aim of this thesis has been to map the ethical journey of experienced nurses now practising in rural and remote hospitals in central and south-west Queensland and in domiciliary services in Brisbane. One group of the experienced nurses in the study were Directors of Nursing in rural and remote hospitals. These nurses were “hands on”, “multi-skilled “ nurses who also had the task of managing the hospital. Also there were two Directors of Nursing from domiciliary services in Brisbane. A grounded theory method was used. The nurses were interviewed and the data retrieved from the interviews was coded, categorised and from these categories a conceptual framework was generated. The literature which dealt with the subject of ethical decision making and nurses also became part of the data. The study revealed that all these nurses experienced moral distress as they made ethical decisions. The decision making categories revealed in the data were: the area of financial management; issues as end of life approaches; allowing to die with dignity; emergency decisions; experience of unexpected death; the dilemma of providing care in very difficult circumstances. These categories were divided into two chapters: the category related to administrative and financial constraints and categories dealing with ethical issues in clinical settings. A further chapter discussed the overarching category of coping with moral distress. These experienced nurses suffered moral distress as they made ethical decisions, confirming many instances of moral distress in ethical decision making documented in the literature to date. Significantly, the nurses in their interviews never mentioned the ethical principles used in bioethics as an influence in their decision making. Only one referred to lectures on ethics as being an influence in her thinking. As they described their ethical problems and how they worked through them, they drew on their own previous experience rather than any knowledge of ethics gained from nursing education. They were concerned for their patients, they spoke from a caring responsibility towards their patients, but they were also concerned for justice for their patients. This study demonstrates that these nurses operated from the ethic of care, tempered with the ethic of responsibility as well as a concern for justice for their patients. Reflection on professional experience, rather than formal ethics education and training, was the primary influence on their ethical decision making.

Effect of biochar amendment on the soil-atmosphere exchange of greenhouse gases from an intensive subtropical pasture in northern New South Wales, Australia

We assessed the effect of biochar incorporation into the soil on the soil-atmosphere exchange of the greenhouse gases (GHG) from an intensive subtropical pasture. For this, we measured N2O, CH4 and CO2 emissions with high temporal resolution from April to June 2009 in an existing factorial experiment where cattle feedlot biochar had been applied at 10 t ha-1 in November 2006. Over the whole measurement period, significant emissions of N2O and CO2 were observed, whereas a net uptake of CH4 was measured. N2O emissions were found to be highly episodic with one major emission pulse (up to 502 µg N2O-N m-2 h 1) following heavy rainfall. There was no significant difference in the net flux of GHGs from the biochar amended vs. the control plots. Our results demonstrate that intensively managed subtropical pastures on ferrosols in northern New South Wales of Australia can be a significant source of GHG. Our hypothesis that the application of biochar would lead to a reduction in emissions of GHG from soils was not supported in this field assessment. Additional studies with longer observation periods are needed to clarify the long term effect of biochar amendment on soil microbial processes and the emission of GHGs under field conditions.