Kristeva reframed : interpreting key thinkers for the arts

For Kristeva, in a world immersed in readymade images, art or aesthetic experience is a practice that constitutes both a subject (a sense of self) and an object that is able to transform meaning and consciousness.Kristeva Reframed examines key ideas in Kristeva's work to show how they are most relevant to artists, and how they can be applied in interpreting artworks. With examples from the paintings of Van Gogh and Picasso, the work of contemporary feminist painters, the photography of Bill Henson and the film and animation work of Van Sowerine, Estelle Barrett demonstrates how Kristeva can illuminate the relationships between artist and art object, between artists, artworks and audiences, and between art and knowledge. Through these relationships she explores what Kristeva's work reveals about the role and function of art in society and offers a smooth passage through Kristeva's ideas and her relevance to visual culture.

Motivators and barriers of ethnic groups to engage in arts performance

This paper aims to highlight the behavioural processes of ethnic minority group consumers in relation to arts performance in Australia. Our findings indicate that Chinese, Vietnamese, Italians and Greeks have varying perceptions, practice and experiential decision-making. The major barriers for ethnic audiences to attend arts events were cost and time; a lack of understanding of or exposure to some artforms; language difficulties. Motivating factors for ethnic audiences were events associated with their own ethnic backgrounds; socialising/meeting with friends/people, and familiarity with the art-form. Our research will be critical for future arts marketing and cultural research and contribute to socially inclusive communities where every resident can act as a contributor to build socio-economically strong cities and nations<br />

Taking a critical approach to arts management

This paper argues that the task of ans management entails a critical engagement with the discourses of management. The promulgation of economic rationalism across the arts and cultural sector is identified in the context of the general deployment of economic criteria to judge the success of diverse organisations. In particular, the notion of tile creative industries, concerned with commercial cultural production, and its impact on the arts sector is highlighted as a dominant discursive practice. The paper makes the case that the task of the arts manager must be to argue for the cultural value of the arts, and take a critical approach to the dominant discourses that currently define the field. Finally, it is argued that one of the key challenges for the future of arts management is to also take a critical approach to the conventional discourses of arts marketing in order to deliver a new focus on audience engagement.<br />