Welcome to this edition of Art Smarts

The interest in the relationship between the arts and other parts of society has never been greater. In particular, how arts and culture have a crucial role in supporting the sustainability of communities. This is one of the major themes that runs through the recently released discussion paper on National Cultural Policy http://culture.arts.gov.au/. Comment on this is called for by 21 October.

 

In this issue articles by Yue and others, O’Shea and the American Planning Association also touch on aspects of the ways in which the arts can be used to strengthen communities and build social capital. What Jon Hawkes referred to as the ‘fourth pillar’ of sustainability, along with economic, social and environmental sustainability.

‘Creative intersections’ is also the theme of the 5th World Summit on Arts and Culture co-hosted by the Australia Council and the International Federation of Arts Councils and Cultural Associations (IFACCA) 3-6 October, Melbourne (http://artsummit.org/). During the Summit delegates from around the globe will explore three broad aspects of the central theme: place, people and projects. IFACCA is working on a major piece of research on this theme which will be published as a discussion paper prior to the Summit and then finalised after the rich input from the discussions at the Summit.

Still on this subject the Australia Council announced the start of its Cultural Places initiative in partnership with Arts South Australia, Arts Queensland and the cities of Rockhampton and Alexandrina. The three year pilot initiative aims to demonstrate that arts and culture can assist in the diversification of local economies, increase social cohesion and improve quality of life when integrated into economic, social and community planning. The pilots will be used as research sites and will be evaluated to inform decisions about the potential for and broader application of the initiative.

Nick Herd
Director
Research and Strategic Analysis

We welcome your feedback, so please contact us at researchcentre@australiacouncil.gov.au

In the news

Digital world brings in fans to rescue bands
Sydney Morning Herald, 19 August 2011
Technology has been robbing music artists of record sales through online peer-to-peer sharing for years but the digital world has more recently proven to be a powerful comrade.

Looming ABC cuts could undermine arts charter
The Australian, 01 August 2011
Labor has linked the future of Australia's arts and cultural scene to its $36 billion National Broadband Network, saying high-speed internet will enhance artistic opportunities and profits. As the government drafts the nation's first cultural policy in 20 years, Arts Minister Simon Crean said he wanted to encourage the use of new technologies to develop and distribute fresh creative talent.

Humanities in the hands of informed citizens
The Australian, 17 August 2011
Martha Nussbaum's book Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, first published last year, is a call to arms to defend the role of the humanities in universities. She is a professor of philosophy at Chicago University, and has been in Australia as a guest of the University of NSW and to do a spot of bushwalking in the Gold Coast hinterland.

Redefine museums as educational resources
The Australian, 25 August 2011
The Australian arts community has never been shy about talking about its value to our society. So there is little doubt that hundreds of urgent, articulate voices will be raised in response to the government's National Cultural Policy discussion paper, released earlier this month.

Art of big profits drives new policy
Herald Sun, 12 August 2011
The arts in Australia is big business, a $31 billion industry powered by 285,000 people. The Federal Government wants to make it even bigger. Arts Minister Simon Crean called for a new National Cultural Policy to "increase and strengthen the capacity of the arts to contribute to our society and economy. The policy, building on the Keating government's Creative Nation program 20 years ago, seeks to make the arts more accessible, diverse and more attuned to 21st-century Australia.

Performances take digital to new frontier
The Australian, 11 August 2011
Alma Mater is a play that takes you into the mind of a six-year-old girl except that, although you are physically in her bedroom, she is on the iPad in your hands, in the same bedroom. The performing arts have always experimented with new technology, but digital devices are opening up enormous opportunities for creative people as these gadgets become cheaper and more connected.

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Research

American Planning Association, ‘How Arts and Cultural Strategies Create, Reinforce, and Enhance Sense of Place’
American Planning Association, 2011
This paper explores how arts and culture strategies can be used to understand community context, celebrate community character, and ultimately create, reinforce, or enhance sense of place. Artistic and cultural inventories allow a community to begin to understand the historic, cultural, economic, and social context of a community — an essential foundation for developing and building sense of place.

An introduction to New Zealand cultural policy
Christopher Madden, August 2011
In recent years New Zealand’s employment in creative cultural occupations has grown faster than total employment. This is in stark contrast with Australia, where creative arts occupations have taken a dramatic plunge.

MaRs Discovery District, Canada, ‘Social Entrepreneurship: Social impact metrics’
MaRS, February 2010
“Social entrepreneurs are successfully mobilizing both the human and financial capital required to start and scale their social ventures. However, unless there is a clear understanding by funders and investors (and the social entrepreneurs they support) around the importance of establishing and reporting on appropriate social and financial metrics, the amount of capital made available to this emerging sector, including patient capital, loans or equity investments, will be limited. Lack of sufficient capital will impede the development of new market-based solutions to address the complex social problems that social entrepreneurs are enthusiastic to address.”

‘Developing a Local Cultural Indicator Framework in Australia: A Case Study of the City of Whittlesea’
Audrey Yue, Rimi Khan and Scott Brook, Culture and Local Governance, vol. 3, no. 1-2
This paper critically examines the cultural planning agenda of the City of Whittlesea, a local government municipality in Australia, and considers its impact on the region?s multicultural ommunities.  Specifically, this paper hopes to establish cultural indicators with direct policy relevance for local government, and incorporate a detailed consideration of the „use-context? of the cultural indicators in the City in order to provide a template for best practice at municipal program levels. A localized cultural indicator framework will enable robust tools of measurement to account for thick narratives of multicultural participation that can continue to enhance well-being, place making, and belonging.

‘Arts Engagement with Sustainable Communities: Informing New Governance Styles for Sustainable Futures’
Meg O’Shea, Culture and Local Governance, vol. 3, no. 1-2
This article suggests that taking cues from the processes of arts and culture to inform new styles of governance supports an open, adaptive, participatory, and creative governance model that responds to a diversity of voices and alternative modes of communication. It argues that a governance style that integrates cultural knowledge is better able to build equity across present and future generations, and is better suited to support a sustainable future. Empirical examples of arts engagement with two communities practicing sustainable behaviours demonstrate the power of arts and culture to build social capital and to potentially contribute to an inclusive and innovative style of governance.

‘From Hardback to Software: How the Publishing Industry is Coping with Convergence'
Lauren Christina Sozio, London School of Economics
This study examines the relationship between eBook technologies and the strategic motivations of different actors operating within the publishing industry. By employing innovation and convergence theory, the author examines the evolution of a former linear publishing paradigm toward an interactive version that best serves the digital information economy.  It contains a literature review and the findings of sixteen in-depth, semi-structured interviews of people from London and New York publishing houses. The digital format is setting unprecedented standards for the industry, but it remains to be seen whether traditional houses will continue dominating the industry or whether digital platforms will usurp this revered position.

Jana Bradley, Bruce Fulton, Marlene Helm, Katherine A Pittner, ‘Non Traditional Book publishing’
First Monday, Vol 6:8 1 August 2011
Non–traditional book publishing, prospering on the Internet, now accounts for over eight times the output of traditional publishing. Non–traditional publishing includes books published by their authors and books representing the reuse of content, most of it not covered by copyright. The result is an heterogeneous, hyper–abundant contemporary book environment where the traditional mixes with the non–traditional and finding books that match a reader’s taste is more difficult than previously and may involve new methods of discovery.

Screen Australia, Convergence 2011: Australian Content State of Play
Screen Australia
To help inform the discussion around the Australian Government's Convergence Review, Screen Australia has released a comprehensive analysis of Australian content across all media platforms.  The report reveals a significant dilution of Australian content in the media diet.  Since 2008, the hours of foreign content on free-to-air (FTA) television have increased 154 per cent greatly outstripping the growth in Australian content at 59 per cent.

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Practical resources

 

New Report Just Published: Music and Theatre Productions in Australia - Industry Risk Rating Report
IBISWorld, 23 August 2011
This is the replacement for IBISWorld's July 2011 edition of Music and Theatre Productions in Australia Industry.  This report evaluates the inherent risks associated with the Music and Theatre Productions in Australia industry.

Strategic Digital Industry plan released
Office of the Arts, 23 August 2011
Arts Minister Simon Crean has released a Strategic Digital Industry Plan (SDIP) that recognises for the first time, at a national level, the significant contribution of Australia’s creative industries sector and its importance in the digital age to the country’s economy and culture.  The plan – Creative Industries, a Strategy for 21st Century Australia – outlines whole-of-Australian Government action to support the country’s creative businesses and talent. The plan highlights the significant contribution of Australia’s creative industries to the broader economy.

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Opinion

Young people and theatre
ABC Transcripts, 07 August 2011
What makes teenagers want to go to live theatre? What makes teenagers not want to go to live theatre? These are questions that a long-term research project is trying to answer and ABC's Artworks show will have a go at it too.