International arts activity – Australian arts sector

Overview The International Arts Activity – Australian Arts Sector report highlights the value of a strategic approach to international arts development and explores the existing activity and future priorities of the sector.  The report was part of a significant body of research and analysis undertaken over the past year to provide a comprehensive overview of Australian international arts activity and identify high value international opportunities for Australian artists. International development activity includes international presentation, residencies, collaborations and exchanges, networking, participation in festivals, fairs or showcasing platforms, translations and co-productions, all of which provide both short and long-term benefits to the artists involved and enrich our nation’s arts and cultural life. The research involved an analysis of funding trends, interviews and focus groups with funding recipients, and a sector-wide survey to identify motivations, needs, challenges and future priorities.  The Council has invested around $11 million each year in international arts activity since 2010-11, and in addition regularly funds many arts organisations that work internationally. This strategic support has enabled artistic, market and audience development, as well as providing significant value to Australia’s cultural diplomacy agenda.  Australia Council support has increased mobility and participation of Australian artists in international projects and facilitated vital new networks and connections. Among the many benefits are an increased international profile for innovative Australian arts and the increased integration of international best practice into Australian arts infrastructure.  The research findings indicate that many artists and organisations believe that without Australia Council support they would have been unable to undertake international activity

Arts nation: an overview of Australian arts - 2015 edition

This paper provides evidence as a catalyst for informed discussion about arts and culture in Australia. Executive summary Australians value the arts. A growing number of Australians believe that the arts make for a richer and more meaningful life; they influence how we express ourselves, our creative thinking and new ideas. Understanding the scope and impact of the arts in an Australian context is complex. This first Arts Nation report provides a starting point for that exploration at a national level, and will continue to develop over time. New analysis using the internationally recognised wellbeing valuation approach is one way of calculating the value of intangibles. It suggests that people who engage with the arts have higher life satisfaction. This is a significant finding given the level of engagement by Australians with the arts. Nearly all Australians consume at least one form of art and half participate in arts creation each year. Geographic location does not impact on arts engagement as much as you might expect and creative participation has increased amongst some groups with historically lower levels of participation. The 44,000 practicing professional artists in Australia predominantly have portfolio careers, with just 17% working full-time on their creative practice. The arts are deeply embedded in the cultural sector, and cultural activity makes a substantial contribution to the Australian economy. Cultural activity contributes $50 billion to Australia’s GDP, comparable to the GDP share in the USA, including over$4.2 billion from the arts. Expenditure on culture by Australian governments in 2012–13 was $7 billion including over$1.3 billion on the arts. Important to note is that the main source of income to the arts is consumer spending, for example, ticket sales for performing arts events generated $1.5 billion in 2013. Private support for the arts continues to grow, most significantly from private donations. Arts organisations are experiencing rapid growth with the major performing arts companies seeing an 81% increase between 2009 and 2013. Crowdfunding is a small but growing area for Australian artists to raise smaller amounts with a higher than average success rate. Exploring the way international tourists spend their time in Australia has highlighted the growth in arts tourism. There has been 19% growth over the past four years, with 2.4 million international visitors to Australia in 2013–14 engaging in arts tourism. More than one in four international tourists visit galleries or museums, similar to the levels in the UK and USA. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts are cherished both at home and abroad. Nine in ten Australians agree that Indigenous arts are an important part of Australian culture and audiences for Indigenous arts are growing. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists are proportionally more likely to be nominated for a major Australian art award or participate in an international arts event. The Indigenous visual arts sector is a major contributor to the arts economy and responsible for some of Australia’s most valuable works of art. This snapshot in time affirms the significance of the arts in the lives of Australians, as well as our international profile. Central to this is our unique position as home to the world’s oldest continuous living culture

Designing and managing music festival experiences to enhance attendees’ psychological and social benefits

Attendance and participation at popular music festivals has become an important and increasingly common experience for people in many Western societies, yet little is known about the kinds of benefits visitors perceive they gain as a result of attending. This research explores attendees’ perceptions of the psychological and social benefits associated with their attendance of the Woodford Folk Music Festival in Queensland (Australia). Based upon the research findings, music festival management strategies are suggested to improve the design of festival experiences to better cater to the artistic, musical, social and psychological needs of attendees thereby increasing the impact and depth of the experience

Societal output and use of research performed by health research groups

The last decade has seen the evaluation of health research pay more and more attention to societal use and benefits of research in addition to scientific quality, both in qualitative and quantitative ways. This paper elaborates primarily on a quantitative approach to assess societal output and use of research performed by health research groups (societal quality of research). For this reason, one of the Dutch university medical centres (i.e. the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC)) was chosen as the subject of a pilot study, because of its mission to integrate top patient care with medical, biomedical and healthcare research and education. All research departments were used as units of evaluation within this university medical centre

Art, science and organisational interactions: Exploring the value of artist residencies on campus

This case study examines how an artist residency at an aquaculture institute within a university creates value on campus and beyond. We find that the residency, initially regarded as ‘risk-taking’ by both artist and institute, created unexpected opportunities stemming from the synergies between art and science. We find that ‘new ways of seeing’ aquaculture science resulted in the creation of aesthetic, emotional, environmental, educational and social values embracing the intrinsic, instrumental, and institutional, on both personal and organisational levels. The lack of available time from academic staff and financial support for the artist, however, need to be addressed in order to achieve the residency's full potential. In addition to the arguments for art-based initiatives generally, we suggest that artist residencies, if planned thoughtfully, have the potential to create an innovative and creative culture on campus and beyond

Raising the curtain: Exploring dancers\u27 perceptions of obligation through the psychological contract lens

The current study takes an exploratory approach to investigate which situational factors influence perceptions of psychological contracts, as well as the content that comprises psychological contracts in the dance training industry. Semi-structured interviews (n = 10) were conducted with students enrolled in a higher education institution in Australia. Results indicated that intending dancers take several factors into consideration when contemplating a professional dance career: natural progression of skill, employment opportunities, location, and peer recommendation. In addition, intending dancers have several perceived institutional obligations: skill development, quality of teachers and training, and networking opportunities. The current article adds novel insights to dance education literature by considering the trainee-institution relationship through the psychological contract lens. It is anticipated that the findings will assist future research that seeks to incorporate student perceptions into dance curriculum development