No images? Click here CAWRI News #13 (March 2023)Creativity and Wellbeing Hallmark Research InitiativeIn this issue:
FROM THE CHAIRHello! With students returning to campus for Semester 1 there is a buzz in the air. But the buzz had already arrived at our Southbank campus a week earlier with some 130 invited speakers and delegates gathering at the inaugural Performing Creativity Culture and Wellbeing conference (PCCW) convened by CAWRI and the Creative Arts Music Therapy Research Unit (CAMTRU), with a further 80+ delegates participating online via Zoom. The discussions and thoughts provoked by the speaker presentations and subsequent conversations involving all delegates over a very full two days have moved the field forward immensely both within the scholarly community and amongst practioners, administrators, and policy makers. We are very keen to accelerate the communication and connection the conference has seeded and will be actively looking for ways to achieve this. There was very strong interest in making it an annual event so watch this space for information about PCCW reconvening in 2024. Professor Jane Davidson INAUGURAL PERFORMING CREATIVITY, CULTURE AND WELLBEING CONFERENCE 2023KEYNOTE ACCESS and KEY IDEASChristopher Bailey: KeynoteWe were delighted to have World Health Organisation Arts and Health Lead Christopher Bailey as our Keynote Speaker in the inaugural Performing Creativity Culture and Wellbeing conference. His inspiring talk celebrated research projects that have achieved the virtuous triangle of Research-Policy-Practice and emphasized the power of the local feeding up to the national. He also stressed the need to understand the foundational science that underpins the ways in which engaging in the performing arts influences wellbeing. At the national level, he cited examples of Ministries of Culture being in dialogue with Ministries of Health, noting that this was illustrative of policy-maker and influencer focus moving away from discussing the arts in terms of developing the creative economy to investing in strengthening cultural institutions and arts practices for the health and wellbeing of individuals and society. Christophers’ takeaway message is that it is not enough for humanity to survive – we must thrive. And the Arts are integral to achieving this objective. Access to a recording of Christopher Bailey’s full keynote performance is available via the CAWRI website on the conference webpage
Key ideas and concepts from the conference.With a further two plenary speakers and ten specialist panels, each comprising five invited speakers, there was much to consider in Friday's Concluding Plenary which aimed to consolidate the key discussion points/common themes, key learnings and knowledge gaps, recommendations for future research, and key actions. Throughout the conference, four University of Melbourne PhD candidates working in fields related to the conference theme were taking notes to help with this endeavour. By thematically analysing their summaries, 40 key topics were identified - as shown in the word cloud below. These encapsulate the dominating concepts and ideas that flowed through the lecture theatres, Zoom connections and open spaces of the magnificent Ian Potter Southbank Centre where delegates mingled in convivial cameraderie. Many thanks to Mindy Kim, Kate McMahon, Kate Elizabeth Whitley Douglas and Zara Thompson for their comprehensive and adept coverage of the event. CAWRI PROJECT EVENTIn terms of achieving cross-disciplinary collaboration and creative insights, Vanessa Bartlett's project "stomach ache" is one of our most successful. We highly recommend her forthcoming summative talk: International Seminar Series:Confabulations: art practice | art history | critical medical humanitiesWednesday 8 March 6am AEST.A recording will be disseminated to everyone who registers How do people respond to complex gut issues that are poorly served by clinical medicine? Curator Vanessa Bartlett (University of Melbourne) and artists Kathy High (Rensselaer Polytechnic, New York) and Lindsay Kelley (Australian National University) explore creative collaborations with guts as a new way of understanding human-gut relations across scientific, domestic and artistic spaces. With a response from Claire Hooker (University of Sydney) and a Q&A moderated by Rachel Marsden (University of the Arts, London), Details and booking https://confabulationsdotorg.wordpress.com/current-programme/stomach-ache/ This is one of the summative events from Vanessa’s project Stomach Ache, Funded by The University of Melbourne Creativity and Wellbeing Hallmark Research Initiative https://stomachacheproject.com/ CAWRI PROJECT FINAL REPORTSOver the past four years, CAWRI has seed funded 21 projects, many of which have now been completed. Final reports are uploaded to the project section of our University of Melbourne webpage, including for the following recent completions: International students creating comedy to foster wellbeing: 'Are you joking?' Project Coordinator Dr Richard Sallis (Melbourne Graduate School of Education) Embodying Resistance and Survival: How drama and youth theatre can respond to eco-anxiety and support recovery in disaster affected communities. Project Coordinator Dr Sarah Woodland Fostering youth wellbeing using music. Project Coordinator Professor Kat McFerran (Faculty of Fine Arts and Music) This is me: Exploring how shared music expression with peers can support psychological wellbeing in autistic young adults. Project Coordinator: Associate Professor Grace Thompson (Faculty of Fine Arts and Music) Healthy people, healthy country and healthy art careers: Understanding creativity and cultural identities in new Indigenous artistic practices and industries. Project Coordinator Dr Megan McPherson (Faculty of Fine Arts and Music) Congratulations to these research teams for achieving this milestone - especially as most had to reimagine study designs due to COVID-19 restrictions. Some projects have culminated in interesting outputs, such as a new undergraduate Breadth Course and a preliminary series of screen-print-ready First Nations artists' artworks. Across the board, the results have informed or supported more traditional academic outputs, such as journal articles and grant applications. See the Final Reports for further details. Quite a number of our remaining projects are in their concluding phases and we expect to be uploading their reports very soon. AUSTRALIA'S NATIONAL CULTURAL POLICY REVIVE AND ESTABLISHMENT OF CREATIVE AUSTRALIABy now you are probably well aware of the release of Australia's new National Culture Policy Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place which was launched on 30 January 2023. The policy establishes Creative Australia, which sees the Australia Council for the Arts enter a new chapter in their existence. Focusing on bringing the public, private and commercial sectors of the creative arts together, the Australia Council will establish three new entities over the next 3 years: Music Australia and the Centre for Arts and Entertainement Workplaces in 2023, a dedicated First Nations-led Board in 2024, and Writers Australia in 2025.
CAWRI RESEARCHER WEBSITESExplore these websites to find out what our researchers have been finding out CREATIVITY AND WELLBEING RESOURCESThe Australia Council for the Arts are developing a library of digital resources and information related to their Arts, Creativity and Wellbeing It includes lists of peak organisations and partners, media podcasts and a collection of videos presenting case studies. |