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1
Chalon, Christopher. "Conflict and citizenship behaviour in Australian performing arts organisations." University of Western Australia. Faculty of Economics and Commerce, 2009. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2009.0096.
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The managers of professional performing arts organisations are faced with a unique dilemma. They must support their artistic personnel, who are typically driven by the quest for new, challenging and experimental works, while achieving the economic success necessary for the continued viability of their organisations. Failing to effectively manage this artistic-economic dichotomy can result in a conflict between artists and managers that threatens the long-term survival of these organisations. There is a clear need, therefore, for arts managers to foster an organisational climate that minimises conflict, while promoting organisational citizenship behaviours (OCBs) such as sportsmanship (a willingness to tolerate less than ideal circumstances without complaining) and courtesy (a willingness to show sensitivity towards others and actively avoid creating problems for co-workers). The main aim of the present study was to examine the extent to which factors such as organisational structure, organisational culture and employees motivational orientation influence peoples perceptions of their job scope (as indicated by high levels of task variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback from the job), a construct which has been found to reduce organisational conflict and increase employees propensity to display OCBs. While these relationships have been suggested in previous research, they have not been tested in a performing arts industry context. The data analysed in the present study suggested an enjoyment motivational orientation, a challenge motivational orientation, an organic culture and formalisation positively influenced perceptions of job scope, which, in turn, positively influenced both OCBs (sportsmanship and courtesy). A challenge orientation also had a positive impact on sportsmanship, while sportsmanship positively and directly influenced courtesy. Centralisation was negatively related to perceived job scope and sportsmanship, although it had a positive impact on courtesy. Conflict was negatively influenced by formalisation and by an organic culture, but was positively influenced by a hierarchal culture.
2
McCarron, Robyn Janelle. "Performing arts and regional communities : the case of Bunbury, Western Australia /." Access via Murdoch University Digital Theses Project, 2004. http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20050501.153348.
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Le, Thi Kieu Huong. "Performing Arts Management in a Climate of Adjustment: Case Studies from Vietnam and Australia." School of Policy and Practice, Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1115.
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Doctor of Philosophy(PhD)This thesis investigates performing arts administration and management in the current economic and social environment in Vietnam and Australia within a context of globalisation. A comparative study of two major arts organisations in both Vietnam and Australia was carried out to investigate the following: why and how performing arts organisations are adapting to the changing environment; how arts leaders are adapting to changes; and whether arts managers need specific arts management training. The suitability of pertinent training packages and tertiary arts management courses from an Australian perspective are examined to determine whether these could be adapted for arts administration training in Vietnam. A qualitative case study approach was employed, using judgemental sampling. Two case studies were in Vietnam (the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra and the Hanoi Youth Theatre), and two in Australia (the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Melbourne Theatre Company). Some arts administrators involved with managing these performing arts organisations were interviewed in-depth, and relevant documents, regulations and policies in the arts field were also analysed to lay a foundation for comprehending the operation and management of performing arts organisations in both countries, at a time of change. Findings indicate that globalisation and particularly economic changes are major pressures that are pushing arts organisations to adapt. Furthermore, in the context of the knowledge economy, credentials have become increasingly important for arts leaders to obtain their positions, while in order to be successful in their positions, practical experience, innovation and an entrepreneurial mindset proved to be even more essential. It is suggested that some pertinent arts management training courses in Australia could, if adapted, contribute to enhancing arts management and the entertainment industry in Vietnam, as well as providing mutual benefit to both Vietnam and Australia.
4
au, r. mccarron@ecu edu, and Robyn McCarron. "Performing arts in regional communities: The case of Bunbury, Western Australia." Murdoch University, 2004. http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20050501.153348.
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Abstract
In Australia during the 1990s increased attention was paid to regional, rural and remote communities and, in terms of arts and culture, the establishment of regional arts umbrella organisations, at both national and state levels, stimulated interest in, and development of, the arts in those communities. Discourses around the notion of the civil society and the ways in which social and cultural capital can be acquired and transferred, have led to renewed interest in the economic and social functions of the voluntary, not-for-profit sector of Australian society.
This thesis aims to advance the critical study of regional cultural development. It examines the role and function of the performing arts within regional communities through a case study of the city of Bunbury, Western Australia. Regional performing arts are often trivialised or marginalised by metropolitan practitioners, critics and academics, particularly as they are almost entirely, in Australia, a volunteer/amateur pursuit. However volunteer performing arts groups provide physical and social spaces that encourage networks of civil engagement that have implications for the functioning of the broader community; and, in the case of Bunbury, a degree of independence from the bureaucratic requirements of arts funding bodies. The thesis proposes that volunteer, not-for-profit (amateur) theatre has a stronger claim on the title community theatre than the state-funded community theatre movement of the 1970s and 1980s.
The thesis also examines the strong community affiliations that have been generated by the community-owned, professionally-managed Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre. It situates this discussion in the context of the rapidly changing urban landscape in which the Entertainment Centre is placed and its affiliations with local, regional, state and national funding, networking and touring structures. It argues that considerable social and cultural capital is generated through the active involvement of citizens at many levels of the performing arts in a regional community such as Bunbury. Although for most, the involvement is voluntary and recreational, it also has direct economic outcomes in terms of the developing creative industries of the region.
A major contribution of the thesis is the provision of a model for the function and impact of regional community performing arts as it theorises the tensions between governmental (funding) models and self-generated regional arts practices through case study and detailed analysis. In doing so the thesis contributes to key debates in two significant ways, firstly by providing an important historical/cultural document and secondly, by highlighting new ways of thinking and speaking about the role of the performing arts in regional communities.
5
McCarron, Robyn. "Performing arts in regional communities: the case of Bunbury, Western Australia." Thesis, McCarron, Robyn (2004) Performing arts in regional communities: the case of Bunbury, Western Australia. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2004. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/191/.
Full textAbstract:
In Australia during the 1990s increased attention was paid to regional, rural and remote communities and, in terms of arts and culture, the establishment of regional arts umbrella organisations, at both national and state levels, stimulated interest in, and development of, the arts in those communities. Discourses around the notion of the civil society and the ways in which social and cultural capital can be acquired and transferred, have led to renewed interest in the economic and social functions of the voluntary, not-for-profit sector of Australian society.
This thesis aims to advance the critical study of regional cultural development. It examines the role and function of the performing arts within regional communities through a case study of the city of Bunbury, Western Australia. Regional performing arts are often trivialised or marginalised by metropolitan practitioners, critics and academics, particularly as they are almost entirely, in Australia, a volunteer/amateur pursuit. However volunteer performing arts groups provide physical and social spaces that encourage networks of civil engagement that have implications for the functioning of the broader community; and, in the case of Bunbury, a degree of independence from the bureaucratic requirements of arts funding bodies. The thesis proposes that volunteer, not-for-profit (amateur) theatre has a stronger claim on the title 'community theatre' than the state-funded community theatre movement of the 1970s and 1980s.
The thesis also examines the strong community affiliations that have been generated by the community-owned, professionally-managed Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre. It situates this discussion in the context of the rapidly changing urban landscape in which the Entertainment Centre is placed and its affiliations with local, regional, state and national funding, networking and touring structures. It argues that considerable social and cultural capital is generated through the active involvement of citizens at many levels of the performing arts in a regional community such as Bunbury. Although for most, the involvement is voluntary and recreational, it also has direct economic outcomes in terms of the developing creative industries of the region.
A major contribution of the thesis is the provision of a model for the function and impact of regional community performing arts as it theorises the tensions between governmental (funding) models and self-generated regional arts practices through case study and detailed analysis. In doing so the thesis contributes to key debates in two significant ways, firstly by providing an important historical/cultural document and secondly, by highlighting new ways of thinking and speaking about the role of the performing arts in regional communities.
6
McCarron, Robyn. "Performing arts in regional communities: the case of Bunbury, Western Australia." McCarron, Robyn (2004) Performing arts in regional communities: the case of Bunbury, Western Australia. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2004. http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/191/.
Full textAbstract:
In Australia during the 1990s increased attention was paid to regional, rural and remote communities and, in terms of arts and culture, the establishment of regional arts umbrella organisations, at both national and state levels, stimulated interest in, and development of, the arts in those communities. Discourses around the notion of the civil society and the ways in which social and cultural capital can be acquired and transferred, have led to renewed interest in the economic and social functions of the voluntary, not-for-profit sector of Australian society.
This thesis aims to advance the critical study of regional cultural development. It examines the role and function of the performing arts within regional communities through a case study of the city of Bunbury, Western Australia. Regional performing arts are often trivialised or marginalised by metropolitan practitioners, critics and academics, particularly as they are almost entirely, in Australia, a volunteer/amateur pursuit. However volunteer performing arts groups provide physical and social spaces that encourage networks of civil engagement that have implications for the functioning of the broader community; and, in the case of Bunbury, a degree of independence from the bureaucratic requirements of arts funding bodies. The thesis proposes that volunteer, not-for-profit (amateur) theatre has a stronger claim on the title 'community theatre' than the state-funded community theatre movement of the 1970s and 1980s.
The thesis also examines the strong community affiliations that have been generated by the community-owned, professionally-managed Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre. It situates this discussion in the context of the rapidly changing urban landscape in which the Entertainment Centre is placed and its affiliations with local, regional, state and national funding, networking and touring structures. It argues that considerable social and cultural capital is generated through the active involvement of citizens at many levels of the performing arts in a regional community such as Bunbury. Although for most, the involvement is voluntary and recreational, it also has direct economic outcomes in terms of the developing creative industries of the region.
A major contribution of the thesis is the provision of a model for the function and impact of regional community performing arts as it theorises the tensions between governmental (funding) models and self-generated regional arts practices through case study and detailed analysis. In doing so the thesis contributes to key debates in two significant ways, firstly by providing an important historical/cultural document and secondly, by highlighting new ways of thinking and speaking about the role of the performing arts in regional communities.
7
Richards, Alison 1951. "Bodies of meaning : issues of field and habitus in contemporary Australasian theatrical performance practice." Monash University, School of Literary, Visual and Performance Studies, 2003. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/7815.
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Carroll, Jacqui. "Changing lanes : an exploration of the journey from dance through choreography to directing and the spoken word." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 1998. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/35821/1/35821_Digitised%20Thesis.pdf.
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Marshall, Anne. "Ngaparti-ngaparti ecologies of performance in Central Australia : comparative studies in the ecologies of Aboriginal-Australian and European-Australian performances with specific focus on the relationship of context, place, physical environment, and personal experience. /." View thesis, 2001. http://library.uws.edu.au/adt-NUWS/public/adt-NUWS20040804.155726/index.html.
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Marshall, Anne, University of Western Sydney, of Arts Education and Social Sciences College, and School of Social Ecology and Lifelong Learning. "Ngapartji-ngapartji : ecologies of performance in Central Australia : comparative studies in the ecologies of Aboriginal-Australian and European-Australian performances with specific focus on the relationship of context, place, physical environment, and personal experience." THESIS_CAESS_SELL_Marshall_A.xml, 2001. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/556.
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All forms of cultural interaction are expressive and creative. In particular, what the performing arts express is not always the conscious, the ideal and the rational, but more often the preconscious, pre-verbal, asocial and irrational, touching on darker undercurrents of human and extra-human interrelations, experiences, beliefs, fears, desires and values. So what is performance and how does it differ in cultures? A performance is a translation of an idea into a synaesthetic experience. In the context of this thesis, however, translation does not imply reductive literal translation as can be attempted by analogy in spoken or written descriptions and notation systems. The translation is one through which participating groups and individuals seek to understand the being in the world of the Other by means of mutual, embodied negotiation of meaning - sensually, experientially, perceptually, cognitively and emotionally - that is, by means of performance. As a contribution towards a social theory of human performance, the author offers reflections on an exchange between two performance ecologies - those of a group of Aboriginal Australian performers from Mimili, Central Australia and a mixed ethnic group of Australian performers from Penrith, NSW, Australia.Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
11
Meekison, Lisa. "Playing the games : indigenous performance in Australia's Festival of the Dreaming." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.670221.
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Bemrose, Anna. "A servant of art : Robert Helpmann in Australia /." St. Lucia, Qld, 2003. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe17332.pdf.
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McLennan, Lesley. "Competition policy and its impact on the performing arts in Queensland." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2000. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/36342/1/36342_McLennan_2000.pdf.
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National Competition Policy as a cornerstone in the commercialisation and
corporatisation of the public services signalled government moving away from an
interventionist position by adopting private enterprise and market driven decision
making as the preferred model. The impact of this movement on the interface
between government and the traditionally subsidised perforrning art..s companies in
Queensland is the subject of this research.
When the public sector begins to imitate the private sector and government departments
call to accountability their agencies, these non-profit service agencies then have a
chameleon like image of public provider in private enterprise clothing. So arts
organisations, statutory authorities, arts service networks take on a new role in response to
the changing guise of the provider.
Selected Queensland performing arts companies were surveyed to investigate key
changes in company administration and policy over the last five years, and to create a
snapshot of contemporary company structures of both subsidised and non-subsidised
companies. Key Queensland arts industry figures were interviewed to further identify
issues regarding subsidy and government interface in an environment of changing
public administration attitudes and foci with particular reference to competition
policy issues.
A synthesis of the research results, literature review and analysis concludes in a table
of comparative subsidy models. The object of this table is to understand how the
structure of subsidy reflects, supports or contradicts the wider policies of current
public administrations.
14
St, Leon Mark. "Circus & nation : a critical inquiry into circus in its Australian setting, 1847-2006, from the perspectives of society, enterprise and culture." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1702.
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In Australia, like most countries, circus has been an element, at times a very important element, in the mosaic that constitutes its popular culture. An outgrowth of the circus as recast in a modern form in London in the 18th century, an Australian circus profession has existed almost continuously since 1847. Australia’s circus entrepreneurs took the principal features of English, and later American, circus arts and management and reworked these features to suit their new antipodean context. The athletic, intellectually undemanding nature of its equestrian-based entertainments harmonised with the emerging patterns of modern Australia’s way of life. In time, Australia produced renowned circus artists of its own, even artists capable of reinvigorating the concept of circus in the very countries from which their art had been derived. Since their transience and labours, indeed their very existence, were somehow tangential and inconsequential to mainstream Australian society, Australia’s circus people did not attract tokens of recognition in story and verse as did shearers, drovers, diggers and other identities of the Australian outback. Their contribution to Australia’s social, economic and cultural development has been largely overlooked. Despite its pervasive role in Australia’s cultural life over more than 150 years, examples of academically grounded research into Australian circus are few. The primary aim of this study is to demonstrate the major themes evident in Australia’s circus history, in terms of society, enterprise and culture, between 1847 and 2006. None of these areas, of course, is exclusive of the others, especially the first and last named. These deliberations are framed within the broader influences and events apparent in Australian society and history. Implicit within this demonstration is the notion that circus, whatever its characteristics and merits as an artform, has been, and continues to be, a ‘barometer’ of social, economic and cultural change in Australia.
15
Hands, Karen Ruth. "A Space Of Possibles: Artistic Directors and Leadership in Australian Theatre." Thesis, Griffith University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366162.
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This research investigates the agency of artistic directors of subsidised major Australian theatre organisations in the post Major Performing Arts Inquiry (1999) sector. The research was conducted in response to a new generation of artistic directors commencing leadership of the major theatre companies from 2008. This new era of leadership was expected to revitalise the sector, however it remained in a perceived state of artistic and financial crisis. This thesis considers the role of the artistic director as an artistic leader of the field, and examines how the agency of this position came to be shaped by arts policy, economic and artistic forces. I argue that historical arts policies and the recommendations of MPAI altered the structures of the sector. Furthermore, while the changes these policies introduced reorganised the structure of the sector and administration of the companies, they also restricted the transformative agency of its artistic leaders to advance the artistic and economic performance of their organisations.
This research uses a qualitative case study methodology. The data was collected through interviews with artistic and administrative leaders in the field, document and archival analysis and observation. The data is analysed within a theoretical framework inspired by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s space of possibles, a conceptual device put forward in “The field of cultural production” (1983, p.313). Three chapters present the research. The first, a case study, examines episodes of artistic leadership at Sydney Theatre Company (STC) between 1980 and 2014. The second chapter also presents a case study that examines the career path of Aubrey Mellor and his leadership as the final artistic director of Playbox Theatre Company (Melbourne) between 1993 and 2004. The third chapter discusses the length of artistic director’s tenure as a significant constraint in the sector, with the time spent in the position revealing the effects of several artistic, economic and personal forces. The findings of the research indicate that the agency of an artistic director is predetermined through the organisation’s position in the field, established through the agendas of arts policy. Additionally, the agency of an artistic director is also profoundly influenced by the dynamic of the transition between generations of artistic leaders and the career trajectory of the individual artistic leader. These conclusions suggest the agency of artistic directors at major theatre companies is shaped through sector-wide and personal forces. Their capacity for transformative agency is limited.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Humanities
Arts, Education and Law
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Latchford, Norma. "A Study of the Relationship between Mining and the Performing Arts in Australia 1850 – 1914: case studies of the Ballarat and Kalgoorlie-Boulder goldfields." Thesis, Curtin University, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/78567.
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In describing the historical development of these two settlements based on mining, this thesis outlines the ways in which the performing arts played a significant role in the evolving social and cultural development of both centres and that mining, especially in the form of the these two goldrushes, was highly influential in the distinctive development of the performing arts in Australia in the second half of the nineteenth century and beyond.
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McPherson, Ailsa School of Theatre Film & Dance UNSW. "Diversions in a tented field : theatricality and the images and perceptions of warfare in Sydney entertainments 1879-1902." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Theatre, Film and Dance, 2001. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/18264.
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This thesis examines the theatricality which accompanied the establishment, development and deployment of the colonial army in New South Wales during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. It investigates the transfer to the colony of the military ethos of the Imperial power, and explores the ways in which performances of military spectacle, in both theatrical and paratheatrical contexts, were interpreted by the colonists. The primary sources for the research are the Sydney press and the Mitchell `Australiana' collection of the State Library of New South Wales. The framework of the argument is presented in five chapters. The first, Displaying, investigates the relationship between civilians and the military forces at training camps, and then the performances of sham fights. The second, Committing, explores the attitudes of civilians and soldiers at the departures of New South Wales troops to the Soudan and Boer Wars. Informing, thirdly, investigates how the Imperial military ideology was conveyed through performance, and how this information was interpreted in the colony. Accommodating analyses songs and theatre performances which first reflected colonial anticipations at the commitment to conflict and then attempted to accommodate the actuality of the experience. Lastly, Desiring, explores the colonists' endeavours to invent traditions which satisfied the discrepancy between their hopes and their experiences of Imperial war. This thesis asserts that the colonial reinterpretation of military ideology was influenced by concepts both of service to the Imperial power and of national identity. The interplay between these influences led to the colonists' idealising the Imperial association. This ideal was not demonstrated in the practice of association. The result of this experience was a defining of the differences between colonial and Imperial perceptions, rather than a reinforcement of their similarities. Much of the exploration of thesis also prepares the ground for a fuller cultural understanding of the issues at play in the final emergence of the Anzac tradition at the engagement of colonial soldiers against Turkish troops at Gallipoli in April, 1915.
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Rice, Jeremy F. "My worst ever night at the best school ball ever : creating taboo theatre for teenagers." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2013. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/849.
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My Worst Ever Night at the Best School Ball Ever (School Ball) is a new play for teenage audiences. The action takes place on the night of a ball for final year students. A prank with a goat goes horribly wrong, a photo of a girl pissing in a pot plant is widely circulated, and everyone finds out about the boy in a sexual relationship with a teacher. At the heart of the play are teenagers, armed with mobile phones, trying to find their way in a contradictory and confusing world.
The creative development of School Ball centred on practice-based artistic research into the field of theatre for young audiences (TYA) through my practice as a director. The research question was: how to produce taboo theatre for teenagers?
School Ball was conceived as a production that would tour to schools. The school ball concept was popular with teachers, parents and theatre company board members but I encountered strong resistance to the story of a male student in a sexual relationship with a female teacher. Even though such relationships were being reported weekly in the media, the content was perceived to be taboo for young audiences. Developing School Ball investigated the complex relationships between TYA and the education system, as well as artistic and production strategies to navigate School Ball past school gatekeepers and reach its target audience.
Young people are at the centre of the research practice, participating in workshops, collaborating with artists, and responding to the work. Their involvement helped make School Ball accurately reflect adolescent experiences, such as the centrality of text messaging – another taboo in the school environment.
Australian TYA is considered to be at the forefront of international practice: innovative in creative process and theatrical form, imaginative and daring in content. But TYA practice is neither homogenous nor self-contained. In artistic practice, means of production and competition for audiences, TYA intersects with Theatre in Education (TIE), Young People’s Theatre (YPT), drama education, adult and commercial theatre. Part of the research aimed to understand the TYA landscape and the place of School Ball within it.
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McEwan, Celina. "Investing in play expectations, dependencies and power in Australian practices of community cultural development /." Connect to full text, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/3680.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2008.Title from title screen (viewed Apr. 9, 2009) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of Performance Studies, Faculty of Arts. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.
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St, Leon Mark. "Circus & nation : a critical inquiry into circus in its Australian setting, 1847-2006, from the perspectives of society, enterprise and culture." University of Sydney, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1702.
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PhDIn Australia, like most countries, circus has been an element, at times a very important element, in the mosaic that constitutes its popular culture. An outgrowth of the circus as recast in a modern form in London in the 18th century, an Australian circus profession has existed almost continuously since 1847. Australia’s circus entrepreneurs took the principal features of English, and later American, circus arts and management and reworked these features to suit their new antipodean context. The athletic, intellectually undemanding nature of its equestrian-based entertainments harmonised with the emerging patterns of modern Australia’s way of life. In time, Australia produced renowned circus artists of its own, even artists capable of reinvigorating the concept of circus in the very countries from which their art had been derived. Since their transience and labours, indeed their very existence, were somehow tangential and inconsequential to mainstream Australian society, Australia’s circus people did not attract tokens of recognition in story and verse as did shearers, drovers, diggers and other identities of the Australian outback. Their contribution to Australia’s social, economic and cultural development has been largely overlooked. Despite its pervasive role in Australia’s cultural life over more than 150 years, examples of academically grounded research into Australian circus are few. The primary aim of this study is to demonstrate the major themes evident in Australia’s circus history, in terms of society, enterprise and culture, between 1847 and 2006. None of these areas, of course, is exclusive of the others, especially the first and last named. These deliberations are framed within the broader influences and events apparent in Australian society and history. Implicit within this demonstration is the notion that circus, whatever its characteristics and merits as an artform, has been, and continues to be, a ‘barometer’ of social, economic and cultural change in Australia.
21
Piening, Simon. "The idea of audience : audience development and the creative industries in Australia's small-to-medium performing arts sector." Thesis, Federation University Australia, 2022. http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/185173.
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In recent decades, the governance of arts and culture in Australia has been dominated by the “creative industries” model, which is a market-driven approach to cultural policy that seeks to bring together those workers who operate in the realm of creativity with those who have the knowledge and resources to monetise their creative output. The increased focus on market outcomes has resulted in the need for arts organisation to pay much greater attention to developing audiences and cultivating consumers for the arts. However, strikingly absent from much of the discussion concerning audience development in the arts has been the voices of the artists and arts workers themselves, whose work sits at the very heart of any relationship with the audience. The research study that is the subject of this thesis sought to better understand the audience relationship from the perspective of artists and arts workers operating in Melbourne’s small-to-medium performing arts sector, which is a not-for-profit niche of the performing arts industry that has been charged with creating new works and pushing creative boundaries. In light of the increasingly marketised environment for cultural production, the study asked two broad questions: How do these arts professionals conceptualise their relationship with the audience?; and What role do they envisage for the performing arts in their communities? Through individual interviews and a series of group discussions occurring over a 12-month period between 2017 and 2018, arts professionals from the small-to-medium performing arts sector in Melbourne, Australia, discussed the ways in which the rise of the market-oriented creative industries had been impacting on their understanding of, and relationship with, the audience. The study found that the growing demands of the market and the commodification of artistic work had, for many arts professionals, increased the sense of distance between the artist and the audience and had resulted in confusion over the role and value of art in contemporary society. Despite this, arts workers, through their craft, were seeking greater engagement with their communities and were contributing to a more diverse and robust public sphere. As the authors and architects of the aesthetic experience, artists, arts workers and arts organisations have a profound impact in shaping the audience’s understanding of, and relationship with, the arts (Belfiore & Bennett, 2008). Yet much audience development research and practice has focused on understanding the attitudes and motivations of audience members in relation to the arts and ignored or minimised the important contribution that artists themselves might be making to developing audiences. This study’s aim was to address a significant gap in the understanding of the needs and motivations of arts professionals with regard to their relationship with the audience, and, in so doing, argued for a re-imagining of the field and practice of audience development that considers the needs of both the producers and consumers of culture.Doctor of Philosophy
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Gration, Steven Robert. "The Praxis of the Solo Performer: The Theories and Practices Explored during the Creation of a Solo Performance based on the Life and Art of Ian Fairweather." Thesis, Griffith University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/365217.
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This research investigates the field of performance practice often referred to as monodramas, one-person plays or variously as one-woman or one-man shows, I adopt a more encompassing term, Solo Performance, to describe the activities of an individual performing to an audience within the field of Drama. Central to the conclusions I have drawn are the insights emerging from the processes involved in creating an original solo performance text and a live solo performance based primarily on events in the life of the Australian visual artist Ian Fairweather....etc.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Humanities.
Arts, Education and Law
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Lees, Jennifer Anne. "Eisteddfoditis : the significance of the City of Sydney Eisteddfod in Australian cultural history 1933-1941 /." View thesis, 2003. http://library.uws.edu.au/adt-NUWS/public/adt-NUWS20051109.114852/index.html.
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Thesis (Ph.D.) (Communication & Media) -- University of Western Sydney, 2003.A thesis submitted in requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy - Communication & Media, University of Western Sydney, 2003. Bibliography : leaves 350-372.
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Lees, Jennifer Anne. "Eisteddfoditis : the significance of the City of Sydney Eisteddfod in Australian cultural history 1933-1941." Thesis, View thesis, 2003. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/714.
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This thesis documents the early history of the City of Sydney Eisteddfod from its beginning in 1933 until it recessed in 1941 for the duration of the Pacific War. Eisteddfods had long been commonplace in Australia, but this competition began for political rather than cultural reasons in 1932, when organisers of the Harbour Bridge celebrations decided that since the spectacular edifice had made Sydney an icon on the world map, the city needed to cultivate a more sophisticated image. In observing events that led to its establishment, the project looks at the technological revolution of the 1920s and the social upheaval of the jazz age. This thesis observes that Sydney competition was Welsh only in name and grew from the political roots of the high and lowbrow debates that had come to divide society. In examining these issues, this thesis focuses on the Sydney contest, the talent that rose from its stages and the cultural revival that exploded in its wake. Written as a narrative history, this thesis draws mostly from empirical sources. It includes a statistical analysis and a substantial amount of original material
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Bradford, Shannon Leigh. "The Australian Theatre of the Deaf essence, sensibility, style /." Full text (PDF) from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International, 2000. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/fullcit?p3014976.
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Connell, Kathleen R. "Investigating Performance Career Making and Career Transition through the Lens of Australia's Elite Classical Singers." Thesis, Griffith University, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/398418.
Full textAbstract:
Creative careers in the performing arts follow a somewhat unique trajectory that is driven by specific skill demands and market conditions. This thesis investigates the careers of Australian classical singers through a qualitative interview-based study and analysis. The thesis outlines a trajectory of singers’ careers as they have become evident in the experiences of professional singers.
Interviews with 13 retired professional classical singers were undertaken. Career theories and empirical studies from elite dance and sportsperson were interrogated to provide a basis for a qualitative examination of performance careers. Building on this, an analysis of the singers’ experiences of their professional life was undertaken. Implications arising were related to career models from the film industry, to discourses from cultural economics and sociology, to music training concepts and to the latest research on entrepreneurial approaches to working in the creative arts. The result was the identification of a distinct career trajectory for professional classical singers comprising several stages.
The career stages proposed are: (1) pre-career; (2) breaking in; (3) the peak career; (4) denouement; (5) moving on. Other findings include that creativity and identity are tightly intertwined for the professional singers in the study, and when seeking new directions following the denouement stage, the majority of the singers attempted to remain attached to an artistic field even when they accepted that their time as a professional singer had passed.
The thesis highlights that creative careers are difficult to sustain and that the fragility of the creative career, once realised, can have very real implications for the well-being of the creative professional. The research also revealed that career trajectories in professional singing follow a distinctive arc because of the way the work is creatively embodied. The findings suggest that career planning has often been inadequate in this industry and it is only in the consideration of the lifecycle of a creative performance career that the critical link between pre- and post-career stages can be made.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Queensland Conservatorium
Arts, Education and Law
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Totten, Christopher Lee. "To be FRANK : Austral-Asian Performance Ensemble /." [St. Lucia, Qld.], 2003. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe17845.pdf.
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Lees, Jennifer Anne, University of Western Sydney, of Arts Education and Social Sciences College, and School of Humanities. "Eisteddfoditis : the significance of the City of Sydney Eisteddfod in Australian cultural history 1933-1941." THESIS_CAESS_HUM_Lees_J.xml, 2003. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/714.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis documents the early history of the City of Sydney Eisteddfod from its beginning in 1933 until it recessed in 1941 for the duration of the Pacific War. Eisteddfods had long been commonplace in Australia, but this competition began for political rather than cultural reasons in 1932, when organisers of the Harbour Bridge celebrations decided that since the spectacular edifice had made Sydney an icon on the world map, the city needed to cultivate a more sophisticated image. In observing events that led to its establishment, the project looks at the technological revolution of the 1920s and the social upheaval of the jazz age. This thesis observes that Sydney competition was Welsh only in name and grew from the political roots of the high and lowbrow debates that had come to divide society. In examining these issues, this thesis focuses on the Sydney contest, the talent that rose from its stages and the cultural revival that exploded in its wake. Written as a narrative history, this thesis draws mostly from empirical sources. It includes a statistical analysis and a substantial amount of original materialDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
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Davies, Llewellyn Willis. "‘LOOK’ AND LOOK BACK: Using an auto/biographical lens to study the Australian documentary film industry, 1970 - 2010." Phd thesis, Canberra, ACT : The Australian National University, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/154339.
Full textAbstract:
While much has been written on the Australian film and television
industry, little has been presented by actual producers,
filmmakers and technicians of their time and experiences within
that same industry. Similarly, with historical documentaries, it
has been academics rather than filmmakers who have led the
debate. This thesis addresses this shortcoming and bridges the
gap between practitioner experience and intellectual discussion,
synthesising the debate and providing an important contribution
from a filmmaker-academic, in its own way unique and insightful.
The thesis is presented in two voices. First, my voice, the
voice of memoir and recollected experience of my screen
adventures over 38 years within the Australian industry, mainly
producing historical documentaries for the ABC and the SBS. This
is represented in italics. The second half and the alternate
chapters provide the industry framework in which I worked with
particular emphasis on documentaries and how this evolved and
developed over a 40-year period, from 1970 to 2010.
Within these two voices are three layers against which this
history is reviewed and presented. Forming the base of the
pyramid is the broad Australian film industry made up of feature
films, documentary, television drama, animation and other types
and styles of production. Above this is the genre documentary
within this broad industry, and making up the small top tip of
the pyramid, the sub-genre of historical documentary. These form
the vertical structure within which industry issues are
discussed. Threading through it are the duel determinants of
production: ‘the market’ and ‘funding’.
Underpinning the industry is the involvement of government, both
state and federal, forming the three dimensional matrix for the
thesis. For over 100 years the Australian film industry has
depended on government support through subsidy, funding
mechanisms, development assistance, broadcast policy and
legislative provisions.
This thesis aims to weave together these industry layers, binding
them with the determinants of the market and funding, and
immersing them beneath layers of government legislation and
policy to present a new view of the Australian film industry.
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McPherson, Ailsa. "Diversions in a tented field : theatricality and the images and perceptions of warfare in Sydney entertainments 1879-1902 /." 2001. http://www.library.unsw.edu.au/~thesis/adt-NUN/public/adt-NUN20021008.140716/index.html.
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Huang, Chi-Hui, and 黃琦惠. "A Research on the Supporting Systems of International Development for the Performing Arts in Australia." Thesis, 2006. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/euw23d.
Full textAbstract:
碩士國立臺北藝術大學
藝術行政與管理研究所碩士班
94
The development of modern science and technology, progressing by leaps and bounds, has pulled closer the distance between countries. International commercial and cultural exchange is now a day to day reality that every industry is facing the global competition. Under Taiwan’s current political situation, the challenge that Taiwan faces in the international society is severe. In order to promote Taiwanese image on the world stage, cultural diplomacy becomes a breakthrough tool. The government impels "Challenge 2008 ─Council for Economic Planning and Development" from 2002 by the slogan “Developing cultural industries, and bringing culture into industry” and proposed the Cultural and Creative Industry Development Plan. Its’ goal is to improve the whole industrial environment so that the cultural and business sectors in Taiwan can develop vigorously. However, besides the great aspirational ideal, action must be taken to let the Taiwanese culture be visible on the international stage. Until the bridge that leads to the international stage is properly constructed, the Taiwanese culture cannot be successful exported. Australia, with a similar strategic location in the Asia Pacific Region as Taiwan, has been eager to export its culture in recent years. The Australian government promotes the development of arts and cultures by enacting policy and funding and integrating various resources among agencies. In order to inquire into the constitution and the actual achievements of the supporting systems of international development for the performing arts in Australia, this article will discuss the Australian public sector and the third sector and their roles and functions to the international development of performing arts; analyze the achievements, advantages and weakness of the supporting systems with the experience and opinions from Australia performing arts organizations.
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Thoraval, Yannick. "Race, Place and Grace: Cosmopolitanism in Small Town Australia." Thesis, 2019. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/42240/.
Full textAbstract:
This multidisciplinary PhD comprises a novel and exegesis, which, together, explore the idea that some small Australian towns may promote the likelihood of residents having intercultural experiences associated with cosmopolitanism. The exegesis examines social, political and economic conditions which may support cosmopolitan experience. The novel dramatizes how the lived social environment can influence one’s emotional experience of cultural difference. Together, the novel and exegesis conclude that small towns present social conditions, which can promote empathy and cultural curiosity.
The combination of novel and exegesis enables this project to ask broad questions about how Australian multiculturalism could harness the potential of cosmopolitan interactions. For example, it asks as: can modern residents of diverse small towns better adapt to social and cultural change than city dwellers? Through creative, practice-led research in the form of a novel, this project offers a verisimilar perspective of a cultural outsider in a diverse small town. Through first person narrative, the novel explores what a cosmopolitan experience may feel like. This perspective also allows the thesis to reflect on how some of the socio-cultural impediments to acceptance may be overcome. The exegesis supports this line of inquiry through more traditional scholarship, drawing on case studies, as well as social, cultural and economic theory to interrogate the central assertion of this thesis: that small towns can be as cosmopolitan, if not more so, than their big city counterparts. Combined, the creative work and exegesis respond to perennial questions, such as what it means to belong to Australia, how difference is perceived and how it could be valued in this country.
Through the novel and exegesis, the utility of cosmopolitan perspectives and social policy emerge as a practical responses to negotiating differences in the social context of Australia’s multicultural community: a diverse, national community facing an increasingly global world.
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Marshall, Anne. "Ngapartji-ngapartji : ecologies of performance in Central Australia : comparative studies in the ecologies of Aboriginal-Australian and European-Australian performances with specific focus on the relationship of context, place, physical environment, and personal experience." Thesis, 2001. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/556.
Full textAbstract:
All forms of cultural interaction are expressive and creative. In particular, what the performing arts express is not always the conscious, the ideal and the rational, but more often the preconscious, pre-verbal, asocial and irrational, touching on darker undercurrents of human and extra-human interrelations, experiences, beliefs, fears, desires and values. So what is performance and how does it differ in cultures? A performance is a translation of an idea into a synaesthetic experience. In the context of this thesis, however, translation does not imply reductive literal translation as can be attempted by analogy in spoken or written descriptions and notation systems. The translation is one through which participating groups and individuals seek to understand the being in the world of the Other by means of mutual, embodied negotiation of meaning - sensually, experientially, perceptually, cognitively and emotionally - that is, by means of performance. As a contribution towards a social theory of human performance, the author offers reflections on an exchange between two performance ecologies - those of a group of Aboriginal Australian performers from Mimili, Central Australia and a mixed ethnic group of Australian performers from Penrith, NSW, Australia.
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Arrighi, Gillian Anne. "A circus and its context: the FitzGerald Brothers' Circus in Australia and New Zealand, 1888-1906." Thesis, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1312413.
Full textAbstract:
Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)Throughout the 1890s and early years of the twentieth century, the FitzGerald Brothers' Circus was the largest and most popular homegrown circus touring in Australasia. Their productions were at once fabulous and educational, parochial and cosmopolitan, political and sensual. The company's principals, Dan and Tom FitzGerald were astute showmen, sensitive to the shifting tastes of their public, and people of all ages and stations found something in their shows that appealed. Drawing on a diverse range of primary source material, this thesis examines the ways that a range of shows produced by the FitzGeralds articulated a variety of narratives, not all of which were congruent, concerning nation, identity, allegiance, and belonging, in Australasia at the turn of the twentieth century. As a history of a performance company, it traces the artisitic career of the circus from their emergence in 1888 to the company's dispersal in 1906. It brings forward and analyses many of the acts which the FitzGeralds promoted as their key attractions and in which they invested much of their identity. While the story of the FitzGeralds' Circus constitutes the primary narrative line of the thesis, a meta-narrative about events in the wider community, shifting political imperatives, and cultural change, also runs through the thesis as a strategy for annotating the circus shows and drawing out possible readings of them. This study investigates the dialogic relationship that developed between one particular circus and the contemporary society; it interrogates the extent to which that society, directly and indirectly, impacted on the cultural productions of the principal circus of the era and considers the meaning that were reflected back to the circus's public.
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al-Qassas, Adil. "Displace or Be Displaced Narratives of Multiple Exile in the Sudanese Communities in Australia." Thesis, 2015. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/32313/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis consists of two parts. Both parts navigate the experience of displacement, in both realist and metaphorical modes, of a number of Sudanese expatriates to Australia. The first part, a fictional account in the form of a novella, employs different points of view to explore a range of diasporic encounters undergone by diverse Sudanese migrants and refugees prior to and during resettlement in Australia. Taking the events of the author’s life as its focus, the second part delves into narratives of personal, inner displacement that have deep roots in the history of Sudan and the question of a common national identity. The exegesis also examines the dynamics of his dualistic relationship with the Sudanese communities in Australia while sharing many of the same challenges and crises. His perspective, which can be understood in different ways as being partly inside and partly outside in relation to those communities and the wider Australian community, provides a position from which to view a series of Otherings and exclusions that challenge and displace identity while also contributing to the ‘forming’ of it.
The novella, centred on a café in an inner suburb of Melbourne, portrays different responses, narrated in the protagonists own voices, to a conflict that erupts from a simple remark to which a renowned retired Sudanese football (soccer) player takes offence. Their responses, revealed to the narrator in private, allow the reader to listen to the diversity of personal histories and views that are able to exist and collide within larger national and postcolonial histories, the signs of which act in unexpected ways.
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Breen, Marcus. "The popular music industry in Australia : a study of policy reform and retreat, 1982-1996." Thesis, 1996. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/15443/.
Full textAbstract:
This study examines the political economy of popular music
policy initiatives during 1982-1996, when the Australian
Labor Party was in government Federally and in the State of
Victoria. Building on the cultural studies concept of
articulation, the popular music formulation theory is
proposed as the basis for examining the alignment of the
fields of social and industry policy with the existing
popular music industry. A series of case studies examine
the ALP'S interest in popular music policy, the influence
of Australian popular music achievements on the policy
formation, the role of activists within the party and the
subsequent inquiries and proposals that flowed from the
party's concern to establish programs that would offer
social provisioning outcomes. Using concepts derived from
institutional economics, the thesis shows that the existing
popular music industry, in particular multinational record
companies, were disinclined to participate in and
financially support the policies. Positive outcomes were
realised in the creation of institutions such as Ausmusic,
the Victorian Rock Foundation and The Push. Although
dependent on public subsidy, some of the initiatives
offered a new funding model, such as the failed blank tape
levy. Alternatively, the examination of community music
programs found that some local or micro projects generated
industrial characteristics of their own, to become
economically self-sufficient, rather than dependent on
subsidies. Evidence that the private interests of the
existing music industry determined their reluctance to
participate in the policy programs became clear with the
Prices Surveillance Authority's Inquiry Into the Prices of
Sound Recordings in 1990. The research found that from 1982
until Labor lost power in 1996, no effective method had
been established for engaging the existing music industry
in funding and supporting the policy initiatives. With the
possible exception of the evolution of industrial
characteristics within community music programs, no
resolution to this policy failure is apparent.
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Gandolfo, Enza. "My life is over now : a novel and critical commentary." Thesis, 1998. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/15420/.
Full textAbstract:
My aim in writing this novel is to give readers a new experience, one that will force them to reassess their views, opinions and beliefs, so that they will alter the way they look at the world - specifically here, how they look at family relationships and conflicts, at women and mothering, and at migrants.
This critical component of my thesis focuses on these questions exploring in particular the genre of 'migrant' or 'multicultural' literature. I will argue that this genre classification, developed by literary theorists and not by novelists, can have a negative effect on the way the novels of Italo-Australian women writers including my own novel, are (or are likely to be) read and received.
I will be focusing on literary works or works that are aspiring to be literary and not on works of popular fiction in this thesis. My reasons for this are fairly straight forward. First of all, it is a matter of personal interest, and the fact that my novel, My Life is Over Now, is a
literary work and not a work of popular fiction. Second, as far as popular fiction goes - romance, crime, to some extent science-fiction, horror - the 'ethnicity' of the author seems to be either of no relevance at all or so important that is it almost always disguised - writers often
writing under Anglo pseudonyms. Third, the dynamics of the
marketplace, readership and literary theory and criticism operate differently in the area of popular fiction than they do with literary fiction and therefore would require separate analysis.
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Holmes, Susan. "First Impressions: Writing a contemporary Australian adaptation of Pride and Prejudice." Thesis, 2013. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/27713/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis consists of two components, the novel, which is 70% of the total and the exegesis, which is 30% of the thesis.
Together, the novel and the exegesis are an exploration of Pride and Prejudice from the point of view of a creative writer working to understand and adapt Austen’s writing style. The focus on the concept of Emotional Intelligence is a deliberate strategy with two objectives, firstly to bring new insights into the reading and analyses of the novel and secondly to use this form of analysis to enhance the writing of a contemporary Australian adaptation. Thus this modern concept from the field of psychology is being used by a creative writer to explore Austen’s unique character development and depiction in an original way. My original research question of “what insight and contribution can Emotional Intelligence make to our reading of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and to the writing of a contemporary novel” has informed the entirety of this thesis.
First Impressions shares the romance plot of Pride and Prejudice in that the central focus is for the protagonists to eventually unite, despite their preconceptions. However, although some of the characters are roughly based on those in Austen’s novel, First Impressions diverges at many points due to the vast differences of modern social settings, group dynamics, education and employment. One major difference is the gender reversal of the major characters.
The exegesis outlines the importance of the source novel to my own creative processes. I reflect on the subtle balance between keeping resemblance to the original and a deliberate reshaping of characters and social situations.
Although the exegesis is an integral part of the whole thesis, the starting point for the reader would ideally be the novel, First Impressions, as my aim is for my novel to stand alone but to have an additional resonance for those familiar with Austen’s work.
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Cerne, Helen. "Shifting: the creation and theoretical exploration of a collaborative autobiographical novel." Thesis, 1998. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/15448/.
Full textAbstract:
This Master of Arts thesis has two parts: a collaborative
autobiographical novel Shifting, written by Helen and Serge
Cerne, and a theoretical commentary which explores aspects of collaborative writing. The research material in this thesis has come from a variety of resources: primary and secondary sources, literature data bases, a journal I kept while writing the novel, interviews with family members, discussions with my partner and field visits to places represented in the novel. Only my part of the novel has been submitted for examination but the whole of Shifting has been included because all of it must be read to
understand the thesis. The novel, written from a male and female narrative perspective, has alternate chapters which tell the story of an Italian migrant boy and an Australian-born girl growing up during the 1950s and 1960s. The story deals with physical, emotional and psychological changes in the lives of the two central characters. Shifting is a social history of the period which mainly documents the western suburbs of Melbourne. The central argument of the thesis, both novel and commentary, is that identity is not fixed but constantly changes or shifts, especially in
moments of crisis such as migration. Displacement and
marginalisation, or repositioning of identity, are delineated in each chapter of Shifting to contrast or echo the 'other' narrative.
The theoretical commentary also discusses various models of
collaboration, collaborative agreement, dialogue and negotiation, with special references to Shifting. An analysis of heterosexual collaboration shows how socio-economic circumstances or gender expectations can limit the female partner's contribution to the creative partnership. Finally, autobiography as a form of self narrative is explored as a form of personal mythologising.
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Bendrups, Faye. "Service station : straying the Australian landscape : a modern Aussie ballad opera." Thesis, 1996. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/15566/.
Full textAbstract:
Have you driven someplace, walked or climbed or jumped in from two miles up? Have you travelled thousands of kilometres world-wide by motor vehicle, round mazes of freeways and off the beaten track? Set against this activity are interruptions, intended or unintended; a necessary fuel stop, an unforeseen accident, R&R, times to debrief, reflect and record. On the road, this duality is a constant. It seemed that a focal point for exploring these opposing forces could be the SERVICE STATION - a place of brief stops and encounters, but also of continual movement -of machinery, vehicles, work; of coming, stopping and going.
It was on this premise that this ballad opera was based.
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Brown, Janet M. "The writing and research of the novel 'The Shaded Side'." Thesis, 1998. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/18146/.
Full textAbstract:
The purpose of this project has been to research and write
the novel The Shaded Side and a critical commentary. The
novel is based on the fictitious events that take place in
an Australian tuberculosis sanatorium in the 1940s. The
story locates and reflects the consequences of
relationships, experiences, morals and attitudes of this
early period against the present day story of an adult
adoptee searching for the identity of her birth mother.
Research into the history of TB treatment in
Australia and into broader representations of illness and
disease has been required for the project.
General themes include: sanatorium treatment, wartime
experiences of women of Footscray, the influences of
Catholicism as it was generally practised earlier this
century, adoption and the mechanics of searching for one's
birth relatives.
The critical component consists of two essays.
Essay 1 discusses comparative representations of
illness and disease and the use of metaphoric language.
Essay 2 explores the controversial issue of
appropriation of research in realist fiction and the
requirement for writers to understand and take
responsibility for their choices of representation.
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Patrick, Trevor. "The form of possibilities : the body remembered and remembering in the built environment." Thesis, 2011. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/19427/.
Full textAbstract:
I have used the imaginative process of Ideokinesis, as an embodied and performed
methodology, where my work is in direct dialogue with a unique system of movement and
postural training developed by Mabel Todd, Barbara Clark, and Lulu Sweigard. Its
functioning is not with ‘actual’ movement but with virtual and imagined movement – it thus
calls on memory and imagining. These processes have resulted in two outcomes: a
sequence of narratives arranged as Acts of remembering – a saturation in words, images, and
imaginings – and the creation of a theatrical performance, which engages with what language
and ideas actually feel like. How they feel and how they look depend not only upon the nature
of my own embodied experience but on the remanent embodied experiences of those who
view the artefact.
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Farrow, Erin. "Somewhere Between: The Shifting Trends in the Narrative Strategies and Preoccupations of the Young Adult Realistic Fiction Genre in Australia." Thesis, 2017. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/35052/.
Full textAbstract:
‘Young adult realistic fiction’ is a classification used by contemporary publishers such as Random House, McGraw Hill Education and Scholastic, who define it as ‘stories with characters, settings, and events that could plausibly happen in true life’ (Scholastic 2014). From the first Australian young adult imprint in 1986 it has become possible to trace substantial shifts in the trends of genre. This thesis explores some of the ways that the narrative structures and preoccupations of contemporary Australian young adult realistic fiction novels have shifted, particularly in regards to the portrayal of the main protagonist’s self-awareness, the complexity of the subject matter being discussed and the unresolved nature of the novels’ endings. The significance of these shifting trends within the genre is explored by means of a creative component and an accompanying exegesis. Through my novel, Somewhere between, I aim to consider and build on the changing narrative structures and preoccupations of Australian novels of the young adult realistic fiction genre. The exegesis uses the examination of representative Australian YA novels published between 1986 and 2013 to demonstrate the shifting trends in these three main narrative structures and preoccupations. The gradual, steady, shift in the narrative structures and preoccupations of the genre away from stability and assurance gives evidence of shifting notions of childhood and adolescent subjectivity within contemporary Australian society.
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Scott, Rob. "The History of Australian Haiku and the Emergence of a Local Accent." Thesis, 2014. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/25867/.
Full textAbstract:
Since haiku first crossed Australian borders more than one hundred years ago, it has undergone
a process of translation, interpretation and transformation. This study examines aspects of
haiku’s cultural transmission and evolution in Australia from a genre oriented to the early
Japanese models, to one which is informed by a growing international haiku community and an
emerging local sensibility. This study will examine the origins of Australian haiku by evaluating the contribution of
some of its most important translators and educators and assess the legacy of Australia’s early
haiku education on current haiku practices. Haiku is still best known as a three-line poem of
seventeen syllables broken into lines of 5-7-5, however, contemporary haiku largely eschews
this classicist approach and is characterised by a blend of emulation and experimentation. This
study presents and discusses a variety of approaches to writing haiku that have emerged in
Australia over the course of its development.
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Allen, Delia Frances. "This town, last town, next town: the women of sideshow alley and the boxing tents: a novel and exegesis." Thesis, 2014. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/25868/.
Full textAbstract:
This doctoral creative thesis comprises a novel This town, last town, next town,
and an accompanying exegesis. The novel is set in Western Australia in the
1950s in sideshow alley, a unique part of Australian culture that has not
previously been represented in Australian fiction. It is a period in which the
sideshow is coming to the end of its heyday as a place of carnival and
spectacle. The three main characters are: Joan Tiernan, a dancer and married
to the owner of an entertainment show; Rose Jackson, the wife of a boxing tent
owner; and Corrie Cooper, married to an Aboriginal boxer. Joan and Rose
travel with the show but Corrie stays behind, living in a small timber shack on
the outskirts of a wheatbelt hamlet, while her husband travels with the tent
most of the year. The narrative explores the women’s hopes and personal
desires and how these are negotiated and shaped by the needs of the
community.
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Pranauskas, Grazina. "Torn : the story of a Lithuanian migrant." Thesis, 2014. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/29676/.
Full textAbstract:
This doctorate consists of two parts: a novel Torn and the exegesis: Writing the migrant story: nostalgia, identity and belonging. The novel and theoretical exegesis are intended to complement each other in capturing the 20th century Lithuanian historical and political circumstances that led to Lithuanian emigration to Australia.
In my novel and exegesis, my intention has been to explore how the experiences of Lithuanian refugees and migrants differ, especially in relation to nostalgia, identity and belonging, depending on the time and circumstances of their arrival in Australia. Lithuanians came to Australia from the same place geographically, but from a different place in terms of history and politics.
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Dale, Graeme. "'Stepping out of the Shadows': an examination of female larrikins in Melbourne and the influence of popular culture on their behaviour (1878-1888); an Exegesis and Documentary Theatre play, ‘Flash Donahs’." Thesis, 2019. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/42231/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis is a two-part practice-based research project comprised of a Documentary Theatre play-script, ‘Flash Donahs’, and an accompanying exegesis, entitled, 'Stepping out of the Shadows': an examination of female larrikins in Melbourne and the influence of popular culture on their behaviour (1878-1888)’. This thesis is also comprised of a live performance and recording of ‘Flash Donahs’ (20/4/18).
Despite the best efforts of a patriarchal ‘Victorian-era’ society to suppress female dissent and activism, the defiant and often confronting behaviour of larrikin women was a contributing social factor in the struggle for increased equality for women. ‘Flash Donahs’ embodies and performs the research undertaken into the lives of female larrikins. The Exegesis elucidates the choices taken in the construction of the play and provides an historical perspective to the research It also evaluates the use of Documentary Theatre when re-presenting archival artefacts in a contemporary theatrical context. Contrary to the derisive content of contemporary publications such as the Bulletin, young women were active participants in larrikin culture, and not merely the property of male larrikins (Bellanta 2012).
In recent years, the work of Australian historians, particularly that of Melissa Bellanta, have initiated a change in our awareness of female larrikins by revealing that they were not simply subordinates of their male counterparts. Bellanta’s work, Larrikins: A History (2012) has informed the analytical and creative components of my thesis by showing that amidst the everyday aspects of their lives, young larrikin women were active participants in a broader struggle for female emancipation. ‘Flash Donahs’ is a re-presentation of gender-related issues in Melbourne during 1878-1888, and of two significant events1 affecting women during this period. In order to accentuate the female characters chosen to ‘people’ the world of the play, an all-female cast playing all the roles (including male roles), has been utilized. The characters in the play are based on actual people and events. They are mostly strong and independent women from a broad cross-section of life, including from the religious sector. They highlight the often oppressive socio-economic and cultural factors affecting young larrikin women from this period, and their responses to critical social issues such as inequality in the workplace and danger in the family environment. Because of the significant influence of popular culture in reinforcing gendered social values, their lives are shown in a theatrical and performative context using aspects of Victorian-era melodrama and burlesque (Bellanta 2012).
Drawing upon a diverse range of archival sources and material, the research methodology was the creation of a Documentary Theatre play featuring popular songs and music. ‘Verbatim’ material was incorporated into the playscript but this was often disassembled and then used in a different setting. Wherever possible, the structure and syntax of the original textual material has been kept intact, even when using the technique of bricolage to construct dialogue between characters. The Exegesis situates ‘Flash Donahs’ within the history of Documentary Theatre, and also positions itself in relation to recent examples of the genre. Its aim is to examine and present new information about female larrikins and to do so in the context of feminist history, including recent feminist theatre practice. Within this practice, female writers, performers and producers have sought to highlight the roles played by women throughout history. It has also been argued that feminist theatre offers an opportunity to reverse the historical marginalization of women.
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Brooke, Sarah. "Giving flight to the Imagination : using portraiture to tell the story of Orff Schulwerk and a family music education setting." Thesis, 2016. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/35778/.
Full textAbstract:
The Orff Schulwerk approach to music and movement education actively seeks to provide flight to the imagination through a playful, inclusive, engaging, creative and artistic pedagogy. As an approach to classroom music education it focuses on participatory music making in groups encompassing the social and emotional needs of the student. Orff educators interpret the Schulwerk in different ways, and as a non-prescriptive approach to music and movement education, this is to be welcomed. However, this freedom in interpretation has led to a variety of beliefs and practices, some of which bear little resemblance to how the Schulwerk was envisaged by its creators, Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman. What seems to be lacking within much of the Orff community is a framework of philosophical understandings in which our practices can be placed.
Reflecting on whether my own understandings of Orff Schulwerk lacked legitimacy prompted me to interrogate and consider my own practice, and investigate the philosophy of Orff Schulwerk. This investigation is presented in Part 1 of this thesis and I propose seven principles of Orff Schulwerk as a framework for understanding the overarching philosophy. I suggest that adopting such a framework allows for the creative freedom Orff educators enjoy whilst maintaining the integrity of the approach.
In Part 2 of this thesis I tell the story of a research project I conducted with primary school children and their families. Volunteers participated in a project led by me as the teacher learning music together through the Orff Schulwerk approach.
As the educator/researcher of this project, the methodology of portraiture is well suited as a frame(work) for my research. It promotes a narrative writing style and makes visible the personhood of the researcher and the humanness of the participants. Portraiture supports the significant reflective component.
Findings from the research project demonstrate beneficial outcomes in families learning music together through the pedagogy of Orff Schulwerk. These families reported positive experiences from their involvement in the program: musically, socially and personally.
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Pelosi, Ligia. "Whispering into knowing: teachers as creative beings." Thesis, 2017. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/34675/.
Full textAbstract:
This study (re)presents how teachers enact pedagogy in order to become
transformative agents of change in their students’ lives. The importance of
teacher agency and creative, arts-based practices in the teaching and learning
of literacy was explored during interviews with a small sample of Australian
primary school practitioners. The field texts are (re)presented in the form of a
novel that interrogates the contemporary landscape of schooling as a datadriven,
political instrument. The novel, which should be read first, looks at the
impact of creativity in classrooms and on teachers’ lives and reframes the
meaning of teacher agency.
The study sought to define, reflect on and re-evaluate how creative processes
in literacy education have flow-on effects for the broader literacy curriculum in
Australian schools. The focus on the constraints and challenges of teaching and
learning in neoliberal times frames the concept of childhood in the novel. The
accompanying exegesis contextualises the contemporary educational
landscape as an environment into which teachers are inducted into didactic,
mechanistic and metric-driven practices. The novel and the exegesis seek to
articulate the effects of the neoliberal landscape on the teaching and learning
interface by looking at the role of creativity in shaping professional practice and
children’s learning.
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Cervini, Erica. "Reading the Silence of My Great-Grandmother: The Role of Life-Writing in Locating the Hidden Life of a Jewish Woman." Thesis, 2019. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/40049/.
Full textAbstract:
Family history has become a significant cultural, academic and economic pursuit giving rise to television shows, university degrees and DNA testing. Family historians grapple with epistemological questions about the extent to which a life can ever be known to someone else – limited resources exacerbate the problem. This thesis, by creative project and exegesis, focuses on Rose Pearlman, my Great-Grandmother
[1875 – 1956], and explores how the genre of life-writing contributes to our understanding of an ‘ordinary’ Jewish woman who migrated to Australia from England leaving no traditional sources such as diaries or memoirs. In so doing, this thesis makes contributions to academic and general scholarship about the extent to which knowledge resides in, and can be derived from the fragmentary, and how the researcher’s imagination - as distinct from the invention of episodes - illuminates the specificities of a Jewish woman’s life. Narrative threads in Rose Pearlman’s life are researched and developed using the genre of life-writing. This genre employs a ‘fossicking’ method which involves three actions: first, rummaging for wisps of information; second, selecting and curating an archive and third, threading together the fragments from the archive to produce narratives.
Further, this thesis argues that life-writing, which has been used by biographers and some historians to tell the stories of the maginalised, can usefully be applied to family storytelling to offer important insights into lives that have previously been hidden
from history. Holmes’ notion of ‘recreating the past’ has guided this approach. Within this context, this thesis contends that Rose Pearlman’s life provides important insights into the diversity of Jewish women’s lives generally, and challenges the trope
of the ‘rags to riches’ Jew. In addition, it makes original contributions to the history of Jewish women in Australia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Finally, it adds to emerging and ongoing discussions in the academy about the
importance of family history in contributing evidence which may help to question and reshape established historical narratives. This thesis also has personal significance because Rose Pearlman is part of my family. Tanya Evans notes that each family’s history has the ‘potential to be part of local, national, global class and gender history’. Within this frame, Rose Pearlman’s life is afforded enduring meaning because it represents a moment in time that tells her descendants – and the wider public – about her connection to local communities and to national policies. Structurally, this thesis is divided into three parts. The first presents the preface and overall introduction to the creative project and exegesis. The second part, the creative component, is entitled ‘Yizkor for Rose: A Life Lost and Found’. The exegesis, ‘But She Didn’t Leave a Diary!’: Making Sense of Fragments of a life, forms the third and
final part of this work.