In early April, two old friends and former arts leadership colleagues put their heads together to invent a campaign that could unite and ignite the passions of Australia’s arts sector. #CreateAustraliasFuture had massive impact, with well over a million people engaged. However, I wondered, what did it achieve for Australia’s creative industries at this perilous time?
Read moreThe Rise of the Everyday Artist
The arts are making us feel connected to our loved ones and to all of humanity. Art, dance, music, and theatre are actively uplifting our spirits and countering the physical and emotional isolation.
Read moreThese PreNZels are making me thirsty!
“They’ll probably say we have lots of sheep” and “Do they even know where we are?”. “I bet they think we’re part of Australia”. These were among the responses given when I asked the PreNZelers (Pretzel NZ) what they thought the ‘others’ would say about them. None of the preconceptions were to be revealed until after we had made our intro video - so my next question was ‘Well then, what do you want to say about you and about New Zealand? By ‘others’ I mean the young theatre makers in the other four pilot pretzel countries - Abu Dhabi, Canada, England and China. On this, they were sure. Sustainability, sport, food, scenery, weather, earthquakes and mythbusting!
Read moreCivil Disco-bedience: It’s time to dance for your life
As an environmental activist and a dancer/choreographer, I had the opportunity to combine two of my passions at Civil Disco-bedience on 11th February. Led by the State Member of Parliament for Newtown, Jenny Leong, this action mirrored other Disco-bedience actions organised by Extinction Rebellion. The idea is simple: dance down the street to Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees dressed in 70s clothing to draw attention to the existential crisis that faces us all.
Read moreEngagement as an Ethic and a Practice
We need creative education to offer activating glimpses into the histories and the futures that frame this urgency. Just like the political conscience that framed the cross-disciplinary work of the Bauhaus, we need to cultivate a generation of resilient makers with the resourcefulness to create a confident future. We need to engage well beyond our immediate communities, and we need to make that engagement a shared ethic, a daily practice.
Read more