Careers in dance
Australian Performing Arts Market 2014
Program applications
Artists and companies from across Australia are invited to apply now to showcase and pitch their work at APAM 2014, 18 – 22 February in Brisbane.
APAM provides an opportunity for artists and programmers from Australia and around the world to discover new artists, find new collaborators, and meet with fellow professionals.
You can submit work under either one of two categories: Showcase or Pitches. Eligible work for the Showcase category includes finished and tour-ready productions, which can be presented in either full-length, as a 25-minute excerpt, or a new APAM Club 7 – 12 minute excerpt. Work in development falls into the Pitch category.
Deadline for applications: midnight 22 July 2013 (AEST)
Delegate registrations
Presenters, producers, agents and anyone interested in attending APAM2014 are encouraged to register before midnight 10 December to get the earlybird price of $650 (Full price $790)
Register now. For more information visit the APAM website.
Brisbane City Council is the principal supporter of APAM. The Queensland Government, through Arts Queensland and Tourism and Events Queensland, proudly supports APAM 2014, 2016 & 2018.
Sydney Dance Company audition
Sydney Dance Company is holding an invitation only audition at the end of June 2013 for male and female dancers.
All applicants must have a vocational qualification, professional experience in contemporary/classical dance and be 18 years or over. To be considered you must be experienced in task work with a professional choreographer and possess strong improvisation skills, display high levels of stamina and flexibility, and have an understanding of SDC’s creative outputs.
If you meet this criteria please email a current CV, ONE headshot and ONE full body dance shot. (Attachments should not exceed 500KB and each file should be saved as 'Your Full Name'.
Deadline: Monday 10 June 2013
Successful applicants will be invited to audition on 29 & 30 June 2013 in Sydney at your own expense. For further information visit the Sydney Dance Company website.
Professional development for NSW Indigenous dance artists
If you are an independent Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander dance artist based in NSW and you are interested in developing new skills and networks, you can apply now for a palce in the Birrang program.
Focused on expanding indigenous dance horizons in NSW, Birrang is a new professional dance development initiative supported by Arts NSW, coordinated by Ausdance NSW, Regional Arts NSW and Bangarra Dance Theatre in partnership with NAISDA Dance College, Carriageworks and the Australian Film, Television & Radio School.
In this first year of the initiative, the Birrang program includes:
-
Creative Lab: 29 April – 3 May @ Carriageworks, Redfern
(deadline for applications is 29 March) -
Creative Business Course: 22 – 24 May @ AFTRS, Moore Park
(applications now open) -
Dance Residency*: 23 September – 5 October @ NAISDA, Kariong
(applications open in July) -
Market Development and Enterprise Workshop: November, venue tba
(applications open in October)
*To be eligible for the Dance Residency, applicants must have completed either the Creative Lab and/or Creative Business Course.
Artists are encouraged to apply for all activities. Download application forms.
If you are in Sydney contact Ausdance NSW (T 9252 4800) for more information. If you are based in a regional or remote area contact Regional Arts NSW (T 9270 2507)
Tanja Liedtke fellowship
Congratulations to Joseph Simons of Dubbo who is this year's recipient of the Tanja Liedtke Fellowship (TLF).
The fellowship will take place in Berlin and Frankfurt in August/September of 2013. The two key objectives of the 2013 Fellowship are:
- To provide a program of opportunity for a developing Australian dancer/choreographer to expand and develop his/her creative boundaries,
- To enable young artists to meet and work collaboratively in the context of international exchange and experimentation.
Previous TLF recipients have been Antony Hamilton (2009) and Katarzyna Sitarz (2011).
Read full Media Release.
For further information contact Tanja Liedtke Foundation.
National Dance Forum program
Opening and closing with interactive visioning sessions, the program featured a full morning 'Open Space' session on the Sunday tapping the pulse of the forum, and through it that of the dance sector in Australia.
Keynote artists-in-conversation were Dalisa Pigram, co-Artistic Director of Marrugeku, with David Pledger, and Artistic Director of Australian Dance Theatre Garry Stewart with Anne Thompson.
Diverse breakout sessions covered panel, presentation, roundtable and screening formats:
- BlakDance First Nations Dance Panel
- 'Whose responsibility is it to make sense of this?'
- Dramaturgy, outside eye or feedback?
- Virtuosi industry preview screening
- 'What role dance education play in shaping Australian culture for tomorrow?'
- Beyond hybridity: current Australia/Asia-Pacific dance practices
- A Lifetime's Collaboration
- BETWEEN US: Connections within and beyond the independent dance sector
- What is dance doing in Australia? And what is Australian dance doing in the world?
The NDF2013 Facilitator was Jeff Khan, co-Director of Performance Space, Sydney. Also joining the NDF2013 team for a number of sessions was Janenne Willis, guest co-facilitator, roving provocateur and catalyst at large. Janenne brought her energy, seasoned facilitation skills and experience co-creating futures one conversation at a time.
Download the full program and list of speakers.
Program overview
| 12:30pm – 2:00pm | Registration |
| 2:00pm – 2:30pm | Welcome to Country & NDF2013 opening speeches |
| 2:30pm – 4:30pm | Introduction: Who's here? Facilitated by Jeff Khan, NDF Facilitator, with Janenne Willis |
| 4:30pm – 5:30pm | Forum opening and networking drinks on the lawn overlooking the Maribyrnong River |
| 8:30am – 9:00am | Registration |
| 9:00am – 9:15am | Introduction to day two – Jeff Khan, NDF Facilitator |
| 9:15am – 10:45am |
Breakouts # 1
|
| 10:45am – 11:15am | Morning tea |
| 11:15am – 12:30pm |
Keynote artist-in-conversation # 1 Dalisa Pigram in conversation with David Pledger |
| 12:30am – 1:45pm | Lunch |
| 1:45pm – 3:15pm |
Breakouts # 2 (parallel sessions)
|
| 3:15pm – 3:45pm | Afternoon tea |
| 3:45pm – 5:00pm |
Keynote artist-in-conversation # 2 Garry Stewart in conversation with Anne Thompson |
| 5:00pm – 5:30pm | Plenary facilitated by Jeff Khan |
| 9:30am – 12:30pm | Open Space session with morning tea break, facilitated by Jeff Khan and Janenne Willis |
| 12:30pm – 1:45pm | Lunch |
| 1:45pm – 3:15pm |
Breakouts # 3 (parallel sessions)
|
| 3:15pm – 3:45pm | Afternoon tea |
| 3:45pm – 5:30pm |
Postcards from the future Future visioning session facilitated by Jeff Khan and Janenne Willis, and forum close. |
TAFE funding cuts and the arts
At the recent meeting of the Tertiary Dance Council of Australia (TDCA), serious concerns were raised about the massive cuts to TAFE training in several eastern States.
In this article for Artshub, Tamara Winikoff, Executive Director of the National Association for the Visual Arts, also raises these concerns, and the broader issues of career pathways for artists. While Tamara focuses on the visual arts, much of her analysis could be applied to dance in the TAFE sector, especially with the imminent introduction of the new Australian Curriculum: The Arts.
We'll be making our concerns known to the Victorian, New South Wales, South Australian and Queensland governments about their proposals to so drastically cut TAFE funding. We suggest you read Tamara's article and respond to your own governments about the future of arts training in your State.
Good news from major performing arts companies
The latest Australia Council Snapshot of Major Performing Arts Company Key Trends shows that Australia’s major performing arts companies are robust, stable and have continued to expand their city audiences in line with population growth. They have also extended their reach and engagement in regional and remote communities.
A night to remember at the Australian Dance Awards
The 2012 Australian Dance Awards were presented in spectacular fashion at the beautiful new Heath Ledger Theatre in the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia on 1 September.
Catherine Osborne (l) President, Ausdance WA and Lauren Malkin (r) Client Manager AON Risk Services, presented Lucinda Sharp with her award for Services to Dance. Photo: Matthew ThompsettReport on national dance research forum
Thank you for a great weekend. The National Dance Research Forum was stimulating, energising and so well organised with great food and venues. (Dr Cheryl Stock)
Last weekend we had the pleasure of partnering with the Tertiary Dance Council of Australia to welcome 35 Australian and five international dance researchers to the first national dance research forum held for many years.
The forum provided a unique opportunity for everyone to hear some high-profile speakers, share their own research, join small discussion groups and make plans with potential collaborators.
Speakers included: (l to r) Dr Carol Brown (Uni of Auckland), Megan Beckwith (Deakin), Dr Kim Vincs (Deakin) & Ruth Gibson (igloo).Australia Dancing leaps into Trove
The National Library of Australia has integrated the Australia Dancing service into the national discovery service Trove.
Trove is an exciting destination for dance researchers and expands the potential of finding new and rare materials in many diverse collections. Trove takes you to resources in libraries, archives, performing arts collections, galleries; to biographical databases and online collections including pictures, digitised newspapers and finding aids. Trove also incorporates the National Library's dance resources, which continue to grow each year.
New community arts unit at Deakin University
Managing Arts in Community Settings (MMM796) addresses the knowledge and skills needed to engage diverse communities in arts projects and manage community based arts initiatives.
A range of community-based arts programs are examined and the characteristics of community creative processes are identified and analysed. Find out more on the Deakin University website.
ArtsPeak comments on Australia Council review
As one of the ArtsPeak co-convenors, we have commented briefly on the Review of the Australia Council, published yesterday.
We're now working on an analysis of the Review, and will be inviting the Ausdance network to comment and provide feedback before the closing date on 8 June.
Australia Council review released
Arts Minister Simon Crean has released the review into the Australia Council which will help inform the National Cultural Policy.
The Minister notes that 'the review makes 18 recommendations for reform of the Council and provides an opportunity to reflect on its success and to consider the major challenges ahead'.
We'll be commenting with our ArtsPeak colleagues, but we'd also like to hear from you. Please leave a comment when you've read the report.
National Cultural Policy only weeks away
We understand that the National Cultural Policy is now only weeks away, so we've written to Arts Minister Simon Crean again, this time in response to the media release from the Arts & Cultural Ministers' meeting on 30 March.
This was our last opportunity to comment prior to the NCP's release, so we've reproduced the text here, following correspondence with the Office for the Arts after my colleague, Tamara Winikoff, and I visited the department on behalf of ArtsPeak.
ArtsPeak has also written to the Minister, particularly emphasising the importance of the small to medium arts sector in Federal Budget considerations. The letter reads as follows:
Arts service organisations—telling the story
Today I went with my ArtsPeak colleague, Tamara Winikoff, to visit the Office for the Arts in Canberra, where we continued the conversation about our work.
It was useful to share the ArtsPeak map that outlines the broad reach of arts service organisations, especially as we’d like to see it acknowleged as part of the bigger arts support picture in the National Cultural Policy .
Do we need arts service organisations?
We’re not artists, dance companies, or funding bodies, but do we have a body of work?
With our ArtsPeak partners, we've mapped some of things we do.
Review of Private Sector Support for the Arts 2011
The Harold Mitchell Review of Private Sector Support for the Arts has just been released by the Minister for the Arts as part of the wider consultation about the new National Cultural Policy.
The Mitchell review recommends several ideas that might help attract new donors to the arts, noting that “The limited funds available to many arts organisations creates a situation where they cannot afford dedicated staff to drive a strategic approach to fund-raising”.
Mitchell also recommends the merging of the Australian Business Arts Foundation with Artsupport Australia “under the auspices of a new body with responsibility for all private sector support for the arts in Australia”.
Today is also your last opportunity to respond to the Australia Council review, another important part of the Cultural Policy consultation process.
Building the Indigenous contemporary dance collection
Ever since we convened the 2005 Creating Pathways national Indigenous dance forum in Canberra, Lee Christofis—one of the keynote speakers, and now curator of dance at the National Library of Australia—has been keen to develop the NLA's Indigenous dance collection.
In the March 2012 edition of National Library News, Lee discusses some of the material now held in the collection and outlines the importance of its provenance.
Building the Indigenous contemporary dance collection makes fascinating reading for anyone interested in the development of Australian contemporary Indigenous dance.
ArtsPeak again lobbies the ABC
ArtsPeak representatives met again with the ABC to lobby for more cultural content in ABC news and current affairs programs. General Manager Mark Scott had previously met with the group, and this time ArtsPeak met with Don Lang, the Head of News Programming, and Alan Sunderland, the Head of News Policy,
A process was agreed on to review arts content for news and current affairs programs, and on a process for arts representatives to contact appropriate reporters. The following strategies were suggested to ArtsPeak:
- Arts representatives should consider what the issues are and whether they are newsworthy.
- We should develop a central arts representatives contact register.
- We should focus on stories that utilise ABC research and archives.
We'll be working with our ArtsPeak colleagues to maximise this positive response from the ABC, and making sure dance is part of the story telling!
Reviewing the new Australian arts curriculum
Arts curriculum writing for Foundation to Year 10 is well underway.
The draft rationale, aims and broad scope and sequence have already been reviewed by a state and territory national panel, and we joined other professional associations last week to review the drafts. We'd been invited to ask four teachers from across Australia to provide feedback, and Dr Katrina Rank, education and training manager for Ausdance Victoria, collated their feedback and led the discussion for dance.
We also represented the National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE) in the teleconference, which was chaired by the general manager (curriculum) of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), Robert Randall.
We'll be calling for further dance commentary in the coming weeks as the drafts are developed by the writers, and ACARA will make the curriculum available for public comment in May. In the meantime, you can sign up for regular ACARA updates.
ABC TV appoints new head of arts
Following news last year that the ABC would axe several of its most successful arts programs, the national broadcaster has announced the appointment of a new head of TV arts, Katrina Sedgwick.
Formerly director of the Adelaide Film Festival, Katrina will commence work with the ABC in April.
Australian Ballet’s 50th year sees new star rising
In its 50th anniversary year, The Australian Ballet is celebrating a new rising star in its ranks, Chinese Australian dancer Chengwu Guo.
The ABC's 7.30 program profiles his work and interviews his mentor Li Cunxin, the teenage dancer Chen played in Mao's Last Dancer, the hugely successful film based on Li's autobiography.
Dance people receive Australia Day Honours
Former balleriona Josephine Spaull, respected ballet teacher, Tanya Pearson, and Judith Anderson, formerly General Manager of The Queensland Ballet, have today been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).
Josephine was recognised for “for service to the performing arts, particularly dance, as a teacher and administrator". Tanya's citation was "for service to the performing arts, particularly ballet, as a teacher and mentor to young dancers". Judith's citation was "for service to the Queensland Ballet and to women". We congratulate Josephine, Tanya and Judith for their outstanding achievements.
The website It's an Honour has all the information you'll need to nominate more dance people for Australia's highest Honours!
Celebrating our Australian of the Year
There have been celebrations around the country today for our new Australian of the Year, actor Geoffrey Rush.
We congratulate him on his acceptance speech that placed the arts at the centre of Australian life and culture. He acknowledged the role of the First Australians, and said he was sure "that my colleagues will see this as an endorsement of our national story of creativity".
Senior Australian of the Year is Laurie Baymarrwangga, an extraordinary elder from the island of Murrungga in East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.
The Australian of the Year Awards were announced last night by the Prime Minister.
Visit by American Dance Abroad director
Andrea Snyder is co-director of American Dance Abroad, a new initiative in the US that promotes the export of American dance. Andrea was formerly CEO of Dance USA, and is a valued colleague of Ausdance.
Andrea will be visiting Australia for the Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM) in February, so we’re putting her in touch with the Australia Council and dance producers in Sydney and Melbourne before she goes on to APAM. She'll see a lot of Australian dance while she's here and importantly will be establishing Australian networks for possible future exchanges.
Canadian cultural policy researcher visits
This week we hosted Shannon Litzenberger in Canberra as part of her research into Australian cultural policy. Shannon is a Canadian dance artist, writer, director and advocate who we first met at the 2009 Dance Congress in Hamburg.
Shannon is particularly interested in the political process of developing a national cultural policy; the ways in which new funding models might be developed; the cultural diplomacy strategies of the government; the National Cultural Policy Discussion Paper and the various (and many) responses received by the government as part of its consultation.
Time for a funding review of smaller dance companies
Recent funding decisions across all sectors of the small to medium performing arts sector have highlighted the widening gap between what was considered to be 'adequate' funding for these companies five years ago, and the reality of their existence today. While we highlighted the issues in our contribution to the National Cultural Policy discussion paper, we also plan see the Arts Minister, Simon Crean, to again draw his attention to the parlous state of funding for smaller key organisations, especially in dance.
Our contribution to the National Cultural Policy discussion paper
We joined the many artists, companies and community organisations and made a submission to the National Cultural Policy discussion paper.
Because we think it’s important for the dance voice to be heard as part of the wider arts industry, we also coordinated the submissions from ArtsPeak and the National Advocates for Arts Education.
You can keep in touch with the development of the National Cultural Policy by joining the Arts Minister’s e-news.
SCOPE wound up
As SCOPE board members formally wound up the program in Sydney on Friday, we reflected that there was much to be proud of. We developed a model for dancers' career development and management and, with Australia Council support, we've been able to assist 99 artists to realise their dreams through professional career advice and small retraining scholarships.
We are continuing with online advice and support, and we're also planning an evaluation of the program to help us find new funding partners to bring back the scholarships and professional career guidance.