Ausdance National was invited to present at the Senate Inquiry into the National Cultural Policy in July.
Dr Cathy Adamek (Ausdance National Vice-President and Director, Ausdance ACT) attended with Michelle Silby (Director, Ausdance Victoria), presenting a two-minute response drawn from Ausdance National's submission. The response included subsequent consultation by Julie Englefield (Director, Ausdance Qld) and a review of the government's Revive policy with Jacob Williams (President, Ausdance National).
The main objective was to draw the Senate's attention to the lack of Dance references in the policy.
An excerpt of the Ausdance Public Hearing Statement reads:
- We celebrate Australia’s new National Cutural Policy Revive, and we support its broad recommendations relating to all art forms. However, there are gaps we would like to see addressed:
- There needs to be more support for First Nations dance across the sector.
- There is little reference to dance or language-specific references to dance across all pillars, which primarily emphasise visual arts and music.
- We ask that dance be explicitly recognised across the five pillars.
- Dance is a major contributor to cultural storytelling: It is
- one of the most diverse art forms, and
- one of the top three most popular forms of physical recreation.
Read the official documents:
Ausdance Public Hearing Statement
Ausdance Talking Points
Official Committee Hansard SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS REFERENCES COMMITTEE National Cultural Policy
Transcript of hearing
The Senators were particularly interested in the numbers associated with dance participation in Australia and dance studio issues such as music licensing.