Desert Stages : The Place of Theatre in the Barkly Region's Creative Ecology single work  
Issue Details: First known date: 2020... 2020 Desert Stages : The Place of Theatre in the Barkly Region's Creative Ecology
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'While their geographical, cultural and social diversity means that Australia's very remote regions certainly cannot be described in monolithic terms, the proportion of the population that is Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in very remote regions is much higher than non-Indigenous;5 they are (as defined by the ASGS structure) extremely isolated from major towns, cities and services, and they therefore differ markedly from what might be termed 'mainstream' Australia in terms of culture, landscape, lifestyle and livelihoods. Around Tennant Creek and the Stuart Highway, where most of our study was centred, the land is largely flat, with a huge expanse of sky stretching over low scrub and spinifex grassland and dramatic rock formations such as Karlu Karlu and Kunjara - both significant cultural sites for the Warumungu traditional owners. Around 68.1 per cent of the population is comprised of First Nations Peoples, with sixteen different First Nations language groups represented. The remaining demographic profile is made up of non-Indigenous Australian born and 7.0 per cent overseas born from regions across Oceania, Europe, Asia, the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa, with 49.0 per cent of the population speaking a language other than English at home. The main industries, in terms of economic output and employment in the Barkly, are agriculture, forestry and fishing, healthcare and social assistance and public administration and safety. The Barkly is a highly creative region with seven art centres and a broad array of art forms and creative activities being practised by adults of all ages across its culturally diverse population. Alongside the Barkly's cultural strengths, there exists extreme socio-economic disadvantage, with indicators of homelessness, domestic violence, unemployment, poverty and ill-health at much higher than national averages.11 Our study found that the arts and creativity played a key role in cultural transmission among both First Nations and non-Indigenous participants, enhancing health and well-being, strengthening community esteem and identity in the face of negative stories and stereotypes about the region, and providing flexible livelihoods and avenues for social enterprise.' (Publication abstract)

Notes

  • Muskogean is a family of languages spoken in the south-eastern United States, including Chikasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole.

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    y separately published work icon Australasian Drama Studies Regional Theatre in Australia no. 77 October 2020 21039143 2020 periodical issue

    'The inquiry came on the back of an effective shutdown of most work in the creative sector as a result of social distancing restrictions and lockdowns imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in March, and of extensive debate about the Australian Government's reluctance to offer a dedicated financial support package to an industry that, by the government's own estimates, contributed $111.7 billion in 2016/17, or 6.4 per cent of GDP. The terms of reference for the inquiry appeared accordingly broad: 'The Committee will inquire into Australia's creative and cultural industries and institutions including, but not limited to, Indigenous, regional, rural and community based organisations'. More broadly, the frustrations of lockdown, a newfound capacity to work remotely, loss of income, and the more general reassessment of life choices and lifestyle that COVID-19 provoked all resulted in an unprecedented net population loss in Australia's big cities, with an October 2020 Ipsos poll finding that one in ten Melburnians were considering a move to regional Victoria. Meanwhile, among the very limited federal stimulus offered to the arts in the early months of the pandemic was a $27 million 'Targeted Support' package in April, which directed $10 million to the music industry, $7 million to Indigenous arts, and $10 million 'to help regional artists and organisations develop new work and explore new delivery models'. In short, while COVID-19 has arguably reconfigured the Australian arts landscape, and the ways in which we understand where arts happens, it also made visible changes that were already occurring, particularly outside major metropolitan centres. Recommendation 1 was that 'the Federal Government increase its investment in building enabling infrastructure to improve connectivity, key services and amenity through coordinated regional plans', while Recommendation 13 anticipated further work on 'the cultivation of social, cultural and community capital'.5 This initiative built in turn on existing trends. Australia's enormous size continues to present major practical challenges when it comes to touring on the one hand, or building and sustaining arts infrastructure on the other. [...]the high-profile shift in the funding narrative over 2020 towards the regions, as well as the obligatory pivot towards the digital environment, has not entirely done away with a metropolitan funding bias, which is most apparent in the fact that the city-based Major Performing Arts organisations receive a disproportionate amount of the federal funding pie.' (Editorial introduction)

         2020     pg. 273-309, 375, 384
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Last amended 2 Feb 2021 09:31:05
Subjects:
  • Muskogean a family of languages spoken in the south-eastern US, including Chikasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole. language
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