The Globalized and the Local: Theatre in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand Enters the New Millennium

2001 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Veronica Kelly
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Small Population ◽  
Final Report ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Live Performance ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Economic Rhetoric ◽  
Baumol's Disease ◽  
The Impact

Late in 1999 the Commonwealth of Australia's Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts released Securing the Future, the final Report of the Major Performing Arts Enquiry chaired by Helen Nugent (commonly referred to as the Nugent Report). The operations of the committee and the findings of the Report occasioned considerable public debate in the Australian arts world in the late 1990s, as the Enquiry solicited and analysed information and opinion on the financial health and artistic practices of thirty-one national major performing arts companies producing opera, ballet, chamber and orchestral music as well as theatre. The Report saw the financial viability of Australian live performance as deeply affected by the impact of globalization, especially by what elsewhere has been called ‘Baumol's disease’ – escalating technical, administrative and wage costs but fixed revenue – which threaten the subsidized state theatre companies of Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth with their relatively small population bases. The structural implementation recommended a considerable financial commitment by Commonwealth and State Governments to undertake a defined period of stabilizing and repositioning of companies. Early in 2000 both levels of Government committed themselves to this funding – in fact increasing Nugent's requested $52 million to $70 million – and to the principle of a strengthened Australia Council dispensing arms-length subsidy. In an economically philistine political environment, these outcomes are a tribute to Nugent's astute use of economic rhetoric to gain at least a symbolic victory for the performing arts sector. In 2000 New Zealand arts gained a similar major injection of funding, while a commissioned Heart of the Nation report, advocating the dilution of the principle of arm's-length funding through the abolition of the national funding organization Creative New Zealand, was rejected by Prime Minister Helen Clark.

scholarly journals Getting our act together: a qualitative evaluation of the impact of a play on issues relating to women, sex work and substance use

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 234
Author(s):  
Anne Campbell ◽  
Jo Egan ◽  
Paul Murphy ◽  
Carolyn Blair
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Qualitative Evaluation ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Impact

Background: The arts have always sought to explore significant social issues through literature, performing arts and visual art. However, more recently there has been an increase in the use of theatre as a means of gauging audiences’ perception and understanding of key social issues. The primary aim of the current evaluation was to seek the views of audience members, service users of addiction services and expert commentators as regards their perception of a number of key issues related to the content of a play entitled Madame Geneva. Methods: The evaluation used an exploratory qualitative design incorporating a dualistic approach to the research process: including post show discussion with panellists and members of the audience and a focus group comprising service users who had also viewed a live performance of the play. Results: The topics elucidated by the performance of the play included women and sex work, women and substance use, and impact on policy and practice. The discussion of the issues raised reiterated that women still experience high levels of oppression and discrimination in areas of substance use, sex work and welfare ‘reform’ which are often couched within male dominated political discourses and structures in contemporary society. Conclusions: The arts and specifically dramaturgical representations of substance use and related issues is an effective method of initiating important pragmatic and policy discussion of issues, which affect women

scholarly journals The Metamorphosis of Performing Arts

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-186
Author(s):  
Cristina Todi
Keyword(s):  
Performing Arts ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Live Performance ◽  
Special Effects ◽  
The Public ◽  
Paradigm Development ◽  
Performing Art ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This article examines the relationship between performing arts, the multidisciplinary aspect of them, thereafter seeking to address a few similarities and differences in approaching a live performance. The confluence between ballet, theatre and opera is obvious and a brief overview of the main interlaced stages in the development of performing arts will also prove that they have always been related and dependant on one another. Every performing art crosses its boundaries and not only does it explore issues or topics specific to the other arts, but it also uses their tools. Thus, this article integrates a few contemporary tendencies of intersection in performing arts, mainly the pervasive presence of ballet and theatre. Subsequently, in considering live performance, the impact on the audience is also assessed, as well as the harmony of perception created between the performer and the public. Further on, the paradigm development in performing arts is determined due to the augmenting of the new technological tools being used. The aim of using these tools is to create special effects that emphasize the quality of the performance. In addition to a comprehensive influence, this article explains how contemporary social and political changes, scientific and technological progress have determined more changes in the performing arts than they had in the previous centuries.

Returning an Endemic Frog to the New Zealand Mainland: Transfer and Adaptive Management of  Leiopelma pakeka at Karori Sanctuary, Wellington

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kerri Lukis
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Adaptive Management ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Release Site ◽  
Small Population ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Forest Habitat ◽  
Management Regime ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time

<p>Karori Sanctuary (252 ha) is a fenced restoration site in Wellington, New Zealand from which all species of introduced mammals have been eradicated except house mice (Mus musculus). In 2006, the endemic New Zealand frog Leiopelma pakeka was transferred to Karori Sanctuary as part of a long term plan to restore the site's original biota. This was a significant event in that it was the first re-introduction of a New Zealand frog to a mainland site, the first New Zealand amphibian translocation for the purpose of restoration and the first time L. pakeka were released into habitat also occupied by an introduced mammal. An adaptive management regime facilitated research within the constraints of a community restoration project for which only a small population (n=60) was made available for release. Two groups (n = 30) were released into mouse-proof enclosures in February and October, 2006. Survival was high (97%) and frogs maintained a healthy body condition. Breeding was not detected during the first year and this was attributed to an inappropriate sex ratios that were restructured in April 2007 when half of the frogs (n= 29) were removed from the enclosures and released into forest habitat. The survival, condition and recruitment of frogs living inside and outside of the mouse-proof enclosures were compared. Both groups initially had a similar recapture rate, but after one year, just one frog (3%) was recaptured outside the enclosure compared with 27 adults (93%) and fourteen juveniles captured within the enclosure. In March 2009, 26 of the 29 individuals originally released into the enclosure were recaptured and a further ten juveniles were captured for the first time. No individuals have been sighted outside the enclosure since March 2008. Post-release movements did not explain the apparent decline of the population living outside of the enclosure. The mean distance dispersed during the first month after release (3.4 +/- 0.05 m) did not significantly increase after eight months (4.2 +/- 0.05 m) and the maximum-recorded dispersal distance was 7.0 m. The centre of activity of the nine frogs captured > 5 occasions were all within 3 m of the release site and kernel estimates of high habitat usage clustered around artificially constructed rock piles. Predation by house mice and/or native species such as little spotted kiwi (Apteryx owenii) were considered the most likely explanation for the failure to recapture frogs outside of the enclosure, especially those frogs that appeared to have settled at the release site. The extremely low number of individuals released outside of the enclosure exacerbated the impact of processes acting on the founding population. Recommendations are provided for the next adaptive management stage and include transferring an additional 100 frogs from Maud Island for release into forest habitat outside of the mouse-proof enclosure. Post-release movements should be restricted and all potential predators except house mice excluded. The population within the enclosures should be retained as is. Finally, the viability including L. pakeka in attempts to reconstruct mainland communities is examined.</p>

scholarly journals Returning an Endemic Frog to the New Zealand Mainland: Transfer and Adaptive Management of  Leiopelma pakeka at Karori Sanctuary, Wellington

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kerri Lukis
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Adaptive Management ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Release Site ◽  
Small Population ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Forest Habitat ◽  
Management Regime ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time

<p>Karori Sanctuary (252 ha) is a fenced restoration site in Wellington, New Zealand from which all species of introduced mammals have been eradicated except house mice (Mus musculus). In 2006, the endemic New Zealand frog Leiopelma pakeka was transferred to Karori Sanctuary as part of a long term plan to restore the site's original biota. This was a significant event in that it was the first re-introduction of a New Zealand frog to a mainland site, the first New Zealand amphibian translocation for the purpose of restoration and the first time L. pakeka were released into habitat also occupied by an introduced mammal. An adaptive management regime facilitated research within the constraints of a community restoration project for which only a small population (n=60) was made available for release. Two groups (n = 30) were released into mouse-proof enclosures in February and October, 2006. Survival was high (97%) and frogs maintained a healthy body condition. Breeding was not detected during the first year and this was attributed to an inappropriate sex ratios that were restructured in April 2007 when half of the frogs (n= 29) were removed from the enclosures and released into forest habitat. The survival, condition and recruitment of frogs living inside and outside of the mouse-proof enclosures were compared. Both groups initially had a similar recapture rate, but after one year, just one frog (3%) was recaptured outside the enclosure compared with 27 adults (93%) and fourteen juveniles captured within the enclosure. In March 2009, 26 of the 29 individuals originally released into the enclosure were recaptured and a further ten juveniles were captured for the first time. No individuals have been sighted outside the enclosure since March 2008. Post-release movements did not explain the apparent decline of the population living outside of the enclosure. The mean distance dispersed during the first month after release (3.4 +/- 0.05 m) did not significantly increase after eight months (4.2 +/- 0.05 m) and the maximum-recorded dispersal distance was 7.0 m. The centre of activity of the nine frogs captured > 5 occasions were all within 3 m of the release site and kernel estimates of high habitat usage clustered around artificially constructed rock piles. Predation by house mice and/or native species such as little spotted kiwi (Apteryx owenii) were considered the most likely explanation for the failure to recapture frogs outside of the enclosure, especially those frogs that appeared to have settled at the release site. The extremely low number of individuals released outside of the enclosure exacerbated the impact of processes acting on the founding population. Recommendations are provided for the next adaptive management stage and include transferring an additional 100 frogs from Maud Island for release into forest habitat outside of the mouse-proof enclosure. Post-release movements should be restricted and all potential predators except house mice excluded. The population within the enclosures should be retained as is. Finally, the viability including L. pakeka in attempts to reconstruct mainland communities is examined.</p>

scholarly journals Moving Museums:  Incorporating Contemporary Dance in New Zealand Museums

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Naiomi Murgatroyd
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Contemporary Dance ◽  
Visitor Experience ◽  
Financial Barriers ◽  
Dance Company ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

<p>Dance has been used historically in museums in both exhibitions and public programmes. These events provide opportunities for museums to collaborate with performing arts institutions. Incorporating contemporary dance in New Zealand museums poses a number of challenges for both the dance company and for the museum; however it can provide a unique and rewarding visitor experience. There has been little research into the use of contemporary dance in the museum environment, or the practicalities of holding such events. The impact of dance performances on the museum visitor has also been neglected. This case study of a contemporary dance company performing in a New Zealand museum investigates the relationship between the two organisations and the impact the performance had on the visitor. Ten interviews were conducted with museum staff, dance company staff and one audience member. This case study provides insight into the relationship between the two institutions as well as the visitor experience. It was found that significant practical and financial barriers could potentially prevent both the dance company and the museum from holding dance events. Key areas of concern in organising this event were safety, communication and measuring the success of the event. A strong relationship between the institutions and open channels of communication between the staff involved allowed for practical solutions to these issues. The connection between the dance work and the museum exhibition space was questioned by visitors, who did not overtly see a link between the two despite the artistic intentions of the dance company. Nonetheless meaning was taken from the piece in less direct ways. Firstly, visitors generated meaning from the social aspects of their visit. Secondly, they found meaning in the physical environment of the museum.</p>

scholarly journals What the World Needs Now is Jazz

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2-3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Herzig
Keyword(s):  
Performing Arts ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Live Performance ◽  
Model Data ◽  
System Calls ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Structural Redesign ◽  
Modes Of Interaction ◽  
Arts Community ◽  
Depth Interviews

The worldwide lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic initiated an economic crisis, especially in the performing arts world. With all events cancelled for many months and limited options to return to live performance in the future, the arts community had to respond quickly. The jazz model, specifically improvisational training, has been discussed frequently in the entrepreneurship literature as an important method for making decisions in uncertain situations. Furthermore, the principle of Effectual Entrepreneurship defined as engaging in a continuous cycle of ideation and experimentation towards creating solutions from available means and techniques, is usually associated with a growth mindset fostered by training in improvisational techniques. Hence, this article documents and discusses the hypothesis that directions and activities pursued by jazz musicians who train their improvisational capacities on a regular basis can provide a glimpse of the evolving new model. Data collected from a survey, published literature, and several in-depth interviews and conclusions point towards a hybrid model of new technologies and modes of interaction combined with the need to preserve human engagement. Furthermore, the fragility of the current performing arts system calls for structural redesign and new focus on local communities.

The Mind, the Brain, and the Moving Body

2021 ◽  
pp. 208-212
Author(s):  
Bettina Bläsing ◽  
Beatriz Calvo-Merino
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Aesthetic Perception ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Art Form ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Arts Community

Dance has become a topic of increasing interest for empirical research in cognitive neuroscience and psychology. The study reviewed in this chapter aimed to reach a multifaceted community of scholars and practitioners interested in the blending between neuroscience and dance as an art form. It includes a revision on dancers’ physical expertise and skilled motor execution, studies on dancers’ timing and online synchronization abilities, and learning and memory processes, as well as a consideration of expert dancers as skilled dance observers. Following the authors’ comment on the article, they acknowledge major developments since its publication, in particular regarding recent lines of research on emotional components of dance, creativity, aesthetic perception, improvisation, entrainment, empathy, and well-being. Finally, the authors emphasize the impact of empirical research in dance beyond cognitive neuroscience and psychology and consider the potential of multidisciplinary expert teams that include the performing arts community to contribute to discourses in the arts and the sciences.

scholarly journals Museums at the Crossroads: Between Digitality, Reality, and COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tula Giannini ◽  
Jonathan P. Bowen
Keyword(s):  
Performing Arts ◽  
New World ◽  
Daily Routine ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Square ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Life Itself ◽  
Brave New World ◽  
The Impact

When Covid-19 rushed into our lives, it sent shockwaves across the globe – suddenly we faced “lockdown” – we said goodbye to the way it was but did not understand what this brave new world of isolation and separation would mean and how it would the impact life as we knew it – our identity, relationships and freedoms we enjoyed, and wondered what daily routine post-Covid-19 would look like, while the experiences defining life itself were up for grabs. With social distancing, masks and work from home mandates, the arts and performing arts from theatres, museums, galleries and the public square were shuttered – their very existence challenged and spiralling out of control as staff were laid-off, exhibitions cancelled while concurrently creating an urgency to go online to dwell in cyberspace, the new daily destination.

scholarly journals Moving Museums:  Incorporating Contemporary Dance in New Zealand Museums

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Naiomi Murgatroyd
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Contemporary Dance ◽  
Visitor Experience ◽  
Financial Barriers ◽  
Dance Company ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

<p>Dance has been used historically in museums in both exhibitions and public programmes. These events provide opportunities for museums to collaborate with performing arts institutions. Incorporating contemporary dance in New Zealand museums poses a number of challenges for both the dance company and for the museum; however it can provide a unique and rewarding visitor experience. There has been little research into the use of contemporary dance in the museum environment, or the practicalities of holding such events. The impact of dance performances on the museum visitor has also been neglected. This case study of a contemporary dance company performing in a New Zealand museum investigates the relationship between the two organisations and the impact the performance had on the visitor. Ten interviews were conducted with museum staff, dance company staff and one audience member. This case study provides insight into the relationship between the two institutions as well as the visitor experience. It was found that significant practical and financial barriers could potentially prevent both the dance company and the museum from holding dance events. Key areas of concern in organising this event were safety, communication and measuring the success of the event. A strong relationship between the institutions and open channels of communication between the staff involved allowed for practical solutions to these issues. The connection between the dance work and the museum exhibition space was questioned by visitors, who did not overtly see a link between the two despite the artistic intentions of the dance company. Nonetheless meaning was taken from the piece in less direct ways. Firstly, visitors generated meaning from the social aspects of their visit. Secondly, they found meaning in the physical environment of the museum.</p>

scholarly journals The Impact Of Public Funding On Cultural Urban Revitalization

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl M. Colonna
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Participation Rates ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Art Community ◽  
Art Activities ◽  
The Impact

The intent of this study is not to defend a preconceived notion that either the market or the public sector is more defensible, but to inform the reader of the public support of the arts.  The issue at hand, is whether or not public support of art activities can generate economic development and revenue in an urban regional economy.  The scope of this paper will concentrate on the performing and visual artists.Before proceeding into the investigative background, it is important to establish a protocol statement as to “What Art Is.”  In western societies, it has been argued that the core of art includes literature, the media, performing and visual art.  The fundamental difference in the performing artist and the visual artist is that the former is rewarded with abundance, where the latter by scarcity.  There are several reasons why art would be supported.  They are as follows:1. Art is not necessarily a daily part of our conscious lives.  However, large amounts of primary satisfaction received from art can lead to abstractions and ideas that are distributed and used in all parts of the economy.  For example, the influence color tones may have on a particular advertising campaign of a particular product line.2. Art is basic to all human endeavors, collectively and individually.  It is a link with the past, present and future.  Art thus acts as education does—to influence, move, stimulate, and sustain us.3. If in fact art plays such an important part of our cultural heritage, we do not want our society to experience a deficit in art supply.Baumol and Bowen, in Performing Arts: The Economics Dilemma, make the argument that the labor intensity of the performing arts and its production cannot maintain the proper tempo with the continuous increase in technology in an industrial economy.  Thus the performing arts face the stoic reality that operating costs will continue to be above earned revenue.  They maintain that investments in performing arts tend to be labor intensive, therefore having the effect of widening the gap between earned revenue and operating costs.Barton Weisbrod, of the University of Illinois, claims that economics of the arts yield an “option value.”  He defines “option value” as the value assigned to an option to consume, which we may not plan to consume in the near future.  This creates a scenario that art works and products would have value to a person who may not personally participate.  The myopia nature of the market mechanism may very well fail to allocate and distribute works, which would share these characteristics.Cultural capital, like real capital, is a stock variable and is subject to depletion.  Art is a part of cultural capital, but must be preserved and replenished.  Art as cultural capital can and does stimulate cultural tourism.  Thus, cultural capital can and should be used as a possible generator of economic activity.A Heuristic database will be established showing the impact of cultural capital on the growth of art activities, jobs, spending and tourism in urban areas.  It is particularly interesting to note that cultural activities may flourish in urban areas while the urban area itself may not flourish economically.Demand and supply economies such as those generated by cultural capital can generate economic development through broadening the economic base of an urban area.  A recent study showed the impact of forty-five art organizations in Washington, D.C.  These organizations accounted for $619 million dollars or for every one dollar invested, the art community returned an estimated five dollars and ninety cents into the economy.  Thus the art community, and support for it, act as an incubator of broad-based demand and supply economies.Public support of cultural capital may very well be providing funds for high participation rates in art endeavors, as well as seed monies for low participation rates of art endeavors.  The dilemma for the funding of cultural capital in the arts industry is that there has been a significant cut at the federal, state and local levels.  This has forced the arts industry to face the need for expanding viewership and private funding.  It can be argued that the lure of a clean, productive and community enhancing industry, such as the arts industry, would certainly be aggressively sought by any urban economics development agency.

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