Sandra Jane Gattenhof

In the Mouth of the Imagination: Positioning Children as Co-Researchers and Co-Artists to Create a Professional Children's Theatre Production.

In recent decades a number of Australian artists and teacher/artists have given serious attention to the creation of performance forms and performance engagement models that respect childrens intelligence, engage with themes of relevance, avoid the clichés of childrens theatre whilst connecting both sincerely and playfully with current understandings of the way in which young children develop and engage with the world. Historically a majority of performing arts companies touring Australian schools or companies seeking schools to view a performance in a dedicated performance venue engage with their audiences in what can be called a ‘drop-in drop-out’ model. A six-month practice-led research project (The Tashi Project) which challenged the tenets of the ‘drop-in drop-out’ model has been recently undertaken by Sandra Gattenhof and Mark Radvan in conjunction with early childhood students from three Brisbane primary school classrooms who were positioned as co-researchers and co-artists. The children, researchers and performers worked in a complimentary relationship in both the artistic process and the development of product.

A Third Way of Evaluating and Reporting

Chapter 7 proposes a third methodology, performative research, to usurp what Goldbard calls ‘Datastan’, that can be used to capture a more fulsome picture of arts participation and engagement by individuals and communities and shows how this approach may be able to counter the issues surrounding the evaluation of intrinsic value and impact. The chapter draws on the theory-informed positions and practices of Goldbard, Haseman, and Gray, who have been significant in defining the field of creative practice as research that is allied to performative research.

Three Approaches to Arts and Culture Evaluation

Chapter 6 uses three examples of cultural evaluation undertaken over a period of five years and tracks attempts to move evaluation from an arms-length approach used by most evaluators, defined as an external and distanced approach, to an approach that is categorized as embedded and collaborative. Each example outlines key learnings that emerged during the course of the evaluation which resulted in the evaluator rethinking how an evaluator may be more effective as a change agent for the art organization.

Reframing the Position of the Evaluator

Chapter 5 defines two partnership types that can be utilized by evaluators and which explores the positioning of the evaluator. It will make recommendations on which partnership type is more effective in a participatory evaluation model. The chapter will investigate the two positions most often adopted by researchers/evaluators – external and distanced or embedded and collaborative – and will argue the merits and deficiencies of the two approaches. The chapter also discusses how the embedded and collaborative approach can be aligned with the notion of co-production of research.

Evaluation Within the Australian Landscape

Chapter 4 discusses the policy and practice of arts and culture, specifically in the Australian context, and shares ways in which governments, both national and state, have attempted to classify impact and value through the development of cultural indicators. The chapter also demonstrates that the language attributed to development of cultural indicators is framed predominantly in an economic context and questions whether building online applications such as CultureCounts for arts organizations to gather data about the value and impact of arts and culture is a worthwhile endeavour.

The Need to Determine Value and Impact

Chapter 3 looks at the definitions of value and impact, and the tensions resulting from applying these terms to arts and cultural activity. It explores how the innovation agenda in Australia has been aligned with the understanding of impact and how such an alignment has moved the evaluation of value and impact into the territory of economic rationalism, debates about productivity and workforce planning, and explores the conundrum around the attribution of causality.

Evaluation Types and Trends

Chapter 2 defines the nature of evaluation and outlines the two predominant evaluative lenses used to capture outcomes and benefits described as being of instrumental or intrinsic value. The chapter then scopes out two issues arising with the arts evaluation sector – the requirement of a victory narrative by arts organizations and the over-reliance on post-event survey data – that are problematic in reporting authentic narratives about an arts-based engagement.

Communicating personal amnesty: a model for health promotion in an Australian disability context

Currently pathological and illness-centric policy surrounds the evaluation of the health status of a person experiencing disability. In this research partnerships were built between disability service providers, community development organizations and disability arts organizations to build a translational evaluative methodology prior to implementation of an arts-based workshop that was embedded in a strengths-based approach to health and well-being. The model consisted of three foci: participation in a pre-designed drama-based workshop program; individualized assessment and evaluation of changing health status; and longitudinal analysis of participants changing health status in their public lives following the culmination of the workshop series. Participants (n = 15) were recruited through disability service providers and disability arts organizations to complete a 13-week workshop series and public performance. The study developed accumulative qualitative analysis tools and member-checking methods specific to the communication systems used by individual participants. Principle findings included increased confidence for verbal and non-verbal communicators; increased personal drive, ambition and goal-setting; increased arts-based skills including professional engagements as artists; demonstrated skills in communicating perceptions of health status to private and public spheres. Tangential positive observations were evident in the changing recreational, vocational and educational activities participants engaged with pre- and post- the workshop series; participants advocating for autonomous accommodation and health provision and changes in the disability service staffs culture. The research is an example of translational health methodologies in disability studies.

Looking out of the void : Scaffolds to assist drama higher research degree students on the path to artist–scholar

Abstract In recent years, a number of Australian and international universities have offered the ability to complete postgraduate qualifications using the research frame known as creative practice as research. This has been particularly prevalent in the Drama discipline in the Creative Industries Faculty at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). There has been a noticeable shift away from students undertaking a traditional research Master of Arts (Research) or Doctor of Philosophy to a higher proportion of research higher degree students undertaking research through their creative work. The somewhat ephemeral nature of the theatre and performance practice can generate anxieties for students about how to best represent, analyse and discuss the creative practice within a theoretical frame. The argument in this paper is situated in the experience of two artist-scholars who undertook their studies at QUT while under principal supervision of the author and explores the research scaffolds that supervisors in Drama at QUT have developed to assist research higher degree students to navigate the tricky persona of artist–scholar.

The Yonder Project: Literacy and Social Competency Development in Primary School Students Through Co-Creation of Live Performance

Abstract Since 2007 Kite Arts Education Program (KITE), based at Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), has been engaged in delivering a series of theatre-based experiences for children in low socio-economic primary schools in Queensland. The artist in residence (AIR) project titled Yonder includes performances developed by the children with the support and leadership of teacher artists from KITE for their community and parents/carers, supported by a peak community cultural institution. In 2009, Queensland Performing Arts Centre partnered with Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Creative Industries Faculty (Drama) to conduct a three-year evaluation of the Yonder project to understand the operational dynamics, artistic outputs and the educational benefits of the project. This paper outlines the research findings for children engaged in the Yonder project in the interrelated areas of literacy development and social competencies. Findings are drawn from six iterations of the project in suburban locations on the edge of Brisbane city and in regional Queensland.