Ausdance National news, January/February 2010

by Julie Dyson

Already January and February 2010 are behind us, and we’re well into March. This is always an exceptionally busy period for Ausdance National as we consolidate last year’s programs, gear up for our annual National Council meeting and focus on our new programs for the year.

The Ausdance National Council – what does it do?

Apart from sharing information, reviewing activities and planning for the future, the National Council (Executive and State/Territory board chairs) and staff (Ausdance National and network directors), do address industry issues in detail, and work on ways of collaborating to achieve the best possible outcomes for our members. Here are some of the industry issues we discussed in February:

National Cultural Policy

We agreed that Ausdance should make a submission to the National Cultural Policy process, and that it should be written within the framework of Dance Plan 2012 which represents the views of the Australian dance community. We began by stating our support for a National Cultural Policy because it provides opportunities for:

• a whole-of-government approach to defining ‘culture’
• placing Indigenous perspectives at the centre of Australian cultural life (as it does across disciplines in the National Curriculum) and
• acknowledging and recognising the arts (and artists) as primary creators in a creative economy.

National Dance Forum

The Australia Council’s Dance Board has invited Ausdance National to convene a national dance forum in 2011, and we had very useful discussions with the Director of the Dance Board, Carin Mistry, who was also a guest at our meeting.

The overarching purpose of the dance forum is to discuss Australian dance practice, particularly in the independent sector. We have therefore decided to hold the forum in conjunction with the Dance Massive dance festival in Melbourne, which has received both Australia Council and Arts Victoria funding for March 2011.

The dance forum will also provide an opportunity to review the ambitions outlined in Dance Plan 2012, i.e. a mid-point progress report on strategies and an exploration of further actions needed by the dance community to reach the four ambitions outlined in the plan. Participants from all areas of dance that are included in Dance Plan 2012 will be invited. Further details will be available once we have appointed the producer/event manager for the national forum.

Dance Plan 2012

With the National Dance Forum still 12 months away, we reviewed progress so far with the four ‘ambitions’ outlined in the plan, and discussed strategies for providing more information to the field through local public forums, noting that this is an ‘action’ plan for the dance community rather than an Ausdance or Australia Council policy document.

Australian Dance Awards

Ausdance Victoria is in the final stages of preparing to present its third Australian Dance Awards ceremony, on Sunday 20 June at the Victorian Arts Centre. It was exciting to hear of plans for the gala, but we had concerns about the future of the Awards because of the financial strains placed on the host Ausdance office. It was agreed that from 2011 a State or Territory wishing to hold the Awards would go through a transparent process of evaluation to ensure that sufficient resources were going to be available. Ausdance National will therefore convene a ‘futures’ committee to work through this process, and we’re looking forward to making sure the ADAs have a strong and secure future.

Artists in Schools

The Community Partnerships division of the Australia Council has agreements with the States and Territories on the delivery of this program, and we sought an update on progress with the new 2010 agreements. We discussed the need for artists to be trained in educational principles, although it was recognised that many artists already have this training. However, the Ausdance skill set for Teaching Dance will be an excellent option for those who wish to broaden their career paths. We agreed to continue to work with Community Partnerships to ensure that artists receive the training and opportunities they need to operate in the education environment.

Treading the Pathways

The National Indigenous Dance Co-ordinator, Marilyn Miller, described the process of transitioning from project status to becoming a Key Organisation of the Australia Council, a tremendous achievement! Ausdance National will assist this process, and Marilyn is very keen to maintain her strong links with the Ausdance network, to continue to participate in our meetings, and to acknowledge Ausdance’s role in the success of the project. The transition process will involve new branding for Treading the Pathways, the establishment of a new board, and incorporation as a separate legal entity with Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status. In the meantime, the new Torres Strait Islander Dance Kit will soon be ready for launching, with final details of the launch available shortly.

Australian Youth Dance Festival

We heard plans for the next AYDF, to be held at NAISDA College in a partnership between Ausdance NSW and NAISDA. The festival will be held over the Easter break in 2011, and planning is already well underway. Information will be posted on our website as soon as it becomes available, but in the meantime inquiries can be made to Cathy Murdoch, Director, Ausdance NSW at director@dance.net.au

We also heard an exciting proposal for the 2013 AYDF to be held in South Australia, and these ideas will become part of our discussions with Ausdance NSW and Country Arts SA later this year.

SCOPE for Artists

There was excellent feedback from across the network about the positive impact of SCOPE on those who are participating in the program, and it was noted that Ausdance National continued to be involved at board level and was contributing advocacy and networking skills to the future of the organisation.

Regional Arts Australia

There was discussion about the possibility of Ausdance directors holding their next meeting in conjunction with the RAA’s national conference in Launceston at the end of August. Ausdance has an excellent relationship with Regional Arts Australia, and we are hoping that there will be an emphasis on dance at this particular conference, which would make our attendance compulsory!

National Curriculum

Consultations continue between the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) and the National Advocates for Arts Education, arts educators, industry representatives and teaching organisations. Following two meetings last year of the 25-member reference group, a smaller group was formed this year to advise on the next stage of the process. I was invited to participate in the smaller advisory group, and Jeff Meiners is providing specialist dance advice, working with the lead writer, Professor John O’Toole and other art form advisers to produce an initial ‘advice paper’. This will be presented to a large national forum in May, which will have wide representations across the arts. Once the advice paper has been finalised, there will be further online consultation and feedback to ACARA before the next stage commences. This has been an extremely thorough process which we hope will attract lots of comment from the field – it’s the arts community’s opportunity to get the National Curriculum in the arts right!

Performing Arts Training Package

We discussed the process now being undertaken by Verve—Knowledge and Skills, which is managing the development of new competency standards and skill sets for the dance industry on behalf of Innovation & Business Skills Australia (IBSA). There have been lively online discussions about the initial discussion paper, and several teleconferences with key stakeholders. The National Project Reference Group will meet again at the end of March to consider this feedback and to help guide the next stage. Verve has developed a very useful Frequently Asked Questions document which it is planning to publish on its website shortly. See the Verve website for further information.