Sexual harassment in the creative industries

Women often have to consider it 'part of the job' and tolerate it if they want to get ahead professionally, write Sophie Hennekam and Dawn Bennet

The urgent need for career preview: Student expectations and graduate realities in music and dance

Unlike the work available in many creative disciplines, musicians and dancers have the possibility of full-time, company-based employment; however, participants far outweigh the number of available positions. As a result, many graduates become ‘enforced entrepreneurs’ as they shape their work to meet personal and professional needs. This paper first explores the career projections of 58 music and dance students who were surveyed in their first week of post-secondary study. It then contrasts these findings with the reality of graduate careers as reported by five of that cohort four years later. In contrast with the students’ overwhelming focus on performance roles, the graduate cohort reported a prevalence of portfolio careers incorporating both creative and non-creative roles. The paper characterises the notion of a performing arts ‘career’ as a messy concept fraught with misunderstanding. Implications include the need to heighten students’ career awareness and position intrinsic satisfaction as a valued career concept

Shifting the cantus firmus: Australian music educators and the ERA

Managing the teaching-research-creative practice nexus is a concern for everyone working in higher music education, particularly those involved with the supervision and mentorship of graduate students and early career academics. This paper takes as its subject the new Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA), drawing examples from research frameworks elsewhere to identify some of the pertinent issues facing music educators and their students. The findings from a series of surveys and short interviews suggest that the formal recognition of artistic research remains largely dependent on the articulation of that research into traditional academic language. Furthermore, the increasing focus on research as a form of revenue generation highlights the separation of research and teaching and the lessening of academic autonomy. The paper argues that a balance can be achieved only with a fundamental, systemic shift that recognises the new knowledge and innovative methodological approaches within artistic research and, equally, within the scholarship of teaching

Identity as a catalyst for success

Success as a musician is most commonly assumed to be the attainment of a performance career; however, careers solely in performance are rare, often short-lived, and not desirable to everyone. This paper is drawn from a study which explored the perception of the musician as a performer, and which sought to find out whether practising musicians would support redefining their profession to encompass those working within non-performance roles. It presents the results of two focus groups held with musicians working in performance and non-performance roles. The musicians were asked: ?What is a musician?? The ensuing debate encompassed notions of success, career expectations, performance careers, and the importance of intrinsic career satisfaction. Participants suggested that musicians? careers continually evolve according to available opportunities and both professional and personal needs. The definition of the musician as a performer was found to lack specificity and to suggest an unrealistic perception of the profession of music. The results of this study support the argument that the term musician needs to be redefined; that redefinition has support within the profession; and that music educators have a crucial role to play in encouraging students to consider what kinds of musician they would like to be

Developing teacher identity among music performance students

The mythologised image of the musician as performer often contradicts the reality. This article reports initial results from a study that used learner-generated drawings and journal reflections with music performance majors as a means to examine emerging perceptions of music teaching. Whilst initial drawings illustrated traditional images of the teacher as knowledge giver, these gave way to more fluid and student-centred images in which students appeared to identify with teaching in new ways. The combination of textual and non-textual data provided insights that would not otherwise have been evident, and the broad consideration of 'possible selves' became a useful tool in the explorations of identity and career

Creative ex-pats: Globalisation and creative communities

It is well known within the creative industries that a pilgrimage overseas can be an important part of career development. All too often, however, the pilgrimage is a one-way journey and crucial talent is lost. Just as creative capital is lost overseas, the dominance of cities as the centres of Australia's knowledge- or experience-based economy leads to migration of the creative workforce from regional centres and smaller cities such as Perth, lessening the potential for those areas to sustain economic growth. Given the globalised nature of creative industries and the emergence of new technologies, this study asks whether migration loss could be turned into cultural gain. The study involves Western Australians living and working overseas or 'over East' in a wide variety of artistic fields. Participants answered questions relating to personal and professional connectedness, the career impact of their migration, future plans, and their perceptions of the Western Australian cultural environment. Initial results revealed that most creative migration is due to a lack of opportunities and the appeal of larger markets. Despite retaining strong personal connections with their place of origin, participants artistic connections were tenuous and artistic involvement was negligible. Implications from the study, which is ongoing, include the need to actively value and engage with creative migrants and to foster their continued involvement in the cultural life of our cities and regions. In doing so, there is the potential for creative migration to become a positive element of our cultural identities

Not as we thought: Transitions into the orchestral workplace

Winning an orchestral position is cause for celebration. The result of long-term, intensive study and, often, countless auditions, new players are understandably enthusiastic about their future. But are the realities of orchestral life what they had expected? Building on previous research with established orchestral players, this paper discusses a case study within a larger ethnographic study of the orchestral workplace. The case study discussed here was intended to develop a better understanding of the issues facing new players, and involved casual and permanent orchestral players in their first year of orchestral work. Results indicated a level of disappointment with orchestral life. Although many aspects of this disappointment had been voiced by established players in earlier studies, the rapidity with which negativity was voiced by new players was surprising, and suggests that more could be done to support them

Creative and educational spaces: The musician in higher education

Conservatoires and universities are both creative and educational spaces. As major employers of musicians, negotiating the nexus of teaching-research-creative practice within higher education is a critical concern for music faculty and students. This paper takes as its subject the newly introduced Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA), drawing on the experience of other research frameworks to identify some of the pertinent issues facing musicians in academia. The paper suggests that whilst creative practice is increasingly recognized as research, it is rarely judged as being research in its own right or as having equal status to traditional scientific research. Findings strengthen the argument that conceptualizing and communicating the research inherent within creative practice can give musicians both artistic and intellectual agency over the commentary that surrounds their work. However, successfully negotiating the translation of creative work into a language understood by the academy requires skills that are often far removed from creative practice. Added to increasing pressure to producetraditional written research within a narrow band of highly ranked journals, the findings suggest the need to develop a range of academic writing skills and conceptual approaches early in the training of graduate students and for new faculty. For musicians to find a balance between the creative and educational spaces of higher education, the paper presents a case for individualized support accompanied by a systemic shift that acknowledges the value, new forms of knowledge and innovative approaches within creative practice and research. The articulation of creative processes to a broad audience may prove to be a major step towards gaining this acknowledgement