Resources and funding - Culture sector news

Events | Call for entries | Announcements

Events

ALIA Information Online Conference and Exhibition 2009 - Sydney

20-22 January 2009

Information Online is a leading conference and exhibition for the online information industry in the Asia-Pacific region. Topics include digital rights management, content management, managing service delivery and managing converging technologies. Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Transforming cultural and scientific communication conference - Melbourne

5-6 March 2009

This conference brings experts from USA, Canada and Australia to Melbourne to discuss how the Web 2.0 revolution is changing museum and library practice. Speakers include international guests Shelley Bernstein, Manager of Information Systems at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, and Sebastian Chan, Manager of the Web Services Unit at the Powerhouse Museum. Sessions will explore topics such as how audiences connect with each other through the development of immersive, experience environments using social media and how cultural collections are communicated within an organisation. Melbourne Museum.

Import Export - Online

Ongoing

Import Export is a two-part seminar series exploring cross-cultural relations between Asia and Australia generated by museums and galleries. Increasingly, creative strategies are demanded of the cultural sector to bridge national boundaries, diverse audiences, hybrid industries and new technological terrain. These seminars address progressive programming, museum development and projects positioned in an Australasian context.

Call for entries

Local Government Cultural Awards 2009 - New South Wales

Entries by 27 February 2009

The Local Government Cultural Awards acknowledge projects that demonstrate the range and strength of New South Wales local government arts involvement and commitment.

Visiting Fellowships Program - national

Entries by 28 February 2009

Applications are open for the 2010 ANU Research School of Humanities Visiting Fellowships program. This year's theme is Imaging Identity.  Understandings of self and other occur universally through images. Traversing history and culture, the production, presentation and apprehension of images is essential to how persons come to know themselves and make sense of their relations with others.

Scholars and Artists in Residence at the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) - national

Entries ongoing

The NFSA invites research proposals from academics, performers, artists, audiovisual industry and archive professionals to draw fresh, innovative perspectives from the national audiovisual collection.  Fellows will use the NFSA's collection to create a new sound or moving image work, a publication, an exhibit, a live audiovisual event or a combination of these and other approaches. The Fellowships offer specially facilitated access and research into the national collection; close collaboration with NFSA curatorial and technical experts; access to the Library; modern accommodation; and a fully equipped work space provided on-site.

Announcements

Collaborative Culture Projects Showcase

18 November 2008

The Collections Council Collaborative Projects Showcase promotes projects run collaboratively by collecting organisations in Australia such as archives, galleries, historical societies, Indigenous keeping places, libraries and museums. The aim of the Showcase is to inform and inspire people who are considering their own collaborative project. It also provides an opportunity for organisations within the collections sector to share their experiences. It will evolve over time, expanding to represent the wide variety of collaborations that are developing across the collections sector.

Cultural Funding in Australia: Three Tiers of Government 2006-07 report

13 November 2008

The report Cultural Funding in Australia: Three Tiers of Government 2006-07, has been released by the Cultural Ministers Council (CMC) Statistics Working Group. In 2006-07, a total of $5.6 billion was provided for cultural activities by federal, state, territory and local governments, an increase of 2.6 per cent on the previous year. The report, produced for the CMC Statistics Working Group by the National Centre for Culture and Recreation Statistics at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, provides a breakdown of this funding by each tier of government.

Discussion paper, ABC and SBS: Towards a digital future

October 2008

This discussion paper aims to stimulate ideas and comments about the future roles of Australia's two national broadcasters, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Special Broadcasting Service, as part of a review of the two organisations. The paper seeks comment on the issues facing the national broadcasters on the path to 2020. It is intended that this public submissions process will inform the Australian Government's future policy and funding decisions in relation to the two broadcasters.

Newspaper Digitisation Project taking shape

October 2008

The National Library of Australia, in collaboration with state and territory libraries, has commenced a digitisation program of 'out of copyright' newspapers. The free online service enables 'full-text searching of newspaper articles' and includes 'newspapers published in each state and territory from the 1800s to the mid-1950s'. To date, over 1.3 million newspaper pages have been scanned from microfilm, about 90,000 of which are already available for public view. A further 20,000 pages will be added each week.

Cultural Minister Council Strategy

2 October 2008

Cultural Ministers Council (CMC) Ministers endorsed a Strategy which identified opportunities for collaboration between state jurisdictions against five key goals; Enriching citizens' lives from arts education to Indigenous arts and culture; Supporting vibrant cultural communities covering cultural diversity; Projecting Australia to the world promoting Australian arts and culture internationally; Building creative futures including strategies for creativity and innovation and building the sustainability of the sector; Transforming cultural spaces and assets from heritage assets to digital and virtual environments.

National Standards for Australian Museums and Galleries now available

September 2008

The National Standards Taskforce has developed the National Standards for Australian Museums and Galleries in consultation with the museum and gallery sector and with reference to current industry practices, existing resources, and museum development and accreditation programs. They are designed to be an accessible tool for museums and galleries nationwide. The Standards are structured in three parts: managing the museum, involving people and developing a significant collection.

Report on Review of Australia's Innovation system

9 September 2008

Federal Minister of Innovation, Kim Carr, called the Report 'a turning point for the future of innovation in Australia'. The Review was conducted by an expert panel chaired by Dr Terry Cutler. The panel analysed Australia's innovation system and made a series of recommendations to revitalise it. Dr Cutler says national prosperity could face a decline if innovation systems are not improved. He warns Australia is in danger of being left behind by competitors like Finland, Singapore and Korea. The Review is ahead of the release of a Government white paper.

Australia 2020 Summit - Final Report

31 May 2008

The Prime Minister announced the public release of the Final Report of the Australia 2020 Summit on 31 May 2008. This report is intended to provide a record of the Australia 2020 Summit and recommendations on each of the discussion areas for consideration by the Australian Government. It is based on ideas put forward by participants during the Summit discussion sessions, outcomes from preliminary Summit events and ideas generated from public submissions received prior to the Summit.

Key online resources

• artsConnect
• fuel4arts.com
• OzArts Online

Institutions and government organisations

• ABS - Attendance at cultural venues and events
• Cultural participation by persons with a disability and older persons
• Cultural Data Online
• Strategic Approach to Northern Territory Government Applications & Participation in Commonwealth Government Research and Innovation Grant Programs
• J Craik, Re-Visioning Arts and Cultural Policy, ANU E Press, Canberra, 2007.
• Australia Council for the Arts - Grants
• Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts - Arts and culture

Peak bodies and associations

• Collections Council of Australia
• Arts NT
• Regional Arts Victoria
• Regional Arts New South Wales
• Tasmania Regional Arts
• Country Arts South Australia
• Country Arts Western Australia
• Queensland Arts Council
• Creative Volunteering - No Limits
• Arts ACT

Featured websites/projects

• CreateBiz - Business assistance programs
• Australia 2020 Summit Initial Report, 2008 (38p 1.2MB PDF)
• Australia 2020 Summit Towards a creative Australia, background paper, 2008 (12p 194kb PDF)
• New Directions for the Arts, 2007 (17p 150kb PDF)