A Critical Commons

criticalcommons.org for 'fair and critical participation in media culture'.

ACUADS in Adelaide

Just returned from a week in Adelaide, brilliant old buildings, terrific art, but also must be the Australian capital for the best restaurants in the country! (a pic here of Glenelg, beach-side of Adelaide).


I was in Adelaide to attend the Australian Council for University Art and Design Schools (ACUADS) annual national conference.


So, why a muso at an Art & Design conference? Well, for one reason, my partner Jenny was presenting some of her PhD work there, about the state of the creative and performing arts and their place in academia. 'Goal displacing behaviour' as some call it, that is, metrics about grants and journal articles, rather than about (say), music, art or film.


One of the relationships that is quickly developing now in Australia, is a ever-closer relationship between the arts peaks bodies. This includes matters of lobbying the federal government around the ERA review (Excellence in Research for Australia) of research indicators, ideas about a national Creative and Performing Arts body, and alternative competitive funding arrangements to what some consider as currently science-dominated Australian Research Council. In the case of this year's ACUADS conference, these and related themes were well put by Australian Chair of ACUADS and acting Head of the Victorian College of the Arts (part of the University of Melbourne), AsProf Su Baker:


To date, Art & Design (ACUADS), Film (ASPERA) and Music (NACTMUS) have been forging ever closer links and collaboration. For example, I think there is a particularly strong and useful example in the Future-proofing the Creative Arts PhD project. Essentially, this is a national collaborative project to examine the practices, outputs and assessment standards for research higher degrees in these disciplines, and by exemplar of course, what creative and performing artists *really* do when it comes to the nexus of practice-as-research through art projects . . . onward and upward.

Kim Carr Address: The Art of Innovation

An inspirational address to the National Press Club in Canberra today, by the (new-ish) Australian Government and Senator the Hon Kim Carr. 
Things are looking up . . . I'll just skip ahead to these concluding remarks from the speech:

Why the humanities matter

As I said at the beginning, the humanities, arts and social sciences are critical to solving our most pressing real-world problems. These are problems so complex that our only hope of sorting them out is through a multidisciplinary effort.

We can’t improve Indigenous health without understanding the social and cultural circumstances of the people involved. We can’t build better cities without understanding how people live, how they want to live, and how the different parts of their lives fit together. We can’t adapt to global warming without understanding what people’s capacities are, how they interact, and what motivates them.

The humanities, arts and social sciences also have important political work to do. They can give a voice to people who might otherwise be silent. They can articulate the needs of people whose needs might otherwise be overlooked. They can defend the rights of people whose rights might otherwise be denied. Without them it would be impossible to create an innovation system that was truly inclusive, democratic and just.

Without them life would also be pretty dull.

My cultural activities are fairly restricted these days, but a couple of things I’ve enjoyed recently are:

* Peter Temple’s novel The Broken Shore; and

* the Bell Shakespeare Company’s production of Hamlet.

The first showed me a world similar enough to my own to feel familiar, but different enough to make me look at my own world with fresh eyes. The second reminded me where a great deal of our language comes from, and left me with a strong sense of the continuity between past and present.

Did the book and the play turn a dollar? I hope so. Did they add to the nation’s bottom line? No doubt, in a small way. Is that why I enjoyed them? No, it’s not.

I believe the creative arts – and the humanities and the social sciences – make a terrible mistake when they claim support on the basis of their commercial value.

Whatever they may be worth in the marketplace, it is their intrinsic value we should treasure them for. We should support these disciplines because they give us pleasure, knowledge, meaning, and inspiration.

No other pay-off is required.

The full transcript is well worth a full read, available here: http://minister.industry.gov.au/Carr/Pages/THEARTOFINNOVATION-ADDRESSTOTHENATIONALPRESSCLUB.aspx

Senator the Hon Kim Carr
03 Sep 2008 THE ART OF INNOVATION - ADDRESS TO THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB
National Press Club Canberra, ACT

Barack Obama on reforming arts education

Nice piece from Barack Obama, speaking in Wallingford, PA about about reforming the education system and the importance of the arts. While he uses some of the usual rhetoric about the benefits of music and art tied to other positive outcomes in thinking, productivity and well-being – he also talks about the unintentional misuse of the US law around 'No job Left Behind' - school teaching measured by tests (reminiscent of Australia with Rudd's 'Education Revolution' - ie, no cultural curriculum? Why no painting in primary schools? ).

Obama not only articulates the need to fund arts through endowments and direct government funding, but also the bigger picture – the value of being creative, and learning “to see each other through each other's eyes". 

Transforming HASS Research

Just back from a trip to (freezing) Canberra. 

Here, the Australian government is undertaking a review of the National Collaborative Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) Roadmap, and which has generated a proposal for a new research capability in the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS), titled ‘Transforming HASS Research’. [see The Australian /Higher Education article 20 August 2008, 'Research to cut through cackle']

The details of this proposal were included in the recently released Exposure Draft of 2008 Strategic Roadmap for Australian Research Infrastructure. As a result, the Expert Working Group for HASS which produced this proposal met in a one day workshop to assist with this process at Old Canberra House, the ANU.

From the Arts perspective (the 'A' in HASS), this means: how might eResearch in sectors such as Film, Animation, Art & Design, Music and Sound, Theatre & Dance - benefit from $.5 bil. of ICT network and grid computing research infrastructure? For example: greater interdisciplinary collaboration; curated media archives as 'data sets' to promote and drive new research questions and outputs; grid computing which has the capacity to drive (real) time-based works, nationally & internationally. 

Among the discussions and break out panels for Humanites, the Creative & Performing Arts and Social Sciences representatives, an international guest speaker, Chad Kainz (Senior Director for Academic Technologies, University of Chicago) gave an enthralling presentation.

Chad is one of the program directors for the Mellon Foundation’s ‘Bamboo Project’ -- a planning project aimed at developing shared technology services for research in the arts and humanities in the US, with important parallels to the Australian HASS-NCRIS developments.

This is a significant development, but one that requires more discussion and consultation within the relevant sectors before planning proceeds much further. Next, there will be a widening of the steering group and reference group(s) to include greater representation from Art & Design, Theatre & Dance, Music & Sound, Film & Animation. Looking forward to more & seeing what comes next . . .

BCC & APRA - Right of Reply to Fete de la Musique:

In the interests of open commentary, below are posted responses from Brisbane City Council and APRA:

Subject: Fete de la Musique

Hi Mr Draper,

I read your comments about Fete de la Musique in the Courier Mail with interest yesterday. I just thought I'd forward on Brisbane City Council's response to your letter so you're aware of our reasoning as well.

Brisbane City Council in partnership with Brisbane Marketing, Alliance Francaise, and supported by Courier Mail, rolled out Fete de la Musique on 21 June for the first time in Brisbane. The event attracted a broad diversity of musical genres and talents from school choirs through to renowned Brisbane jazz groups and international artists. The underlying ethos of the international event is to celebrate and represent the ‘grassroots’ music and arts community.

Fete de la Musique was held in 340 cities worldwide over the weekend, who all staged the event in a similar format.

The program format was developed in consultation with Alliance Francaise - the body who hold the international rights to presenting the event and in direct consultation with the Cultural Attache from the Embassy of France. Involvement in Fete de la Musique saw Brisbane artists participating in an international celebration of music. The charter of the Brisbane program was provided by the international partners which clearly outlined the terms of engagement with artists.

Fete de la Musique provided the opportunity for artists at any professional level the opportunity to perform and take part in a citywide and worldwide celebration of music. All artists participating in the program did so of their own volition and the response from participants has been overwhelmingly positive.

All 290 artists were fully aware that no payment would be forthcoming. Participation in the program generated a genuine sense of community spirit which has been clearly expressed through correspondence received from artists after Saturday's event.

Brisbane City Council offers many paid opportunities for artists through initiatives such as the City Entertainment Program, including weekly lunchtime concerts in City Hall, major community festivals such as Stylin' UP, regular brass and concert bands in public parks, schools engagement initiatives, and other community development projects throughout the year.

The event was only made possible by the contribution of many volunteers including staging, technical, and organisational staff. Brisbane City Council is looking to present Fete de la Musique in 2009 and will do so based on the international charter provided by the international body responsible for the event.

Damian Hubert from Alliance Francaise has also supported Council’s involvement with this year’s event in the following statement:

(In Fete de la Musique) the musicians are asked to perform for free, and all the concerts are free for the public. Fête de la Musique encourages the major music institutions (orchestra, operas, choirs, etc.) to perform outside their usual locations. These kind of institutions can also welcome other types of music. In this way it offers an opportunity to develop exchanges between city centres and their outlying areas, to promote encounters and exchanges between young musicians and well-known talents.

Courtney Lock
Media Relations Officer
Marketing and Communications
Brisbane City Council
Ph: 07 3403 5406
Fax: 07 3407 2947
Email: courtney.lock@brisbane.qld.gov.au
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Comments from APRA (Australian Performing Right Association):

Hi Paul, 

further to your comments, I just wanted to clairfy that I was on the Committee of the MusicFest which brought Fete de la musique to Australia in Sydney in 2006. This was because I was a past Committee member of Alliance Fancaise de Sydney and at APRA. APRA supported the project by promoting it to members and venues who were all volunteers, as was the organising committee. We had volunteers also design an amazing website which allowed performers and venues to register their interest and create the programme. APRA was not involved per se as you say iun your blog. Sydney council cooperated in providing some venues for performances in Hyde Park and some other council buildings. The idea and how it is practiced around the world is that it is one day of the celebration of the performance of music for free in unlikely venues. In Sydney we put on performances in ferries, in parks, building foyers, hsopitals, etc. This year however, MusicFest in Sydney transferred back to the Alliance as we lost some of the committee members and the cost of public liablility insurance and time became too much. Also, the weather in Sydney on the winter solstice was not like in your fiar city. You also have the Valley which is a perfect area for outdoor performances - we were hampered by regulations regarding performing in public.

As for your notion that performers were paid in France - this is not the case and I am surprised you would rely on wikipedia as an information source for this. Check out http://fetedelamusique.culture.fr/87_English.html which gives you mroe accurate information. I will also send you some information by email on the event hyere and abroad. We would hope that the Qld Con would see the value of the idea and support it, as the Sydney Con did here. The irony of making such an empassioned plea for payment of the performers at this free event in the context of a panel for Creative Commons was not lost on me....

Scot Morris. APRA 

noreply-comment@blogger.com

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More on Brisbane's Fête de la Musique

FYI, and many thanks to Sean O'Boyle & Lyndon Terracini for taking this up with Brisbane Marketing. Sean wrote:

 . . .  someone passed me your email, I was at a dinner with some heavyweights that Brisbane Marketing organised and I bought up the very point you're making. Lyndon Terracini also got stuck in. I think the message is loud and clear. The guys who organised it at Bris Marketing are quite low on the food chain and I don't think that the "non-payment" ever filtered to the top. John Aitken is a good bloke and he will be putting the right changes in place.

Would also appear that the Australasian Performing Right Association Australia (APRA) had a fair role to play in bringing this event to Australia, given the fairly heated lunchtime debate about this today at the Creative Commons Conference at the State Library of Queensland. APRA refuted the facts as argued below (last blog post).

Also interesting to note that someone has subsequently altered the Fête de la Musique charter as posted at Wikipedia re. the terms of playing for free . . .
Here's the change made at 14.32 today - http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fête_de_la_Musique&diff=221405971&oldid=221205313

And some fairly nasty following anonymous posts to the last blog entry, including comments about the Conservatorium not paying performing artists, etc. (Although I should add, many more emails from musicians around the country in support). And so, I think that's likely enough of that for me. Sean & Lydon have weighed in well, so many thanks to them again. I think we made our point.

The Fate of Fête de la Musique?

I was disappointed to hear from Brisbane City Council's (BCC) Fête de la Musique organisers that no musicians were paid for any of the large number of performances held across Brisbane (Queensland, Australia) this last weekend, 21 June. 

The organisers cited 'how wondeful it was' that musicians could 'expose' themselves to audiences, cited this tired old line while claiming that free performances were part of the strict terms of the Fête de la Musique 'World Music' international charter. An extract of this charter is posted on the BBC website.

However, this misrepreents the terms of this international charter by what it omits, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fête_de_la_Musique. Many free concerts are organized, making all genres of music accessible to the public. One of the caveats to being sancioned by the official Fete de la Musique organization in Paris that,

. . . all concerts must be free to the public. It's not required that musicians play for free, though many [may choose to] do so.

However, here in Brisbane, in the so-called 'smart state', while no musicians were paid, BBC origanisers revealed that the hire companies, sound equipment, lighting and staging operators etc were paid. It was also clear that Brisbane City Mall public traffic was up enormously and that many retailers saw increased sales though this public engagement, bought about by the performances of many of Brisbane's variously up-and-coming musicians or established acts.

Suggestions: retail might consider contributing to the costs of artist's fees and/or other value-adding through cross-subsidisation or promotions?

Well past time Brisbane grew up in respect to valuing its art, and that BCC took stock of is ethical stance and rewarded its communities - inlcuding artists - instead of only mutlinational industries and local goverments who take avantage of artist's IP and music content. 

Is this really what the council and goverment means by 'creative industries' as expressed in these actions?

Music licencing locks down innovation

Originally intended to protect the intellectual property rights of creators, music copyright laws have been enforced across the Australian university sector - all pay substantial licensing fees to collection societies on a per-institution basis. These licenses only allow for on-demand streaming of commercial music while restricting any copying or sharing of databases across the sector.

Music copyright laws are imposed on learning, teaching and research under the same restrictions that apply to radio stations, night-clubs and bars.

As noted recently in The Australian by Brian Fitzgerald, in developing innovation policy for the 21st century “we need to think closely about the shape and role of copyright law and policy”. Consider the effect of current music licensing laws in developing creativity, innovation and future Australian musicians through the following examples of what is now occurring in university faculties:

Only licensed works can be utilised and individual academics must undertake detailed compliance checks to ensure that any material they wish to present to students is legal. The catalogue has proved to be highly limited, the core of which is centred around popular culture and even in this domain, the use of music from the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Queen or ACDC is prohibited. Further, recent statistics indicate that up to 80% of essential learning and research material is unavailable through these licenses. This includes works from classical, jazz, world, experimental and other culturally diverse traditions.

Therefore music students lack significant opportunities to analyse recordings in order to develop their craft, to develop wider cultural and historical understanding and to innovate by ‘building on the shoulders of giants’. Where self-directed creativity and craft comes into play, this too is limited by complex legal arrangements. Seemingly out-of-copyright classical works are often restricted by laws around the use of music scores for performance and recording. In the case of jazz and rhythm and blues, while excellence requires interpretation and improvisation, the performance and adoption of these forms is locked down by the copyright terms of ‘seventy years plus the life of the author’.

The only space that remans is for 100% original work, composed, performed or recorded by university staff and students. While often providing admirable examples of creativity and tenacity, many endeavours can suffer from insufficient contextual development given the restrictions.

Music licensing in universities reflects a catalogue that is dominated by The Big Four international labels – EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner. Many local productions may comprise derivative works and mimic what is marketed as ‘quality’ in (often American) popular culture, the net effect prophetically outlined in Australia’s first and only national cultural policy document, Creative Nation (1994). Its thrust was much in tune with the then rising wave of the dot-com boom:

Many Australians say that just now Australian culture is under unprecedented threat. The revolution in information technology and the wave of global mass culture potentially threatens that which is distinctly our own. In doing so it threatens our identity and the opportunities this and future generations will have for intellectual and artistic growth and self-expression . . [we must] ensure that what used to be called a cultural desert does not become a sea of globalised and homogenised mediocrity.

The Federal Government has a significant opportunity to revisit these ideals in its reviews of the National Innovation System, the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy roadmap, and in its forthcoming Australia 2020 Summit (the latter puzzlingly lacking any reference to the music industry, an oversight which presumably will be addressed by the Minister for the Arts).

Australia’s innovation system already possesses significant broadband infrastructure across its universities which is crippled less by lack of speed (for the moment), but more so through lack of judgement in response to the extra-national domination of copyright law. It is simply a matter of legislation.

. . . Miikka Salavuo has more thoughts about 'copyright in online music education' and the current situation in Finland at the Sibelius Academy.

Post-Xmas holidays

Just back at uni from a wonderful holiday in Tasmania, surely one of the most beautiful and untouched places on earth.

(More pics at my DotMac site, if you want to see more Tasmania).

And what a promising start to 2008, what with a brand new Federal Labour government led by Kevin Rudd, the first thing I saw being the 26 January Australia Day concert held at Parliament house in Canberra. And with musicians (!) Lee Kernaghan awarded as 2008 ‘Australian of the Year', while Johnathon Welch of Choir of Hard Knocks fame was announced as Australia's Local Hero 2008. Both good guys who put a lot of time into looking after their communities – Kernighan for the bush and those badly effected by the drought and Welch for his fantastic work for the homeless.

Democracy 2.0

I had the pleasure to be invited and speak on a panel at the Creative Commons AU forum, "Democracy 2.0: YouTube + Myspace as tools for political engagement”. Held at the Judith Wright Centre in Brisbane's Valley precinct, the event was timely and charged, especially with the Federal election on the horizon, we saw some entertaining, often puzzling examples of on-line migration by our political leaders. Also some terrific mash-ups and social commentary from communities around the country.

You can head over to CCau if you want to register and get more involved. Thanks to Elliott Bledsoe (Vibewire Inc.) and Professor Brian Fitzgerald (Faculty of Law, QUT) for a great event.