[csaa-forum] Research Position: Creative Artists / Create / Cultural Capital(Project Component 3)

[Francis Maravillas]

Research Brief

Working Title: Creative Artists / Create / Cultural Capital (Project Component 3)

Call For Expression Of Interest 

Background to the proposal
This research proposal is one part of a larger project called Artistic Creators’ Contribution to Australian Cultural Capital that has been proposed by the National Association for the Visual Arts Ltd. At this stage funds for this project are not definitely secured, however, we have a strong indication that they will be made available in 2005.

The larger project was conceived as 4 separate components which, when the results of each are considered in conjunction, will provide concrete evidence for the contribution made by creative artists (visual artists, craftspeople and designer/makers) to Australia’s cultural capital. The research outcome, envisaged as a written report, will also analyse how this contribution can be better facilitated and how returns to creative artists can be optimised.

The 4 proposed parts of the larger project Artistic Creators’ Contribution to Australian Cultural Capital are:
Project 1. Longitudinal Graduate Survey
Project 2. Artist Employment Facilitators’ Interviews
Project 3. Creative Artists / Create / Cultural Capital - Research And Report By A Cultural Theorist/Historian (this brief)
Project 4. Industry Expert Report (to be compiled as an overview of the above 3 components).

NAVA remains committed to seeing all 4 components of the project undertaken. We are therefore in discussions with possible co-partners.

Outline of the project component 3 Creative Artists / Create / Cultural Capital 
This project component has a budget of $32,000. This will cover:
- researcher’s research and reporting fee 		$20,000 
- administration costs					$12,000.

The researcher will be commissioned to research and report on the contribution of influential Australian artists to Australian industry and society. The research will cover a period of approx 100 years and will  include case studies of at least 10 currently living creative artists. A fee to pay for the participation of these creative artists and a small travel component is in the administration costs budget.

Management of the project
The project will be managed by NAVA. The researcher will be expected to undertake the project within his/her own office space and to make regular reports to NAVA according to an agreed work timeline. The payment of the research fee will be made at the successful conclusion of each agreed project stage and administrative costs will be agreed to and paid on invoice. The researcher will be required to stay within the budget agreed to.

Objectives
There are three main areas of investigation running through this project. They are the need to:
	reveal the way in which the ideas of creative artists are applied across many other industries and sectors. It is NAVA’s belief that  these ideas permeate the national psyche and set the style or shape the aesthetic environment very broadly without anyone being aware of where it originated and often without attribution.
	track and provide data on the diverse ways in which artistic creators now apply their skills to ‘knowledge products’
	speculate on the future directions for creative artists’ “knowledge products” and what this might mean in terms of planning industry and government policies and responses. 

Summary of this project
The commissioned researcher will:
	research and provide data on the work of particularly influential Australian artists over a period of approx 100 years leading up to the present 
	identify and discuss areas of cross influence and fertilisation between art practices and other industries 
	comment on the way the work of creative artists has influenced the national aesthetic and place these arguments in the context of the recent ‘Creative Industries’ discussion
	provide analysis of better ways of facilitating this contribution and of helping to ensure that artists receive due economic returns.

There will be weight given to investigating the influence of creative artists currently practicing so that implications for the future can be considered. This research process will include interviewing at least 10 artists to develop detailed case studies. 

Project basis
The visual arts and crafts are historically understood to evidence the influence that the ideas and forms of expression of artistic creators have on the other ‘Creative Industries’ (including advertising, graphic and industrial design, architecture, fashion, design of performance events, audio visual media - film and TV, cultural tourism and heritage interpretation). This project will examine the response of Australian practice to the recent ‘Creative Industries’ discussion.

In the Report For Visual Arts Industry Guideline Research Project: Copyright And Moral Rights,  by Ian MacDonald of the Australian Copyright Council, a number of examples of the new way in which artists work were discussed. These included biological, chemical or other natural process art; art online; performance art; installations etc. In his paper Some Reflections On Postgraduate And Research Training In The Visual Arts, 1980-2002,  Jonathon Holmes noted the important contribution artists such as Dr Wayne Hudson, who was “intimately involved in the early stages of the Centre for Furniture Design”, and Sarah Ryan, who worked in the area of lenticular imaging techniques, have made to the extension of scientific and industrial knowledge. 

There are of course many other examples, and by looking at current practice, the outcomes of the research will provide evidence and a potent advocacy tool in revealing the value provided by creative artists across a whole range of commercial activities.

Timeframe
The project will be started in early 2005 to be completed by October 2005. 

Deliverables and Outcomes
The researcher will be required to deliver a final report that can be published on a number of platforms including hard copy and the web.


To make a response to this brief
Please send an expression of interest which includes a list of your experience and published work as well as two referees.

Please note that this brief is being circulated in anticipation of a successful funding application and NAVA makes no commitment to this project, or the 3 corresponding parts of the larger project, going ahead.

Further Information 
Merrilee Kessler, Projects Manager 
Phone: 02 9368 1900
Email: merrilee at visualarts.net.au





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