ICS Seminar Series - Deborah Stevenson

Date: Thursday 11 August 2016
Time: 11.30am–1pm
Venue: EE.G.36, Western Sydney University, Parramatta South campus

Deborah Stevenson

(Institute for Culture and Society)

Urban Cultural Policy and the Structure of Creative Practice

Abstract

Urban cultural policy often lacks effective mechanisms for involving local communities in its development and implementation, and is frequently formulated with little reference to the priorities and experiences of local artists and cultural workers. Drawing on the findings of a major study of creative practice and the structure of creative work in Australia's most dynamic urban area, Greater Western Sydney, this paper examines the implications for local cultural policy of the lived, social and cultural conditions of creative practice. What is evident is that many contemporary artists and creative practitioners now work in ways that transcend or challenge disciplinary and institutional boundaries, with collaborative work also becoming increasingly common. Also important are local peer networks and a range of connections with local government and local government-run cultural institutions, which were identified as key sites of work and volunteering. Indeed, for the majority of respondents, local government and urban cultural policy were more important to their work and everyday lives than those of either federal or state government. These findings provide an important foundation for a rethinking of urban cultural policy and planning, as well as the forms of support and facilitation required to develop communities and places that are actually rather than just rhetorically vibrant, engaged and 'creative'.

Biography

Deborah Stevenson is a Research Professor in the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University. Her principal research interests concern cities and urban life, arts and cultural policy, and place and tourism. Deborah has published widely on these subjects, including the recent books Cities of Culture: A Global Perspective (Routledge, 2014), The City (Polity, 2013), and Tourist Cultures: Identity, Place and the Traveller (co-authored, Sage 2010). Professor Stevenson is also co-editor of The Ashgate Research Companion to Planning and Culture (2013) and Culture and the City: Creativity, Tourism, Leisure (Routledge, 2012). She is on the editorial boards of several leading international journals, including the International Journal of Cultural Policy and Journal of Sociology, and is a Chief Investigator on two current ARC projects, one of which is analysing changing modes of creative production in Australia. Professor Stevenson has worked as an advisor and consultant to all levels of government, and was most recently appointed to the Ministerial Reference Group for the NSW Arts and Cultural Policy Framework.

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The Institute for Culture and Society is located in Parramatta, “the place where the eel sets down” in Dharug language,
along the north bank of the Parramatta River. It sits on the traditional lands and waters of the Burramattagal people of the Dharug Nation,
who have been stewards and caretakers of these territories since time immemorial, in what today is referred to as Greater Western Sydney,
one of the most diverse cultural communities in the world and home to the largest number of Indigenous Australians in the country.
The Institute for Culture and Society acknowledges the Dharug, Eora, Dharawal (also referred to as Tharawal)
and Wiradjuri peoples as traditional custodians and Indigenous knowledge-holders, whose storytelling serve
as historical record, a form of teaching and learning, a way to care for Country,
and an expression of Indigenous culture and identity.