TOWARDS A CULTURAL STRATEGY (A newsletter ?) 14.11.2018
We are very conscious that culture is a complex and nuanced subject. To help explain its connectivity and impact on the vibrancy of a community we have developed this short animation. ............ It is a simplified take on a complex subject but we are hopeful it will help articulate how important it is in building a vibrant creative and cultural life. ............ The public survey campaign on Your Voice Your Launceston will be extended to 26 November to provide further opportunities for the community, in particular artists, creatives and cultural practitioners, to contribute to the current campaign. ............ There is a second survey embedded into this campaign that focusses on the Creative Industries Sector. The aim is to gather measurable data around Creative Practitioners in Launceston and to gain an oversight of the Creative Industries that are involved with Launceston. .... visit Your Voice Your Launceston here
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HIRST PROJECTS
Hirst Projects have delivered the QVMAG Feasibility Study for Council which was the first major piece of work to be delivered by the Arts and Culture Unit. Building on this we are now entering the second phase which is the Cultural Strategy. ............ The City of Launceston, Robyn Archer AO and Hirst projects have already carried out a significant amount of research and planning on the cultural strategy for the City of Launceston. ............ Hirst Projects will be delivering the next phase of this exciting project and Robyn Archer AO will be involved in an advisory capacity and strategic lead on the overall vision endorsed by Council in 2017.
An evening with Tracy Puklowski Join us for an evening's conversation with the new Director of Creative Arts and Cultural Services, Tracy Puklowski.
When: Tuesday 4 December 2018, 5.30pm to 7.30pm
Where: Queen Victoria Art Gallery, 2 Wellington Street, Launceston
RSVP: artsandculture@launceston.tas.gov.au
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NOTES IN RESPONSE
Imagining 'culture' is indeed complex but the task becomes simpler when we acknowledge that it is simple albeit complex. Imagining the 'complexity' in isolation and insulated from the 'cultural determiners' is folly to say the least. Whatever vantage point from which one might launch an attempt to 'map' a cultural reality, the mapping is bound to falter given that some aspects will be hidden or disguised while other features will dominate disproportionately.
If it is possible to imagine and articulate 'culture' and 'cultural production' as an interface of knowledge systems that simultaneously define 'place' and that are defined by 'place' there may well be a beginning point for a useful mapping process. However, it needs to be 'purposeful' to be useful.
The 'reality' worth 'the searching for' are those things that define and prescribe 'placedness' rather than the things 'places' – and people – claim as being theirs – the folly of colonial assertion in its aftermath.
The 'reality' worth 'the searching for' are those things that define and prescribe 'placedness' rather than the things 'places' – and people – claim as being theirs – the folly of colonial assertion in its aftermath.
This communication demonstrates the key weakness of the process in that it fails to articulate its purposefulness and thus avoids articulating purposeful objectives and consequently is unable to articulate relevant rationales. It appears no to be heading towards delivering on a Key Performance Indicator.
On closer inspection the 'deducible news' here seems to be that it it is highly likely that the cart has been harnessed up in front of the ox thus inhibiting the cart's purposefulness. Moreover, there is very little to suggest that the process is 'purposeful' and consequently whatever 'performance indicators' there may be are possibly 'elastic and/or discretionary' without anything of substance to measure them/it against in the end.
In addition, in the process in play here, what is quite opaque is just who it is who will 'determine and rank' cultural phenomena/indicators and after that, when will they and to what effect. Then comes the question, 'by what authority'?
As the American businessman Brian Lamb asserts, "More than anything else, we need in this society the opportunity for people to tell us what they think without being told that they're either dumb, or stupid, or uninformed." Notably, he has also said "it's easier to fix damage than it is to create it."
'Culture' and 'cultural production' is found in the characteristics and knowledge systems of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, belief systems, cuisine, social habits, histories, personal inter-relationships, music and arts practices that simultaneously define 'place' and that are defined by 'place'.
On closer inspection the 'deducible news' here seems to be that it it is highly likely that the cart has been harnessed up in front of the ox thus inhibiting the cart's purposefulness. Moreover, there is very little to suggest that the process is 'purposeful' and consequently whatever 'performance indicators' there may be are possibly 'elastic and/or discretionary' without anything of substance to measure them/it against in the end.
In addition, in the process in play here, what is quite opaque is just who it is who will 'determine and rank' cultural phenomena/indicators and after that, when will they and to what effect. Then comes the question, 'by what authority'?
As the American businessman Brian Lamb asserts, "More than anything else, we need in this society the opportunity for people to tell us what they think without being told that they're either dumb, or stupid, or uninformed." Notably, he has also said "it's easier to fix damage than it is to create it."
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