By Professor Clive Barstow
Welcome to the 28th edition of NiTRO, in which Professor Julian Goddard co-edits this publication focusing on the immediate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our sector. COVID-19 restrictions have been with us now for just over four months but to many of us it feels like much longer. Our rapid response to moving predominantly practice based teaching to online in order to support a continuing educational experience for our students has been nothing short of amazing, and is testament to our professionalism and dedication in a sector that has been tested like never before.
This forced transition has highlighted our generosity of spirit and our collective belief in what we do. We have shared expertise, ideas, advice and knowledge to help each other in times of crisis, and for this I would like to thank everyone for their speedy and professional response to this situation on behalf of all at the DDCA.
The DDCA at its core advocates for praxis-based teaching and research as a core belief in how we learn our craft and, as a result, how we contribute to society through the creative process. While this is not the singular domain of the arts, it does define who we are and what we believe to be our unique contribution to knowledge and social wellbeing, a shared language that crosses boundaries and cultures like no other. The impact of the global pandemic therefore will have lasting effects on how we value these traditional beliefs and perhaps question the validity of age-old practices that we have held so dear. This edition, at our midpoint of recovery, may prove therefore to be both significant and timely.
It is recognised that the creative industries, as a major employer and a significant contributor to the Australian economy, will be one of the last economies to recover yet we have seen little government support for our universities, international students and employees whose lives depend on the gig economy for their survival. While Germany immediately committed an $50 billion relief package to the arts as a marker of its core contribution to the social fabric of its society, here in Australia the arts and entertainment industries are still fighting for recognition. While we all acknowledge the prioritisation of front-line health support in these crucial times, we must also consider the longer-term effects of mental health, isolation and unemployment and how the arts will contribute to our recovery and a sense of meaning in a post pandemic world. In an inter-related way, arts research is also facing a black hole in our evolution toward parity and recognition.
While we focus on the transition of teaching to online as a short-term solution to support our students, creative research will also be severely affected as we move into the next round of ERA evaluations. While some ERA divisions of academic research such as medical health sciences, nursing and the social sciences are predicted to increase in publications as a result of the pandemic, division 19 will be negatively impacted due to the closure of our art galleries, concert halls and public venues where ultimately our creative outputs are performed and measured.
In addition, Division 19 has a focus on practice-led research which in cases such as performing arts, music and film relies entirely on group interaction and collaboration, which under a prolonged period of physical isolation may prove impossible for at least the remainder of 2020. While this might not seem to be a priority at this stage, it will need to be recognised that our particular approach to collaborative and performative research will need special consideration when the term COVID has faded from our consciousness.
As Australia starts to ease restrictions and returns to a sense of normality, it is time to reflect on how normal our society was before COVID-19. While our arts programs will celebrate the return of students to studio-based teaching once again, there are lessons we must learn from this experience on a greater social scale. Recent droughts, bushfires, pandemics, climate change and the current global response to racial injustice, including our own inherent racism toward our founding peoples, suggest an opportunity presents itself here and now for a resetting of our social systems and priorities. Indian author and activist Arundhati Roy talks about the pandemic as a “portal”, a gateway between the old world and the new. She comments:
“We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.”[1]
This important issue of NiTRO might help us separate our luggage from our baggage as we walk lightly and together into our new norm.
[1] Roy, Arundhati. 2020. The Pandemic is a Portal. https://www.ft.com/content/10d8f5e8-74eb-11ea-95fe-fcd274e920ca