Perspectives on creative arts in higher education

A new National Cultural Policy

The DDCA together with DASSH (Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities) made a submission to the National Cultural Policy review of Revive.

Our submission recognised the important architecture of the existing 5 pillars that work to support First Nations First; A Place for Every Story; Centrality of the Artist; Strong Cultural Infrastructure; and Engaging the Audience.

We supported the NAAE’s recommendation for the implementation of a 6th pillar, Arts Learning, Participation and Pathways; which explicitly recognises the critical role education has in achieving the National Cultural Policy agenda.

We also made the following recommendations:

  • Recognise universities and higher education institutions as part of Australia’s national cultural infrastructure.
  • Establish stronger coordination between cultural policy, higher education policy, research policy and the work of ATEC to support cultural capability and workforce development.
  • Support arts, cultural and creative capability development across schools, higher education and lifelong learning.
  • Improve policy signalling across education, skills and cultural policy settings to support participation and sustainable creative pathways.
  • Strengthen participation and pathways for underrepresented cohorts, including regional, First Nations, disability and low socioeconomic communities.

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