Creative Practice Researchers in the Making Postgraduate peer-reviewed edition of Creative Matters
Guest edited by Jessica Carmody, Emma Livesey-Green and Sarah Mould
Call for submissions NOW CLOSED
“Poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action.”
– Audre Lorde (1985)
Art helps us understand our shared experiences, it helps us make meaning of our lives. Art fosters empathy and creates the possibility of imagining new futures together. A world without art is difficult to contemplate – perhaps because it is an impossible state of being in which ‘culture becomes a function’ rather than a ‘communicative social act’ (Meyrick 2023, p. 261). But we offer this idea as a provocation. If culture is ‘an active site of democratic contestation and negotiation’ (O’Connor 2024, p. 21), then what does it mean if it were to be diminished? What are the consequences of the declining support for art education, research and practice?
Public concern around the status of the arts in Australia has certainly been mounting, from the availability of arts education in both schools and higher education, to arts research funding as well as funding for the arts more generally. The NAAE (2024) called for a serious review into the Job-Ready Graduates scheme, which they viewed as directly disadvantageous to creative arts students, particularly First Nations, LGBTQIA+, first-in-family, remote and regional, and low-income students. The scheme has drastically raised fees for the arts and humanities, and resulted in cuts across arts and humanities departments in Australian institutions. To date, the revision of the scheme is still pending.
While students are being forcibly ‘soul-starved‘ (Macdonald 2025), it appears appetites have not been quashed. The National Arts Participation Survey (2023) revealed an increased desire for arts participation amongst the wider Australian community, particularly young Australians, as well as an acknowledgement of its positive impacts and the need for further funding. Artists provide a ‘slow, rigorous and open-ended… tolerance for uncertainty’ (Macdonald 2025) that allows us to find fact within fiction, realism within the abstract, and art as a common good and need, not as an industry.
The entire system is under threat, and this issue of Creative Matters asks: why does it matter that art literacies and opportunities are diminishing and what can creative practice research in particular do about it? We want to hear from you – your dystopic, utopic and sober responses on how this state of things – pointing to a ‘no art’ society – affects you, community and society.
Some possible areas of inquiry for this edition might be:
- Examinations from creative practitioners and researchers about the state of art practice and art research in, and/or outside, academic institutions.
- Examples of why art matters.
- Explorations/examples of creative practice and arts research as a force for advocacy and social change, including arts legislation, governance, community/public programming and outputs.
- Explorations/examples of collaborative practice between artists, creative practitioners and other disciplines, such as STEM, as well as industry and community collaboration.
- Understanding of critical threats to the arts and art research, including the influence of technology on creative practice.
- Creative submissions that imagine and interpret the notion of a world with ‘no art’.
Submission and peer-review process
Pitch
We invite contributors to submit an initial pitch for critical and/or creative responses to the issue’s theme.
Pitches should include the contributor’s name, affiliation, proposed title, and a short biography. They should also include:
- A 300 word pitch on how you would like to approach this topic which includes the following: format; length; main conceptual concerns/approaches. You may include a creative sample of 1 page (of text and/or image); or 1 minute of audio/visual work.
If accepted, final submissions can take the following forms:
- Scholarly research paper (max 3000 words)
- Prose fiction, creative non-fiction or related (max 3000 words)
- Poetry (max 80 lines or 500 words for prose poetry) + 750-1000 word research statement
- Moving image / audio work (5-20 minutes) + 750-1000 word research statement
- Visual images (5-10 images) + 750-1000 word research statement
Please discuss with us any alternatives to the above.
Peer Review
Pitches will be reviewed by the editorial team and those selected will be invited to make a full submission for publication. Review of the full submissions will take the form of a ‘dialogue’ which will be published alongside each submission.
The intention for this edition of Creative Matters is to make the relationship between editors, peer-reviewers and contributing researchers public. We do this to examine the unique ways of knowing, being and doing that happens within arts research, and to further contribute to the discussion on how creativity and knowledge generation can, and should be, a communal act. To frame peer-review in terms of a ‘dialogue’ is to show how creative practice research often poses questions and inspires creative-critical responses that further open up conversations and deeper inquiries.
Peer-reviewers include members of the DDCA Board and esteemed colleagues.
READ MORE ABOUT OUR PEER-REVIEW APPROACH.
Editorial panel
The annual Creative Matters peer-reviewed edition for postgraduates is guest-edited by a team of four creative practice researchers in varying stages of their research training journey – second year, third year, recently submitted and recently graduated. This team is mentored by the Creative Matters Editor throughout the process. Review will be based on appropriateness to the theme and general guidelines, as well as scholarly contribution.
Eligibility
Submissions are accepted from current postgraduate candidates and early career researchers who have been confirmed within the last 18 months.
Key dates
Call for pitches – Monday 8 September 2025
EXTENDED Pitch deadline – Friday 24 October 2025
Notification of Acceptance – Late November 2025
Full Submissions – Late January 2026
Please submit your pitch or any questions to submissions@ddca.edu.au
We do not accept work written and/or majorly produced by AI. If AI is used as part of your process, please declare this.