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EVALUATION OF THE AUSTRALIAN PERFORMING ARTS MARKET 2014-2018

Developed by

Sandra Gattenhof

Year Three Report

with Georgia Seffrin and

Michelle Grant-Iramu

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSSandra Gattenhof, as lead researcher, would like to acknowledge the work of the Queensland University of Technology research team members who have worked on this research project since 2014: Dr Georgia Seffrin (Senior Research Assistant), Michelle Grant-Iramu (Research Assistant 2015–2018), Nathan Sibthorpe (Research Assistant) and Cate Gilpin (Research Assistant 2014).

Thank you to the indeflagrable Zohar Spatz and Samantha Currie for ongoing consultation and assistance in the development and delivery of this research. Thanks also to Brisbane Powerhouse staff and key stakeholders for their assistance in preparing this report.

QUT acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands where QUT now stands, and pays respect to their Elders – past, present and emerging – and acknowledges the important role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples continue to play within the QUT community.

This report contains the name of an Aboriginal person who has passed away.

© Sandra Gattenhof, Georgia Seffrin and Michelle Grant-Iramu

Queensland University of Technology, 2018

RESEARCHER CONTACTAssociate Professor Sandra Gattenhof QUT Creative Industries Faculty Musk Avenue Kelvin Grove Qld 4059 Phone: +61 7 3138 3596 email: [email protected]

PHOTO CREDITImages used in the report from APAM 2018, in part or in full, are by photographers Rob MacColl and Sarah Marshall, unless otherwise indicated.

CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF APAM 4

STORY OF THE BRISBANE DELIVERY OF APAM 6

SNAPSHOTS OF ENGAGEMENT DEMOGRAPHICS 7

RESEARCH FRAMEWORK 8 Research Aims and Phases 8Data Management 9

UNDERSTANDING THE POSITION AND ECOLOGY OF THE MARKET 10

RESHAPING A 21ST CENTURY AUSTRALIAN MARKET 14First Nations First 14Dialogues for Collaboration 14General Public Accessibility 14

IMPACT STORIES FROM CASE STUDY COMPANIES AND INDEPENDENT ARTISTS 25 The Case Study Approach 26Circa – Carnival of the Animals 30 Shaun Parker & Company – Am I? 32 Nicola Gunn – Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster 35 Back to Back – Lady Eats Apple 38 Roslyn Oades – Hello, Goodbye & Happy Birthday 41

SNAPSHOT OF DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL TOURING, COLLABORATION AND COMMISSIONING

OUTCOMES FOR CASE STUDY COMPANIES AND ARTISTS 44Presented at APAM 2014 44Presented at APAM 2016 462014 Case Study Companies Presenting Different Work at APAM 2016 472016 Case Study Companies Presenting Different Work at APAM 2018 47

CONSOLIDATED IMPACT NARRATIVES FOR ARTISTS & COMPANIES, STAKEHOLDERS AND DELEGATES 48 Artists and Companies 49 Key Stakeholders 55Delegates 57

CONCLUSION 62

REFERENCES 64

RESEARCH TEAM 66

APPENDICES 67Appendix 1 – Companies selected for detailed tracking in 2014 and 2016 68Appendix 2 – Presented at APAM 2014 and tracked to 2018 69Appendix 3 – 2014 case study companies presenting different work at APAM 2016 70Appendix 4 – 2014 and/or 2016 case study companies presenting different work at APAM 2018 71Appendix 5 – Research Deliverables Completed to Date 72

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

EVALUATION OF THE AUSTRALIAN PERFORMING ARTS MARKET 2014-2018 | YEAR 3 REPORT, 2018 |

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2018 marked the thirteenth edition of the Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM). It was the final delivery in a sequence of three iterations (2014, 2016 and 2018) for Brisbane Powerhouse in collaboration with key Brisbane stakeholders, including Brisbane City Council and the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, and Tourism and Events Queensland. Over time, venue-presenting partners have included the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, The Queensland Conservatorium (Griffith University) and Gardens Point Theatre (Queensland University of Technology).

APAM’s provision for showcasing performing arts product affords significant value for Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists and companies who are selected to present as part of the program. APAM, through its dedication to formal and informal networking opportunities, supports the development of co-commissioning partnerships for new works and for sparking the interest of other presenters.

Brisbane Powerhouse has taken an iterative, reflective practice cycle approach with its delivery of APAM that has resulted in a dynamic model that has been responsive to ongoing delegate feedback and to the changing understanding of the Market’s purpose. The reflection on the development of the delivery model by Brisbane Powerhouse and APAM staff has been supported with a rigorous longitudinal evaluation conducted by researchers from Queensland University of Technology’s Creative Industries Faculty. Throughout the delivery of three APAMs, Brisbane Powerhouse has been able to successfully respond both conceptually and operationally to the complex interweaving of

priorities. This has necessitated balancing the delivery of an effective Market which creates the environment for performance work to develop, as well as ensuring that the stakeholders see that their priorities are being addressed.

This report is a consolidated narrative of research findings across 2014 to April 2018.

The delivery of APAM 2014, 2016 and 2018 by Brisbane Powerhouse was marked by a palpable step-change in the ethos and intention of the Market. The data demonstrate over time that there are three key legacy outcomes from the delivery of APAM by Brisbane Powerhouse:

1. Commitment to recognition of the unique contribution that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and global First Nations artists and companies bring to a performing arts market in Australia. Stakeholders and delegates regard the Brisbane Powerhouse delivery of the Market as a satellite for change. The engagement of Indigenous perspectives was evident in all aspects of Market delivery, from collateral branding, Brisbane Powerhouse building decoration, programming, staffing and dedicated conversation. This foregrounding of First Nations artists, companies and ways of working was extended beyond Australian shores to embrace First Nations peoples from New Zealand, Canada, Guam, Hawai’i and Taiwan.

2. Shifting the focus of the Market from being transactional in nature to one that is embedded in notions of conversation, collaboration, exchange, conversation and networking. This noticeable change was the deliberate move to see the Market only as a transactional event – that is, one situated in the buying and selling of performing arts product – to a Market that is more supportive of relational transactions and connections that may be more fruitful for Australian artists and companies in the development of long-term relationships and touring outcomes.

3. Enabling of general public audiences to engage with APAM productions and presentations to remove the previously closed nature of the Market. This has allowed general public access to one of the best-curated festivals of contemporary performance in the Asia Pacific, and to potentially develop an identity within the broader Australian performance landscape.

It is important to note that there is a limitation with the data and narratives presented in this report, as it is difficult to attribute direct causality between the presentation of work at the Market and the intervening periods with outcomes for artists, companies and delegates. Therefore, the majority of the commentary is expressed as broad indicators and trends. Where possible, correlations between actions and outcomes are noted.


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Recommendations for the Future of APAM

The outcomes of the analysis are delivered through a listing of success outcomes post-presentation at APAM 2014, 2016 and 2018 as well as a set of consolidated narratives (see detailed analysis in section titled Consolidated Impact Narratives pp. 48), tracked over the three iterations, about the impact of APAM and the activities that are enabling or hindering impact for delegates, companies or artists. This exploration provides a deep and textured variety of issues for consideration, many of which are inter-related.

SEVEN KEY NARRATIVES

Commitment to recognition and respectful inclusion of Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander and global First Nations artists and companies demonstrates the

uniqueness of APAMCompanies

and artists remain confident that a

range of new relationships forged at the Market will afford

long-term interest and buying

opportunities.

Companies and artists are buoyed

by a range of new relationships forged at the Market to enable

them to develop long-term interest and buying opportunities

for their work.

Relationships and presentation opportunities build exponentially when a

company or artist presents their work at APAM.

Companies and artists support the notion

that APAM assists artists and companies to successfully profile their artistic product and position

their company as a leading Australian arts company.

The central reason for attending

remains to be the networking opportunities

the Market affords, and companies and artists

note that their attendance or presentation at APAM

ensures that they are part of the national

arts conversation.

The level of expense incurred by

small arts companies and independent artists to present work at APAM remains an issue in the

current funding climate.

Across 2014 to 2018 there have been seven key narratives emerging from the data:


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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ARTISTS AND COMPANIES

APAM must be open to shaping and programming that foregrounds First Nations knowledge and practices that may sit outside the Western mode of doing business. This is part of the unique dynamic of the Australian performing arts marketplace.

APAM needs to continue to provide scaffolding for independent artists through dedicated mentoring around marketing, financial support to attend and present, as well as business development. The data show that programs such as such as the First Timers’ program, Performing Asia, Global First Nations Exchange and BlakDance Presenter Series provided deep support for first-time and independent artists to become conversant with the context and means of leveraging the Market. Likewise, programming some companies and artists in a season accessible to the general public allows for funds to be generated to offset costs of bringing the work to APAM for presentation.

APAM must ensure the diversity of arts practices for different audiences are catered to, so that it reflects the rich diversity of the Australian performing arts environment to presenters and delegates. The Market must be responsive to trends and impulses in the industry so that they are embraced, reflected and even contested.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR KEY STAKEHOLDERS

APAM should continue to be a site for cultural reciprocity and cultural diplomacy through facilitated interactions with key stakeholders and APAM delegates. Planning should ensure that awareness-raising with and between stakeholders is considered early in the shaping of the APAM program so that stakeholders can leverage from APAM itself either prior to or after the delivery of the Market.

APAM should continue to be viewed as an opportunity to start a national and global conversation rather than seeing APAM as an end-point. This will enable APAM to continue to develop the positioning of the Market in supporting brand identity for Australian cultural product and international collaboration rather than seeing APAM as an end-point of a dialogue.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DELEGATES

APAM should continue to provide ongoing and augmented opportunities through scaffolded events and dialogue to explore key issues for the Australian performing arts environment both within that domestic environment and the global marketplace.

APAM should continue to present a competitive and curated program of full-length works, excerpts and pitches. The Market functions as a bench-marking exercise for all delegates, including independent artists and companies that are selected to present as part of the official program. Delegates use the Market to compare and contrast notions of quality in relation to their work and work across the sector.

“I believe that the work that has been done to include First Nations works, voices, presence and market readiness has been a groundbreaking

experience. I hope that the work

that has been done to include us in the programming, presence and

influence continues beyond Brisbane and continues to strengthen First

Nations artists work, involvement and presence in the Australian and global

performing arts landscape.”(APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

“APAM provides an incredible opportunity to expand international relationships, and has significant economic and creative impact on Brisbane’s creative community.” (Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor, Graham Quirk)


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Story of the Brisbane Delivery of APAMAPAM is “Australia’s leading, internationally focused industry event for contemporary performing arts. It showcases and promotes a thriving, diverse national sector and stimulates the ongoing dialogue, collaboration and exchange between local artists and producers and their international counterparts” (Brisbane Powerhouse 2018a, p.1). APAM is a signature delivery platform for the Australia Council for the Arts’ (the Australia Council) Arts Strategy and, as such, the delivery of APAM is a partnership between the Australia Council and the presenter, which since 2014 has been Brisbane Powerhouse. The Market directly addresses three overarching principles that drive the Australia Council’s priorities for Australian performing arts companies, artists and product (see the Australia Council’s Arts Strategy):

1. Retain: Maintain or continue to build Australia’s profile and capability in markets where the Australian arts sector is already active and well regarded.

2. Leverage: Grow Australia’s profile and capability in markets where there is interest and moderate engagement with the Australian arts sector.

3. Grow: Develop new opportunities, build intelligence and test for interest in markets where the Australian arts sector is not yet active.

These three principles adhere to the key goal set out in the Australia Council Strategic Plan 2014–2019: A culturally ambitious nation, particularly Goal One: Australian arts are without borders.

In 2014 there was a shift from APAM’s previous venue, the Adelaide Festival Centre, which had presented the Market biennially from 1998 to 2012 directly alongside the Adelaide Fringe Festival. The 2014 Market, and subsequent APAMs in 2016 and 2018, have been presented by Brisbane Powerhouse. The Brisbane Powerhouse is a large, reclaimed industrial building situated on the banks of the Brisbane River. The building was once a power-generation site for the tramway that ran on the streets of Brisbane until 1969. The venue has a mixture of large and small theatre/performance spaces, rehearsal spaces, function spaces and a bar and restaurant. It is one of the great venues in Brisbane that provides a wonderful view of the river and the passing traffic on the waterway.


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The Brisbane Powerhouse took a different approach to presenting the range of productions in 2014. Rather than locating presentations in one venue, as had been previously undertaken by the Adelaide Festival Centre, the Market employed multiple venues, with the Brisbane Powerhouse operating as the core venue. APAM 2014 and 2016 in Brisbane coincided with the World Theatre Festival, which was also presented at the Powerhouse. In 2018 APAM took over the whole of Brisbane Powerhouse and was not connected to a parallel festival program. Instead, four ticketed productions and the free program of performance of First Nations and Asia-focused events, including The Original Peoples’ Party (TOPP), A Night Across Asia and A Litany of Broken Prayer and Promise, were opened to the general public. The Brisbane version of APAM ran for five days in February every two years. The event also included targeted networking events, presenter booths and social functions. The event is curated through a competitive selection process.

The APAM 2018 presentation was the final edition in the current contract Brisbane Powerhouse has with the Australia Council after its successful tender submission to present APAM 2014, 2016 and 2018. From 19–23 February 2018, The event was presented by the Australia Council and Brisbane Powerhouse in partnership with Brisbane City Council and the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, and Tourism and Events Queensland. Speaking in support of APAM, Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor, Graham Quirk, welcomed the event back to Brisbane for 2018: “APAM provides an incredible opportunity to expand international relationships, and has a significant economic and creative impact on Brisbane’s creative community” (Brisbane Powerhouse 2017a, n.p.).

Snapshots of Engagement Demographics

DELEGATE ATTENDANCE

PRESENTATION OF PRODUCTIONS AND NETWORKING EVENTS

2018

At APAM 2018 there were 31 showcases and 15 pitches from 46 Australian and New Zealand artists and companies including four based in Brisbane. Delegates were further encouraged to participate in the carefully curated Exchange program featuring 72 events and 12 functions that facilitated conversation and engagement whilst opening dialogue for future opportunities. Also included within The Exchange was the largest selection of display booths and lounge spaces at the Brisbane event, which spotlighted a further 38 artists and companies, arts organisations, funding bodies and tour coordinators.

72%

83%

89%

18–22 February 2014 n=627

22–26 February 2016 n=655

19–23 February 2018 n=680

Delegate Visitors to Brisbane (Domestic & International)

2014

At APAM 2014 there were 78 excerpts and full-length presentations of new Australian performing arts and15 pitches about works in development. The Exchange program included 17 dedicated events, with additional stakeholder functions included as part of the program. A total of 15 booths showcasing 22 companies and arts bodies allowed artists and companies to promote their work and attract international and national presenters.

2016

At APAM 2016 there were 43 Australian and New Zealand companies delivering 28 showcases, including full-length productions and excerpts of theatre, dance or music productions, as well as 15 work-in-development pitches.


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Research Framework

The Services Agreement with Brisbane Powerhouse notes the requirement for Brisbane Powerhouse, in partnership with the Australia Council, to:

Establish efficient evaluation methodology that assesses the impact of each APAM and work-in-progress year and is used to continually refine the events and assess the overall impact. It is vital that this methodology includes a longitudinal mechanism to capture relationships and income generated over time through attendance at APAM and the Works in Progress (Section 12, p. 6).

The research has ethical approval from the QUT Research Ethics Unit::

RESEARCH AIMS AND PHASES

As outlined in the Brisbane Powerhouse Tender document the aims of the research evaluated three interrelated outcomes (articulated below) through a longitudinal five-year study:

1. Evaluation of international market development outcomes through showcasing work to targeted international presenters and agents

2. Evaluation of national market development outcomes through showcasing work to national presenters and producers

3. Evaluation of the exchange ideas, dialogue, skill development, partnerships, collaborations and co-productions, and networks with local and international peers.

The research was undertaken in three inter-related phases.

In Phase 1 (2014), the research team consulted with stakeholders – including the APAM Steering Committee, key Australia Council representatives (on advice from the Australia Council), key Brisbane City Council representatives, key Arts Queensland representatives, key Tourism and Events Queensland representatives, APAM Executive Producer and Project Coordinator, and Brisbane Powerhouse key representatives (Steering Committee members) – to establish categories of impact. The outcome of this phase of the research was a set of narratives about the anticipated or desired impact of APAM for different stakeholder groups.

In the awarding of the tender for APAM by the Australia Council to Brisbane Powerhouse for the delivery of the market in 2014–2018, a requirement is that a formal evaluation of the three iterations of APAM be undertaken by the Queensland University of Technology, Creative Industries Faculty, under the leadership of Associate Professor Sandra Gattenhof. The agreed research model delivers reporting on outcomes not only in the year in which APAM is delivered (2014, 2016, 2018) but also in the years between (2015, 2017). This report focuses on the domestic and international touring, collaboration and commissioning outcomes for case study companies and artists between the first delivery of APAM by Brisbane Powerhouse in February 2014 to the final delivery in February 2018. These data address the Australia Council’s two key aims for investment in and delivery of a performing arts market or equivalent platform/s in concert with a selected presenter. The aims of the Market are expressed as being:

1. To increase national and international touring opportunities for Australian contemporary performing arts

2. To exchange ideas, generate dialogue, build skills, partnerships, collaborations and co-productions, and develop networks with local and international peers.

Prior to the delivery of APAM 2014, an agreed research design (QUT/Brisbane Powerhouse executed services agreement 17 September 2013) for a longitudinal evaluation of APAM (2014–2018) across all APAM and non-APAM years, as per the Brisbane Powerhouse Tender and Australia Council Services Agreement, was activated.

Project Title:

Evaluation of Australian Performing Arts Market 2014–2018

Ethics Category:

Human – Low Risk

Approval Number:

1300000811

Approved Until:

6/01/2019


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In Phase 2 there were two distinct approaches. In the years in which APAM was delivered (2014, 2016 and 2018) observations, a delegate survey, interviews, focus groups and still and moving images were used to collect quantitative, qualitative and performative data on the stakeholders’ and producers’ (both national and international) satisfaction levels of attending and participating in APAM, and the producers’ impacts/outcomes – such as international market development, touring and partnerships. This began with the first APAM on 18–22 February 2014 at the Brisbane Powerhouse. In the years in which APAM was not delivered (2015 and 2017), a survey of all producers showcased at APAM and interviews with key stakeholders continued. In the intervening years delegates from previous APAMs were also surveyed about engagement, expectations and outcomes. Such data tracked trends and markers of success that may include income generation, distribution of product nationally and internationally, network development and partnership establishment. To deepen knowledge of best practice, twelve artists and companies were selected by staff responsible for the delivery of APAM to be tracked in-depth to evaluate their international and national market development outcomes and to evaluate the exchange of ideas, dialogue, skill development, partnerships, collaborations and co-productions and networks with local and international peers.

In Phase 3, the research team reported on the outcomes and performance of APAM in the delivery years (2014, 2016, and 2018). This evaluation outlined anticipated and actual impact of APAM in relation to established categories, including a summary of which processes, activities or engagement protocols have been the most effective catalysts for specific types of impact.

In the non-delivery years (2015 and 2017), the evaluation report took a broader focus to include consolidated producer data gathered through survey and producer case studies, to identify trends and habits that may lead to strong and impactful international and national market development outcomes and exchange ideas, dialogue, skill development, partnerships, collaborations and co-productions, and networks with local and international peers.

This final comparative and consolidated evaluative report traces the overall impact of APAM for delegates, artists and companies, stakeholders and the Australian performing arts sector.

Data for the 2018 report have been drawn from the following thirteen key sources:

1. Online delegate surveys delivered to all APAM delegates ten days after the event in 2014, 2016 and 2018, as well as surveys in non-APAM years 2015 and 2017

2. Vox Pops undertaken by the QUT research team immediately after performance presentation, pitches or delegate networking events in 2014 and 2016

3. Two buyer’s focus groups that occurred during APAM 2016

4. A Blakfella Bootcamp focus group that occurred during APAM 2014

5. Immersive tracking of the BlakDance Presenter Series and Performing Asia events in 2018

6. Interviews with the twelve 2014 and 2016 case study artists and company representatives at six-month intervals across 2014 to 2018

7. Interviews with key Brisbane Powerhouse and APAM staff in 2014, 2016 and 2018

8. Interviews with key stakeholders identified by APAM staff in 2014, 2016 and 2018

9. Media Releases and Media Reports from 2014, 2016 and 2018

10. An audience survey delivered to all ticket holders of the four selected APAM productions open to the general public

11. Brisbane Powerhouse APAM 2018 Executive Summary

12. Event observations undertaken by the QUT research team in 2014, 2016 and 2018

13. APAM documentation, including the Tender document (2011), QUT/Brisbane Powerhouse executed services agreement 17 September 2013, Brisbane Powerhouse Internal APAM Reports, Brisbane Powerhouse APAM Reports and Executive Summaries to Key Stakeholders.

DATA MANAGEMENT

To maintain the confidentiality of the research participants (in accordance with research ethics), names have been replaced with a title (APAM team member, stakeholder, case study representative, focus group member) and number. In 2017 and 2018 respondents to the delegate survey were asked to identify themselves at the point of data collection. Not all delegates chose to provide an identity. To maintain consistency all data have been de-identified.


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Understanding the Positionand Ecology of the Market

Arts Market in Seoul (PAMS), held yearly in October; the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA), which holds two Congresses every year – one in New York and one in a different region of the world; and the China Shanghai Performing Arts Fair (CHINASPAF). Unlike other markets, which welcome the inclusion from outside the country in which the market takes place, the focus of APAM is solely on the presentation of Australian and near-neighbour country (New Zealand) performance works, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, that are ready for national and international touring.

Since the delivery of APAM 2014, research data have consistently pointed to two reasons why APAM continues to be important for local, national and international market development outcomes:

1. Identification of the Market as a site for networking to build long-term relationships with Australian artists and companies that leads to touring outcomes and collaboration opportunities, drawn from the interview data of APAM staff, Brisbane Powerhouse management, key stakeholders and delegates in the online surveys

2. Attraction of the Market for national and international presenters, agents and producers to develop partnerships, collaborations and co-productions drawn from the focus group of national and international buyers and APAM staff.

Data from the 2014 delegate survey indicated that the highest-ranked reason for delegates (buyers, sellers and those who identify as other delegates) to attend APAM is for its networking opportunities. This reason for attending APAM was also seen as the number one reason for engaging with the event in 2016. The 2018 delegate survey data showed that attending APAM for its networking remained strong, with delegates noting that they attend the Market, “to maintain a national overview of the sector as well as the networking with known and new contacts” (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018). However, through the survey more delegates identified representation of an organisation slightly higher. Drilling into the data shows the notion of representation, including using APAM to develop connections and collaborations, which are allied to networking.

The Australia Council aims to deliver a performing arts market or equivalent platform/s in concert with a selected presenter (Brisbane Powerhouse) to achieve two key aims:

1. To increase national and international touring opportunities for Australian contemporary performing arts

2. To exchange ideas, generate dialogue, build skills, partnerships, collaborations and co-productions, and develop networks with local and international peers.

APAM has been a feature of the Australian performing arts sector since 1994. In its most obvious sense, the event can be seen as a tradeshow, in which buyers and sellers come together with the aim of commercial engagement for Australian performing artists and arts organisations in both international and domestic markets. APAM sits within a context of other markets internationally. Other markets include: the International Performing Arts for Youth (IPAY) and the American Performing Arts Presenters (APAP), both annual showcases/conferences held in the United States of America (US); the Performing

APAM affords artists the opportunity to invest in ongoing relationships that allow the artist to develop a commercial and sustainable

engagement for their product.


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In 2014 the importance of the networking aspect of the Market to delegates was also echoed in interview and survey data gathered from key stakeholders. This is most evident in the following commentary:

Through APAM, artists build a network. They can benchmark their own practice against the practice of others and build a relationship that serves them for life. It is about relationships, it is for personal development, it is networking relationships, it is them potentially co-producing project opportunities, collaboration opportunities, partnerships, exchanges, sales. (APAM Stakeholder 1, 2014)

Combining data from 2014, 2016 and 2018 demonstrated a strong reciprocal relationship between the opportunities for networking at the Market, whether or not the company or artist is presenting their work in one particular year. The data from the past four years (2014–2018) demonstrates how APAM affords artists the opportunity to invest in ongoing relationships that allow the artist to develop a commercial and sustainable engagement for their product. What has emerged across the three Brisbane APAMs is a greater sense of a whole-of-sector effort around supporting Australian work to tour nationally and internationally. One stakeholder interviewee referred

to this as an awareness of the importance of a cultural ecology by saying:

… the notion of the ecology is important. If one company is doing something well then everybody else in that cultural ecology benefits rather than being competitive. (Brisbane Powerhouse Management Staff 1, 2016)

APAM 2016 demonstrated a palpable shift in the purpose of the Market for buyers and sellers. This was amplified in the delivery of APAM 2018. It was evident in data from stakeholder interviews and the 2018 delegate survey that, “festival directors and performance companies [and artists] use APAM to continue to invest in an ongoing relationship rather than merely finding a product that they like and want to present” (Brisbane Powerhouse Management Staff 1, 2018). This change is particularly focused on a move away from the historic transactional nature of the Market to one of relational development. This was a deliberate programming strategy by the APAM team through the development of The Exchange, in which an overt opportunity for dialogue between possible sellers and buyers could occur. This change could be viewed as a response to feedback from delegates through the surveys (2014 and 2015) as well as 2014 case study

companies that spoke about the longitudinal nature of brokering a presenting partnership. During the interviews conducted post-APAM 2016 one stakeholder noted this change by saying:

… It is relationship-driven, it is not transactional. I remember ages ago when we were reviewing APAM before we delivered APAM 2016 and [name of person] said this great thing about the old-fashioned market. That’s where you came to gossip, buy your vegetables, meet your community, it was in the centre of town … so why did we only think a market was just about sales? ... I really like that idea of bringing back this temporary feeling of a village with your people. We can buy some produce or you can have a yarn. (APAM Stakeholder 3, 2016)

Across the two buyer’s focus groups conducted in 2016 there was strong agreement that an economic transaction – that is, the purchase of productions for touring either domestically or internationally – at the Market was not the immediate reason for buyers to engage with artists, companies or the event itself.

22%

33%

4%

Invitation

Represent

Advocacy

Q33 What is the main reason you attended APAM in 2018? (Answered: 47, Skipped: 164)

23%

15%

Networking

Other


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This was most clearly captured in the following response:

I don’t come to these [events] with an agenda of making deals. For me, it is much more important that I build organic and genuine relationships with artists and other curators of like-mind. Seeing work is a good way to see what’s happening but it’s not the most important thing for me. It does not mean that we wouldn’t book a show based on something that we have seen but it is not the goal. We are big believers in building relationships with artists and the work following that as opposed to the other way around. (Buyers’ Focus Group 1 Participant 2, 2016)

The idea of using APAM as a networking site to establish and deepen relationships is not one limited just to the artists and buyers who attend the Market.

A stakeholder noted during interview that, “[they] found it to be a really engaging program. There’s enough time in between having that networking opportunity, seeing work, having serious in-depth discussions at the forums and the long tables to extend relationships” (APAM Stakeholder 3, 2018). Another key stakeholder described the Market as a place to “Develop cultural reciprocity through exchange and conversation” (Brisbane Powerhouse staff member 1, 2018). As a corollary to this idea, an APAM staff member noted:

With the amount of stakeholders that are involved in putting this event together it is a massive act of cultural diplomacy and reciprocity. It is incredibly powerful from a stakeholder management point of view but also from an artist-to-artist point of view. (APAM Staff Member 2, 2018)

The majority of stakeholders applauded the shift from a transactional Market to one that deliberately engages in relationship building. Stakeholder 3 noted that there was, “space given [during APAM] for informal discussions. A lot of good conversations happen in that non-prescribed time during APAM. And although it may happen naturally I think there’s a bit of an art to making it happen [in terms of providing the time and context for those discussions to happen]” APAM Stakeholder 3, 2018). This shift in the ecology of the Market will be one of the enduring legacy items from Brisbane Powerhouse’s design and delivery of APAM in 2014, 2016 and 2018.

Through APAM, artists build a network. They can benchmark their own practice against the practice of others and build a relationship that serves them for life.


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Reshaping a 21st Century Australian Market

Rethinking the value proposition of APAM was signalled in the Brisbane Powerhouse Tender To Australia Council For APAM 2014, 2016, 2018. The document boldly pronounced (Brisbane Powerhouse 2011, p.6) that, “[s]imply showcasing work is no longer an adequate way to promote work into international markets. A future embodiment of APAM needs to be one that is a significant international gathering that engenders a dialogue”. The APAM delivery leadership team believe that the “2018 edition is the closest ever delivered in line with what had been articulated in the tender” (APAM Staff Member 1, 2018). As noted in the Executive Summary at the commencement of this report, there are three deliberate strategies that have been developed throughout 2014 to 2018 by the APAM delivery team from Brisbane Powerhouse that have reshaped the intentions and outcomes for the Market.

FIRST NATIONS FIRST

APAM 2014–2018 has made a demonstrated commitment to the recognition of the unique contribution that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and global First Nations artists and companies bring to a performing arts market in Australia. Stakeholders and delegates regard the Brisbane Powerhouse delivery of the Market as a satellite for change. The engagement of Indigenous perspectives was evident in all aspects of Market delivery, from collateral branding, Brisbane Powerhouse building decoration, programming, staffing and dedicated conversation. This foregrounding of First Nations artists, companies

and ways of working was extended beyond Australian shores to embrace First Nation’ peoples from New Zealand, Canada, Guam, Hawai’i and Taiwan.

DIALOGUES FOR COLLABORATION

Shifting the focus of the Market from being transactional in nature to one that is embedded in notions of collaboration, exchange, conversation and networking. This noticeable change was the deliberate move to see the Market only as a transactional event – that is, one situated in the buying and selling of performing arts product – to a Market that is more supportive of relational transactions and connections that may be more fruitful for Australian artists and companies in the development of long-term relationships and touring outcomes.

GENERAL PUBLIC ACCESSIBILITY

Enabling general public audiences to engage with APAM productions and presentations to remove the previously closed nature of the Market. This has allowed public access to one of the best-curated festivals of contemporary performance in the Asia Pacific and to potentially develop and identity within the Australian performance landscape.

First Nations First

As noted in the Year One Report (Gattenhof & Seffrin 2015a, p. 74–75) the inclusion of Indigenous work and delegates should be core business for APAM. This was again echoed in delegate survey data from mid-2015 as well as delegate survey data and stakeholder interviews conducted immediately after APAM 2016 that indicated that presenters saw Indigenous performance as the unique selling point of APAM compared to other markets. The presentation and profiling of Indigenous performing arts in APAM is crucial in terms of developing international commercial outcomes for companies and artists to allow for greater sustainability. It also allows APAM to showcase to “international buyers what makes Australia really unique, which is Indigenous art” (APAM Staff Member 4, 2014). Prior to the delivery of APAM 2014 momentum had been building around profiling Indigenous artists at APAM since the 2012 Market:

Our First Nations peoples were not invited to the table. They were not programmed into panels. Protocols were not observed so a whole range of things and then more broadly it was just representative of where the Australian performing arts sector was at in its development. So what we did was a very conscious program of visibility. (APAM Stakeholder 1, 2016)

“People walked away from APAM 2018 feeling like change was possible.” (APAM Staff Member 1, 2018)


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Deep respect and pride for cultural connection to place and the Maiwar. The lasting legacy for me will be the ground-breaking work that has been done to raise the level of engagement with Indigenous performing arts on many levels. When you compare where we are at in 2018 in Brisbane, with the final APAM in Adelaide, huge leaps and bounds have been made. The impact is being felt very clearly in New Zealand and we are now looking at how our arts market responds and builds on what has happened at APAM in Brisbane through the innovative, brave and ultimately confident First Nations program.

(APAM Delegate Survey 2018)


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The highly developed engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists evident at APAM 2018 supports one of the key objectives of the Australia Council’s International Arts Strategy that is described as being, “[t]o support a diverse and inclusive global art making practice that actively prioritizes First Nations, disability, ageing and young people-focused practices” (Australia Council for the Arts n.d.). One delegate described the visibility of First Nations peoples, practices and productions at APAM 2018 as being one of:

Deep respect and pride for cultural connection to place and the Maiwar (Brisbane River). Being welcomed to the lands of the Turrbal, Yuggera and Jagera Peoples and feeling that their creative work and practices represents their living contribution to the storytelling, performance and arts legacy of the wider Brisbane, Queensland and Australian community. Having hosted interstate and international delegates in this context seems powerful and an opening for new models for fresh conversations and lasting relationships. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

The visibility of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and global First Nations artists has been a long-tail story in the making. The respectful inclusion in APAM 2018 could be seen both in terms of productions selected to showcase and inclusion in the free program of works accessible to the general public and the engagement with Indigenous protocols. This is arguably the greatest change-making contribution that the Brisbane delivery of APAM has made to the Market.

The more overt and visible engagement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander performing arts can be:

… directly attributed to [a] dedicated sector development that began after APAM 2010, in which there was recognition from the Australia Council for the Arts of the paucity of presentations by Indigenous companies and artists. In the Australia Council for the Arts, this strategy began with the appointment of an Indigenous Program Officer who identified that there was a very small pool of Blackfellas as delegates at APAM 2010, and we realised [a] really specific-to-Market development was required. As part of APAM’s delivery model, it is important to ensure we are working in a de-colonised way by reflecting the diversity of our population, but also reflecting the demand for performing arts from international buyers. (APAM Staff Member 4, 2014)

Part of the strategy was to ensure the process of presenting or pursuing the selling of work at APAM was less impenetrable for Indigenous companies and arts, and in particular to enable the Indigenous performing arts works to become more visible and more marketable in national and international contexts. The positivity around the greater inclusion of Indigenous work in 2014 was noted in the Indigenous Delegate Focus Group, and was captured in one comment: “I just want to say that for my third APAM this is the first time it did not feel like an Anglo Performing Arts Market” (Indigenous Delegate Focus Group Participant 11, 2014). As part of the ongoing sector development for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander companies and arts, the formal mentoring program, called Blackfella Bootcamp, co-ordinated by the Australia Council, was embedded in the APAM 2014

program, which included pre- and post-APAM engagement activities for Indigenous delegates. This strategy arose from the research undertaken prior to APAM 2014 by the Indigenous Program Officer from the Australia Council and there was an identification of “the huge amount of product at a standard of export readiness or almost export readiness” (APAM staff member 4, 2014). However, there were “gaps in the infrastructure surrounding those companies for them to have the capacity to respond to international touring demands” (APAM Stakeholder 1, 2018).

The greater inclusion of Indigenous performing arts in APAM allows for a much more nuanced understanding of what contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identities can be for both national and international presenters, agents and producers. The presentation of the 2016 Market, not only was the momentum of positioning Indigenous Australian artists and their work centrally continued, but it was extended to embrace First Nations communities from New Zealand and Canada. Australia Council Chief Executive Officer Tony Grybowski said:

… the Council would [in 2016] host two development programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and arts workers alongside APAM 2016 – the inaugural First Nations arts exchange and a skills development “boot camp” program. The two-day exchange will enable knowledge and ideas sharing between First Nations delegates working in all three countries and build strong connections, while the day-long boot camp will equip artists and arts workers with limited experience of APAM with the tools they need to get the most out of the four-day market. (Australia Council for the Arts, 2016, n.p.)


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Furthermore:

“A big part of the presentation will be the works of Aboriginal, Torres Straits and Māori artists and artworks. First Nations groups from Australia, New Zealand and North America are using APAM as a gathering point this year, something Spatz is proud to support. There will be an exchange session before APAM for First Nations people from New Zealand, Australia and North America”, says the executive producer. “This is the first time that APAM has been utilised for this gathering and we’re incredibly excited. There is a range of Aboriginal, Torres Straits and Māori artists in the programme. Djuki Mala is bringing their dance, storytelling and pop music show, which fuses contemporary and Yolngu culture. Black Arm Band showcased in 2014 and they are back with a work in development. Northern Rivers Performing Arts (NORPA), an Indigenous group, will present Three Brothers. There is a wide breadth of work and the fact that North American First Nations representatives are coming makes it extra special. These artists will also play a big role in both the opening and closing ceremonies.” (Roberts 2016, n.p.)

The responses to Question 46 of the 2016 delegate survey, “What was the most valuable experience for you in the APAM program?” signalled that the event afforded First Nations delegates opportunities:

The bootcamp and Indigenous forum prior and after. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2016)

Meeting other Indigenous people from overseas. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2016)

First Nations program and exchange. Great to see so many cultures and stories become foregrounded. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2016)

Opportunity to build relationships, opportunity to pitch and First Nations exchange and bootcamp. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2016)

Interacting with Indigenous cultures from Aotearoa and Australia. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2016)

Building on the 2016 momentum of change in respect to the positioning and recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and global First Nations artists through programming, the 2018 delegates were strongly supportive of the change.

One case study company representative noted:

In Brisbane, and I was in that room with the gathering of the First Nations Exchange, the Global Exchange and I tell you it was incredible. It was very empowering for us to come together and speak with each other and you know having an experience of being First Nations theatre makers and venues. We know we have the power to change and increase our presence through our art making and our storytelling [it was powerful and empowering]. (Djurra Spokesperson, 2018)

The 2018 delegate survey included numerous comments in support of the change. One delegate noted:

It was great for international artists to observe the care and respect that APAM had in acknowledging and including the Indigenous and First Nations culture, tradition, issues and subject matter into an event that is seen by many as a commercial market for the arts. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

For 2016, Collette Brennan was appointed by the Australia Council as a consultant to deliver the First Nations program for APAM. Brennan was directly involved with APAM in 2014 as the Director, Market Development, and had a strong involvement with the Indigenous program, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Program Producer Merindah Donnelly was part of Brennan’s team at the Australia Council, in the role of Indigenous Market Development Officer. The work around First Nations engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and global Indigenous artists was augmented with the employment of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander program producer in the APAM 2016 staff team to ensure the maintenance of “Aboriginal and Torres


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Strait Islander protocols and people and representation and practice throughout APAM so [that] it is an integral part of core business” (APAM Staff Member 4, 2014). This affirmative action strategy to actively recruit an Indigenous program producer into the APAM staff team supports the action plan and commitment of the Australia Council to First Nations peoples. It also highlighted that Brisbane Powerhouse, as the key stakeholder for the Market, did not have a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in place. As noted, “this was one of the big ticket items to flow out of APAM 2014 and a key stakeholder noted that this commitment is, ‘something other arts organisations could learn from’ – that there is that ever-present acknowledgement of our relationship to country” (APAM Stakeholder 3, 2018), and “We were playing in First Nations space by we had no Acknowledgement to Country, no policy, no procedure, no advisor” (APAM Staff Member 1, 2018). It was realised that having an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander program producer in the APAM 2016 staff team was essential to ensure that the momentum developed in the delivery of APAM 2014 continued for the next iteration of the event:

… the position of an Aboriginal program producer needs to be built into their [APAM] core business. I [was] on secondment from Australia Council for the Arts. That means the Australia Council has actually paid my wage. So APAM needs to factor in additional costs to have an Aboriginal person on staff. If you are working with Indigenous content or Indigenous peoples you need an Aboriginal person on staff. (APAM Staff Member 4, 2014)

For APAM 2016 the Indigenous staff member for APAM was a Powerhouse employee, rather than sourced by the Australia Council. Nancy Bamaga was appointed as the First Nations producer and Colleen Wall was the Aboriginal and Torres Strait advisor

for both APAM 2016 and 2018. The response to the inclusion of an Indigenous program producer in the APAM staff team also required a larger response from APAM and Brisbane Powerhouse to enact strong reconciliation actions prior to delivery of APAM 2016. The Brisbane Powerhouse RAP was developed in place for APAM 2016 to recognise “the importance of saying to delegates that you are on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander country” (APAM Stakeholder 1, 2014). As such, “it positions APAM and Brisbane Powerhouse as role models to the local institutions around the project with their local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders” (Brisbane Powerhouse Staff Member 2, 2018).

At APAM 2018 a program called the BlakDance Presenter Series, facilitated by Collette Brennan and Rhoda Roberts under the guidance of Merindah Donnelly, was inaugurated to assist with, “shifting the barriers around presenter curatorial capacity, understanding of the diversity in First Nations work and to develop artist and presenter relationships” (APAM Stakeholder 2, 2018).

The BlakDance Presenter Series was a:

… professional development opportunity for Australian and international presenters who want to program First Nations contemporary performing arts at their venues and festivals. Presenters, who were preselected via an application based process, participate in a facilitated series of discussions and activities designed to transform cultural thinking and programming decision-making process. It follows the highly successful model delivered by BlakDance at YIRRAMBOI. (Brisbane Powerhouse 2018b, n.p.)

For those Australian and international delegates who were selected to participate in engagement in the week-long series of talks and

presentations, and who supported engagement with First Nations artists and productions the program was a game-changer. This shift in creative control in which “First Nations people are self-determining their own programming and curation” (APAM Stakeholder 2, 2018) allowed for the necessary structures to empower First Nations leadership through APAM by, “setting up the context for the things to happen but not [having APAM staff ] running it” (APAM Staff Member 2, 2018). Delegates who self-selected to engage with the program as supporters and allies of First Nations artists provided overwhelming positive responses that were captured in feedback comments, such as:

BlakDance Presenter Series was an amazing learning and professional development opportunity that will probably change my working practices and lead into thinking about programming and co-creation differently. (APAM Delegate Survey 2018)

Participating in the BlakDance Presenter Series framed my whole experience, connected me better with artists and formed a key part of my research for this year’s APAM. (APAM Delegate Survey 2018)

BlakDance Presenters Series has fundamentally changed my approach to the work I do. (APAM Delegate Survey 2018)

BlakDance Presenter Series had a very significant impact on my thinking related to presenting Indigenous work. In Canada there is much movement and discussion on advancing the Indigenous agenda in society and then specifically in the performing arts. It was highly beneficial to be in an Indigenous-led forum that spoke to these issues in an international/global context. (APAM Delegate Survey 2018)


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In 2014, an interviewee commented that shifting APAM from Adelaide to Brisbane, “… has given it an opportunity to reframe the way that APAM is delivered around this kind of idea, of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation, protocol and voice being at the core of APAM” (APAM Staff Member 4, 2014). Four years later the Market has been reshaped and ripples of change are being activated beyond Australian shores. Such change is illustrated in the following observation by an APAM 2018 delegate:

The lasting legacy for me will be the groundbreaking work that has been done to raise the level of engagement with Indigenous performing arts on many levels. When you compare where we are at in 2018 in Brisbane, with the final APAM in Adelaide, huge leaps and bounds have been made. The impact is being felt very clearly in New Zealand and we are now looking at how our arts market responds and builds on what has happened at APAM in Brisbane through the innovative, brave and ultimately confident First Nations program. (APAM Delegate Survey 2018)

Key Outcomes from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations Engagement

2014

� The highest Indigenous content in any APAM program delivered prior to 2014

� The first time a formal mentoring program, called Blackfella Bootcamp, was run in conjunction with the APAM program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander companies and artists (19 participants)

� The first time APAM had an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander program producer as part of the dedicated APAM staff team.

2016

� First Nations Opening Ceremony led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples including Canada’s and New Zealand’s First Nations communities for the first time, and the Inaugural First Nations Arts Exchange supported by the Australia Council, Creative New Zealand and the Canada Council for the Arts (18 First Nations artists and arts workers from Australia, Canada and New Zealand)

� Blackfella Bootcamp programmed for a second time, supported by state arts agencies (17 participants)

� An Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander program producer as part of the dedicated APAM staff team

� RAP developed and implemented at Brisbane Powerhouse.

2018

� Tri-nations First Nations Exchange broadened beyond Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Renamed First Nations Global Exchange to include artists and productions from Australia, New Zealand, Canada Guam, Hawai’i and Taiwan.

� Inaugural BlakDance Presenter Series

� An Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander program producer as part of the dedicated APAM staff team

� Inaugural First Nations Market Readiness Workshop for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and arts workers attending APAM (10 participants).

BlakDance Presenter Series was an amazing learning and professional development opportunity that will probably change my working practices and lead into thinking about programming and co-creation differently. (APAM Delegate Survey 2018)

You can’t replace face-to-face interaction and that’s why it is important to go [to APAM]. (Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster spokesperson 2016)

96%

69%

60%

Performing arts sector engagement

Cultural diversity and diverse cultural practices

Foregrounding Australian First Nations

Q45 What do you believe is the overall value of APAM? (Answered: 162, Skipped: 49)

82%

47%

35%

Building relationships

Social cohesion and cultural inclusion

Economic development

43%

48%

49%

Cultural agency

Benchmarking performance work

Buying performance work

48%

6%

Selling performance work

Other


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Dialogues for Collaboration

The importance of networking and relationship-building within the context of APAM has been consistently articulated by delegates (see Understanding the Position and Ecology of the Market p. 10) . This focus supports one of the Australia Council’s objectives for the delivery of APAM, which is to broker relationships between artists, producers, agents and presenters. Data from the 2014 delegate survey indicate that the highest-ranked reason for delegates (buyers, sellers and those who identify as other delegates) to attend APAM is for its networking opportunities in an effort to build collaborations and co-productions with local and international peers. Combining data from 2014, 2016 and 2018 demonstrates that there is a strong reciprocal relationship between the opportunities for networking at the Market, whether or not the company or artist is presenting their work in one particular year. The data across 2014 to 2018 demonstrate how APAM affords artists the opportunity to invest in ongoing relationships that allow the artist to develop a commercial and sustainable engagement for their product. A comment from the APAM 2014 delegate survey captures the main reason for attending the Market:

We are building a series of relationships as well that are not necessarily about trying to sell the shows we are creating at the moment or that we have in repertoire but actually looking to see how we build relationships that could in turn be future commissions. That might be collaborations with other artists that might be actually presenters and festivals down the line. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2014)

The 2018 delegate survey demonstrates the ongoing importance of APAM as a connector for artists, companies and presenting organisations, with 82% of respondents (n=162) selecting “Building relationships with companies, artists and cultural organisations in the Asia Pacific Region” as the second most important reason for attendance after networking.

The qualitative comments that expand on the delegate responses speak of, “raising our profile as a presenting organisation, building relationships towards future presenting partnerships” (APAM 2018 Delegate Survey) and using APAM as part of “the long game as [one that] starts as a conversation may one day build into working relationships in future years” (APAM 2018 Delegate Survey). The broader ecology of the networked artist and buyer was explained by an international presenter in 2014 who made mention of the importance of establishing long-term relationships that may begin at other international Markets or festivals and can be deepened at APAM to develop more sustainable outcomes for Australian companies and artists. The value of relationship building in a market environment that affords networking opportunities can be seen as tangible outcomes in one delegate’s response to the 2018 survey:

I saw a pitch from Terrapin in 2016 which resulted in the first international presentation of You Me and the Space Between at Imaginate in 2017. I was also able to continue relationship building and subsequently began discussions with Barking Gecko for a 2017 presentation of Bambert for which we were also able to leverage another UK venue booking in Kent. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

Relationship building underscored a diverse range of outcomes that were articulated by artists and buyers in the 2018 delegate survey. The multiplicity of those outcomes can be demonstrated in a survey response from one of the delegates:

Connection, networking, building relationships, market development, intellectual stimulation, catching up with peers, making new friends, potential sales, keeping abreast of national and international developments, potential future collaborations. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

“APAM is possibly one of the

best festivals of Australian

performance that probably exists.”

(Brisbane Powerhouse

Management Staff 1, 2018)


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Feedback from case study and survey data from the 2014 iteration of APAM indicated that further thinking was required regarding the nature of the Market itself – its key purpose and the most effective model to employ to consolidate this purpose was identified as a crucial consideration in consolidating the Market into the future. In spite of what may be seen as the competing interests of stakeholders, however, it could be said that there was a sense that the tone of the event had consolidated in 2016, which was one of the key issues from the survey in 2014 as the Market had found a stronger sense of its purpose and positioning. This clarification of Market tone – a strong sense of it being a Market and not a conference – was established through a clearly contextualised keynote session:

In addition to providing the premier platform for Australian and New Zealand contemporary performing arts companies and artists to build international and national tours, APAM champions the ongoing exchange of ideas and dialogue. It is through this philosophy a focused program of conversation, dialogue, networking opportunities and engagement with our diverse global sector will begin with Welcoming Words, APAM’s Keynote Event hosted by Wesley Enoch, Sydney Festival Director. (Australia Council for the Arts 2016b)

As part of the response to ongoing delegate and stakeholder feedback, and to the changing understanding of the Market’s purpose, the 2018 Market included three key initiatives to enable and support even stronger dialogue for artists and companies to create domestic and international touring, collaboration and commissioning outcomes. These initiatives co-operated with and extended on the dynamic Exchange program open to all delegates that included keynotes, forums, workshops, panels, speed-dating, display booths, round-tables and hosted social events. The three key initiatives (Brisbane Powerhouse 2017b, n.p.) were:

1. BlakDance Presenter Series – A professional development opportunity for non-Indigenous Australian and international presenters who want to program First Nations contemporary performing arts.

2. Performing Asia – Performing Asia will provide a two-day pre-APAM program for market-ready artists, producers and presenters to build relationships and continue engaging with the Asia Pacific market.

3. First Timers’ Program – This new program offers first-time attendees guidance and the basic tools to better navigate the marketplace. In small groups delegates will be supported by an industry leader who will assist in expanding networks, building confidence and strategic approaches for attending future markets. This program is a direct response to companies, artists and delegates requesting mentoring/support around strategic approaches to APAM and post-APAM assisting artists and companies to develop sustainable touring, collaboration and commissioning outcomes.

The Exchange program delivered in 2018 placed artists at the heart of dialogue to develop collaborations, co-commissions and touring outcomes which positioned the, “conversations, keynote presentations, and opportunities to see and discuss work facilitated as very powerful professional development outcomes in addition to the benefits of showcasing work and generating touring outcomes” (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018).


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General Public Accessibility

Historically, the productions selected for presentation at APAM through either a full-length showcase, an excerpt or a pitch (including Scratch Works) have not been accessible to the general public. For the first time, selections from the APAM 2018 curated program were open to the public, directly addressing stakeholder feedback about the possibility of opening up certain events for the general public that emerged in the 2016 report: “The Brisbane Powerhouse public program will feature both free and ticketed events. This is the first time we have opened the doors and invited audiences in to experience some of the very best performances from Australia and New Zealand, including two large-scale, site-specific performances, and a free up-late-live music program on the Turbine Platform” (Brisbane Powerhouse 2017c, n.p.).

One key stakeholder commented during the 2018 interview round that, “APAM is possibly one of the best festivals of Australian performance that probably exists. But [the] whole thing is something that people cannot see” (Brisbane Powerhouse Management Staff 1, 2018). To remediate this public visibliity APAM 2018:

… was aligned with a public program dedicated to supporting a positive and rich audience experience by presenting works from artists across Australia and the Asia region. The ticketed program offered a platform for selected APAM Showcasing artists and companies to extend their APAM season to the general public and access box office revenue. Additionally, there were eight free events across the eight days of the program for both delegates and general public to engage in. (Brisbane Powerhouse 2018, p.2)

The public intersection with the Market was not unique to the 2018 delivery. As part of the initial contract between the Australia Council and the Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane Powerhouse had to make a parallel performance program available. This relationship between the two events is clearly articulated in the Brisbane Powerhouse tender document for APAM 2014, 2016, 2018, which states: “By linking PAXA1 to World Theatre Festival (WTF) we are maximising the ability for delegates to view full-length fully staged works in the context of public seasons. This provides artists with the best possible format to present their work and buyers with a real context for viewing the work” (Brisbane Powerhouse 2011, p.13).

The early parallel programming of APAM and the World Theatre Festival was targeted to delegates rather than the general public. The 2014 data from the online survey showed that 63% (178 delegates) attended the World Theatre Festival. This result is tempered by evidence that not all delegates completed the survey (582 delegates received the survey, n=328 delegate responses). In 2016 the data from the online survey showed a similar level of engagement from delegates, with 67% attending the World Theatre Festival productions during APAM 2016. Data gathered through delegate surveys in 2014 and 2016 as well as stakeholder interviews showed a negative response to the attempt to intersect the World Theatre Festival. Delegates and stakeholders cited “a sense of a convoluted relationship” (APAM Delegate Survey, 2014), an “overcrowding of the schedule” (APAM Delegate Survey, 2016), and a “lost opportunity to see full-length work of quality and indeed relevance” (APAM Delegate Survey, 2016).

The Evaluation of the Australian Performing Arts Market 2014–2018: Year One Report (Gattenhof & Seffrin 2014) recommended that if this was improved upon by the Brisbane Powerhouse then the commercial opportunities for artists in the World Theatre Festival could be increased, thereby providing an additional point of access for national and international presenters, agents and producers. Event observations and 2016 APAM programming show that APAM staff and Brisbane Powerhouse staff responded to this recommendation and that there was much greater intersection between APAM 2016 and the World Theatre Festival delivered in the same timeframe. As such, the two programs shared more content and deliberately curated the delegate experience between the two events. There were six productions shared across the two programs – Shimchong: Daughter Overboard!, Piece For Person And Ghetto Blaster, Mana Wahine, Big Mouth/Small War, Hanuman Spaceman and The Ledidopters. This integration resulted in almost no negative commentary from delegates in 2016.

However, the issue of presenting the Market alongside the World Theatre Festival remained a difficult one, with significant division in understanding about its purpose. The Evaluation of the Australian Performing Arts Market 2014–2018: Year Two Report (Gattenhof & Seffrin 2016) noted that the requirement to mirror the delegate experience of previous APAMs held in Adelaide was a historic ghost to intersect with a standalone festival likened to the Adelaide Fringe. The interviews conducted with key Brisbane Powerhouse, APAM staff and key stakeholders revealed that there was some questioning as to whether APAM needed to deliver an additional festival experience to delegates.

1. It should be noted that the Brisbane Powerhouse proposed a name change for the event from APAM to the Performing Arts Exchange Australia (PAXA).


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One stakeholder signalled a possible rethinking of the intersection of a public versus closed event that APAM had predominantly been in the iterations delivered in 2014 and 2016:

Instead of having this assumption of what APAM needs is another big arts festival running [alongside] like they had in Adelaide we [need to] focus on the success of the event as a priority. (Brisbane Powerhouse Management Staff 1, 2016)

In the 2018 delivery of APAM, the parallel festival program was not included and the emphasis was transferred away from the APAM delegates needing additional programming and productions to view. Rather, attention was given to opening the Market up to the general public in an effort to increase the visibility and impact of APAM in Brisbane as well as a revenue source for some companies selected as part of the APAM presenting program. The adjustment removed the confused narrative for delegates that emerged in the 2014 data and provided more impactful engagement between the Market and the general public. It also allowed all staff and venues at Brisbane Powerhouse to galvanise

around one event rather than stretching and straining resources across a number of events in the venue. Supporting this rethinking was Brisbane Powerhouse’s purpose statement, “Brisbane Powerhouse is the back deck for living art, ideas and experiences” (Brisbane Powerhouse Management Staff 2, 2018). The venue has always prided itself on its openness and conviviality. The Brisbane Powerhouse did not, “want to put up a sign saying please keep away while we deliver APAM. We wanted to invite people in” (Brisbane Powerhouse Management Staff 1, 2018).

In 2018, as well as free events open to public engagement, there were four ticketed productions selected from the APAM program open to the public: Permission to Speak (Chamber Made, Melbourne), [MIS]CONCEIVE (Thomas E.S. Kelly, Melbourne), The Irresistible (Side Pony Productions & The Last Great Hunt, Perth), and Backbone (Gravity & Other Myths, Adelaide). The productions represented a cross-section of art form/genres, Indigenous and non-Indigenous content/processes and a mix of early career and experienced artists.

As part of the data capture from APAM 2018, ticket purchasers of the Public Program received a Brisbane Powerhouse standard survey (one for each production) that contained two questions that directly addressed the public’s intersection with APAM. The two questions were:

1. Were you aware that [insert name of show] was part of the Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM) program? [yes/no/not sure], and

2. [if yes to above] In a couple of sentences can you describe what the Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM) is and why it is important for Australian artists and companies?

Across the four surveys, between a third and half of respondents indicated that they were aware that the production was part of APAM (Backbone 39% n=53 respondents; Permission to Speak 36% n=11 respondents; [MIS]CONCEIVE 50% n=6 respondents; The Irresistible (n=1 respondent) – data not included in the analysis). The short answer response (Q2 above) demonstrated that attendees displayed awareness that APAM was a marketing and development strategy for Australian

APAM gets everyone from all over the world to join us in Australia (in and Brisbane). It is a great platform to export art and works from

around the place. We want Australia on the map for making great work. (Backbone Audience Survey 2018)

https://brisbanepowerhouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9c3effce38a74e333f3f58983&id=0d2e91d473&e=c8f8d83472

https://brisbanepowerhouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9c3effce38a74e333f3f58983&id=64500c16bd&e=c8f8d83472

https://brisbanepowerhouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9c3effce38a74e333f3f58983&id=39eda20cad&e=c8f8d83472


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performance companies and artists and that “… it is a platform for Australian arts to showcase themselves to the world” (Permission to Speak Audience Survey 2018).

The two comments below demonstrate a nuanced understanding of the intention of the Market by the general public:

APAM is a chance for people to share and exchange ideas and current artistic thinking from perspectives both nationally and internationally. Australian artists have the opportunity to market their brand, whether as an individual or company, to give the arts and culture community a look at the work being created now and for the near future. (Backbone Audience Survey 2018)

APAM gets everyone from all over the world to join us in Australia (in and Brisbane). It is a great platform to export art and works from around the place. We want Australia on the map for making great work. (Backbone Audience Survey 2018)

The three free events that were accessible by the general public – The Original Peoples’ Party (TOPP), A Night Across Asia and A Litany of Broken Prayer and Promise – proved very popular with delegates and the public. An APAM staff member noted, “[t]here were people standing on all levels of the gantry. The venue was alive, activated and full of energy” (APAM Staff Member 1, 2018). These three performance events were a public manifestation of First Nations engagement and a focus on Asia that were two key drivers for APAM 2018, as seen through the BlakDance Presenter Series foregrounding First Nations contemporary performing arts and Performing Asia focusing on building relationships and continuing to engage with the Asia Pacific market-ready artists, producers and presenters.


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IMPACT STORIES FROM

CASE STUDY COMPANIES

AND INDEPENDENT ARTISTS


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One of the best demonstrations of APAM’s national and international market development outcomes through showcasing work to presenters, agents and producers is to look deeply at a selection of companies and artists who presented their products at APAM in either full-length showing (APAM uses the term “showcase”), 25-minute excerpt or through pitches. This section of the report focuses on a group of works that was presented at APAM 2014, 2016 and APAM 2014, and which had been identified by senior APAM staff as providing a balanced cross-section of organisations at varying points in their maturation, along with a diversity of presentation models as offered by APAM 2014, APAM 2016 and APAM 2018, for the purposes of inclusion in the evaluation process. The case studies provide outcomes of touring in both national and international contexts as well as opportunities for collaboration or commissioning that arise from presenting at APAM.

THE CASE STUDY APPROACH

As noted in the research approach section of this report, the case studies provide examples of best practice that other producers can leverage in showcasing their product, developing their own national and international uptake of product and establishing sustainable networks, partnerships and collaborations: “Narrative accounts can tell us why people value cultural experiences and what those experiences mean to them, rather than just measuring to what extent they were affected” (Carnwath & Brown 2014, p.13). Specifically for those organisations presenting the case study productions, the process of deconstructing the APAM experience assisted in a process of self-evaluation.

The data represented in this section of the report are sequence in-depth outcome narratives developed from the interviews pre-APAM, six months post-APAM and for companies that presented at APAM 2014 and 2016 ongoing tracking interviews conducted mid-2015, mid-2016, at the end of 2017 and finally post-APAM 2018. The participation of the case study representatives is entirely voluntary, and the purpose of this portion of the study is to provide a detailed understanding of presenting at the Market from the users’ perspective, both in terms of efficacy and difficulty, with the aim that the material is fed back to the Market staff in consideration for planning, framing and structuring the subsequent event. Interviewees have been de-identified in accordance with the research ethics. This has allowed each participant full disclosure in the expression of their views without any ramification for the individual making the comments.

Having attended a number of different markets and different formats, I am struck by how market-prepared the Australians generally seem to be. They can speak to their work in a very articulate fashion and can also speak to the process of presenting it. (APAM Delegate Survey 2018)


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The data represented in this section of the report are extracted from three sources:

1. APAM delegate surveys in 2014, 2016 and 2018 released ten days post the Market.

2. Short-answer responses arising from questions in the survey delivered to all twelve APAM case study companies and artists in 2017. Responses were augmented with follow-up conversations with companies where data were incomplete.

3. Interviews at pre-APAM, at six-monthly intervals and again immediately post-APAM 2018 with APAM case study companies and artists or their representative, such as producers, engaged by the artist or company to promote their artistic product.

The twelve artists and companies (apart from Long Grass and dirtsong2) were tracked from 2014 to 2018 in terms of the development and touring outcomes for the production. As touring, commissioning and collaboration outcomes for artists and companies take time to mature no new case studies from APAM 2018 have been added. Three selected case study artists and companies (see Nicola Gunn, Back to Back and Terrapin) presented again at APAM 2018 (see Appendix 4). The analysis of these presentations aims to provide a clear and measurable analysis of the national and international market development outcomes of presenting at the Market for the companies and independent artists,

considered through the showcasing of their work to presenters agents and producers. The works chosen are designed to highlight the diversity of art forms and organisations that comprise the domestic performing arts environment. The Market provides a variety of presentation styles for the presentations: a pitch, 20-minute excerpt and a full-length production. Different companies have different preferences for which presentation style best serves their work, depending on the work itself, its stage of development and financial constraints, and the research is designed to reflect this diversity of presentation style as well.

The impact stories do not show all companies selected for presentation but rather they present detail related to five of the twelve (41%) companies or independent artists. For the most part, the market outcomes listed below cannot be solely, and in certain cases, directly attributed to their presentations at APAM. The consistent feedback from the case study artists and companies is that APAM is a key tool, but one of a number of strategies that are employed to build traction in both the domestic and international performing arts marketplace.

Of the five companies tracked to provide greater depth and textural analysis around the reality of presenting work at APAM, the scale of operation and level of touring experience varies significantly between them. These variances frame the individual dynamics of each narrative: both Circa and Back to Back Theatre, for example, are sophisticated touring organisations, particularly on the international circuit. For these companies, APAM serves as one aspect of a mature and multi-layered touring strategy and, as such, their capacity to leverage off APAM is very different to other, less experienced, less well-resourced, and less well-known companies. The reputation of both Circa and Back

to Back Theatre is such that they have capacity to engage potential presenters at the very early stages of a work’s development, even at a conceptual level, because they are a ‘known quantity’ in which the reputation of producing high-end sophisticated and beautifully crafted work is well understood in the marketplace. APAM is a further tool by which to engage and intersect with current and potential presenters.

Strategically, a key value of presenting at APAM for such organisations is the opportunity to stay connected with domestic peers; given that much of their energy is spent on international touring, a presence at APAM allows them to keep abreast of the trends in the domestic sector, and to connect with colleagues and potential domestic partnerships and collaborations. Furthermore, as explored in the 2016 report, representation at APAM positions the experienced touring companies as informal mentors to the companies who are emerging in this area of their practice, along with the ability to function as influencers and advocates on the sector’s behalf, given their degrees of experience and insight. Alternatively, for Shaun Parker & Company, the positioning is different. This company is in the process of steadily consolidating its growing international profile, so featuring at APAM is a more central strategy and, as such, provides greater traceable traction, which is reflected in the level of detail provided in the case study analysis which follows.

For Nicola Gunn and Roslyn Oades, the experience has another dynamic which is less clearly navigable. For independent artists the journey to and from APAM can be arduous, particularly regarding the costs and resources associated with the exercise for artists working outside of a significantly subsidised environment. However, Nicola Gunn, whose work largely involves her featuring as the solo performer, has been able to

2 The artist who presented a pitch of her work Long Grass received support from the Australian Government which covered costs for the work to presented in pitch form at APAM in 2014. The artist did not attend or present at APAM 2016 or the 2018 Market.

Black Arm Band (dirtsong) ceased operation in December 2017 after an 11-year history as Australia’s leading contemporary Indigenous music theatre organisation.


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build traction from her presentation at APAM in 2016, particularly regarding the development of new networks, given the compact touring implications of her work. A significant concern for this artist is whether her success within the Market has been because of the specific product of Piece for Person and Ghettoblaster, rather than her broader practice and larger body of work. Perhaps the most challenging presenting environment was experienced by Roslyn Oades, whose work is ensemble-based, and built from a longer development process within specific communities. While being involved in APAM was undoubtedly of value, particularly in garnering a greater understanding of the international marketplace, the kind of more immediate traction that resulted in work being toured was less tangible. For independent artists, therefore, the strategy around and pressure to present at APAM can be acute.

From the interviews undertaken across APAM 2014, 2016 and 2018 it would seem that companies are still committed to touring their work, both domestically and internationally, and are working hard to find strategies that, given the current climate, will allow the touring to be realised, particularly for those case study companies whose reputation is already well-established in international markets.

The data shown in this section include return on investment (ROI), audience attendance figures and key outcomes around commission and collaborations for the company or artist resulting from networking and partnership development established at APAM.

The ROI has been calculated using an Input–Output (IO) model. The IO model is a ‘snapshot’ model and assumes economic flows in an industry are fixed and not subject to changes in market supply and demand. The downside of using the IO model is that there is the potential to overstate impacts measured. The equation used is:

IO ROI = TI – (CAPAM + FS)

Legend:

CAPAM – Cost to bring production to APAM

TI – Touring income

FS – Government, philanthropic or presenting

venue financial support

Figures and percentages provided by case study companies and artists are approximations.


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CASE STUDIES

Hello, Goodbye & Happy Birthday (p.41)

Images (top to bottom) courtesy of: Carnival of the Animals: Rob Maccoll; Am I? : Michele Aboud; Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster: Gregory Lorenzutti; Lady Eats Apple: Jeff Busby; Hello, Goodbye & Happy Birthday: Jeff Busby.

Lady Eats Apple (p.38)

Selected Tracking of the Commercial Outcomes from Presenting Companies and Artists

Am I? (p.32)

Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster (p.35)

Carnival of the Animals (p.30)


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CIRCA

Physical Theatre/Circus/Puppetry

Excerpt 2016

CASE STUDY:CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS

Image courtesy of Rob Maccoll

ROI: $61,500.00

Overall domestic audience: 2,335

Overall international audience: 19,009

Cost of bringing production to APAM:

$3,500.00

Government, philanthropic or presenting venue financial support for APAM presentation:

$nil; self-funded

Income generated: $65,000.00

“… we represent ourselves in Australia and we

have been in numerous conversations across

numerous performing arts markets to continue to

build those relationships and stitch together tours

and get commissioning partners on board. APAM

provides a welcome opportunity to bring

all of those people to our home and allow us to

engage with them.”

(Carnival of the Animals spokesperson 2018)

As has been discussed in previous reports from 2016 and 2017, Circa is a highly regarded and accomplished international touring company. When Carnival of the Animals was presented at APAM 2016 the work had already developed a substantial reputation. The company did, however, have a specific aim in presenting the work at APAM in 2016 that was articulated as being to develop relationships with, “the second-tier level of producer ... those producers less well known [to us], and also to connect with the Asian market” (see APAM Year 2 Report 2016, p.38).


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Circa are acutely aware that they have a very strong and established touring presence in the international market, but believe that presentation at APAM is important to the company on a broader strategic level:

... we need to be really present at those performing arts markets like APAM to ensure that we remain current, that we continue to open up, and open up new markets, build up existing markets, showcase new work that we’ve got, either made or in development and find other partners that we may we able to collaborate with. APAM also allows the company to find new agents that might be able to represent our work. (Carnival of the Animals Spokesperson, 2017)

What is apparent in Circa’s engagement with APAM is the spillover effects of such market environments, which build traction by allowing work to be seen in a diversity of different contexts. Being afforded the opportunity to present a full-length presentation of the work meant that potential presenters were immediately able to gauge the impact of the work and how it would be positioned in a program or in a theatre.

Traction for the company and its work was also built through having many presenters in the same physical space simultaneously. The existing relationships between presenters provides opportunities for them to refer-on companies and programs that the company feels may suit their colleagues. This speaks directly to the idea of the Market ecology that APAM has so well established in Brisbane. This value-adding by other presenters proved highly advantageous for Circa. The company spokesperson commented about this ecology by saying, “... as a result of the festival in Korea we have now been accepted to do a showcase at PAMS in Korea later this year. The brand of the company [is] out there” (Carnival of the Animals Spokesperson, 2017).

Circa’s strategy that the company has activated at APAM will essentially remain consistent in continuing to open up new markets in Asia and South America. For an experienced touring company such as Circa, its long-term relationships in both the national and international market would suggest that it is organisationally and artistically agile, able to respond efficiently and strategically to a changing environment, which is no doubt key to its longevity in the touring circuit.

TOURING/PRESENTATION OUTCOMES

� US agent secured

� Secured funding from the Australia Council to support tours in Mexico and Korea $42,500.00

United States of America, 2016 � Chicago: Harries Theatre

� Brooklyn: Brooklyn Academy of Music

� Chico: Chico State University

� Santa Monica: Broad Stage

� Cleveland: Playhouse Square

� Fayetteville: Walton Arts Centre

Four week tour in Mexico 2017 � Santa Lucia, Mexico: Santa Lucia

International Festival

� Guanajuato, Mexico: Auditorio del Estado

� Leon, Mexico: Teatro Manuel Doblado

� Mazatlan, Mexico: Teatro Angela Peralta

� Culiacan, Mexico: Teatro Pablo de Villavicencio

� Mexico City: CENART

Macau and Korea, 2017 � Macau: Cultural Institute

� Taipei: Children’s Festival

� Uijeongbu, Korea: Uijeongbu Music Theatre Festival

Australia 2017 � Dubbo, Australia: Dubbo

Regional Theatre and Convention Centre

� Taree, Australia: Manning Entertainment Centre

� Bunbury, Australia: Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre

� Mandurah, Australia: Mandurah Performing Arts Centre

� Port Macquarie, Australia: Glasshouse Theatre

� Mt Gambier, Australia: Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre

� Griffith, Australia: Griffith Regional Theatre

� Renmark, Australia: Chaffey Theatre

� Port Pirie, Australia: Northern Festival Centre

Confirmed United States of America, 2018

� Virginia (Blacksburg): Moss Arts Center

� Virginia (Richmond): Modlin Center for the Arts

� Iowa: Hatcher Auditorium, University of Iowa

TOURS FOR RELATED PRODUCTIONS NOT PRESENTED AT APAM

� Landscape with Monsters – Nine-venue Australian tour 2017

� Landscape with Monsters – Latitude Festival (Suffolk, England) 2017

� Opus – Hatcher Auditorium, University of Iowa, 2018

� Opus – Chan Center, University of British Columbia, 2018

COLLABORATION/COMMISSIONING OUTCOMES

� Possible connection for AusAsia Program Queensland

� Residency in Netherlands December 2017 (follow-up from residency in 2016)


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ROI: $639,000.00

Overall domestic audience: 3,000

Overall international audience: 14,400

Cost of bringing production to APAM: $71,500.00


$9,500.00 (Arts SA)

Income generated: $720,000.00

SHAUN PARKER & COMPANY

Dance

Full-length production 2014

CASE STUDY:AM I?

“APAM gives you a platform, there’s no doubt about it. It really puts you out there and we have gotten so much out of APAM over the years.”

(Am I? spokesperson 2018)

Image courtesy of Michele Aboud

Shaun Parker & Company presented Am I? as a full-length work at APAM 2014, following the première of the work at the 2014 Sydney Festival. In 2016, the company engaged APAM’s pitch format to present XY (subsequently retitled King) as a new work in development, while continuing to build the profile of the company’s repertoire of work by investing in a booth at APAM 2016 and APAM 2018.

Throughout the last three iterations of APAM, Shaun Parker & Company has demonstrated a growing momentum in presentation opportunities within an intricate ecology of relationship building and presentation engagements. The company has been progressing its strategy to develop a network of presenters and agents that can support them to tour across multiple venues and countries, reducing the costs of touring internationally. One of the company’s key engagements is its ongoing relationship with Ecotopia, the company’s agent in Germany. The company spokesperson noted that, “he came all the way from Germany for the 2014 APAM to see Am I? live. He has been touring that and


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he has helped us tour King (XY) next year based on people that we met at the previous 2012 APAM” (Am I? Spokesperson, 2018). Like Circa, the company has also received the benefit of referrals from one agent to another:

… we were contacted by an agent who specialises in Spain and Portugal and it’s bouncing off someone who had seen the work at APAM and told him about us … Our aim is that they work together because Ecotopia really specialises in Germany, Switzerland and Austria but the Spanish agent is a specialist in Spain and Portugal and they’re really different regions. What we’re aiming to do is marry them together in the next three to five years so we can get really good strategic tours together where they line up. (Am I? Spokesperson, 2018)

Am I? is a large-scale production with a cast of 20 dancers in addition to musicians and a large set. APAM 2014 played a valuable role in ensuring Am I? was seen by major festivals with the capacity to present it:

[W]e were able to tour Am I? to the Georgetown Festival in Malaysia. That was very good because it was their major festival… We also toured it to Germany to the Movimentos Festival in Wolfsburg. Which is probably one of the biggest festivals in Germany as far as they also bought the show outright … that had a huge impact for us in Germany. We won the Bearer of Hope award in Germany for that, which was pretty amazing… [A]fter we did the first Germany in the November we ended up going back to Germany to Ludwigshafen who had seen us at APAM. Which was excellent. And he paid a really good fee which was wonderful for a company like us. And then we also got the [festival] in Luxembourg as well and then in Stockholm. (Am I? Spokesperson, 2017)

Securing the presentation of Am I? in Europe could then be further leveraged. It cast a broader net for presenters who were unable to travel the distance to APAM to see the show. This approach is part of the company’s considered marketing strategy:

What we do when we go to Germany is we invite presenters [who] have said they want to see it. And then we target new people and we invite them all to come and see it. And then that will lead to hopefully other presentations in future. Or they might think, “Oh that show’s a bit too big for me but I’ll have a look at your other ones”. Or, “I’ll have a look at your next show”. (Am I? Spokesperson, 2017)

Pitching King (XY) at APAM 2016 tapped into the company’s big-picture thinking by promoting the conceptual development of a new work within the context of a growing company profile:

We have now got tours lined up which came out of various APAMs, actually several different APAMs, people from different APAMs have all joined together and we are touring King (XY) next April 2019 – we are going to Lebanon, to Jordan, to Palestine and Austria in April next year. (Am I? Spokesperson, 2018)

APAM has also played a cumulative role in the presentation opportunities afforded other works in the company’s repertoire. In addition to the touring secured for Am I? and King (XY), the combination of relationship building and increased company profile has also generated tours for works, including Blue Love pitched originally to 2006 APAM that went on to do an 11-city tour in Australia in 2017, followed by another fifteen cities in Australia wanting to tour the production in 2019. Both the 2017 and 2019 touring engagements resulted from conversations had at APAM 2016.

At APAM 2016 and 2018, the company invested in a booth to maximise their presence. Through this additional visibility conversations lead to the engagement of smaller works, which continue to build the relationship and increase engagement opportunities for larger, more ambitious works:

We did Trolleys first in Malaysia and then the following year they took Am I? because they wanted to build on it. So that’s another strategy where you get your name out there by taking a smaller show. Then a year or a couple of years later because people know your name they’ll bring back a bigger show. (XY Spokesperson, 2017)

One of the issues for Australian arts companies that are project-based is that it is difficult to compete in an international market with European companies that are well-funded. While the Australia Council invests in the development of new work and APAM provides an important mechanism in promoting Australian works internationally, festivals that are interested in presenting the work sometimes discover that they cannot afford it and opt for touring work by other international companies that is less expensive:

The Company is proud of its international interest from a range of festivals, but continues to be held back by lack of international travel support to support large-scale work, and the lack of access to regular dancers, and investment funding to pay wages for artists during this process, which in turn pushes our fees upwards. Consequently, despite the extensive interest to tour the work we are losing several engagements, which in turn can jeopardise a tour and put 2–3 years of planning at risk. It is important to acknowledge how this is holding the company back. (Am I? Spokesperson, 2018)


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While the company’s spokesperson acknowledged the difficulties artists face, especially when operating in a market fraught with prohibitive touring costs. The spokesperson also recognised the significant inroads APAM 2018 had made in providing a platform for artists’ voices and in supporting the artist’s experience during APAM.

TOURING/PRESENTATION

Securing German agent

� Am I? Season, Adelaide Festival, 2014

� Am I? Season, Melbourne Festival, 2014

� Offer to present, Brisbane Festival, 2014 (declined)

� Am I? presented at Georgetown Festival, Malaysia, as feature dance production, 2015

� Am I? presented at Movimentos Festival, Wolfsburg, Germany, 2015

� Am I? Season in Ludwigshafen, Germany, 2015

� Am I? Season in Ludwigsburg, Germany, 2015

� Am I? Season in Stockholm, Sweden, 2015

� Am I? Season in Luxembourg, 2015

Securing Spanish agent

� King (XY) tour to Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Austria, April 2019

� Am I? Eastern European tour, June 2019

TOURS FOR RELATED PRODUCTIONS

� Happy as Larry – Linz, Belgrade Dance Festival, Al Hussein Cultural Center (Jordan), Maqamat Dance Theater (Lebanon), Al-Kasaba Theater (Palestine), 2013/2014

� Blue Love – 11-city Australia tour, 2017

� Trolleys – Egyptian tour, 2018

� Blue Love – 15-city Australian tour, 2019

COLLABORATION/COMMISSIONING

New relationships that were forged through the company’s presentations and presence at APAM 2014 and 2016 have led to a range of opportunities for the presentation of other works in the company’s repertoire. The company was also able to set up a licensing partnership with New Zealand Dance Company who will now license and tour the work around New Zealand.


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CASE STUDY:PIECE FOR PERSON AND GHETTO BLASTER

Nicola Gunn

Theatre

Full-length production 2016

Also presented as part of the

Image courtesy of Gregory Lorenzutti

ROI: $38,000.00

Overall domestic audience: 1,440*

Overall international audience:

350*


$12,000.00 (produced by Performing Lines – Mobile States)


World Theatre Festival & Brisbane Powerhouse (specifics of relationship unknown in terms of finances)

Income generated: approx. between $41,000.00 and $50,000.00

*Audience data reflects numbers between March 2014 – May 2017 only

World Theatre Festival 2016

at Brisbane Powerhouse

“While I am still emerging on the international

touring circuit, I have a fuller understanding of how to navigate it, what venues exist for my kind of work, the logistics of planning

and undertaking tours, how to communicate with

international venues and the cultural differences

inherent in performing in different countries.”

(Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster spokesperson 2018)


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Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster is an example of a work presented at APAM 2016 that has had strong tour outcomes, including the programming of the work in Vancouver, Calgary, Paris and New York. These outcomes have produced a flow-on effect, which has seen an increase in touring outcomes across 2017 and 2018, including Helsinki, Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Montreal, Lisbon, Santiago and Toulouse. When reflecting on the expanding opportunities for touring outcomes, the artist explained:

A lot of presenters that are now presenting the work are not presenters that were at APAM, but it helps that there are some presenters that were at APAM that saw the show that are presenting it, which creates more clusters of movement around those dates. A lot of presenters that I had conversations with previously finally got the chance to see it, and consequently their interest gets more interest from other people and it has a kind of domino effect. (Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster Spokesperson, 2017)

The significance of relationships that emerged from APAM 2016 is the capacity to place the work of artists and companies into new markets that exponentially increases their visibility and profile:

[G]etting the show in New York is by far the best thing that has ever happened. Because it was its own marketplace, it was its own showcase event. Having the show in New York does not surpass the experience of APAM but it is in addition to APAM. (Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster Spokesperson, 2017)

Presenters with an interest in the work can become active advocates because of the benefits it brings in sharing touring costs. This in turn increases the work’s exposure and helps to generate further interest:

One presenter from France has been very generous and continued to try and get other dates for the work. I think in many instances programmers are very interested in what programmers are presenting and if things are not in direct competition then they kind of want to jump on that bandwagon. (Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster Spokesperson, 2017)

While the experience of presenting at APAM 2016 was seen as extremely beneficial, there were also some inherent difficulties in harnessing emergent APAM opportunities. As an independent artist it can be difficult to find the time and resources to leverage the work’s presentation momentum. Like Shaun Parker & Company, this artist has faced prohibitive costs of travel and freight combined with the uncertainty around funding for these expenses that has made it difficult to leverage the international relationships that are fostered through APAM.

Despite these difficulties, the artist is also acutely aware of the important role APAM has played in increasing the profile, perception and exposure of her work, highlighting the value of being able to interact with presenters in this forum. The artist equally acknowledged that presenting a season of full-length shows at APAM 2016 in conjunction with the World Theatre Festival worked well for her as an independent artist. During APAM 2018, the artist was touring Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster and decided to utilise the pitch format, via video, with the support of her producer to present a work in progress. The resultant effect was that, “people were intrigued and yet confused by it” (Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster Spokesperson, 2018). For the artist, APAM’s most significant value to date has been an increased visibility of her work among international presenters.

For the artist, APAM’s most significant value to date has been an increased visibility of her work

among international presenters.


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� Secured funding from the Australia Council to support tours in Europe and South America $28,218.00

� Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster toured in 2015 prior to presentation at APAM 2016 – Performance Space (Sydney), Arts House (Melbourne), Vitalstatstix (Adelaide), Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (Perth)

� PS122 (New York), January 2017 (relationship already developed, but consolidated at APAM 2017)

� Malthouse Theatre (Melbourne) March 2017

� Major tour begins in August 2017 with 16 cities across Europe and the Americas, ending in July 2018; direct connection to APAM, the artist’s attendance at IETM meetings, presentation at Dance Massive and the New York season

� Stage Festival (Helsinki), August 2017

� Avant Garden (Trondheim, Norway), September 2017

� Usine-C, (Montreal), September 2017

� BIT Teatergarasjen (Bergen, Norway), October 2017

� GAM, November 2017

� PuSh Festival (Vancouver) 2018

� Presentation at La Villette (France) 2018

� Jacob’s Pillow (USA) 2018

� In Extremis, Theatre Garonne (Toulouse, France) 2018

� Tanzquarter (Vienna, Austria) 2018

� Intrepid Theatre (Victoria, Canada) 2018

� Living Things Festival (Kelowna, Canada) 2018

� Dance Massive return season (Melbourne) 2018

Upcoming Tour Dates:

� Santacangelo Festival (Italy)

� Beckett (Massachusetts)

� Prague

� Bruges

� Seattle


� Hello, My Name Is (Showcased at APAM 2014) – Dublin Theatre Festival, Ireland)

� Rotterdamse Schouwburg (Netherlands)

� Vitalstatstix (Adelaide, Australia)


� Frederic Mazelly, La Villette will be programming the work in March 2018

� Francisca Pero (formerly GAM, now at Concepcion) programmed the work in November 2017 at GAM

� Kee Hong Low hosted a residency in Hong Kong in May 2017

� Artist observed Darren O’Donnell (Mammalian Diving Reflex) in Germany in August/September 2017 as part of a Churchill Fellowship

� Collaborating with Pol Heyvaert of CAMPO on a new work commissioned by MTC with a residency at CAMPO (this relationship has been developing since 2014)

� Danielle de Fontanay, Usine-C – presented the work in September 2017

� Malthouse (Melbourne) collaborated with Gavin Quinn in a creative development of Peter Pan at Pan Pan in June 2017


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For Back to Back Theatre the APAM experience has evolved over time as the company itself has matured, building long-term and complex relationships with international presenters. APAM has supported the company to connect with presenters, first through the art but then through ongoing professional relationships with them by re-engaging with presenters every two years to just build trust in relationships. Now, as an experienced touring company, a significant value of APAM is in accessing presenters that the company may not be aware of or actively seek out in relation to their work. The company spokesperson noted, “[t]he biggest impact is access to a large number of people and, in our case, sometimes just even access to the people that you could not access or that you had not identified were prospects” (Lady Eats Apple Spokesperson, 2017). One example of this interaction was a buyer who attended APAM 2016 from the University of Maryland in North Carolina who had little idea about the company and who connected with Back to Back resulting in him going to the show in Vienna with two of his colleagues in June 2017.

CASE STUDY:LADY EATS APPLE

Back to Back Theatre

Theatre

Pitch 2016

Image courtesy of Jeff Busby

ROI: $152,216.00

Overall domestic audience: Not provided by company

Overall international audience: Lady Eats Apple 1,549; Small Metal Objects 347; The Democratic Set 850


$4,534.00


$2,000.00 (Creative Victoria)

Income generated: $158,750.00 (plus accommodation, per diems, venue and marketing costs borne directly by presenters in situ)

“Back to Back Theatre has been

attending APAM in earnest since

about 2006 and the benefits of it have been a

forceful, gradual accumulation of an exceedingly rich knowledge

of international touring.”

(Lady Eats Apple spokesperson 2017)


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This is also in line with their ambitions as a company which, as the company has matured, has now shifted to securing co-commissions. The company spokesperson explained that Lady Eats Apple undertook a one-month European tour and that the opportunity to pitch at APAM 2016 played a role is cementing one of their co-commissioning partnerships:

I should remark that Lady Eats Apple is co-commissioned by three partners in Amsterdam, Vienna and Hamburg… our ambition for the work was to secure offshore commissioning support for the work. So that was the next level for us and we got it … So that’s a very direct outcome. (Lady Eats Apple Spokesperson, 2017)

Other direct outcomes can also be attributed the company’s presence at APAM 2016:

The show is also going to the London International Theatre Festival at LIFT at the Barbican in June 2018. LIFT were in attendance at APAM too, so we have direct outcomes of the project that we picked. For the June seasons of Lady Eats Apple in Europe there are about 35 people who have contacted me to say they are coming... A key objective of going to APAM was to make sure that this June tour was solid. Because from there we’ll hopefully build future engagements. (Lady Eats Apple Spokesperson, 2017)

The company spokesperson noted that while Lady Eats Apple is in its eighth season, Back to Back Theatre is currently making changes to the

work and no longer actively selling it. The company will keep the work in repetoire but will continue to develop the aesthetic of the work.

Presenting a strong pitch at APAM was a key part of the company’s strategy as they are seeking to engage interest in new work, rather than present work that already has a tour trajectory, which requires a developed knowledge of how to pitch effectively to a broad audience of presenters:

We love the pitches the best because they are very ideas-based … what we love talking about is ideas and our ambitions and just trying to work out how to inspire people to be interested. So that is why we like doing the pitches. We are very strategic right from its onset that it will have a trajectory where we will present it. And then we will try to get it out in the world. (Lady Eats Apple Spokesperson, 2017)

This ethos also translates to the company’s pitch at APAM 2018, The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes:

We pitched seven and a half minutes of film and left no time for questions, it was interesting because we felt that the piece of work we presented was so involved that we did not need or want to say anything. We thought it spoke for itself. And also it is a reflection of our confidence in that environment that we feel like we don’t really have to explain who we are. (Lady Eats Apple Spokesperson, 2018)

The pitch itself received an overwhelming response with at least 25 presenters interested in the work as a result of the pitch.

For Back to Back Theatre, the strength of their profile as a company enables an approach to pitching that focuses on the ideas of a developing work. The choices around the works they pitch at APAM also relate to specific goals in terms of presenter engagement. The Lady Eats Apple pitch at APAM 2016 targeted top-end presenters with the capacity to co-commission a large-scale work, whereas the APAM 2017 pitch presented a concept that could be adapted to small- and large-scale presenting formats. In this way the company understands the need for flexibility in the work, both in terms of content and presentation needs, to ensure that the company can sustain marketability and economic viability. The company’s ongoing international success has played a role in strengthening their Australian profile:

Our presence at APAM, combined with other proactive international marketing has impacted enormously on the creative life of the company across time. And one also might remark that the international validation of the company has given it validation in Australia, which has then meant we could foster stronger partnerships in Australia. It has been an international validation of our work which then has strengthened our fibre locally. (Lady Eats Apple Spokesperson, 2017)

APAM is important in maintaining the company’s connection with the Australian and international arts community and the interactions APAM enables with presenters are assisting the company to develop work that has touring potential.

“Our presence at APAM, combined with other proactive international marketing, has impacted enormously on the creative life of the company across time.”(Lady Eats Apple Spokesperson, 2017)


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� CarriageWorks (Sydney, Australia), March 2017

� Perth International Festival (Perth, Australia), March 2017

� Theater der Welt (Hamburg, Germany), June 2017

� Wiener Festwochen (Vienna, Austria), June 2017

� Holland Festival (Netherlands), June 2017

� Approximately 35 presenters confirmed that they would see the full-length production during the June 2017 tour in Europe

� University of Maryland (North Carolina) (after agent/presenter saw the full-show presented in Vienna)

� Expression of interest from Parc de la Villette, Paris

� Expression of interest from Taipei Performing Arts Centre, Taipei

� London International Festival of Theatre at the Barbican, London, June 2018


� Small Metal Objects at Freespace at Taikoo Place, presented by the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, November 2017

� The Democratic Set Residency, InBetween Time (Bristol, United Kingdom), May 2017 and February 2019


� Development of an Asian adaptation of Small Metal Objects for Hong Kong in November 2017 with a view to long-term touring in China in 2019 or beyond

� Co-commissioning of Lady Eats Apple by Theater der Welt in Germany

� Extension of a long-term collaborative relationship with InBetween Time in Bristol, to develop new residency models/collaborations with long-term impact in multiple markets

� Secured Hamburg as a co-commissioning partner for the work

� Interest and advocacy by US presenter, working to make connections with The Kennedy Centre, Washington DC

� Discussions with presenters around future collaborations to commission new work


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Roslyn Oades presented two of her uniquely crafted works at APAM: a full production of I’m Your Man in 2014; and a 20-minute excerpt of Hello, Goodbye & Happy Birthday in the 2016 Market.

As noted in the 2016 report, the journey of these works in the context of APAM has been enlightening and educational but at times dispiriting for the artist, in that the experience involved connecting with a relatively unfamiliar but demanding environment. The Market did, however, prove to be a useful experience in developing a deeper insight into the arts market environment and process.

Image courtesy of Jeff Busby

CASE STUDY:HELLO, GOODBYE & HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Roslyn Oades

Theatre

Excerpt 2016

ROI: Cannot be determined

Overall domestic audience: Not provided by artist

Overall international audience: Not provided by artist


$10,129.00 (plus in-kind pre-production management costs over three months)


$6,993.00 (Creative Victoria)

Income generated: Not provided by artist

“… the best take-away for me from APAM is that it has been an

excellent opportunity to develop touring

within Australia and internationally. APAM has been an

excellent professional development opportunity

to understand how presenters work and

what they are looking for.”

(I’m Your Man spokesperson 2016)


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At the 2014 interview touchpoint, the spokesperson for the company noted that:

…[at] APAM you were guaranteed an audience of presenters that is national as well as international … and it is also this idea that other … directors [or] whoever at APAM see it, [and] that potentially might trigger [them] to think: wouldn’t it be great to use this? (I’m Your Man Spokesperson, 2014)

By the second iteration in 2016, following the excerpt presentation of Hello, Goodbye & Happy Birthday, the spokesperson provided this commentary:

… the best take-away for me from APAM is that it has been an excellent opportunity to develop touring within Australia and internationally. APAM has been an excellent professional development opportunity to understand how presenters work and what they are looking for. (I’m Your Man Spokesperson, 2016)

And by 2018:

… my take-away is that you know it was a great way to show those works to the rest of Australia and to meet some international presenters and have conversations. As everyone told me, that is the thing you should be focusing on, not selling work. But as an independent artist with [limited] resources and costs involved with going it is hard not to dwell on the desire to sell work because that’s what the real reason is for going in my case. (I’m Your Man Spokesperson, 2018)

The journey of presenting these works at APAM is indicative of the challenges faced by independent artists in the market environment. As evidenced by the commentary, this artist found knowing how to leverage the impact of being at the event, while often having limited resources or experience within the context, somewhat of a hurdle. While presenting at APAM provides opportunities for independent artists to gain a first-hand insight into the international touring marketplace, as well as opportunities to meet domestic and international buyers, the stresses in working outside of a company support mechanism can be hugely challenging. Both I’m Your Man and Hello, Goodbye & Happy Birthday require sizable casts, and this single factor contributed to a huge stumbling block in the touring opportunities for both works. On reflection the artist noted, “I guess the take-away is that if I were to go to APAM again I would only take something that was small if I was going as an independent artist” (I’m Your Man Spokesperson, 2018).

The significance of scale for a work chosen for presentation at APAM, particularly for independent artists, needs to be considered carefully. One key suggestion by the artist was that being selected to present at APAM might also come with “a mentorship or support program to help [independent artists] maximise the opportunity of APAM” (I’m Your Man Spokesperson, 2018). This individual would be a touchpoint who helps [artists] maximise their opportunities. This suggestion supports other comments made from artists around

the challenges associated with a work gaining traction at APAM. While there may be excellent initial results, the follow-up steps of securing resources to support a tour or season can be a major difficulty, particularly for solo or independent artists and companies relying on project funding. Greater exploration regarding additional levels of scaffolding around APAM for independent artists would be highly advantageous.

However, what has emerged is that the artist has been agile in exploring other models or contexts by which to leverage off the profiling of the works at the Market, as has been noted in the last two reports. These other opportunities included the artist working with a community to generate a new work or to work as a consultant to design an artistic process to be delivered in a community. As it transpired, the process has not yet eventuated for reasons outside of the focus of this study. But the opportunity certainly allowed the artist to explore myriad opportunities to build and profile work for the touring context. While Hello, Goodbye & Happy Birthday had a 17-venue tour locked in place, supported by funding from the Australia Council, prior to its presentation at APAM in 2016, as a result of presenting and discussions at APAM, several other national presenters were added to the tour. Furthermore, also developing out of connections made at APAM 2016, Roslyn Oades was commissioned to present Sea Stories, a new work for Festival 2018, that was part of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

“… my take-away is that it was a great way to show your work to the rest of Australia and to meet some

international presenters and have conversations. As everyone told me that is the thing you should be

focusing on, not selling work. But as an independent artist with [limited] resources it is hard not to dwell on the desire to sell work because that’s what the real

reason is for going in my case.” (I’m Your Man Spokesperson, 2018)


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In summary, while to date no further touring outcomes have been added for either works presented at both APAM 2014 and APAM 2016, ultimately, the experience of presenting was of value, in that, “I think it helped build my reputation as an Australian artist within Australia definitely and I certainly had lots of commission offers from other companies in Australia that came out of exposure through APAM” (I’m Your Man Spokesperson, 2018).


Australian Tour 2017 (July to September)

� Theatre Royal, Hobart, TAS

� Geelong Performing Arts Centre, VIC

� Ulumbarra Theatre, Bendigo, VIC

� Civic Theatre, Wagga Wagga, NSW

� Bathurst MEC, NSW

� Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, NSW

� Riverside Theatre, Parramatta, NSW

� The Events Centre, Caloundra, QLD

� The Arts Centre Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise, QLD

� Darwin Festival, NT

� Portland Arts Centre, Gleneg, VIC

� Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre, Mount Gambier, SA

� Chaffey Theatre, Renmark, SA

� Mandurah PAC, WA

� Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, Wollongong, NSW


� Possible re-mount in New Zealand with local cast

� Offers to commission new work both domestically and internationally, including the commissioning of work for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018

� Connections with other Canadian presenters

Image courtesy of Lucy Parakhina and Performance Space

https://www.bmec.com.au/hello-goodbye-happy-birthday.html

http://www.casulapowerhouse.com/whats-on/theatre2/2017-theatre/hello,-goodbye-and-happy-birthday

http://www.casulapowerhouse.com/whats-on/theatre2/2017-theatre/hello,-goodbye-and-happy-birthday

https://riversideparramatta.com.au/show/hello-goodbye-happy-birthday/

http://theeventscentre.com.au/product/hello-goodbye-happy-birthday-roslyn-oades-collaborators/

http://theeventscentre.com.au/product/hello-goodbye-happy-birthday-roslyn-oades-collaborators/

https://theartscentregc.com.au/hello/?s=hello&date=

https://theartscentregc.com.au/hello/?s=hello&date=

https://www.darwinfestival.org.au/events/hello-goodbye-happy-birthday

http://www.glenelg.vic.gov.au/ticketing

https://www.countryarts.org.au/events/hello-goodbye-happy-birthday/venue/sir-robert-helpmann-theatre/

https://www.countryarts.org.au/events/hello-goodbye-happy-birthday/venue/sir-robert-helpmann-theatre/

https://www.countryarts.org.au/events/hello-goodbye-happy-birthday/venue/chaffey-theatre/

http://www.manpac.com.au/show/hello-goodbye-happy-birthday/

http://merrigong.com.au/shows/hello-goodbye-happy-birthday.html

http://merrigong.com.au/shows/hello-goodbye-happy-birthday.html


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SNAPSHOT OF DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL

TOURING, COLLABORATION AND

COMMISSIONING OUTCOMES FOR CASE STUDY

COMPANIES AND ARTISTS

“… the flow-on effects that come out of APAM provide one opportunity, that opportunity leads to another opportunity and that builds momentum as it goes.” (You and Me and the Space Between spokesperson 2017)

PRESENTED AT APAM 2014

Company/Artist Market Outcomes

Polyglot Theatre’s presentation of Separation Street (Interdisciplinary/hybrid arts, theatre: Pitch)

Touring/Presentation

Presentation, Melbourne Fringe Festival, 2015

Potential US tour in 2018

Potential presentation at Dark Mofo, Hobart

Relationships developed through APAM have led to tours in Korea and China of other work in Polygot’s repertoire.

Collaboration/Commissioning

Relationship developed with West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong

Further meetings with Korean colleagues

Commenced relationship with UK presenter

Meeting with Chinese delegates

Relationships developed through APAM have led to tours in Korea and China of other work in Polygot’s repertoire

Contact Inc’s The Walking Neighbourhood (Interdisciplinary, hybrid arts: Full-length production and Special Event)


Work presented at Art and About Festival, Sydney, Sept–Oct 2014

Offer to present in Finland late 2014 – led to season at ANTI Festival, Finland, 2014

Seasons at Redfern and King’s Cross Sydney, as part of the Art and About Festival, 2014

Season at Arts Centre, Melbourne, 2016

Discussions in place regarding presentation of offshoot production “Walking Together” at Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, late 2018–early 2019

Roslyn Oades’ presentation of I’m Your Man (Theatre: Full-length production)


Offer to present at the Push Festival, Vancouver (did not eventuate)

Offer to present at the Brighton Festival, Brighton

Potential regional tour, NSW


SBS bought adaptation rights; work launched on SBS, 17 June 2016

Offers to commission new works domestically and internationally


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“… watching the companies out of Melbourne and other city companies with their edgy work is very helpful. [It helps our company to understand] that we’re so different to them and we think differently and we’re making work differently and we are trying to think of an audience that’s quite different to yours. And I think that’s really helpful for diversity in the Australian ecology of theatre-making. So all these sort of observations I think are invaluable and have helped us go deeper into your work and process.” (Djurra spokesperson 2017)


The Black Arm Band Inc’s presentation of dirtsong* (Music, theatre: Full-length production)

*Please note: this work was also developed into a concert version, Songs of the Black Arm Band


Six-city tour of China, August 2014

Season, Darebin Arts and Entertainment Centre, Victoria, 2015

Offer to perform at Georgetown Festival, Malaysia

Offer to perform at New Zealand Festival, Wellington – eventuated (see below)

Offer of season at Barbican, London – eventuated (see below)

Offer to present at Push Festival, Vancouver

Offer to present at Ten Days on the Island Festival, Tasmania – eventuated: season at Ten Days on the Island Festival 2015

Season, Singapore International Festival of the Arts, 2015

Season, Taipei, 2015

Possible season, Noumea

Season, Georgetown Festival, Malaysia, 2016 (concert version of dirtsong: Songs from the Black Arm Band)

Season, New Zealand Festival, Wellington, 2016

Season, Barbican, London, 2016

Sydney Recital Centre, Sydney, Songs from the Black Arm Band, 2016

Five-week, 13-venue tour to the United States and Canada (including season at Push Festival, Vancouver) 2017

Possible tour, South America, 2017 – confirmed

Possible return tour to United States, 2018 – confirmed

Possible presentation, Quandamooka Festival, 2017 Stradbroke Island

Possible regional NSW tour, 2018

Performance Space’s presentation of Long Grass (Dance: Pitch)


Interest from Paris buyer 2015

Offer to present at future Sydney Festival, Sydney – eventuated, 2015

Offer of tour by regional arts consortia

Season at Dance Massive, 2015


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“… the longitudinal side of it is that we built relationships. We engaged the agents and they continue conversations over time at APAM and other markets. You get third party advocates...who come, buy our work, see our work, talk to the other presenters in the audience after the show for us, those third party advocates are as beneficial to us as our agents at times.” (Carnival of the Animals Spokesperson, 2017)



Terrapin Puppet Theatre’s presentation of You and Me and the Space Between


Secured Australia Council for the Arts funding to support to Imaginate (Edinburgh) 2017 $30,202.00

Darwin Festival 2016, Melbourne Festival 2016, Brisbane Festival 2016

Sydney Festival 2017, Ten Days on the Island (Hobart & Launceston 2017)

Edinburgh Children’s Festival, Edinburgh, May 2017

Beijing and Shanghai tour, April/May 2018

Aichi Prefecture, Japan, July/August 2018


Interest from Canadian presenter

Negotiations with domestic presenters

NORPA’s presentation of Three Brothers (Theatre: Pitch)

*The passing of key creative collaborator David Page has necessitated that Three Brothers undergoes a new stage of development.


A new work, Djurra, which is connected to Three Brothers premières at NORPA, November 2017

Stephanie Lake Company’s production of Double Bind (Dance: Full-length)


Nil


Commission for new work in New Zealand

Commission for separate new work nationally

“[APAM is about] the producing community getting together, which is always a very valuable thing. It is about the relationships that grow out of our own community, but also about our relationships with the buyer and also about our relationships with funding bodies as well.” (Cerita Anak spokesperson 2017)


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2016 CASE STUDY COMPANIES PRESENTING DIFFERENT WORK AT APAM 2018


Terrapin Puppet Theatre’s presentation of A Not So Traditional Story (Theatre: Pitch)


Strong expression of interest from a capital city Arts Centre

Nicola Gunn’s presentation of Working With Children (Theatre: Pitch)


Programmed in Melbourne Theatre Company 2018 season

Back to Back’s presentation of The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes (Theatre: Pitch)

Too early to determine outcomes

2014 CASE STUDY COMPANIES PRESENTING DIFFERENT WORK AT APAM 2016


Shaun Parker & Company’s XY (Dance: Pitch)

Touring/Presentation 2016–18

Presentation interest in Am I and XY – Calgary International Festival of the Arts, Artistic Producer

Presentation interest in XY – Brighton Festival/Brighton Dome UK, Associate Producer

Presentation interest in XY (if placed within a broader company tour of the work) – Impact International Theatre Festival Artistic Director, Canada Ontario

Presentation interest – Dance Massive 2019

Polyglot Theatre’s and Papermoon Puppet Theatre presentation of Cerita Anak (Theatre: Pitch)


Meetings arranged with potential presenters following APAM 2016

Makassar International Writers Festival (Indonesia), March 2017

AsiaTOPA: Asia Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts, Arts Centre, Melbourne, 2017

Makassar International Writers Festival (Indonesia), March 2017 – workshops only

Perth International Arts Festival 2018

The Black Arm Band Inc’s presentation of Grungada (Music: Pitch)

The company has decided to not pursue this particular work at this point in time; the focus centres on a new work, Nyami, developed by Black Arm Band Artistic Director Emma Donovan


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CONSOLIDATED IMPACT NARRATIVES FROM

COMPANIES AND ARTISTS


49

ARTISTS AND COMPANIES

The final round of interviews with the case study companies occurred in late March and early April 2018, with the exception of the spokespeople for Long Grass and dirtsong for reasons documented earlier in this document. From this final round of interviews the key reflection points from the 2016 and 2017 reports will be extrapolated upon and contextualised within APAM’s key aims and objectives as identified by the Australia Council. The key narratives presented in 2016, augmented in the 2017 report, were:

� The right producer

� The right market

� Expense of touring Australian work

� Developing new models

� Leveraging new contacts from current ones

� Quality and tourability of work

� Profiling and positioning of artists and companies

� Exposure to other artists and productions

� Location.

These remain consistent for this final report, apart from the points around notions of quality and tourability of work that no longer seems to be an issue, and location as it is no longer relevant to the study as the Market moves to Melbourne from 2020. For the Australia Council, the aims of APAM are:

� To deliver a performing arts market or equivalent platform/s

� To increase national and international touring opportunities for Australian contemporary performing arts

� To exchange ideas, generate dialogue, build skills, partnerships, collaborations and co-productions, and develop networks with local and international peers.

In a general sense, these aims have clearly been achieved over the three iterations of APAM at the Brisbane Powerhouse. Obviously the Market has been successfully delivered and, indeed, ideas, dialogue and networks have been activated. In many instances, skills have been developed, particularly through programs such as the Blackfella Bootcamp, creating traction which led into the focus on First Nations in both the 2016 and 2018 Markets. The Market has been effective in creating the space in which partnerships and collaborations can be fostered. The nine narrative touchpoints teased out further in this section provide suggestions regarding areas in which further skills development could be explored, with the aim of leading to stronger capacity for partnerships, collaborations and co-productions, and which therefore speak to the third aim articulated by the Australia Council listed above.

The second aim of increasing domestic and global touring opportunities for performing arts companies and individuals is more challenging to measure. Consistently, interviews with artists and companies have highlighted that for the experienced touring organisations the Market is one part of a multi-pronged strategy. However, for the less experienced, and specifically for independent artists, a clearer correlation into touring outcomes is opaque and, at times, even tenuous. The exploration of the subsequent narrative points also provide suggestions around how independent artists can be better supported to take more strategic advantage of the Market. A consensus developed through the interviews is that for independent artists, skills support and capability to leverage more effectively from being part of APAM is a vital area for further exploration. The research has reinforced a key consideration raised in earlier reports, that the experience of APAM for those established

companies that receive operational funding is significantly different to those independent companies and artists who garner project funding only. It is this difference of interface with the APAM experience that is a dominant underlying theme for the case study organisations, along with the manner in which the opportunities, ability to successfully navigate, network and exploit the Market differ. As stated in the introductory pages of this report, for the most part, it’s difficult to provide a clear and direct correlation between presenting or pitching at APAM and a subsequent tour or other immediate outcome, even though there are a few cases of this as articulated in the selected case studies. What is overwhelmingly apparent is that APAM, when employed as part of a well-considered marketing development targeting strategy, is highly advantageous.

The Right Producer

As articulated in the 2016 and 2017 reports, for independent artists, being able to work with an experienced producer allowed for greater levels of capacity to focus purely on their work, while the producer navigated other aspects of presenting at the Market. Producers provide guidance and support around how to relationship-build and to position themselves as artists more strategically. Such support provides the space for artists to focus on the work being presented which, of itself, can be extremely demanding. One independent artist noted, “it was such a big effort just to remount it and to present it in, I just went off with an assumption that, well, the work will speak for itself. But I understand I think that’s a bit naïve, that it is not just that, you have to be really proactive” (Double Blind Spokesperson, 2018). Having a producer was highly strategic for a number of the independent artists – this was evident in conversations with producers who were strategic


50

in placing work to its best possible advantage, and also knowing when to pull back from an offer because: “… it is not just the right time and the right place, the right set” (Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster Spokesperson 2, Interview 3 2016). Comments by the I’m Your Man spokesperson encouraged further investigation into ways in which the producer model could assist, which is through a more formal mentoring process that pairs artists with experienced producers who can provide advice and insight into presenting at APAM, and even navigating that environment for optimal outcomes. Conversely, where an artist engaged a producer who did not work on more than one iteration of a work, and thereby was not able to continue to develop relationships with presenters around a particular work, this contributed to a disconnect, an unevenness of how to best plan a market development campaign for the work. It also highlights that building relationships is, for the most part, a long process, and that the significance of individuals building those relationships cannot be understated. A further avenue by which to provide production support is timely communiques from funding organisations. This was noted by one stakeholder who said, “I think that one of the things that I observed is that the artists and organisations need

more effective communication about what state and federal funding is available to them to support them to attend” (APAM Stakeholder 5, 2018).

The Right Market

Knowing what the right market is for specific work and companies is hugely dependent on the touring experience of respective organisations, along with the degree of profile they possess in the marketplace. Circa, for example, suggests that rather than developing specific strategies for specific cultures, it is more about how to approach the general audience. For example, what will engage children in a circus-based work may have points of difference to an intended adult audience. The spokesperson for Circa also highlighted that for APAM to continue to be useful for companies the organisers of APAM could actively identify and target untapped or new Market delegates who are interested in developing collaborations or organising tours so that the Market becomes more diverse in the types of productions and presentation modes, thereby strengthening Market outcomes for artists and companies. The realisation of this request would add further traction to the Australia Council’s objective to “match product to market through targeted programming and visiting presenter programs” and would address

presenting artist and company commentary around the issue of the diversity for both audiences and organisations, particularly around the need for productions made for young audiences. Further attention to the diversity of presenters representing a varied audience base strengthens the Australia Council’s objective of “highlight[ing] Australia as a diverse, inclusive and open artistic environment”.

Holding APAM in Brisbane for three iterations was highly advantageous for local artists and companies, not only due to the costs saved in not having to travel, but also because it provided an environment of comfort in that the artists and companies knew the venues and knew the environment in which they were presenting. Some case studies already have a strong presence in particular markets, for example both Nicola Gunn and Circa have established their work in Europe and Shaun Parker & Company can be included here as well. So, presenting at APAM becomes more a strategic inroad into new markets. For Gunn, this is the US, Central and South America, rather than Asia; for Circa, it’s very much about launching the company into Asian markets, as it is with Shaun Parker & Company, and non-text based works make this connection more straightforward. But it’s crucial


51

that a clear understanding of those markets in which a particular work, or even style of work, will have resonance is crucial. This would seem to be particularly significant for First Nations work, as demonstrated through the outcomes for delegates who participated in the BlakDance Presenter Series and the engagement of artists through the Global First Nations Exchange and Performing Asia.

Expense of Presenting at APAM and Touring Australian Work

To create some level of equity for independent artists presenting alongside the larger-scale touring companies, a consistent response from case study organisations is the requirement of more effective mechanisms of support for the independent sector if they are to truly capitalise on their Market experience. This is an issue that has been keenly articulated across the entirety of this research and has been well documented in previous reports. If the expense incurred in presenting at APAM is an issue for independent artists, it is even more keenly felt when negotiating a tour with international presenters who have expressed interest their work. The issue continues to reverberate, as funding support programs for touring are more and more stretched. Several

of the tours that artists were working on securing have fallen through because of the expense involved (Roslyn Oades’s proposed tour of Canada, for example). At the same time, other artists have tours in place that are reliant on successful funding outcomes from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade or the Australia Council (Shaun Parker & Company and Nicola Gunn are examples).

What is interesting to note, however, is that artists and companies are finding innovative and strategic ways to present their work, so as to make the touring and presenting of Australian work more affordable in the global context: Black Arm Band developed a concert show, Songs from the Black Arm Band, out of dirtsong, for example, which was cheaper to tour; while Shaun Parker & Company is presenting Am I? with a recorded soundtrack for festivals unable to afford a full cast of both dancers and musicians. At the same time, artists are being strategic in how they bring their work to APAM in an effort to minimise costs. Nicola Gunn secured a season with the World Theatre Festival, which was also being hosted at the Brisbane Powerhouse, and absorbed the costs of presenting the work at APAM. Polyglot offered a workshop program at the Makassar Writers’ Festival in Malaysia in 2016, as presenting a work was deemed too

costly by the Festival. Other artists and companies secured presentation opportunities leading up to APAM, which ensured there were no remount costs when presenting the work at APAM. The programming of four productions for short seasons allowed artists to generate funds to offset costs of bringing the work to APAM for presentation.

The stress for independent artists to present at APAM and to pursue potential presentation opportunities is evident through the artists’ commentary that they have to fulfil all roles associated with the market process. Not only do they conceive, develop and perform the work, they have to network, market and manage it as well. It is in this regard that the need for the ‘right’ producer, as noted above, is so crucial. Additionally, companies that operate on project funding do not have the capacity to employ a company of artists on a consistent basis. This has significant ramifications when touring opportunities emerge because the original artists may not be available, and companies are then faced with the expense and the investment of time required to remount the work with a new ensemble.

In the same vein, for certain independent artists, they as individuals ‘are’ the work, so that if their circumstances shift – for example the key artist for The Walking

What is interesting to note, however, is that artists and companies are finding innovative and strategic

ways to present their work, so as to make the touring

and presenting of Australian work more affordable in the

global context.


52

Neighbourhood, who has become a parent in recent years – these life changes can create further expense, which can render a tour prohibitive. It is an overarching concern for Australian work in general, but particularly as it impacts on the independent sector, that the expense of artists’ fees and travel expenses connected to presenting work in an international context can mean it is extremely challenging for Australian artists to be competitive.

A further complexity in this scenario is the nature of the work itself; as Roslyn Oades discovered as a result of her APAM presentations, for work such as hers which involves numerous cast members, the expense of touring becomes prohibitive. Does this mean that touring for small or independent organisations needs to be confined to small casts? This issue of scale for the independent sector when presenting and pitching works at APAM, and the ramifications of that scale, is of particular importance.

A further area for consideration is the viability of facilitating alternative means of support for independent producers, for example formal mentoring programs or relationships with more experienced touring companies. As already referenced, mentoring or business skills development support around strategic approaches to APAM and post-APAM could be highly beneficial to artists who do not operate with significant organisational infrastructure. For mentorship/support to be effective, consideration needs to be given to the realities of presenting directors/artists. However, should mentoring and support be developed, it must be accessible and part of a holistic model adopted by APAM when committing to presenting works by independent artists and smaller, project-funded companies.

The recognition of the difficulties incurred by the independents does not go unrecognised by the larger organisations:

... just be very mindful that the artists are really putting themselves on the line and they are often investing money and if they’re independent artists they don’t have any money. And you know, I guess my general comment for everyone is that APAM is different for everyone and everyone has to try to be kind to themselves and kind to each other. You know it’s a pretty demanding environment, I find it quite stressful even though we are quite mature and quite loved in our own way. I still do not find it a restful environment, just because it’s a market and there’s a certain pressure to that. (Lady Eats Apple Spokesperson, 2017)

This generosity from an established company in empathising with the independent artists regarding the difficulties of the market environment is echoed by Circa who noted, “[i]t is all about building relationships. Helping out our peers who don’t know people here. None of it is competition, it is about building relationships” (Carnival of the Animals Spokesperson, 2017).

A further consideration here is that arts organisations are so often in an unstable or shifting state (which may be a mirroring of the contemporary workplace in general) – changes to staff, resources and so forth reduce an organisation’s capacity to plan into the future with certainty. The impact of this on future touring possibilities is profound. Some of the bigger organisations are able to plan with a fair level of certainty (for example, Back to Back Theatre and Circa), but for others (for example, the closure of Black Arm Band, NORPA, The Walking Neighbourhood model and other independent artists) forward planning is difficult and unpredictable.

Is there a way in which the APAM model can be sufficiently agile to be able to respond to the vagaries of the domestic arts environment, in order to best position these independent works on the international stage?

For Shaun Parker & Company, the costs of touring Am I? have proved challenging:

Even though it’s a very big festival we were still 20% or 30% out of their price range which was such a pity after all of this work, that leading festivals wanted us but we’re still slightly out of the price range, that was very disappointing for us. So [they] said we just can’t afford it, we’re getting…you know and I spoke to my agent about it and they’re getting a couple of leading choreographers in Europe for virtually half the price of what we cost. So that’s a challenge for us for the future. (Am I? Spokesperson, 2018)

In exploring strategies to overcome this challenge the company, “worked out how we could buffer that challenge and it would be about creating longer tours for us in Europe so the cost offsets the remount cost which would help a lot. So it makes it cheaper for each festival” (Am I? Spokesperson, 2018). This sentiment echoes Roslyn Oades’ issue of the specific scale of her work being prohibitively expensive to tour internationally.

The balance of artistry and commerce provides challenges to all of the companies included in this study, and it is this balance that APAM can work to create the space where the particular challenges for artists in the current domestic and international marketplace can be explored.


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Developing New Models

Following on from this issue of the expense incurred by touring Australian works, certain companies are developing different ways of making the numbers work. For example, when Shaun Parker & Company toured its production of Am I? to Malaysia in 2015 they:

… sent the whole cast to Malaysia and we actually remounted the show there. So we were able to, because what happens if we remount the show in Sydney we’ve got all the musical instruments and then they have to be sent of express freight on the plane, it’s really expensive. So what we did is we sent the instruments ahead on a slower plane at a cheaper price so that the instruments were waiting for us. So then the cast has turned up and then we save that extra two days’ weekend and travel days. We’re actually all in the one spot so we ended up saving three or four days wages. Which is a lot when you’ve got 20 people. (Am I? Spokesperson, 2016)

The company has found a further way to make the show affordable for a potential tour of regional Australia:

… there were several venues around Australia wanting [Am I?] but they couldn’t afford it. … we had discussed it before: whenever we tour it overseas we always do the full show. Like if people can pay for it we’ll do the full show, musicians and everyone absolutely. However for regional Australia we really want the work to be seen. And I spoke to the composer and we thought that it could be done with a pre-recorded sound score. So that we re-designed the show so rather than touring 20 people we tour with 12 people. And it just makes it [feasible]. (Am I? Spokesperson, Interview 2 2016)

In the case of The Walking Neighbourhood, the work itself has led to a host of new projects, as outlined in the analysis of the work above. This also highlights how artists and organisations are working strategically to develop new ways of working that allow their work to flourish, and for careers to be sustainable, despite a difficult funding environment domestically, and an expensive one globally.

Leveraging New Contacts from Current Ones

Leveraging of new contacts from already established ones as an add-on value for attendance at the Market has been a consistent message since 2014. A significant number of artists and companies highlighted the strategic importance of connecting with presenters who, while they may not purchase your work, become advocates for it, and are hugely influential in encouraging other presenters to see or purchase the work. A dominant theme identified is the multiplying or leveraging possibilities that APAM affords – presenters recommending and introducing artists and companies to other producers can allow artists and organisations to significantly leverage new relationships. Once again, this requires different positionings for different companies, some of whom are highly strategic in positioning agents, past associates and current presenters as brokers and champions for them in the international marketplace. Companies such as Circa, Back to Back Theatre and Terrapin are highly adept in this regard.

The intricate ecology of relationships that are at play when building a work’s touring life, and the sometimes fragile or fraught balancing act that is required from companies cannot be underestimated. Relationships and presentation opportunities build exponentially when a company or artist tours their work. It provides

opportunities for presenters to see the work as a full-length production – these may be presenters who have only seen a pitched version of the work or may not have been able to attend APAM due to distance. This serves to strengthen fledging and existing relationships as well as opening up their work to new markets. This may lead to additional tour engagements for the work, interest in other work in the company’s repertoire, the commissioning of new work or other collaborative developments and creative engagements. Circa has illustrated the highly strategic approach it follows in garnering, consolidating and developing potential presenting relationships. For those companies with such a level of experience APAM adds to the depth of those relationships and the potential – the greater potential – of being able to sell the work. Artists and companies recognised that APAM provides a gathering of the national sector that is predominately collegiate in nature. For Stephanie Lake, her presentation at APAM supported and assisted in consolidating activity that was already in discussion, resulting in commissions for Expressions Dance Company and the New Zealand Dance Company that were direct results of Double Blind being presented at APAM. Creating the space for presenters and producers to meet, network, broker and strategise remains, at least for the case study companies interviewed in this research, a fundamental aspect of APAM. The capacity of the ongoing Market to provide both formal and informal opportunities for these rich conversations to occur cannot be understated.


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Profiling and Positioning of Artists and Companies

A significant, but at times indirect, value of presenting at APAM is the opportunity for organisations, particularly those that are not as well known to domestic and international producers, to be viewed both on a national platform, and even within a different context. This was especially true for NORPA as a regional arts venue and production house and allowing a company like Back to Back Theatre to position themselves as a mature and highly evolved company that could pitch an extremely large-scale and potentially high-risk work, with the aim of securing a presenting partner. Terrapin also felt the opportunity to present at APAM allowed them to be seen as a highly evolved organisation, and that regional arts organisations can contribute to the national landscape of arts product from an often alternative and dynamic position.

The leveraging of this re-contextualisation has in certain cases led to the commissioning of new works. For Roslyn Oades, for example, the commissioning of the new work Sea Stories for Festival 2018 as part of the 2018 Commonwealth Games grew from her participation in APAM 2016. This created a new positioning of her work as an aural experience, and for the development of a new audience base, as part of an arts festival accompanying

an international sports event. Stephanie Lake’s opportunity to further consolidate a relationship and ultimately new work in partnership with Expressions Dance company, as discussed earlier, is further evidence of this important feature of the Market.

There is, however, further room for the Market to leverage a strategic positioning of artists and companies. In terms of reaching its full potential, APAM should be seen as a key strategic conduit through which to support the development of the domestic performing arts sector in terms of development of new presentation forms and innovation in art form, with particular attention on transdisciplinary practices and audience development. Embracing such an approach would ensure that APAM not only contributes to, but is one of the leading spaces in, crucial discussions about the sector, the impacts and impulses pressing against it. How the domestic environment interfaces with the global marketplace is a key strategic necessity. This will ensure that the Market functions both relationally and transactionally, which underpins the Australia Council’s objectives for the Market to “support critical dialogue and exchange”, as well as support “skills exchange and capability building in market and audience development”.

Exposure to Other Artists and Productions

As a key function of APAM, the value of exposure to and engagement with other artists and organisations is vital. Even for those companies who are highly adept at international touring, the opportunity to spend time with peers, see each other’s work and have the time and space to discuss current issues within the arts environment are seen as invaluable. Interviewees consistently refer to the value of being able to connect with their peers, see each other’s work, catch up, converse, bond and, importantly, to benchmark their practice and product against the best in Australia. This is true of Circa positioning itself as a mentoring organisation, as has been mentioned above and, additionally, for regional companies, feeling part of the national arts conversation is a key benefit of the APAM context. The impact of this exposure could be further placed on the agenda for the next iteration of the Market, so that even greater traction can be created. Suggestions for the more experienced companies mentoring the emerging players, and ongoing forums and spaces for discussions and strategising around key issues facing the domestic and international performing arts sector, are each potent tools to consolidate the opportunities created through the formal networking opportunities of APAM. Initiatives such as the Global First Nations Exchange and Performing Asia provide crucial space for conversation and meaning making for both producers and presenters.

As a key function of APAM, the

value of exposure to and engagement

with other artists and organisations

is vital.


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KEY STAKEHOLDERS

Over the three iterations of the Market delivered by Brisbane Powerhouse the understanding of the role of the event in supporting brand identity for Brisbane and Brisbane’s cultural organisations has become more nuanced. Rather than seeing APAM as an end-point, stakeholders now view APAM as an opportunity to start a national and global conversation. The key Brisbane stakeholders included Brisbane City Council and the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, and Tourism and Events Queensland. Over time, venue-presenting partners have included QPAC, the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, The Queensland Conservatorium (Griffith University) and Gardens Point Theatre (Queensland University of Technology).

In 2014, for a number of management staff both at Brisbane Powerhouse and the event’s stakeholders, the Market embodied a branding dimension to position Brisbane as a cultural city. This can be inferred from comments made during interviews conducted pre-APAM delivery, such as:

All national arts eyes are on Brisbane Powerhouse. And all international promoters and presenters are coming to Brisbane Powerhouse. You cannot underestimate how important that is. Brisbane doesn’t attract people like Melbourne attracts them or Sydney attracts them, so to have this sort of program happening at Brisbane Powerhouse – it’s really, really important for us. It is important for the reputation of Brisbane Powerhouse and the exposure of Brisbane Powerhouse, but also, politically, I think it will give our Lord Mayor the opportunity to be proud of something. We want Brisbane to own this. We want Brisbane to be the shining place. (Brisbane Powerhouse Management Staff 2, 2014)

Following its first iteration in 2014 the purpose of APAM as understood by stakeholders appeared bifurcated. For stakeholders the two main foci for the Market were: (1) economic development for the city as well as artists and companies, and (2) cultural reciprocity. As a result of experiencing the event first-hand, stakeholders envisaged its potential to profile the various priorities of their particular organisation. This diversity of interest is evident in the comments below from a variety of key stakeholders:

… [I]n terms of APAM [what] we are looking for is economic success. So what have the international delegates, and the program success brought to the city? So it supports tourism, it supports economy, finance to the city but also promotes the city. Some of the delegates that would have come would have been part of our sister cities [or other] international cities and we would, as a city, want to engage with them and develop stronger relationships. (APAM Stakeholder 2, 2016)


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Conversely:

… one of the things that I wanted to do through APAM this year was actually give QPAC a greater presence in terms of the shows that it actually has produced and commissioned to create touring opportunities for those shows […] an umbrella that could help support our local companies that we have worked with so that they have, as well as their own presence at APAM, they also have QPAC in their corner actually encouraging people to consider their work. So we did that, and that was successful. And then there’s also the opportunity with actually forging some connections with international delegates and partners, and to that end we hosted an additional networking [event] that we could own where we could actually put some QPAC messaging out there with the international delegates and talk about the fact that we produce shows and to, and the type of work that we would do. (APAM Stakeholder 1, 2016)

And:

There’s still a little bit about how the event engages with the public and making some things a bit more open … one is about the idea of reciprocity. About how the event can really appropriately serve, so we’re not just bringing in people to buy some shows. (Brisbane Powerhouse Management Staff 1, 2016)

By 2018 all stakeholders agreed that, “the purpose of APAM has gotten got stronger and clearer” (APAM Stakeholder 4, 2018). As outlined earlier in the document (see Dialogues for Collaboration) stakeholders like artists and presenters felt a palpable shift in the purpose of the Market away from the historic transactional nature of the Market to one of relational development. This change was implemented in the delivery of

APAM 2016 and allowed stakeholders to understand that APAM was a site for cultural diplomacy and to have a greater understanding of how, “creativity and cultural programming can play a role [in the foregrounding of ] political ideas and international relations” (APAM Stakeholder 3, 2018). For one stakeholder this dialogue was not one had in words but in actions. The stakeholder noted:

… in the opening ceremony and handing over of country from the various First Nations were really powerful symbols of engagement with cultural policy. I think that platforms like APAM provide a very sophisticated nuanced but accessible model for that to happen. Where merely being present is a really powerful tool to build relationships in that space. (APAM Stakeholder 3, 2018)

One of the key objectives for the Australia Council in the delivery of APAM is to nurture relationships with peers in the Asia Pacific region. This objective is supported in both reports from 2014 and 2016. The APAM 2014 report (p.48) noted the need for strategic targeting of Asian producers to develop more impactful touring outcomes in the Asian market. The qualitative survey data from the mid-2015 survey showed that there were a number of companies that successfully gained traction in the Asian market. Most obviously in the delivery of APAM 2018 there was enhanced visibility around the Asia Pacific market, including a dedicated capacity building program called Performing Asia, as well as two performance programs open to the general public, titled A Night Across Asia and A Litany of Broken Prayer and Promise. While such deliberate intervention in programming is required, stakeholders are keenly aware of the development of personal connections that will have a lasting impact for arts product and artists in the long term. One

stakeholder supported this in saying, “… most of Brisbane’s sister cities exist in the Asia Pacific sphere and a large number of organisations and delegates were in town from those sister cities. So having [the ability to] engage with them and establish those relationships is really important” (APAM Stakeholder 3, 2018).

Not surprisingly, some stakeholder interests orientated towards not just the cultural value of the event itself but the economic benefits of the event itself to Brisbane and Queensland more broadly:

… Organisations like Brisbane City Council recognise that not only does it bring value in tourism to the city for those delegates that come and stay, considering 85% of the delegates this year were outside of Brisbane. But also that it brings added economy. It adds to the economic picture of the city knowing that there is business to be done, and that there are relationships to be developed for organisations like Brisbane City Council, and like Tourism and Events Queensland, and they are not just about destination relationships. There is value outside of it being a cultural event that was not necessarily recognised in the beginning. It brings tourism because people do come and they do stay, and they spend money while they are here, and there’s that direct economic benefit from having people in the city. (APAM Staff Member 2, 2016)

All stakeholders interviewed for the 2018 data collection agreed that “[APAM has] given Brisbane a platform, a world stage platform, of being able to showcase some great talent and some great productions. I think it will put Brisbane on the map. I’m sure we will see some great connections that have been made through the three years that will continue” (APAM Stakeholder 5, 2018).


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DELEGATES

Across the three iterations of APAM in Brisbane, delegates were surveyed to gather their experiences of APAM and to investigate their perceptions of the value and purpose of APAM. Collected data have revealed an evolved curatorial experience for delegates across the three APAMs, while consistently demonstrating a complex interweaving of priorities that denote the multifaceted value of APAM to its delegates. The curation of the delegates’ experience has evolved over the course of the three APAMs, as Brisbane Powerhouse worked to clarify the tone of the event and forge a strengthened identity. The program was crafted to align more strongly with this identity, responding to the experiences of the delegates through its logistics and programming or as one delegate commented, “APAM has been so insightful in learning from Market to Market and has improved immensely in these six years” (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018). The journey of Market development over time has enriched the delegate experience at APAM.

The program delivered to delegates at APAM 2018 was described as, “[having more obvious] connections between the events [that] wove a strong sense of Australian contemporary arts practice in the region” (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018).

Delegates at APAM 2018 were predominantly characteristed as those who had attended one or more APAMs in its 13-year history of delivery (n=211 survey responses) and 38% of delegates were first-time attendees. Delegate survey responses across the span of the Brisbane APAMs denoted three narratives of impact that reflect a journey of learning and evolved curatorial confidence:

1. Logistics and its impact on delegate experience

2. Networking and relationship building through APAM

3. APAM as a site for knowledge exchange.

Logistics and its Impact on Delegate Experience

In 2014, while many delegates enjoyed the Brisbane Powerhouse as a venue, a key area of concern was the logistics of a multi-venue approach that was difficult to navigate and provided limited time for informal networking and relationship building. This was coupled with concerns regarding an overcrowded program and the inefficacy of the tent operating as either a hub for the Market or as a venue for the pitches. In 2016, the consolidation of the three key hub areas – the Brisbane Powerhouse, the Sofitel Hotel and QPAC, along with the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts as an auxiliary venue allowed for a far smoother progression for delegates between venues. The multi-venue model still caused frustration for some delegates in 2016, but was much reduced due to the consideration of the three “hubbing” venues and transport being more available for movement from venue to venue. Adopting the same model in 2018 proved successful.


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The perception of an overcrowded program remained an issue for delegates. Delegate responses highlighted the importance of creating space outside the formal APAM program for meetings and interactions that work to progress relationship building among delegates. One delegate captured this sentiment by saying, “it can be difficult to find time for all the meetings without sacrificing parts of the program” (APAM Delegate Survey, 2016). Reflecting on the data collected via the 2018 delegate survey, 88% of delegates either agreed or strongly agreed that APAM was well-structured on a daily basis.

Shifting the pitches to a theatre venue in 2016 had a positive impact on the delegates’ experience of the pitches, improving on 2014 concerns that the pitches were not shown to their greatest advantage. The more easily navigable nature of the Market in 2016 can also be attributed to the efficacy of the booths environment at the Sofitel and the presentation of pitches, in particular on stage at QPAC’s Concert Hall venue – while some feedback was negative in this regard, in that it was felt that for some of the works presented a less formal venue (i.e. cabaret space) would have been more appropriate, the overall sense was that it was a far more effective environment in which to present the work.

While the 2018 survey did not directly seek feedback from delegates on the Brisbane Powerhouse as a site for 2018 pitches, 68% of respondents rated the quality of presentations as a strong and effective representation of work. Comments specific to pitches included:

I saw the best pitches at APAM that I’ve ever experienced. Very well prepared, presented and facilitated. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

Well curated showcases and pitches this year. [This was the] strongest of the past three Brisbane APAMs. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

Networking, Relationship Building Through APAM

The importance of relationship building and the significance of conversations and dialogue among participants was a consistent narrative across the six years of APAM delivery. In 2018, 98% of survey respondents indicated that they developed new relationships with presenters that will lead to long-term interest and touring opportunities.

Following APAM 2014, there was a palpable shift in the Market’s identity that was reflected across APAM 2016 and 2018 through the initial development and continued crafting of The Exchange. Comments from surveyed delegates in 2018 again highlighted the value of an expanded social program that provided informal opportunities for networking and conversations among delegates. Comments in support of this deliberate networking space included:

The parties and social events [provided an] ability to network and discuss. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

The Feast and the evening events on the Turbine Platform were valuable places where conversations happened. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

For a number of delegates APAM offers them professional development through relationship and community building to understand their role in the larger context of not just the Australian performing arts sector but also the global sector. This sentiment was resonant in a previous comment made by an APAM 2014 stakeholder and APAM 2016 delegate:

… they get to benchmark their work against the best that Australia has to offer ...They also get to understand how the business works ... And build relationships with international presenters who might not necessarily be interested in your work this time round. But just to understand the complexity and the nuances and the detail of how those relationships work. (APAM Stakeholder 1, 2014)

I see it as vital for my professional development and networking as well as benchmarking what work is out there, and what the performance zeitgeists are. It is a vital part of [the] Australasian performing arts industry. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2016)

When filtering artist responses to a question on Market outcomes, 2018 delegates identified specific benefits that echoed the value and purpose of APAM that delegates had articulated in previous surveys about the vital role that APAM plays in enhancing peer connections in supporting collaborations and concept development among artists. Evidence from the delegate survey points to both domestic and international collaborations around touring opportunities for works showcased at the Market as well as the opportunity to discuss new works to be developed in the near future.

“I saw the best pitches at APAM that I’ve ever experienced. Very well prepared, presented and facilitated.” (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)


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The following three comments from delegates provide such insight:

[I connected] with an individual artist from Malaysia to create a project on marine degradation and climate change; talking with established peers about researching and planning a festival of experimental circus works to nurture and grow interested audiences. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

I met and reconnected with many Australian artists and physical theatre company artistic directors who are interested in working with me as an independent artist/performer. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

I am in the process of developing an exchange between Chinese artists and my festival as a result of APAM. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

For buyers, networking and relationship building paved the way for knowledge sharing, artist exchanges, artist residencies and co-producing opportunities. The following comments capture the outcomes themes that emerged from buyer survey respondents:

I got to know artists that I will program in the future through touring and perhaps co-producing. I also met presenters with whom I will continue discussions about co-producing that I am very optimistic will lead into practical outcomes in the future. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

I had a fruitful discussion with Out of the Box Festival. This may lead to beneficial cross-sharing of knowledge in the future. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

As it was my first trip to Australia I was able to meet a number of new artists and fellow presenters and began conversations about how we might work together. I was also able to continue conversations with some artists which had begun while they were visiting Ireland. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

APAM as a Site for Knowledge Exchange

Knowledge development resonated as an important value attributed to APAM by artist delegates. APAM is seen to be an opportunity to enhance transcultural understanding, build awareness of sector trends, learn how to operate in a market economy and to inform their practice. One case study spokesperson noted:

I really feel the 2018 APAM was an absolute winner. The reflection of socio-political issues that are going on in the world were really present and there was a lot of hunger, you could feel the desire for artists to really have a say. So it was more than an arts market, it was about a dialogue internationally of what we had to do to fix this world and I found this particular APAM so successful. It felt like it was a shift back to the artists which I [think] that can be even taken further in the future. (Am I? spokesperson, 2018)

Comments around how APAM operates as a knowledge exchange from 2018 survey delegates included:

Particularly with the South East Asian delegates it feels like there is real interest in collaborating on interesting contemporary work – West Kowloon, Georgetown Festival etc. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

[APAM supports the] building of long-term relationships, observing trends across the sector, being part of a national conversation about important industry discussions. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

I learnt about venues from across the globe, how they program and what their interests are. This will undoubtedly result in presentations or collaborations of some kind. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

[I have] a deeper understanding of how the Australian performing arts industry operates and the type and forms of work being created and their relevance internationally. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

Many buyers and sellers identified that The Exchange program within APAM 2016 helped to facilitate the brokering of conversations and building relationships between buyers and sellers that was again supported in data gathered around APAM 2018. The majority of delegates signalled that The Exchange was a “[g]reat program. Always want more of this style of engagement” (APAM Delegate Survey, 2016). In 2018, a finessed Exchange program, which crafted overt opportunities for capacity building and contextualising the sector through dialogue, was embraced by survey delegates. Over 80% of delegate respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the APAM Capacity Building Program (Performing Asia, BlakDance Presenter Series, Global First Nations Exchange, Market Readiness Workshop, First Timers’ Program, Ambassador Program, Backbone Open Source Program) was an innovative inclusion in the market. Further to this, 74% of surveyed delegates either agreed or strongly agreed that

Over 80% of delegate respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the APAM Capacity Building Program was an

innovative inclusion in the market.


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APAM’s Exchange program is a key set of activities to assist delegates in connecting within the market. When delegates were asked which scheduled activities had the most impact for you and why, Performing Asia, BlakDance Presenter Series and the First Timers’ Program received significant responses. When referencing the First Timers’ Program, one buyer commented, “[t]hrough the first timers’ group I met a number of presenters who I subsequently met with to get a better idea of their work. I met people who previously have only been names on an email” (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018).

For delegates from Asia, APAM 2018 offered a carefully curated Asia Pacific program, making significant inroads in realising the potential of APAM to operate as a market for the region. This potential was first articulated in the Brisbane Powerhouse Tender To Australia Council For APAM 2014, 2016, 2018:

At present, the region does not have a festival or market that is dedicated to the contemporary performing arts of the Australasian/South East Asian region. The rise of such an event would seem to be inevitable. With the arts infrastructure and resources we now have in Australia, we believe it makes sense to take this initiate now. (Brisbane Powerhouse 2011, p.5)

Resulting from this observation, in the tender document one key aim for the 2014 Market was to increase the number of delegates from Asia. However, data revealed a low number of Asia Pacific delegates. Out of the international delegation base, 44 delegates were from Asia.

Data from delegates related to country of residence show that there were 61 delegates from Asia in 2016, a substantial increase from the 44 Asian delegates attending the 2014, but there was little commentary that could be provided about strategies used by Brisbane Powerhouse,

APAM staff or stakeholders to engage with Asian producers to develop strong touring outcomes for Australian artists and companies who presented at APAM 2016. In 2018, aligning Performing Asia with APAM 2018 enabled participants to connect as peers and to work within and navigate the market together. Delegate respondents who participated in Performing Asia commented positively on its impact:

Performing Asia – effective, meaningful framework of introduction. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

Performing Asia and Exchange Activities practically helped me to build connections, gain knowledge, having ideas exchange. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

Of the 2018 delegate survey respondents, 32% were from Asia and their comments highlighted a range of outcomes ranging from sector knowledge to production outcomes attributed to the targeted program:

New relationships, particularly with the South East Asian, delegates it feels like there is real interest in collaborating on interesting contemporary work – West Kowloon, Georgetown Festival etc. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

Getting to know the Australian sector better, helping map the sector for hosted Chinese delegates and getting them excited about Australian contemporary performance. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

An opportunity to meet with Taiwanese colleagues, connect with Australian colleagues and participate in gatherings and conversations. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

The Performing Asia group are specifically talking about a large-scale project with: Shanghai Mahua FunAge Culture Media; LIFT, London; National Arts Council, Singapore; Taipei Arts Festival, West Kowloon Cultural District Authority. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

While international knowledge exchange is a key focus in the delivery of APAM, the increased visibility of Indigenous ways of knowing and being has received increasing attention across the three Markets. A focus on Indigenous performing arts was evident within the APAM 2014 program and data demonstrate notable outcomes for Indigenous companies and artists, including increased Indigenous content and the formalising of a mentor program. While seen as valuable, there were calls for a deeper inclusion and exchange of First Nations dialogue and questioning by the Indigenous Delegate Focus Group participants around the lack of an overt link with Clancestry performances, panels and talks that were programmed at QPAC in the same time frame as APAM 2014. The presentation of the 2016 Market actively built on the momentum of positioning Indigenous artists and their work more centrally as well as extending to embrace First Nations communities from New Zealand and Canada. The impact of a more nuanced program of inclusion and exchange began to filter into 2016 delegate survey responses. Comments, when asked to reflect on their most valuable experience in the 2016 APAM program, included:

Meeting other Indigenous people from overseas. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2016)

Interacting with Indigenous cultures from Aotearoa and Australia. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2016)


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The curation of First Nations artists through presentation, exchange and capacity building continued to evolve with the delivery of APAM 2018 and resonated strongly throughout survey responses from 2018 delegates. Artists noted outcomes garnered through their experience:

[I gained a] stronger understanding of work being developed through a survey of contemporary Australian work with strong connections with First Nations artists globally. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

APAM [was an] affirmation of the strength of First Nations gatherings and the glimpse of hope around programming more First Nations artists in venues in Australia. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

Tangible outcomes in presenting First Nations work were also articulated by buyer delegates:

Taking part in the Indigenous Presenters’ platform was very intense and I had deep conversations with many people about how I take this learning home. I will be consulting with those persons as [to] initiate change. I got to know many artists, especially Indigenous artists that were new to me. I will be pursuing to work with them in the future. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

We were able to program Indigenous productions for the ORIGINS Festival in London. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

In addition to artist- and buyer-specific outcomes, the nuanced curation with a First Nations focus in 2018 impacted on APAM as a whole and for some international delegates it was catalytic in terms of how they might respond to First Nations needs in the performing arts sector in their home countries. These sentiments were reflected in the comments of survey respondents:

The recent focus on First Nation artists and work has done wonders for the development of APAM as a whole. [It was] not just a ‘market’ but an exchange. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

The impact is being felt very clearly in New Zealand, and we are now looking at how our arts market responds and builds on what has happened at APAM in Brisbane through the innovative, brave and ultimately confident First Nations program. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

The resultant change in the delegate perception of what a Market can be, can be directly attributed to the way in which APAM has successful stepped away from being transactionary. The APAM delivery team believed that the marketplace concept was dead and that the Market needed to be pushed beyond buying and selling. The resounding impact was “people walked way from APAM 2018 feeling like change was possible” (APAM Staff Member 1, 2018). A the heart of the change was a philosophical intention to reframe power relationships. The framework for this shift is neatly captured in a response from an APAM staff member who said:

We have been trying to create a space that broke down the nature of what markets are traditionally known for. Which is one where artists go and try and sell their work to presenters. That is the kind of base model. And what we have been trying to do through the whole event by breaking down the hierarchies that exist in the industry of presenter, producer, maker, artist, government stakeholder is just put everyone into a room where they are able to genuinely exchange as equals with people both with something to give and something to offer. People felt like it was a genuine exchange, where they felt like they could genuinely meet people as person to person, not just based on their roles but based on the fact that we are all just humans in a room doing work together. (APAM Staff Member 2, 2018)

“People felt like it was a genuine exchange, where they felt like they could genuinely meet people as person to person, not just based on their roles but based on the fact that we are all just humans in a room doing work together.” (APAM Staff Member 2, 2018)


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It would appear that the key issues raised in 2014 have been addressed for the 2016 and 2018 Markets, although certain commentary from delegates did highlight that the multi-venue approach still poses challenges. Given the logistical difficulties this approach poses, as opposed to the one-venue approach proffered by the Adelaide Festival Centre, the previous venue for APAM up until 2012, perhaps comparisons are no longer useful. Undoubtedly this is rooted in sentimentality from delegates who have been long-term APAM delegates. But as the data do not provide for a “before Adelaide and after Adelaide approach” the report cannot make any strong statement around the continuance of the data appearing in the delegate survey responses.

It must be acknowledged that over the three APAMs delivered by Brisbane Powerhouse the event has gained a stronger sense of purpose and identity. One stakeholder noted that the event “can be a satellite for change” (APAM Stakeholder 3, 2014). This comment was made in response to the foregrounding of First Nations

that included not only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but also First Nations groups from Canada, New Zealand, Guam, Hawai’i and Taiwan. The other noticeable change was the deliberate move to see the Market only as a transactional event – that is, one situated in the buying and selling of performing arts product – to a Market that is more supportive of relational transactions and connections that may be more fruitful for Australian artists and companies in the development of long-term relationships and touring outcomes. This is a really salient point – it was as if a range of what had previously operated as competing interests in the operations in particular for 2014 (i.e. disconnect between the aims of the Brisbane Powerhouse and the APAM team, the Australia Council, and Tourism and Events Queensland) were ironed out, so that both the 2016 and 2018 Markets felt like more seamless events.

When delegates, APAM staff members and stakeholders were asked to consider the lasting legacy as a result of having APAM in Brisbane, over a third of surveyed delegate

respondents turned their mind to the strong presence of First Nations artists and their contribution to the arts and cultural landscape. The attention to greater self-determination for First Nations artists is a powerful outcome across the delivery of three APAMs by Brisbane Powerhouse. One stakeholder described this legacy as:

… not just the focus on Indigenous content and Indigenous organisations or performers but it is now Indigenous-led. The context of Indigenous Australia covers the whole of APAM. It permeated every aspect of what happened. From the graphic design to the way the opening ceremonies worked and the closing ceremonies worked. I think there will be a really strong push that cultural engagement with Indigenous community sits at the centre of what APAM does going forward. (APAM Stakeholder 3, 2018)

CONCLUSION


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The strength of this approach within a purposefully curated APAM program resonated among delegate survey responses in 2018, and there was a call to recognise the value of this approach as APAM looks to the future:

I believe that the work that has been done to include First Nations works, voices, presence and market readiness has been a ground-breaking experience. I hope that the work that has been done to include us in the programming, presence and influence continues beyond Brisbane and continues to strengthen First Nations artists’ work, involvement and presence in the Australian and global performing arts landscape. (APAM Delegate Survey, 2018)

In the sphere of debates about safe working practices and the ratio of male to female participation in the Australian performing arts sector, coupled with Australian Bureau of Statistics (2017) data that show almost two thirds (64%) of those employed in the Australian performing arts sector are male and over one third (36%) are female, it would be a mistake not to recognise that future APAMs need to address gender parity. Indeed, a delegate comment in the 2018 survey noted the need for:

… a focused development program on women. Gender equity is vital in the performing arts sector. Many decision makers/gatekeepers are still middle-aged white men. Support women producers/companies led by women to connect with national and international leaders. Consider establishing an ongoing mentoring/exchange program. How can we #pressforprogress while growing the economic reach and impact of Australian women makers? (APAM Delegate Survey 2018)

This call is all the more important with data showing that the average female wage is 89% of the average male wage. Progress on this matter would be important for the next generations of APAM to engage in.

In terms of location, the new APAM model to be presented across 2020–2024 in Victoria, with a “year-round marketplace aligned to key events and festivals, establishing an ongoing office to help broker connections with a global and national network of presenters, as well as platforms for live performances open to industry and public audiences” (Creative Victoria 2018), will create new challenges and new areas for rich exploration, as the marketplace continues to shift in its response to the shifts in both domestic and global markets. The hope is that the deep, rich and textured findings from APAM 2014–2018 will not be forgotten.


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REFERENCES

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2017). Australian Labour Force Survey, January 2017. Available at http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/ Lookup/6202.0Main+Features1Jan%202017?OpenDocument

Australia Council for the Arts. (2016). Australia Council supports First Nations arts exchange at APAM. 4 February 2016. Available at, http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/news/media-centre/media-releases/australia-council-supports-first-nations-arts-exchange-at-apam/

Australia Council for the Arts. (n.d.). Arts Strategy. Available at, http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/international/arts-strategy/

Artlands Dubbo. (2016). Djurra, Discussion By NORPA – Northern Rivers Performing Arts. Available at, http://artlands.com.au/festival-events/three-brothers-play-reading-by-norpa/

Black Arm Band. (2017). Black Arm Band News. 1 December 2017 (email from listserve [email protected])

Black Arm Band. (n.d.). Black Arm Band. Available at, https://www.blackarmband.com.au/productions

Brisbane Powerhouse. (2018a). APAM 2018 Executive Summary. (Unpublished).

Brisbane Powerhouse. (2018b). BlakDance Presenter Series. Available at, https://www.performingartsmarket.com.au/program/details/BlakDance-presenter-series

Brisbane Powerhouse. (2017a). APAM 2018 Artist Applications Now Open. Available at, https://www.performingartsmarket.com.au/assets/Media/FOR%20IMMEDIATE%20RELEASE%20APAM%202018%20Key%20Dates%20Announced%20and%20Call%20for%20Artist%20....pdf

Brisbane Powerhouse. (2017b). APAM 2018 E-News (Wednesday 15 November).

Brisbane Powerhouse. (2017a). APAM 2018 Public Program Onsale! Available at, https://www.performingartsmarket.com.au/assets/APAM%202018%20Public%20Program%20and%20Ticketed%20Shows_25%20October%202017.pdf

Brisbane Powerhouse. (2016). APAM 2016 Program Guide. Brisbane: Brisbane Powerhouse.

Brisbane Powerhouse. (2014). APAM 2016 Program Guide. Brisbane: Brisbane Powerhouse.

Brisbane Powerhouse. (2011). Tender to the Australia Council for the presentation of Australian Performing Arts Market 2014 / 2016 / 2018. (unpublished)

Carnwath, J.D. and Brown, A.S. (2014).Understanding the Value and Impacts of Cultural Experiences. Manchester, United Kingdom: Arts Council England. Available from, http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/adviceandguidance/browseadviceandguidance/understandingvalueandimpactscultural-experiences

Creative Victoria. (2018). Creative Victoria secures three term tender to stage APAM. Available at, https://www.ausleisure.com.au/news/creative-victoria-secures-three-term-tender-with-apam/

Gattenhof, Sandra, Seffrin, Georgia, Grant-Iramu, Michelle and Sibthorpe, Nathan (2017). APAM Interim Inter-year Report 3. Available at https://eprints.qut.edu.au/109946/Gattenhof,

Gattenhof, Sandra and Seffrin, Georgia. (2016). Evaluation of the Australian Performing Arts Market 2014 – 2018: Year Two Report. Available at, https://eprints.qut.edu.au/100421/

Gattenhof, Sandra and Seffrin, Georgia. (2014). Evaluation of the Australian Performing Arts Market 2014 – 2018: Year One Report. Available at, http://eprints.qut.edu.au/78003/

http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/Lookup/6202.0Main+Features1Jan%202017?OpenDocument



http://artlands.com.au/festival-events/three-brothers-play-reading-by-norpa/



http://www.blackarmband.com.au/productions

https://www.ausleisure.com.au/news/creative-victoria-secures-three-term-tender-with-apam/



https://eprints.qut.edu.au/109946/




http://eprints.qut.edu.au/78003/



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Associate Professor Sandra Gattenhof

QUT Creative Industries Faculty, Drama

Musk Avenue

Kelvin Grove Qld 4059

Phone: +61 7 3138 3596

email: [email protected]

RESEARCH CONTACT


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RESEARCH TEAM

RESEARCH LEADERAssociate Professor Sandra Gattenhof (Dip T (Primary) BCAE, BA Queensland, MA QUT, PhD QUT)

Sandra Gattenhof is an arts education (with a specialism in drama and performance) and cultural evaluation expert. Sandra is the Director of Research Training in the Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of Technology (QUT). She has been Discipline Leader – Dance, Drama, Music (Jan–August 2017) and is the leader of the Creative Education and Creative Workforce theme in the Creative Lab at QUT. Previously she was the Head of Drama at QUT and has led the research group in Art, Design and Creative Education and was co-program leader of the Children and Youth Cultures strand within the QUT Research Centre Children and Youth Research Centre (CYRC). Most recently, Sandra’s research engagements have established her as a national and international leader in the field of arts and cultural evaluation, as evidenced by her growing portfolio of commercial research contracts and recently released book, Measuring Impact: Positioning Evaluation in the Australian Arts and Culture Landscape (2017). She is Drama Australia’s representative on National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE). Sandra is a Drama Queensland Life Member, awarded for Longstanding Contribution to the Drama Community.

SENIOR RESEARCH ASSISTANTDr Georgia Seffrin has previously been the coordinator for the Masters of Creative Industries, Creative Production and Arts Management degree at QUT. She is also a team member of the university’s Propheticals Corporate and Executive Leadership Education Program, which specialises in developing complex facilitation services for individual clients across a diversity of professional sectors, including Education, Health, Corporate and Arts organisations.

Georgia’s academic work has centred on trends in contemporary festival practice. As well as an academic profile, Georgia has a diversity of experience in other areas, such as speech writer, arts administrator and workshop facilitator, across university, corporate and government sectors, including the State Minister of the Arts, the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Youth Arts Queensland, Arts Queensland and the Brisbane City Council. Her key areas of interest include: connectivity with creativity in management, effective communication and managing cultural change within organisations. She is currently Chair for the prestigious chamber group Southern Cross Soloists.

RESEARCH ASSISTANTS Michelle Grant-Iramu has had an extensive career in the performing arts, working as a circus performer both nationally and internationally, as an independent director and producer of circus theatre and as a producer of cultural programs. Michelle has previously worked as Artistic Director of Vulcana Women’s Circus and as the company’s Cultural Producer, where she worked in partnership with diverse communities to develop large-scale, cross art form productions. Michelle holds a Master of Creative Industries from QUT and teaches in both the Drama and postgraduate programs. More recently, Michelle has worked as Producer for the Brisbane Writers Festival and for QUT’s Creative Industries Faculty as an arts researcher and facilitator.

Nathan Sibthorpe is a contemporary performance-maker and AV Designer. He was previously Queensland Theatre Company’s Geek-In-Residence in 2012–14, the Festival Director of Short+Sweet Queensland from 2013–16, and an Australia Council JUMP artist in 2012. Nathan is currently the Creative Director for Markwell Presents Cinematic Theatre Company, and the Co-Director of Counterpilot Transmedia Performance Collective. Nathan teaches performance studies at QUT, where he holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with distinction, and where he is currently undertaking a Masters Degree in contemporary performance.


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APPENDICESAppendix 1: Companies Selected for Detailed Tracking in 2014 and 2016

Appendix 2: Presented at APAM 2014 and Tracked to 2018

Appendix 3: 2014 Case Study Companies Presenting Different Work at APAM 2016

Appendix 4: 2014 and/or 2016 Case Study Companies Presenting Different Work at APAM 2018Appendix 5: Research Deliverables Completed to Date


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APPENDIX 1: COMPANIES SELECTED FOR

DETAILED TRACKING IN 2014 AND 2016


Terrapin Puppet Theatre’s presentation of You and Me and the Space Between

(Theatre: Pitch)

On the island grew a girl. She found herself wondering sometimes, could there be another place, where the stars right above her could be seen from the left, but the ones to her right could be looked at straight up? Influenced by Kamishibai, an ancient form of Japanese paper theatre, You and Me and the Space Between sees an illustrator draw a story live as it is read to the audience, a musician plays a live composition. (APAM Program Guide 2016, p.134)

Pitch (all ages)

Premiered in 2016

Funded

Circa’s presentation of Carnival of the Animals

(Physical Theatre/circus/puppetry: excerpt)

The Circa Carnival comes to town with whimsical tales of creatures from land and sea, who tumble, fly, leap and spin their way through the many wondrous worlds of the animal kingdom. A work of sophisticated and delightful family entertainment, this multimedia reimagining of Carnival of the Animals is at once both contemporary and old world. (APAM Program Guide 2016, p.65)

Excerpt (family)

Premiered in 2014

Funded

NORPA’s presentation of Three Brothers

(Theatre: Pitch)

Through the language of dance, song, storytelling and imagery, renowned Aboriginal theatre and dance practitioners have collaborated to develop a powerful new work. The poignancy of this story rests in the parallel of a fictional Aboriginal family to the ancestral “Three Brothers” creation story of the Bundjalung people. With resilience and humour Three Brothers explores the twists of these men’s relationship to one another. (APAM Program Guide 2016, p.131)

*The passing of key creative collaborator David Page has necessitated that Three Brothers undergoes a new stage of development.

Pitch (all ages)

In development*

Funded

Stephanie Lake Company’s production of Double Bind

(Dance: Full-length)

What if internal conflict was made external? Inspired in part by real-world experiments on personal conscience versus the tendency to just follow orders. Double Blind features original composition from internationally acclaimed audio-visual artist Robin Fox, while Stephanie Lake, one of Australia’s most commanding choreographers, interrogates the perils of obedience with electricity, intricacy and grace. (APAM Program Guide 2016, p.75)

Full Length (12 years+)

Premiered in 2016

Independent

Nicola Gunn’s production of Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster

(Theatre: Full-length)

Also presented as part of the World Theatre Festival 2016 at Brisbane Powerhouse

Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster is the story of a man, a woman and a duck. It dissects the excruciating realms of human behaviour in an attempt to navigate the moral and ethical complexities of becoming a better person. Accompanying the text is a rhythmic electronic soundscape by composer Kelly Ryall and choreography by Jo Lloyd that shifts from the unnecessary and incongruous to the strangely affecting. (APAM Program Guide 2016, p.95)

Full length (15 years+)

Premiered in 2015

Independent

Back to Back Theatre’s production of Lady Eats Apple

(Theatre: Pitch)

Back to Back’s new large-scale theatrical work examines the awesomeness of our existence and the simultaneous tragedy of our death. Staged in a large proscenium theatre, the audience sits on stage, facing the auditorium. A thin single cell inflatable surrounds the audience and actors are repositioned in another world, rupturing expectation of the conventional theatre experience. Lady Eats Apple explores human nature and our search for immortality. (APAM Program Guide 2016, p.126)

Pitch (16 years+)

Premiered in 2016

Funded


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APPENDIX 2: PRESENTED AT APAM 2014 AND

Polyglot Theatre’s presentation of Separation Street

(Interdisciplinary/hybrid arts, theatre: Pitch)

Separation Street takes the audience on an adventure that starts with the division of ages – adults going in one direction and children in another. Each group undertakes a separate theatrical journey within the one performance, experiencing a provocative tale from completely different perspectives. (APAM Program Guide 2014, p.140)

Pitch (children’s) Premiered 2016

Funded

Contact Inc’s The Walking Neighbourhood

(Interdisciplinary, hybrid arts: Full-length production and Special Event)

Take a curated guide around your city with a child as your guide…the tour guides collaborate with professional artists in a series of workshops to present this intimate event, and then invite you to take a walk with people you do not know to a place you have never experienced this way. (APAM Program Guide 2014, p.113)

Full-length production and Special Event

Premiered 2012

Independent

Roslyn Oades’ presentation of I’m Your Man

(Theatre: Full-length production)

For 18 months theatre-maker Roslyn Oades and her trusty tape recorder followed a determined young boxer from Western Sydney through his preparation for a world-title fight. I’m Your Man is the story of who she met along the way: past legends, up-and-comers and failed contenders whose lives have been irreversibly changed by the fight game. Using an innovative headphone-verbatim technique, the actors are able to speak the words of real-life boxing legends, transporting you into the boxer’s world of sweaty gyms and backstage dressing rooms. (APAM Program Guide 2014, p.79)

Full-length production

Premiered 2012

Independent

Shaun Parker and Company’s Am I?

(Dance: Full-length production)

Seven individuals seek to re-establish a new civilisation, observing the frailties and mishaps of those that have gone before them. Religion meets science in this new world order and society fluctuates between conflict and harmony. World music and cult-like singing collide to create a compelling and gut-wrenching soundscape. (APAM Program Guide 2014, p.51)


Premiered in 2014

Funded

The Black Arm Band Inc’s presentation of dirtsong

(Music, theatre: Full-length production)

Drawn wholly from Aboriginal Australia, dirtsong mixes traditional approaches and contemporary songs, existing repertoire and newly commissioned music to conjure a sense of ‘country’ as not only a geographical place, but as encounters, memories, obligations and nature. This is one unforgettable experience that inspires the heart. (APAM Program Guide 2014, p. 65)


Premiered in 2009

Indigenous Funded

Performance Space’s presentation of Long Grass

(Dance: Pitch)

The distinctive voice of Indigenous choreographer Vicki Van Hout probes life at the margins in this powerful new dance theatre work and finds warmth, humour and play in a situation so often seen as unremittingly bleak. Long Grass combines live weaving methods, shadow play, text, sparse video footage and idiosyncratic NT-style dance. As layers of cloth are woven, a story unfolds. (APAM Program Guide 2014, p.137)

Pitch Premiered in 2014

Indigenous Independent

TRACKED TO 2018


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APPENDIX 3: 2014 CASE STUDY COMPANIES

Roslyn Oades’ presentation of Hello, Goodbye & Happy Birthday

(Theatre: excerpt)

Hello, Goodbye & Happy Birthday celebrates two very different perspectives on life – the clear-eyed lens of youth and the well-worn experience of age. Scripted from intimate real-life conversations with people aged 18–80+, this documentary performance is the creative culmination of a two-year research process by innovative headphone-verbatim theatre maker, Roslyn Oades. Playful and poignant, Hello, Goodbye & Happy Birthday celebrates life well-lived with extraordinarily immediate and vivid performances. (APAM Program Guide 2016, p.85)

Excerpt (14+ years)

Premiered in 2014

Independent

Shaun Parker and Company’s XY

(Dance: Pitch)

XY (working title) is Shaun Parker’s new dance theatre work that investigates the XY chromosome of the human male. Parker utilises the extraordinary movement skills of nine male performers to investigate how the XY chromosome, from a chemical, biological, and psychological perspective, shapes the male brain on both a microscopic and macroscopic level. This latest work will take the genetic science of this chromosome and transform it through the theatrical canvas of the human male body on stage. (APAM Program Guide 2016, p.133)

Pitch (16 years+)

Scheduled to premiere in 2017

Funded

Polyglot Theatre’s and Papermoon Puppet Theatre’s presentation of Cerita Anak

(Theatre: Pitch)

The long-running creative collaboration between Australia’s Polyglot and Indonesia’s Papermoon Puppet Theatre is taken to a new level: climb aboard a boat and be rocked and rolled across the seas as you experience the story of a small Sri Lankan refugee boy who ends up in the Western suburbs of Melbourne. Cerita Anak takes the true story of a child adrift on the ocean and winds mythology and folk tale through it to make a drama on the high seas for very young audiences. (APAM Program Guide 2016, p.120)

Pitch (family)

Premiered in 2016

Funded

The Black Arm Band Inc’s presentation of Grungada

(Music: Pitch)

Grungada is Black Arm Band’s new full-length theatrical work, currently under development. Meaning “an intimate invited conversation”, Grungada is a narrative told through the songs, stories and visual art of Mark Atkins. Through music and art, Grungada celebrates the spaces between two worlds. (APAM Program Guide 2016, p.122)

Pitch (all ages)

Not yet scheduled

Indigenous Funded

PRESENTING DIFFERENT WORK AT APAM 2016


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Terrapin Puppet Theatre’s presentation of A Not So Traditional Story (Theatre: Pitch)

A Not So Traditional Story is a new play for families from playwright Nathan Maynard that looks at contemporary Tasmanian Aboriginal identity. Subversive and radical, A Not So Traditional Story addresses the dark history of Tasmania through an allegorical narrative told with humour and charm.

Pitch (all ages) In development Funded

Back to Back’s presentation of The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes (Theatre: Pitch)

The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes focuses our collective responsibility for society’s most vulnerable and marginalised, while at the same time celebrating our civil and social progress via a hard-edged detective story.

Pitch (12 years +) In development Funded

Nicola Gunn’s presentation of Working With Children (Theatre: Pitch)

Collaborating with Pol Heyvaert from internationally renowned Belgian company CAMPO, Nicola Gunn uses her distinctive humour and fierce social critique to explore the moral and ethical complexity of working with children, shame and other social taboos.

Pitch (12 years +) In development Funded

APPENDIX 4: 2014 AND/OR 2016 CASE STUDY

COMPANIES PRESENTING DIFFERENT WORK AT

APAM 2018


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APPENDIX 5: RESEARCH DELIVERABLES

COMPLETED TO DATE

Delivery Date Report Type

End May 2014 APAM Interim Report January to April 2014

End October 2014APAM Year One Report

Available at http://eprints.qut.edu.au/78003

End August 2015APAM Inter-year Report 1

Available at http://eprints.qut.edu.au/86961/

December 2015APAM Inter-year Report 2

Available at http://eprints.qut.edu.au/91221/

End June 2016APAM Interim Report January to April 2016

Available at https://eprints.qut.edu.au/99632/

End October 2016APAM Year Two Report


End March 2017Executive Summary Report developed from APAM Year Two Report


July 2017APAM Interim Inter-year Report 3


December 2017APAM Inter-year Report 3


http://eprints.qut.edu.au/78003







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