Growing Trees of Culture

Abstract

Across the Australian higher education landscape, fault lines are emerging between institutions that are questioning the viability and sustainability of the conservatoire, and academic staff who are committed to maintaining excellence in actor training (Moor, 2020). The COVID-induced digital pivot has led to greater flexibility in teaching modes and heavier reliance on independent practice (Pike et al., 2020), leading to a destabilisation and recalibration of the power dynamics of actor/director and student/teacher (Neideck et al., 2021). As the cultural and creative industries seek stability in the wake of the powerful aftershocks of #MeToo, there has been a rush to develop policies aimed at reducing abuses of power and encouraging healthy and productive ways of being in the workplace (Park & Neideck, 2020). In the fast-paced, embodied, and emotionally vulnerable environment of the actor’s studio however, the distribution and dissemination of formal guidelines regarding behavioural norms is often perceived as counterproductive, or as frustrating to individual creativity. This paper outlines ways in which Appreciative Inquiry is employed in collaboration with forms of embodied placemaking facilitated by senior artists in QUT’s actor training program. These strategies are used to model respectful relationships; to empower cohorts of student actors to negotiate boundaries of consent and outline their own behavioural expectations; and to enable academics to provide continuity of care in uncertain times. Observations will be made regarding the ways in which these rituals of practice and living policies shift and change over time, constituting not “a legal document”, but “a cultural document” (Fischer & Myers, 2019). These strategies enable ensembles to self-regulate and are used to navigate the tricky intermediate space between the conservatoire and industry.