About
About | SCOPE for artists
| SCOPE background information | |||||||
| In recent decades, the issues surrounding the career development of dance artists have been addressed by researchers around the world. Research started in Australia in 1989 when Ausdance and Actors Equity union (now the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance - MEAA) commissioned the Dancer’s Transition report by Catherine Beall, from which a national discussion group emerged. In 2004, the findings from an international research project, facilitated by the International Organization for the Transition of Professional Dancers (IOPTD) – the aDvANCE Project – were presented at an IOPTD conference in Monaco. The research team included Professor David Throsby from Macquarie University in Sydney. Within this report, Australia was one of three focus nations and the material relating specifically to Australia was subsequently published as Moving on – career transition of professional dancers in Australia (Ausdance: 2005). As part of this research it was revealed that the majority of dancers did not wish to leave their profession, but felt there were few options available. Additionally most felt ill-prepared for the next stages of their working lives. This highlighted the lack of guidance and opportunity for dancers to reinvest their professional experience and pursue further employment within or beyond the arts industries. As we know, the dancer’s performing life involves dedicated vocational training from a relatively early age, followed by very demanding and time consuming creative and physical regimes. Dance artists, as opposed to other artists, are particularly challenged when it comes to diversifying or expanding their professional career development. It was identified by the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) and the Australian Institute of Sport’s (AIS) National Coach and Athlete Career and Education Program (NCACE) that elite athletes experience similar career planning issues to dance artists. The ASC/AIS invited Ausdance and other elite performing industries to form the Elite Performers Lifeskills Advisors Association (EPLAA). This led to discussion about the possibility of dancers’ inclusion in the NCACE program and through a partnership between the AIS and Ausdance, a pilot program was initiated with 17 professional dancers participating in the NCACE program in 2006. While several countries - the USA, Canada, UK, Holland and Switzerland have established Dancer Transition Centres, the potential for designing a tailored dance stream within the NCACE program presented a far broader and equally beneficial means of addressing dancers’ careers and employment concerns. It was noted that any fixed expectation that a dance career starts and ends at defined points, was both imprecise and limiting. The research material inspired the question – How much richer would the working lives of these very disciplined, committed and resourceful people be, if their talents and skills could be guided towards a portfolio of other career possibilities? In 2005, the Australia Council for the Arts prioritised artists’ employment and earning capacity for strategic investment. This provided the Dance Board of the Australia Council with a timely opportunity to respond to an earlier report of Professor Throsby’s - Don’t Give Up Your Day Job, (Australia Council:2003) which revealed the low earning capacity of artists, and incorporate the new material from the IOPTD and Ausdance reports. In a major submission to the Council’s strategic initiative fund, the Dance Board successfully argued the case for investment in developing ways and means to assist the broader career development of dance artists. The Dance Board proposed that the NCACE program of the ASC be resourced to tailor the delivery of programs which would address the problems, provide guidance and create further opportunities for dance artists. In doing so, the wider community would draw value from their knowledge capital and derive a clearly discernable return. | |||||||
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