RISKY BUSINESS SYMPOSIUM:

'The creative arts as an intervention activity for young people at risk'

Thursday, Friday, Saturday 20-22 October 2005

Symposium Program (17.10.05 version)
[pdf]

Symposium Information
[pdf]

A Conference at The University of Melbourne (School of Creative Arts, Department of Criminology and Department of Language, Literacy and Arts Education).

The Risky Business research project is a cross-disciplinary investigation of creative arts as an intervention and diversionary activity for young socially marginalised people in urban and rural communities. The Risky Business Symposium came out of this investigation and focused on youth and the arts and the notion of ‘risk taking’ in arts practice in the institutional and broad community contexts.


Themes discussed included:

• Youth culture and notions of risk in contemporary society
• Intervention or prevention? Arts and socially marginalised youth
• Challenges for research with high risk youth: methodological approaches
• Social inclusion/exclusion: marginalised youth, arts and community resources
• Different art forms and practices, diverse outcomes
• The role of the community artist and mentor
• Models of effective arts practices
• Arts, risk and well-being
• Social difference: Gender, sexuality and cultural identity
• Inside and Outside: Arts, high risk youth and juvenile justice

Presentations covered a wide range of disciplines: creative arts, cultural studies, sociology, education, criminology, mental health, community arts, and other relevant areas.

Modes of presentation included papers, panels and performance workshops. Electronic presentations from the Symposium will be available on this site in February 2006.

A refereed publication will be produced from the Symposium to be in print by mid to late 2006.

Symposium Venue:

The University of Melbourne
The Open Stage
School of Creative Arts
Corner of Swanston & Grattan Streets
Parkville, Victoria
Australia

Keynote Speakers

1. Shirley Brice Heath

Shirley Brice Heath is a Brown University Professor-at-Large and a Visiting Professor at the Watson Institute. She is the Director of Creative Partnerships, an international enquiry network, and Margery Bailey Professor of English and Dramatic Literature and Professor of Linguistics, Emerita, Stanford University . Shirley is a linguistic anthropologist whose research centres on the out-of-school lives of young people in subordinated communities. Key themes in her work have been adolescents’ own language and symbolic representations of themselves, as well as their leadership and initiative in identifying and solving what they see as community problems. She is widely known for her work with young people as co-researchers in the townships of Johannesburg , South Africa , as well as economically disadvantaged communities of the United States . Her primary research since 1987 has been with young people in under-resourced neighbourhoods who learn entrepreneurial and community-building skills as they help create and sustain positive learning environments that contribute local cultural and economic resources. Her special interest in this work is documenting organisational structures and communication practices that surround everyday learning and progression in complex task achievement.

Shirley is the co-editor with James Flood and Diane Lapp of Handbook for Literacy Educators: Research in the Visual and Communicative Arts. She is also the author of six other books and more than 100 other publications including book chapters, articles, and papers. She directed the documentary video, ArtShow, which details for four youth-based arts organizations (in New York, Boston and rural communities of Kentucky and northern California) the ways in which young people defy the public perception of youth as vulnerable, apathetic, and disengaged from productive challenge.

2. Risky Business Research Team

The Risky Business research brings together three areas of expertise and interest: creative arts, education and criminology. Speaking will be Associate Professor Angela O'Brien, Dr Kate Donelan and Kiersten Coulter. Associate Professor Angela O'Brien was foundation Head of the School of Creative Arts at the University of Melbourne from 1995-2004. From 1985 to 1994 she was involved in drama education. Her research interests are in the social impact of the arts and Australian theatre. She is currently co-Chief investigator with Kate Donelan on two arts based projects with marginalised young people. Dr Kate Donelan is Head of Drama and Deputy Head of the Department of Language, Literacy and Arts Education at the University of Melbourne . She was the Vice President of IDEA and a former President of NADIE, Drama Australia . Her doctoral research is an ethnographic study of intercultural education through drama and the performing arts. Kiersten Coulter is a social science researcher based in the Department of Criminology at the University of Melbourne . Her doctoral research with The Risky Business Project explores the implications of gender and diversity (for both young men and young women) on young adult ‘high risk’ offenders engagement with arts-based programs in custodial and transitional contexts. Her research background includes a growing portfolio in the area of criminology and the arts.

Background to Symposium

The symposium was the culmination of the Risky Business research project, an interdisciplinary study of the use of the creative arts as an intervention for young people at risk. The research findings will be outlined in this international forum that brings together researchers in relevant disciplines.

Over the period of the Risky Business research project, ten creative arts programs were established and investigated in three broad geographical areas in Victoria, Australia: Footscray and Parkville, Melbourne inner suburbs; Dandenong, an outer suburb in south-east Melbourne; and Bendigo, a regional town north of Melbourne. Each of these areas has a low socio-economic profile, moderate to high unemployment and a high proportion of marginalised youth exhibiting a complex combination of risk factors.

The Risky Business arts based programs ran between three and twenty weeks and operated in partnership with local youth service providers and juvenile justice centres. Young people were recruited through the partner youth support agencies and participation was voluntary and flexible. Young people participating in the programs became artists in training with the opportunity to develop a range of arts based skills through experiential workshops. The arts programs were based around participation in creative writing, music, visual and performing arts programs led by professional community artists. All programs culminated in a publication, public performance or exhibition.

The Risky Business Research Project is an ARC Linkage project.

Presenter Information

Deadline for Abstracts: 15 May 2005 (entries closed)
Notification of acceptance of conference papers: July 2005
Deadline for submission to refereed publication is 30 January 2006

Original Call for Papers document [doc]

Contact details

For further information please contact:

Tim Stitz, +61 (0)3 8344 9039 or tstitz [at] unimelb.edu.au

The Risky Business Symposium is proudly supported by