A national drama education conference in plague times

In April 2020 the Drama Australia community were preparing to meet at the Vision 2020 National Conference to be held in Brisbane, Queensland. A little thing called the Coronavirus Pandemic intervened.

In April 2021 the same community were preparing to reconvene in Brisbane to have another go at this conference. This time it was a 3-day lockdown in Brisbane immediately before the conference was due to start. But the resilient Drama Australia community, led by Drama Queensland, pivoted to make this event an online event. A few lucky souls met in person at the QUT Conference venue but the rest of us were sitting at our computers - in my case two hours behind Brisbane (which was a strange and unnerving experience).

It is important to reflect both on the resilience of the community as well as the themes that emerged in this particular conference.

The focus on recognition of indigenous and aboriginal voices is is noticeable. In particular (though not alone in a wide program) was ‘You Can’t Be What You Can’t See’ – Representation, Diversity and being a Brown Kid in Toowoomba

by Ari Palani, La Boite Theatre. Delivered from the heart with authenticity, this keynote set a thoughtful and yet provocative tone for the conference as a whole.

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Many presentations were recorded and will be available through the Drama Queensland portal.

They are published published in the Digital library for the Conference that Drama Queensland has put together. https://www.dramaqueensland.org.au/pd/conference/

Another of the important pieces of information embedded in the Conference was a presentation from ACARA The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. A heads up for the Drama Australia community – and the whole Arts Education community, ACARA has announced a review of the Australian Curriculum :The Arts (as part of a curriculum wide review).

Information about the Review can be found at https://acara.edu.au/curriculum/curriculum-review

The Review will be carried out concurrently in all eight learning areas. The review will give a particular focus to the F–6 curriculum in order to reduce overcrowding and provide improved manageability and coherence to the curriculum for the primary years of schooling. The scale and magnitude of content refinement and reduction will not be the same across all learning areas.

There are some good news stories for Arts educators – For example

Learning in and through The Arts enables and promotes transferable knowledge, skills and dispositions seen as essential for

today’s world, 2030 and beyond.

“The potential of the arts in symphony to promote self-understanding and wellbeing and to make meaning to illuminate the advantages of viewing the world from multiple perspectives is limitless. Contemporary research, alongside multi-disciplinary and transdisciplinary arts-rich initiatives, underline that we must blur the boundaries while maintaining respect for the integrity of each arts discipline.” (Ewing, R, in More than words can say, A view of literacy through the Arts, ed. Dyson, J, NAAE, 2019)

But we should be aware of the timeline.

People interested can contact ACARA – helen.champion@acara.edu.au