Drama Tuesday - Antidote

Drama Australia National Conference June 2-3 2023, Newcastle. University of Newcastle

 Excited to be at the Opening of Antidote the 2023 Drama Australia  Conference at University of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia. Conference Director Christine Hayton (also an IDEA Elected Officer and member of the Drama Australia Board) welcoming us to the University of Newcastle. 

It’s wonderful to be back face to face. Last  time we were physically together was in Melbourne November 2018. A long time between drinks. So excited to be with colleagues and friends. 

The UON building is located on Hunter Street in downtown Newcastle. So many rich experiences to think about from a live  in-person conference. 

Day 1 Bookended by thinking about Popular Entertainment

The Opening Keynote by Associate Professor Gillian Arrighi (UNSW) posed the question:  What is it with Popular Entertainments? Researcher on Australian popular culture with a focus on the Victoria Theatre in Newcastle, the keynote challenged drama educators to think about why drama curricula give precedence to Western European legitimised theatre over the popular entertainments of music hall, magicians, singers, tap dancers  and animal shows. Gillian shared with us provocations from her course with students where they were required to research responses to exploring what popular entertainment offer to drama educators. 

The end of the day was a reception at the Victoria Theatre in Newcastle where we were regaled with popular entertainments and plied with wonderful food and drink. The entertainments were provided by Anna Gambrill (they/them) aka King Chad Love is a Sydney-based Drag King, Joel Howlett, Magician and a bevy of others including conference attendees. Much joviality and fun. 

I was entranced by the Victoria Theatre and will write another post about the experience. 

There’s more information on the Victoria Theatre available at https://www.victoriatheatre.com.au/home .

Celebrating and thanking

Drama Australia owes a huge debt of thanks to Christine Hatton and Kelly Young, Conference Directors. Thank you. Also, it is important to say that DA Board members were everywhere introducing papers and speakers, corralling the cats, making sure everyone had a good time. 

It was also a privilege to witness Christine’s paper (with Amy Gill) Reclaiming our estranged youth: Drama as  a remedy for fractured belonging. Moving. 

Drama Australia President’s Award

Colleen Roche

Congratulations to Colleen Roche, former President of Drama NSW and Drama Australia who is the 2023 recipient of the Drama Australia President’s Award in recognition for service to drama education. Colleen also serves on the IDEA Executive Council. 

Thinking about Conferences Post-COVID-19.

Being in a live conference also set me thinking about how things have changed and are changing. When NADIE (which preceded Drama Australia) was founded its charter was to run national conferences in all of the states of Australia. In 2023, Drama Australia faced a dilemma: the hosts of the conference signalled early in 2023 that they were feeling overwhelmed at  the prospect of hosting and Christine Hatton and the DA board stepped into the breach and took on the role. I am reminded of Liz’s experience with ANATS, the singing Teacher Association, whose National Board took on a similar tole when a conference was held in Hobart, Tasmania and the local association was very few in numbers.

Presenting IDEA book on behalf of IDEA President Sanja Krsmanović Tasić to Drama New Zealand President Annette Thomson and Jo Raphael, DA President

Is the prospect of running a national conference too overwhelming for stretched and hard working drama teachers? At an international level, is there a similar dilemma for IDEA? The financial, organisational and personal cost of running conferences is dauntingly huge. There’s also a changing climate of support from schools and universities about attending conferences (Registration for this 2 day event was $450.00; we were well fed and looked after but cost is still an issue). And, the issue of providing hybrid and on-line versions enters the frame. Interestingly, the decision for this conference was to not offer an online option [IDEA2022 Congress convenors also wanted that Congress to be mainly in person and had limited online offerings]. 

Is the day of the full conference experience over? 

Are we recalibrating the model of unperson sharing of practice and research?

Following a similar train of thought, it is also important to think about digital publishing. This Conference had online program – but  did not take the step into the conference app world where everything is online (which ANATS has done using Whova). 

There will be made available a collection of artefacts from the conference, from papers, etc. 

Is it time to take the step further? The world is changing.

Small enthusiastic contingent from Perth. Brooke, Felicity and Jess. 

Questions to be thought about for the next Conference – a joint Drama New Zealand and Drama Australia Conference in September 2024. 

So many other observations to make. 

More to write and think about.

For now, safely home (through a rain bomb over Perth Airport).