Position Vacant at UWS: Research Associate for visual arts cultural research
Positions Vacant at UWS: A Research Associate is needed for the Centre for Cultural Research, which is located in Professor Wayne McKenna's College of Arts. What got our attention is the research project that created this Research Associate position is an Australian Research Council (ARC) funded industry "linkage" project about "contemporary arts partnership for creativity, collaboration and business engagement around Western Sydney". Further research at the ARC website shows the project's "linkage" partners are the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Penrith Regional Gallery and Casula Powerhouse.
The College of Arts is dedicated to the visual arts when its cultural researchers from the CCR score ARC dollars. Interestingly Elaine Lally, Ien Ang, Kay Anderson are not art scholars: they're cultural studies scholars ...
The suitability of the CCR researchers for this research is really beside the point. What shocks us is the blatant contradictions UWS expects us all to gloss over. UWS supports visual arts research (if the ARC will do so first with a linkage grant). But as for its own demonstrated success in producing quality arts students and staff - well that's another "unsustainable" story.
Note posted by UWS Arts 17/10/06: We apologise if we offended anyone when we posted this. We were angry at the time and regret our hasty tone. Though admittedly, it's hard to "grow up" when our own art degree at our university of choice is shortchanging us and the broader Western Sydney community of a quality art school. Growing up is "cognate" with the education you choose.
Positions Vacant at UWS: A Research Associate is needed for the Centre for Cultural Research, which is located in Professor Wayne McKenna's College of Arts. What got our attention is the research project that created this Research Associate position is an Australian Research Council (ARC) funded industry "linkage" project about "contemporary arts partnership for creativity, collaboration and business engagement around Western Sydney". Further research at the ARC website shows the project's "linkage" partners are the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Penrith Regional Gallery and Casula Powerhouse.
The College of Arts is dedicated to the visual arts when its cultural researchers from the CCR score ARC dollars. Interestingly Elaine Lally, Ien Ang, Kay Anderson are not art scholars: they're cultural studies scholars ...
The suitability of the CCR researchers for this research is really beside the point. What shocks us is the blatant contradictions UWS expects us all to gloss over. UWS supports visual arts research (if the ARC will do so first with a linkage grant). But as for its own demonstrated success in producing quality arts students and staff - well that's another "unsustainable" story.
Note posted by UWS Arts 17/10/06: We apologise if we offended anyone when we posted this. We were angry at the time and regret our hasty tone. Though admittedly, it's hard to "grow up" when our own art degree at our university of choice is shortchanging us and the broader Western Sydney community of a quality art school. Growing up is "cognate" with the education you choose.
posted by UWS Arts at 8:54 PM
9 Comments:
I was hoping you could post the details of this meeting on this blog ASAP:
Friday 13th October
Midday
BBG23, Werrington Sth
Somehow a meeting has been secured for students with the head of school, Lynette Sheridan Burns, and Wayne McKenna about what is happening to the Fine Arts and Electronic Arts programs. All are welcome. This is THE chance to raise questions and concerns. Hope to see folks there. Very sorry about late notice.
John! How did you get here ahead of me? Thanks for posting that. You rock.
To fill in the details of 'somehow'.. this meeting came about after 10 or so current students crashed the opening of UWS stunning new sculpture prize at Campbelltown campus last Friday.
I say crashed, but I really mean loitered outside, since security somehow anticipated our arrival... Nonetheless we hung around and fliered, and managed to get the attention of a couple of Wayne's sub-minions. We were skeptical when they promised us a meeting, but damn. I'm sorry to leave you uncredited, sub-minions. You are beholden to corrupt powers but you kept your word.
Special thanks to Ana Carter for diligent minion-badgering, Icon Man for being a standup attention-getting guy, and to all in the car pool for believing. Solidarity, peoples.
Incidentally, the Wayne-ling's email pointed out that BBG23 is quite a small room, and so perhaps 12 student attending would be appropriate - personally I take that to mean showing up in numbers and making it politely and quietly clear that we are very fucking concerned about the future of our art school. (perhaps in a Powerpoint presentation?.. you gotta speak their language after all)
If you have the time, please do come along.
Buy the way, did you set up this blog? You fucking rock big time, charlie.
Yes and two members of the Fine Arts staff are on the Artists side of this project and will form part of the primary material of these peoples research.Would the college care or even acknowledge this ? or use it as a marketing opportunity ? Not.
The Artists in question are participating in the C3 west project at the MCA's invitation because of their real world art practice...an irony isnt it.
I have sympathy for the plight of the College of Arts (as I do for the many similar departments in universities across the country), but dissing the quality and credibility of senior academics in cognate disciplines is hardly the way to win yourself support.
I agree with 'Anonymous 9.04am'. This post reflects the same lack of generosity and tribalism that causes art schools to get shut down in the first place. Grow up people and stay focussed on the task at hand!!
These academics are really good people and deserve better treatment from you. They should not be the object of your misguided and ill-informed assessments of who has credibility and who doesn't. Going out and attacking them on a blog isn't really very courageous.
This is a substantial issue. You need the protest to have some basic credibility. Dissing other good academic researchers is not a good look and you need them on side. not off side. Annoyed by this post!!
So you are saying that Art Schools suffer from tribalism and a lack of generosity are you ? Give me a break...and thats your explanation for whats causing the problem. What a genius.
You might be a little more thicked skinned and generous yourself, given the priveledged position you occupy. You sound like a real neo-colonialist cop, chipping off the children.
I would suggest too you the tribalism and lack of generosity you talk of is coming from other quarters.
And if you are any kind of researcher or academic you will know that this is not why artschools are being shut down in this country.
yes, sometimes, evidenced= this post, which attacks colleagues in other areas of the university. look, i am sensitive to the problem here, I just think attacking other academics (who have nothing to do with this) is a pretty poor way to try and raise some sympathy for the cause.
And, the post said "(the researchers) have no demonstrated knowledge of the visual arts in terms of their research output". I'd suggest there is substantial evidence these academics have a solid background in cultural research, which is why they were successful in getting this (peer assessed) ARC grant in the first place. Are we saying that only artists can undertake research into cultural/arts institutions? Ah, gimme a break! Direct your angst towards the right people.
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