Making Music Work
In June 2020, QCRC launched the final industry report for the ARC Linkage project Making Music Work: Sustainable Careers for Australia Musicians. Making Music Work has mapped the creative, social, cultural, and economic realities of the portfolio music career in Australia, and drawn on insights from over 600 musicians to provide a nuanced and granular understanding of their working lives, career trajectories, creative aspirations, and economic circumstances. While this research was completed prior to the COVID-19 global pandemic, its findings indicate why music has been among the first and hardest hit industries in the current health crisis, and could be among the slowest to recover. Given the timeliness of the findings, these have generated significant industry and media attention. The project website features a suite of industry outputs, which are all free to download.
Team members: Brydie-Leigh Barleet, Scott Harrison, Paul Draper, Vanessa Tomlinson, Dawn Bennett (Curtin University), Ruth Bridgstock (University of South Australia), Christina Ballico (Research Fellow).
Partners: Australia Council for the Arts, Culture and Arts (WA) - a division of the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, Create NSW, Creative Victoria, Music Trust.
Sing to Beat Parkinson’s
Recent research suggests that singing can be a beneficial adjunct therapy for people with Parkinson’s and community-based singing groups for people with Parkinson’s have been growing rapidly in a number of countries. Using a mixed-method approach to assess the health benefits of group singing, we are conducting surveys and in-depth interviews to explore physical, psychological, cognitive and social health benefits of participating in the program.
The project aims to:
- assess the effects of the singing program on quality of life, wellbeing and communication parameters of people with Parkinson’s
- compare data across four nations (Australia, China, UK and South Korea).
Team members: Don Stewart, Yoon Irons, Irene Bartlett, Melissa Forbes.
Partners: University of Southern Queensland.
Choir Facilitators: Clare Birchley, Elizabeth Lord, Elizabeth Savina.
Shadow puppets and neglected diseases: evaluating a health promotion performance
Funded through the Australia-Indonesian Institute, this project evaluates the content and effectiveness of a new health promotion program for rural Indonesia, which uses traditional shadow puppetry (wayang kulit) with added modern instrumentation, to communicate the health benefits of effective latrine use and improved hygiene and sanitation practices.
Team members: Don Stewart, Dan Bendrups, Joko Susilo, Darren Gray.
Partners: La Trobe University and Otago University.