Researching Cultures in Sydney’s West

1. Researching Culturesin Sydney’s West Elaine Lally Centre for Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney

2. Greater Western Sydney • 45% of Sydney’s population • Nearly 10% of national population • 14 local government areas • 6 campuses of UWS

3. University of Western Sydney • Third largest economy nationally • Culturally diverse, more than 100 nationalities • World Heritage Blue Mountains region, Olympic venues, sitesof indigenous and colonial heritage • Mission linked to the development of the region -- a ‘university of the people’

4. Centre for Cultural Research • Flagship university research centre within the College of Arts • aims to address the cultural challenges and contradictions of a 21st century world that is increasingly globalised, diverse and technologically mediated. • Key to research mission is collaboration -- with (not on) communities and organisations, generating new knowledge in context, focussing on problem-solving. • Intersection of Cultural Studies with Anthropology, Geography, History, Sociology

5. Profile • over 50 research projects during the last three years • many funded by highly competitive grants from the Australian Research Council • Research training through conventional thesis-based Masters and Doctorates, plus professional Doctor of Cultural Research and Doctor of Creative Arts degrees • Regularly hosts visiting international scholars for seminars and conferences as well as longer visits

6. Framing contexts • culture as a vital dimension of social, political and economic life in: • communities - intercultural and intercommunal relations, global movements, transnational experiences, and diasporic identities • environments - natural and human worlds, politics of sustainability, new technologies • media - contemporary communications and forms of representation, new modes of mediated citizenship • institutions - governance, policy and practice, esp. in cultural and creative organisations, cultural labour & economy • cities - local-global relations in urban environments, cultural planning and development, social & political dynamics of everyday life.

7. Current and recent projects • Hot Science, Global Citizens: The agency of the museum sector in climate change debates • City After Dark: Governance & lived experience of urban night-time culture • Struggling for Possession: Control and use of online media sport • Digital Storytelling: Urban narratives of migration and sustainability of community media in western Sydney • Universal Design and Cultural Context: Accessibility, diversity and recreational space in Penrith • Cross-cultural 'larrikins' in a Neo-liberal world: ideology and myth in postmodern Australia, Mexico and Brazil • Culture Circuits: Exploring the international networks and institutions shaping contemporary cultural policy • Cultural Research for the 21st Century: Building cultural intelligence for a complex world • Complexity in the interface between telecommunications service providers and consumers

8. People • Five professors: • David Rowe (Director) • Ien Ang (Distinguished Professor, Founding Director) • Kay Anderson • Bob Hodge • Meaghan Morris (half-yearly) • From 2010, Tony Bennett

9. School-based researchers • School of Humanities and Languages • Brett Neilson, Greg Noble, George Morgan, James Arvanitakis, Judith Snodgrass, Adrian Carton • School of Communication Arts • Juan Salazar, Hart Cohen, Kaye Shumack, Virginia Nightingale • School of Education • Megan Watkins • School of Social Sciences • Deborah Stevenson, Robyn Bushell, Russell Staiff, Stephen Tomsen

10. Research fellows, project staff, others • Research fellows • Elaine Lally (SRF & Assistant Director), Fiona Cameron, Fiona Allon (APDI), Cristina Rocha (APD), Cameron McAuliffe, Greg Young • Project based staff • casual and contract appointments, approx. 20-30 (?) • Adjunct fellows • Helen Armstrong, Ned Rossiter, Zoë Sofoulis, Andre Frankovits • Administrative team • Maree O’Neill, Tulika Dubey, Wayne Peake, Christy Nguy, Victor Rahman

11. Elaine Lally • With UWS since 1997 • Assistant Director of CCR since 2001 • Background in IT, Anthropology, Cultural Studies • PhD on computers in the home (At Home with Computers, Berg 2002) • Current research across cultural aspects of IT, cultural policy and administration

12. http://www.culturalatlas.net.au

15. Collaborative approach • Not a centralised repository • An infrastructure to ‘plug in to’ • Not just one point of view -- ‘official’ and ‘alternative’ perspectives • Story-telling as a local policy and cultural development tool • Attribution of origin always clear • Development of partnerships -- ICE, WSROC, local councils, other community-based organisations

18. Art of Engagement -- arts-business collaboration • Partnership between MCA, Casula Powerhouse, Penrith Regional Gallery • Customised arts activities through cultural brokerage (Jock McQueenie) • Three commercial partners -- Panthers, SITA, Hammond Care • Nine artists -- international, national, regional • 3Cs -- culture, community, commerce

19. Our research project • Ethnography of the C3 West initiative • Focussing on: • Collaboration • Multi-disciplinarity and brokerage • Inter-institutional negotiations and temporalities • Contemporary visual artists and innovation • Networks and assemblages

20. Thank you