What do you think the Arts in South Australia will look like in the year 2055?
I am writing to invite you to join me and a wide range of artists and arts workers from every facet of the South Australian arts community to gather for two days in November to begin an historic conversation.
At present South Australia has no overarching arts or cultural policy; no deeper, long-term vision guiding our political leaders in the development and implementation of immediate to short-term creative sector policies, and no bipartisan agreement about the core cultural values we hold to be true as a society.
It is some 40 years since Don Dunstan first began to make his mark on South Australia. It is incredible to consider what impact one man’s vision and passion can have for a society, flowing out across so many years.
AICSA believes the time has come to once again dream big dreams: to stop, to come together and to articulate the deeply held, often intuitive impulses, of our own hopes and visions, and to provide the space for a collective imagining that will bring tangible shape and form to the most elemental hopes for our society as we look to the next 40 years.
While AICSA wants this vision to be independent, driven by the arts sector itself, crucially we have the support of the Department of State Development, which has provided funds towards this process. It is of tremendous importance that we all come together as individuals, companies and stakeholders.
Join us on 5 & 6 November, 9am-5pm at the Adelaide Town Hall for what promises to be a transformative forum. Using the process of Open Space Technology and facilitated by Nick Sweeting from London’s acclaimed theatre company Improbable, this unique event aims to give voice to South Australia’s passionate and committed cultural constituency. Open Space gives everyone the chance to discuss, debate and challenge the issues that are important to you; the agenda is set by you and you decide which sessions to attend.
Although Open Space may be new to you, it has been used successfully all over the world. It is an exciting open-ended event that enables a self-organising group to use its collective imagination to deal with complex issues and it will achieve this in an incredibly short space of time. By the end of the event the following will have occurred:
- Every issue of concern to anybody will have been raised, if they took responsibility for doing that.
- All issues will have received full discussion, to the extent desired.
- A full report of issues and discussions will be in the hands of all participants.
- And YOU will have taken part in making it happen.
The two day event will include catered lunch each day to allow for a focused and productive event. RSVP here by 1 November and please pass on this invitation to your associates and colleagues.
Note: 50 subsidised places have been made available to independent and low income artists and arts workers, and final year AC Arts students, with financial support from Arts SA. For further information and to apply, click here.
We look forward to November and the ensuing 40 years!
Best wishes,
Gail Kovatseff (Chair) and Executive Committee
Arts Industry Council of SA