Artist acaemics: Performing the Australian research agenda

Abstract

Despite the recent focus on creativity and innovation as the backbone of Western knowledge economies, the presence of the creative arts within universities remains problematic. Australian artist academics, who seek a balance between their artistic and academic lives, work within a government-directed research environment that is unable to quantify and, therefore to recognize, the value of creative research, yet which accepts the funded outcomes of post-graduate practice-based students. Using interview methodology, this study sought to unravel how artist academics from a variety of non-written creative disciplines perceive the relationships between their roles as artists, researchers and tertiary educators. Central to the discussions was the question of whether and how creative work constitutes legitimate research. Although this is an Australian case study, the findings have relevance to artist academics in many settings.