Australia in danger of becoming an ‘artless country’ as enrolments in creative courses collapse Research suggests surging costs under Morrison government’s job-ready graduate scheme and axing of dozens of subjects largely to blame

“We’re heading into, within the next five years, a real reduction in the capacities to sustain a creative and cultural workforce … There will be an enormous decline in the amount of creative and artistic activity in Australia.”

I cannot be party to silencing writers, which is why I am resigning as director of Adelaide Writers’ Week | Louise Adler Cancelling the Australian Palestinian author Randa Abdel-Fattah weakens freedom of speech and is the harbinger of a less free nation

Louise Adler has resigned

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Yes, this is what Australia is - Overland literary journal Imagine though the possibility of a response which was not horrid. Which did not demand more violence be piled up. Which led us to other ways of being together, other horizons of possible futures. Ima...

“But it’s also that this land, this beautiful Aboriginal land, was not made to hold such grief. It can, and it does, but it shouldn’t have this burden thrust upon itself.”

@jordanas.bsky.social on the logic of violence that permeates Australia.

I'd appreciate help circulating this survey, part of our overall work on neurodivergence.

This one is on behalf of the graduate deans, to develop better supervision guidelines.

You can help by boosting and circulating the link in your various networks 🙏 redcap.unisq.edu.au/surveys/?s=D...

UTAS VC to take up board appointment at accounting giant University of Tasmania boss Rufus Black will juggle a lucrative Deloitte board position with his leadership of the uni as it grapples with a $47m loss.

Given how Deloitte and other management consultant firms have inveigled themselves into university governance in Australia and internationally … this stinks

Universities have lost their way, but cost-cutting and consultants are not the answer Last week in Sydney, we saw a melodrama acted out that could stand in for the state of Australian universities more generally.

"The trouble is thinking about universities through the lens of the balance sheet has left those in charge unable to advocate for the institutions they oversee, the staff who work there, and the students they educate in terms of their contribution to society in all of its aspects."

State Library of Tasmania does great partnerships with arts festivals and contemporary artists

www.brigitaozolins.com.au/revolution-s...

‘Revive’ survives: now let’s dump the culture wars The return of the Albanese Government marks the first time in Australian history that an arts and cultural policy has survived into a next term. Gough Whitlam, renowned for the central role of the …

For the first time in Australian history, an arts and cultural policy has survived into a next term of government.
Let's keep raising the bar on what this can mean for Australia's future:
estheranatolitis.net/2025/05/08/r...

Surplus! Replanting next year plus provision for sudden urges to blow through entire heads by making roasted garlic.

Should be proud already - you are asking important and timely questions grounded by the work you are doing now. It’s the system that sucks.

Abundant vegetable beds in front of trees and under a blue sky

Using the community garden on campus as a space to find somewhere between collapse and hyperfocus screen work.

I’m in a very different campus environment - a regional campus with a mix of new builds and refurbished industrial spaces containing many open plan offices - but I do value points where the campus connects to the natural environment, and when I can be there I feel much more connected to my research.

“However, the board believes a prolonged and divisive debate… poses an unacceptable risk to public support for Australia’s artistic community and could undermine our goal of bringing Australians together through art and creativity.”

Arts leadership means leading such debate courageously.

Khaled Sabsabi dropped as Australia’s representative to Venice Biennale Amid political pressure, Creative Australia says deselecting the Lebanese-born artist will avoid ‘divisive debate’

This is a complete debacle. Hard to see how our foremost arts funding body folding on its own decision five days after the big announcement bodes anything good about the future of Australian arts.
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Getting good feedback during the academic apocalypse Lately I’ve been hearing from pissed off PhD students – both people enrolled at my university and others. The cost of living is high, higher education in Australia is in crisis and peop…

I had a bit to get off my chest in my post today: "getting good feedback during the academic apocalypse" thesiswhisperer.com/2025/02/05/g...

I’d be interest in 1 from the supervisor side: strategies for maintaining engagement with HDR students when overwhelmed by teaching load and/or burnt out (but not wanting to be That Shitty Supervisor).
And yes, 2 is always relevant.