Industry Briefing - recording with Auslan interpretation

Over 100 artists and arts workers registered for the Creating Out Loud Industry Briefing on 14 July 2022, co-hosted by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA), Theatre Network Australia (TNA), and Dr Kate Power.

Creating Out Loud was officially launched at this Auslan-interpreted briefing, which included a description of the program and the research underpinning it, as well as testimonials from arts professionals who took part in the research.

Creating Out Loud is a peer coaching program designed with and for Australia's arts and culture sector. Like traditional mentoring – which is a well-established form of professional development in the arts – peer coaching relies on courageous conversations, based on a desire to learn and genuine interest in other people. Australia has several excellent traditional mentoring programs. But these are resource-intensive to run – and, as a result, can be difficult to access. By contrast, peer coaching “circles” are low-cost, and available to anyone who wants to participate.

All of the Creating Out Loud program materials are freely available online and can be downloaded from the project website, by independent artists or arts companies who are looking for new approaches to knowledge-sharing, collaboration, and mutual support. These include:

• Introductory videos,
• Visually accessible Discussion Guides,
• Single-page versions of each guide,
• A Facilitator Guide, and
• Slide decks for running peer coaching circles online.

Dr Power hopes that governments and peak bodies will follow TNA’s lead in curating circles that connect people across the sector – particularly independent artists. Arts companies can help connect staff from different teams, by enabling the voluntary formation of in-house circles, and people whose job type means they often work alone within their company can form circles with people in similar job types at other companies. Independent artists can also use the program like a book club, getting together with people they already know.