The Centrality of the Artist is Key! Brilliant!

Alluring? Revive: Australia’s Cultural Policy – A Place for Every Story, A Story for Every Place. Art.

Pillar 3 – Implement regulations on managing psychosocial risks, including bullying and harassment, in the Commonwealth Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011 and work with other jurisdictions to strengthen existing work health and safety laws and guidance.

As a sexual assault survivor, member of #metoo, and a self defence instructor I am an advocate for physical and psychosocial safety and firstly want to acknowledge that since the Commonwealth released the National Cultural Policy all fifty-five recommendations of the Respect@Work Report have been fully implemented (Office for the Arts, 2024).

For over two decades I taught anti-bullying classes with the intent of keeping people physically and psychologically safe. I introduced people to the principles of deescalation, outlined what is unacceptable behaviour, what you can do about it and how you you can report it. I left Defence because of the culture. I came back with the hope of changing it. Psychosocial safety is something I am deeply passionate about from my time in Education, through to Arts and in Defence. This week the findings from the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran suicide (2024) were released and I received questions on notice for responses provided to Government in regards to what we are doing about Culture. Peoples’ psychological safety is never far from my mind, this week it is at the forefront.

Revive (2023) recognises the imperative of safeguarding artists and acknowledges the important role of artists in developing our national psyche, for social cohesion, and health and wellbeing. Artists work in a space of shared vulnerability with emotional exposure and risk-taking, often accessing and exploring sensitive parts of their identity. The nature of the arts requires analysis that recognises the tensions and complexities of the industry and provides safeguards that match (Holden, 2006)

According to Work Health and Safety Regulations (2011) REG 55A-D, a psychosocial risk arises from environment or workplace interactions or behaviours. Bullying, harassment, job demands and tasks are included. How risks are managed, including the implement of control measures (as required by regulation) are points of consideration when looking after the welfare of workers. Psychosocial risk management attempts to preserve the wellbeing of artists and create an ethically acceptable culture of respect, from due diligence and ways to report, through to reasonable care and on-going support.

The arts is self-perceived as the epitome of progressiveness and political awareness but has been existing in artificial harmony that has created normalisation of deviance within the arts industry. Recently productions have been cancelled in hope of addressing concerns about workplace culture, physical and psychosocial safety in the arts sector (QTC, 2021). Policy implementation alone cannot be relied on. Revive (2023) is robust. Commonwealth Work Health and Safety Regulations (2011) is robust. The Department of Education has rigour built in. Defence has robust frameworks. Yet people transgress standard procedures and violate established protocols. Their failure undermines great policy. Periodically, regardless of the austerity applied to policy and its implementation, culture systems are abused with behavioural dysfunction (Dept of Defence, 2023). This should not be pathologised.  Misconduct needs consequences. 

Jurisdictional collaboration is required to strengthen existing laws (Revive, 2023) and create an accountability framework for the non-compliant. Consideration ‘ought to be given’ to mandatory intimacy coordinators and mandatory annual training. Transgressions harm individuals, erode the collective integrity of the sector resulting in reputational damage. The criticality of establishing a culture of psychological safety, complete with penalties for violators cannot be understated. If policy makers, politicians and the public can make it work we will have a culture that places value on the Arts (Althaus, Ball, Bridgeman, Davis, Threlfall, 2018).  “The right of arts practitioners to be enthused and delighted by culture – a right that is explicit in Article 27 (1) of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights: ‘Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts” (cited in Althaus et al, 2018) is of primary importance  because the industry would not exist without artists, and it is imperative that we protect them (Revive, 2024).

Althaus, C., Ball, S., Bridgman P., Davis, G., Threlfall, D. 2018. The Australian Policy Handbook: A Practical Guide to Policy Making. 7th Edition Routledge.

Commonwealth of Australia, 2023. Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place – Australia’s cultural policy for the next five years. Canberra: Australian Federal Government. https://www.arts.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/national-culturalpolicy-8february2023.pdf

Commonwealth of Australia, 2024.  Progress under Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place .https://www.arts.gov.au/what-we-do/national-cultural-policy/progress-under-revive-place-every-story-story-every-place#top

Department of Defence. 2023. Accessed Aug 2024. https://www.defence.gov.au/about/strategic-planning/defence-culture-strategy-defence-culture-blueprint-program-2023 

Holden, J. 2006. Cultural Value and the Crisis of Legitimacy: Why culture needs a democratic mandate. United Kingdom. Demos.

Safe Work Australia, 2011. Model Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work. Canberra. Australia. https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/law-and-regulation/codes-practice

Queensland Theatre Company. 2021. Accessed June 23, 2024. https://queenslandtheatre.com.au/uploads/resources/Joint-Statment-commitment-to-cultural-change-1.pdf