In the final week of the election campaign, we checked in with leading thinkers and advocates to assess competing visions for Australia’s future. What arts and cultural policy announcements have been made? What’s missing, what’s urgently needed, and what can we achieve before election day? Guest moderator Esther Anatolitis and panellists Joshua Lowe from Theatre Networks Australia, Angela Flynn from Ilbijerri Theatre, writer Lauren Carroll Harris, Arts Manager Jeremy Smith and Artist and Facilitator, Paul […]

The Budget is out and a federal election imminent, so how do we as a community get arts and culture onto the political radar? The impacts of the pandemic are far from over for our sector, but the Budget plans to wind down COVID recovery initiatives. We continue to demonstrate the huge public value arts and culture bring to Australia, but that evidence and value continues to be misunderstood or ignored. After nearly a decade […]

The Budget is out and a federal election imminent, so how do we as a community get arts and culture onto the political radar? The impacts of the pandemic are far from over for our sector, but the Budget plans to wind down COVID recovery initiatives. We continue to demonstrate the huge public value arts and culture bring to Australia, but that evidence and value continues to be misunderstood or ignored. What steps can we […]

Making Space for Culture: How the city’s cultural and property sectors can help solve the creative space shortage A significant decline in available space for the cultural and creative industries is one of the biggest challenges to cities across the world. Sydney is no exception: we are rapidly losing our creative spaces, pushing the creative economy out of the property market or out of the city altogether. Between 2012 and 2017, the City of Sydney […]

Kate Fielding CEO of A New Approach – Australia’s leading arts and culture think tank – unpacked ANA’s latest research and discuss ways the arts and cultural industries can prepare for the upcoming Federal Election. The Next Generation of Voters report provides current insights into the attitudes and beliefs held by ‘young middle Australians’ towards arts and cultural engagement and the role it plays in their lives. It includes the findings of a national focus […]

As we readjust to life without lockdown and ever changing roadmaps, we’re exploring what re-opening looks like for the cultural sector. Join us for a discussion featuring insights from Patternmakers Audience Outlook Monitor research, essential data to the sector’s decision making about planning and programming live events. Join Tandi Palmer Williams of Patternmakers, Jess Cook of 107 Projects and Helen O’Neil, Creative Industries adviser: Performing Arts Connections; Cultural Facilities Corporation; SE Arts as they present the […]

Innovation and creativity go hand in hand, especially in the realm of arts and culture.
Creativity needs to be constantly shape-shifting to ensure the work produced by artists remains compelling and relevant. Join four of NSW’s leading voices in arts and disability, as they explore how people with disability are changing the culture of creativity. Discover their exciting new approaches and projects as well as those of other local and international practitioners. Find out about the latest research around creative accessibility for artists and audiences with disability.

The last year has seen all of us move more of our lives online with an increased sense of urgency surrounding what the digital can provide. As arts workers and artists we all have different levels of digital maturity, this panel focuses on digital wayfinding within this often seemingly complex space.  What possibilities does the digital environment present for creating more accessible and inclusive spaces? How does digital literacy and access to technology bridge geographical […]

The Support Act Wellbeing Helpline is a free, confidential phone counselling service, available 24/7 to anyone anywhere in Australia who works in the performing arts, or other creative industries. https://artswellbeingcollective.com.au/resources/support-act-wellbeing-helpline/ If you are looking for some ideas to help improve resilience or anxiety have a look at SAMAG’s past event, SAMAG Webinar: Finding resilience in the Arts in a time of uncertainty Our panel Dr Jackie Bailey, Dr Katherine Boydell, Lyn Worsley & Eugenie Lee as we […]

SAMAG presents our NAIDOC 2021 event, a celebration of the recent First Nations appointments to Sydney’s major cultural institutions. The arts and cultural sector is embracing a long-awaited shift towards more Indigenous leadership, with some of the country’s most important cultural institutions creating dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander positions. This step change is elevating the significance of First Nations culture within our museums, galleries and venues, and ensuring leadership to develop policies, strategies and […]