Staff Profiles

Research focuses on sustainable professional practice for the creative workforce, with a special emphasis on the effectiveness of related education, training and policy. Areas of interest include:

• The effectiveness of initial and lifelong education and training in preparing and supporting cultural practitioners in their pursuit of sustainable careers

• The working lives of creative practitioners
• Artist academics and the impact of ERA

• The structure of the cultural/creative industries and associated labour market

• Perceptions of self-identity and ‘success’ amongst creative practitioners and artists working in academia.

• The culture of the orchestral workplace

• Gendered music careers

The role of arts and culture in attracting and retaining creative capital

This project represents an innovative exploration of the role of culture and the arts in attracting and retaining creative capital. Drawing on a range of social and economic contexts, the study is working with city organisations including the Committee for Perth to analyse push and pull factors relating to the creative industries workforce and, in broader terms, creative and innovative thinkers. The study will provide theoretical and empirical insights into the cultural fabric of three cities and, thus, the basis for more effective policy in the arts and cultural development.

Excellence in Research for Australia: impacts and implications for creative and traditional research activities among artist academics

Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) incorporates four categories of creative research output. Thus, creative research has become integral to the research profile of Australian universities. Whilst this has obvious benefits, it also presents considerable challenges for academics whose creative practice has long been ignored as legitimate research. This project will investigate the complex relationships between the artist, research and epistemological formation within both traditional and creative research paradigms. The results will guide the development of effective strategies for analysing and communicating the theoretical basis, originality and significance of creative work. This study forms part of a collaboration with the University of Western Sydney.

Identities and destinations: International survey of music students

This project will investigate the prior history, expectations, sources of feedback, and identities, of incoming tertiary music students in a number of musical genres. The study encompasses music schools in the UK, US and Australia, and is a collaboration between the Royal College of Music (UK), Curtin University of Technology, WAAPA, Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, and McNally Smith College of Music (Minnesota).

Identity development among undergraduate performing arts students

Identity development is a continuous process framed within changing social contexts, and it is particularly problematic for musicians and other artists whose work contradicts the mythologised image of the artist. This study examines the professional growth of performing arts students in relation to developing professional identities that are open to the many facets of artistic careers. This study is conducted in collaboration with the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.

Choosing the unstable: Dancing through mid-career

Dance artists are required to build portfolio careers in order to generate a sustainable livelihood; however choosing this career path is in reality a choice for instability. The instability is largely impervious to stature, expertise and track record; hence it is a lifelong challenge.  The mid-career experience in dance further heightens instability with increasing demands of family and social pressures and the realities of  aging physicality.  This project takes an inside look at the strategies and coping mechanisms of dance arists currently negotiating mid-career crisis and aims to reveal the realities and difficulties faced during this time and the challenges to both personal and professional identity. Co-CI: Jo Pollitt.

Suggested topics for Future Students

Opportunities exist for Australian and international honours, Masters and doctoral students connected to the above projects, including:

• Creative industries and economies: regional creative mapping, the careers of specialist and embedded creatives, studies in creative capital, migration of specialist creatives, and related policy and legislation;
• Research into the arts in academia: Graduate pathways, academic careers, practice-led research, curricular reform;
• Identity development: The development of professional identities, including teacher identities among undergraduate arts students and graduate education students; and
• Careers in music and dance.

2009    Exceptional Research Performance Award

2007    Callaway Doctoral Award

2003    Best Practice Teaching and Learning Award

2000    Vice-Chancellor’s Award for community service

Books (Authored, Research)

• Bennett, D. 2008. Understanding the classical music profession: the past, the present and strategies for the future. Oxon, UK: Ashgate.

Book Chapters (Authored, Research Quality)

• Bennett, D. 2009. Creativity and ‘new’ careers. What can we learn from the creative industries?. In People, place and power: Australia and the Asia Pacific, eds Bennett, D., Earnest, J., & Tanji, M., 45-56. Perth: Black Swan Press.
• Stanberg, A, and Bennett, D. 2008. Musicians as teachers: Fostering a positive view. In Inside outside upside down: Conservatoire training and musicians' work, eds Dawn Bennett and Michael Hannan, 11-22. Perth: Black Swan Press.
• Bennett, D. 2008. Portfolio careers and the conservatoire. In Inside outside upside down: Conservatoire training and musicians' work, eds Dawn Bennett and Michael Hannan, 61-72. Perth: Black Swan Press.

Refereed Articles (Scholarly Journals)

• Bennett, D. 2012. Rethinking Success: Music in Higher Education. International Journal of the Humanities 5: 181-188.
• Genoni, P, Haddow, G, and Bennett, D. 2011. FoR Codes pendulum: Publishing choices within Australian research assessment. Australian Universities Review 2: 88-98.
• Blom, D, Bennett, D, and Wright, D. 2011. How artists working in academia view artistic practice as research: Implications for tertiary music education. International Journal of Music Education 29(4): 359-373.
• Bennett, D. 2011. Making and managing knowledge in the 'new' humanities: An Australian experience. International Journal of the Humanities 9(1): 237-244.
• Bennett, D. 2010. Creative Migration: a Western Australian case study of creative artists. Australian Geographer 41(1): 117-128.
• Bennett, D. 2010. Shifting the cantus firmus: Australian music educators and the ERA. Australian Journal of Music Education 1: 25-34.
• Blom, D, Wright, D, and Bennett, D. 2010. The interface between arts practice and research: Attitudes and perceptions of Australian artist-academics. Higher Education Research and Development 29(4): 461-473.
• Blom, D, Bennett, D, and Wright, D. 2010. The artistic practice-research-teaching (ART) nexus: Translating the information flow. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice 7(2).
• Bennett, D. 2010. State of play: Live original music venues in Western Australia. Perfect Beat: The Pacific Journal for Research into Contemporary Music and Popular Culture 11(1): 49-66.
• Bennett, D, and Ballico, C. 2010. The tyranny of distance: Viability and relevance in regional live music performance. UNESCO Observatory Refereed E-Journal, Multi-Disiplinary Research in the Arts 5.
• Bennett, D. 2009. Academy and the real world: Developing realistic notions of career in the performing arts. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 8(3): 309-327.
• Wright, D, Bennett, D, and Blom, D. 2009. Artist acaemics: Performing the Australian research agenda. International Journal of Education and the Arts 10(17).
• Bennett, D. 2009. Careers in dance: Beyond performance to the real world of work. Journal of Dance Education 9(1): 27-34.
• Bennett, D. 2008. A gendered study of the working patterns of classical musicians: implications for practice. International Journal of Music Education 26(1): 89-100.
• Moore, P, and Bennett, D. 2008. Careers and contingencies: Constructing careers in the music and building industries. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences 3: 267-274.
• Bennett, D. 2008. Dancer or dance artist? Dance careers and identity. The International Journal of the Arts in Society 3(3): 73-77.
• Bennett, D. 2007. Utopia for music performance graduates. Is it achievable, and how should it be defined?. British Journal of Music Education 24(2): 179-189.
• Bennett, D, and Stanberg, A. 2006. Musicians as teachers: Developing a positive view through collaborative learning partnerships. International Journal of Music Education 26(3): 219-231.
• Bennett, D. 2006. Creative artists or cultural practitioners? Holistic practice in Australia's cultural industries. Journal of Australian Studies 90: 147-158.
• Bennett, D. 2004. Peas in a cultural pod? A comparison of the skills and personal attributes of artists and musicians. Australian Journal of Music Education 2004(1): 53-60.
• Bennett, D. 2003. Watch this space! Developing a music/education partnership. The Knowledge Tree 4(1).

Fully written papers (Refereed Conference proceedings)

• Bennett, D, Fitzgerald, S, and Rainnie, A. 2011. ALL CITIES ARE DIFFERENT: Moving creative workforce research forward to a new specificity. State of Australian Cities National Conference 2011, 29/11/2011. Melbourne: State of Australian Cities Conference 2011.
• Blom, D, Bennett, D, and Wright, D. 2010. Arts practice as a site of knowledge/research: An Australian perspective of the artist in academia. International Society for Music Education 29th World Conference, 01/08/2010. Beijing: International Society for Music Education.
• Bennett, D. 2010. Creative and educational spaces: The musician in higher education. 18th Seminar of the ISME World Commission for the Education of the Professional Musician, 27/07/2010. Shanghai: International Society for Music Education.
• Bennett, D. 2009. Creative ex-pats: Globalisation and creative communities. State of Australian Cities National Conference 2009, 24/11/2009. UWA, Perth: Promaco Conventions Pty Ltd.
• Bennett, D. 2009. Developing teacher identity among music performance students. XXXIst ANZARME Annual Conference and the 1st Conference of the Music Educators Research Centre (MERC) Music Education Research Conference, 03/07/2009. Akaroa, New Zealand: Monash University.
• Blom, D, Wright, D, and Bennett, D. 2009. Modulations of different kind: An Australian study of artists in academia. Music modulations 09, 06/07/2010. Christchurch: Music Education New Zealand Aotearoa.
• Bennett, D. 2008. Identity as a catalyst for success. 17th international seminar of the Commission for the Education of the Professional Musician, 15/07/2008. Spilamberto, Italy: International Society for Music Education.
• Blom, D, Wright, D, and Bennett, D. 2008. The artist as academic: Arts practice as a site of knowledge. 17th international seminar of the Commission for the Education of the Professional Musician, 15/07/2008. Spilamberto, Italy: International Society for Music Education.
• Blom, D, Wright, D, and Bennett, D. 2008. The artist as academic: Arts practice as research/ as a site of knowledge. XXXth annual conference of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Research in Music Education, 05/10/2008. Melbourne: Monash University.
• Stanberg, A, and Bennett, D. 2007. Musicians as teachers: Fostering a positive view. 16th International Seminar of the Commission for the Education of the Professional Musician (CEPROM), 02/07/2007. Hanoi, Vietnam: International Society for Music Education.
• Bennett, D. 2007. Musicians' skills and attributes: Implications for education. 16th International Seminar of the Commission for the Education of the Professional Musician (CEPROM), 02/07/2007. Hanoi, Vietnam: International Society for Music Education.
• Bennett, D. 2007. Not as we thought: Transitions into the orchestral workplace. Celebrating Musical Communities (Australian Society for Music Education XVI National Conference), 06/07/2007. Perth: Australian Society for Music Education Inc. (WA Chapter).
• Bennett, D. 2006. Musotopia. Is it achievable for music graduates?. The Reflective Conservatoire: An international Conference, 16/02/2006. Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London: Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London.
• Bennett, D, and Stanberg, A. 2006. Performing a metamorphosis: a teaching performer or performing teacher?. The Reflective Conservatoire: Sorcerers and Apprentices?, 16/02/2006. Guildhall School of Music and Drama: Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London.

Major Creative Works

• Bennett, D. 2007. Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra: Live 2. England: Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra.
• Bennett, D. 1995. Dream children: orchestral lullabies for sleep and relaxation. Adelaide: Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Group Exhibition of Creative Works

• Bennett, D. 2006. Juniper Chamber Orchestra Inaugural Concert. Perth: Juniper Chamber Orchestra.
• Bennett, D. 1996. Graeme Koehne: Powerhouse; Three Poems of Bryon; Capriccio; Nocturnes Nos. 1 & 2; Unchained Melody. Sydney: ABC Classics.