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Con researchers awarded ARC grants

10 November 2017
Understanding how music influences society and politics
New funding from the Australian Research Council will enable researchers to better understand music in historical and social contexts.

Congratulations to Sydney Conservatorium of Music researchers Professor Linda Barwick (Associate Dean - Research and Indigenous Strategy) and Dr Catherine Ingram (Postdoctoral Research Fellow), who have secured grants from the Australian Research Council totalling $700,000. The University of Sydney has been awarded three of the five ARC grants for studies in creative arts and writing, two at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Discovery Project ($524,485 over three years)

Professor Linda Barwick

Professor Linda Barwick

Awarded to Professor Linda Barwick and her team for their work on reclaiming Indigenous performance under Assimilation in southeast Australia, 1935-75. This project aims to reframe a period of Australian history, the Assimilation era (1935-1975), to demonstrate the active intervention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders people in public affairs through performances of music and dance. The project will collaborate with present-day communities aiming to construct an alternative history of cultural resilience and agency. Outcomes directed at academic, community and public audiences aim to better inform debates on Australian identity, support the work of contemporary practitioners, build international networks and validate histories hitherto hidden at the heart of Australian nationhood.

Discovery Project ($187,344 over three years)

Dr Catherine Ingram

Dr Catherine Ingram

Awarded to Dr Catherine Ingram to investigate musical resilience within marginal groups in culturally diverse societies. This project aims to examine and compare the music of minorities in one Western and one non-Western culturally diverse society to better understand how certain music can thrive. This project will improve understanding of the musical and social lives of minority communities in culturally diverse societies. By exploring how communities perceive and handle challenges to musical practices, it will expand knowledge of the ways music can enhance the lives of minority peoples and society. The outcomes will include practical guidance that can inform community activities and policy at a range of levels, and benefit society through positive social change.