Working in the Arts: Women, Careers and Creativity

Many cultural organisations have analysed gender participation in the Arts in Australia from biographical material through to survey-based and anecdotal data. The ACD-Engine will build on this work through comparative analysis that brings together socio-economic data and cultural data to make new claims about the role of women and gender in the arts.

Gender biases play a role in determining what art is exhibited, collected, and rewarded and therefore shape the careers of women artists. This also applies to questions of ‘who works with who’ and the role of women in artistic leadership and management positions. By tracing gender across a range of artistic practice in Australia, we can harness a biographical lens across the various data groups that gives us good insight into missing data, data types, data methods and institutional collecting histories.

Suggested Readings:

Natasha Bullock et al., Know My Name (National Gallery of Australia, 2020)

Julie Holledge and Joanne Tompkins, Women’s Intercultural Performance (Routledge, 2000)

Anne Marsh, Doing Feminism: Women's Art and Feminist Criticism in Australia (Melbourne University Press, 2021)

Jacqueline Millner and Catriona Moore, Feminist Perspectives on Art: Contemporary Outtakes (Routledge, 2018)

Elvis Richardson, Amy Prcevich and Miranda Samuels, The Countess Report (2019)

David Throsby and Katya Petetskaya, Making Art Work: An Economic Study of Professional Artists in Australia (Australia Council, 2017)