The Australia Council for the Arts is pleased to announce its New Media Art Scoping Study has now commenced and the first stage discussion paper is now available.

Dr Elaine Lally from the Centre for Cultural Research at the University of Western Sydney has been engaged to undertake the first stage research of the New Media Art Scoping Study. Dr Lally will work closely with staff of the inter-arts office to gather data on funding and other support offered to new media art over the last ten years through the Australia Council, as well as data from other states and sectors. This data will be used to analyse key trends and identify significant gaps and opportunities in existing support for new media art.

A New Media Art Scoping Study Advisory Group will provide guidance and overview for the research. The Advisory Group comprises Fiona Winning (Director, Performance Space), Melinda Rackham (executive director, Australian Network for Art and Technology), Julian Knowles (music board member), Lesley Alway (chair, visual arts board), Andrew Donovan (director, inter-arts) and Ben Strout (executive director, arts development).

This first stage research will result in a publicly available discussion paper that will form the basis for further consultation through a series of state-based focus groups (selected by the advisory group) to be held in five cities across Australia in late July, and through written submissions from the sector. People who do not attend a focus group will have an opportunity to provide input to the Scoping Study through written submissions as part of the consultation process.

It is proposed that the scoping study report will be presented to the Australia Council’s governing body at its September meeting.