Cultural leadership: quick links
Having already transitioned from a dance career to working as a senior arts administrator, Wiradjuri woman Merindah Donnelly, the Co-CEO and Executive Producer of peak body BlakDance, knew she wanted to further her education, but found that none of the tertiary institutions approaching her were quite the right fit.
‘I really wanted to focus on [a course] that meant something to me,’ Donnelly tells ArtsHub.
As it turned out, the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) (Cultural Leadership) at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) – a 30-month course delivered partially in-person and partially online – was the right fit for Donnelly.
She says NIDA’s MFA ‘presented an opportunity to explore what cultural leadership means in the Western context of working in the arts in Australia. Obviously I was able to apply a particular kind of First Nations lens to the study, the theory, the writing and the different things that I was doing [as part of the course].’ She also engaged in robust discussion about ‘alternative frameworks and studies,’ Donnelly adds, while studying topics such as cultural policy, communication, advocacy, cultural transformation, and sustainability.
What do we mean by cultural leadership?
One of Donnelly’s most significant learnings from her time at NIDA involves the frameworks and archetypes of cultural leadership.
‘It’s been useful … to analyse the methodology of what the arts world is loosely basing itself on, and to be able to then shift that paradigm and bring First Nations academia and knowledges and perspectives into the space in a way that is tangible,’ she explains.
So what does cultural leadership in the Australian arts sector look like to her? ‘Leadership looks like collective decision making … and obviously, I think BlakDance is doing a good job at that … As an organisation, what we’ve tried to do is create space for artists to convene and gather as an act of resistance, because, through the process of colonialism, one of the goals was dispersal, you know? So coming back together and convening and gathering is a really important thing,’ Donnelly explains.
‘I think that’s what leadership looks like. And I see a lot of Blak organisations doing that. We’re not in it for ourselves. We’re trying to continue the legacy of our Elders and the Elders that came before them, where the goal was to develop a self-determined industry that enabled the conditions for creative control, cultural protocols and the ICIP [Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property] processes to maintain culture and innovate on culture – and we’re doing all that,’ she says.
Donnelly is now in her 11th year at BlakDance. The company recently helped develop the new First Nations Performing Arts Workforce Development Framework 2025–2030 – an ambitious and important call to action for long-term investment, cultural safety, and 100% First Peoples representation in the cultural sector.
Developed in conjunction with Bangarra, ILBIJERRI, Marrugeku, Moogahlin, NAISDA and Yirra Yaakin, one of the questions the Framework asks, ‘how do we get to 100% First Nations employment in all of our organisations and across the sector, in places where there’s a particular First Nations remit?’, Donnelly explains.
Why you should study Cultural Leadership at NIDA
Donnelly urges anyone considering applying to NIDA’s MFA in Cultural Leadership to act on their feelings instead of holding back.
‘As someone who works in the arts, I would say it was probably one of one of the best choices I’ve made,’ she tells ArtsHub.
‘It can be really hard, but once you get the ability to get a national overview and understand the way that the ecology works … once you have that oversight, then you can see how to change it. At BlakDance … we’re trying to change the conditions that First Nations artists are working with, so that they’re more equitable, so they’re more culturally safe, so that ICIP processes can be upheld. And so if you’re a “systems change” kind of person, particularly if you’re coming from a minority group, a disadvantaged community … or any of the areas where there’s not equality in the arts, doing [NIDA’s MFA in Cultural Leadership] can really help you understand how to change the system to be more equitable for the communities that you represent.’
Visit the NIDA website to learn more about NIDA’s MFA (Cultural Leadership).
