Performing arts
Common issues
Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance
(MEAA)
MEAA is the union and professional organisation
for individuals who work in the media,
entertainment, sports and arts industries.
The MEAA’s 36,000 members include people
working in TV, radio, theatre and film,
entertainment venues, recreation grounds,
journalists, actors, dancers, sportspeople,
cartoonists, photographers, and orchestral
and opera performers. It also includes people
working in public relations, advertising, book
publishing and website production – everyone
who works in the industries that inform or
entertain Australians.
MEAA was formed in 1992 when Actors Equity
(AE), The Australian Journalists Association (AJA)
and The Australian Theatrical & Amusement
Employees Association (ATAEA) merged into
a single professional organisation.
Since amalgamation, the Symphony Orchestra
Musicians Association (SOMA) and the NSW
Artworkers Union have joined MEAA; a
Professional Sports Branch has been created;
and the Screen Technicians Association of
Australia (STAA) reconstituted itself under the
MEAA banner.169
52
Performing arts
Implementation
Implementation
Protocols are about people’s value systems
and their cultural beliefs.170
The protocols in this guide are flexible. You can
use them to develop protocols for your performing
arts project, program or practice, and language
group, region or community. This section tells
you how to implement the protocols.
It provides a checklist of key points to consider
when developing protocols for a performing
arts project, or in your own performance
practice. It summarises the preceding sections
and also offers some different and more
specific information.
1. Respect
People working in the performing arts are
encouraged to respect that:
• Indigenous Australians, the Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people, are the original
inhabitants of Australia.
• Indigenous worldviews, lifestyles and
customary laws should be respected in
contemporary artistic and cultural life.
• Welcome to country and acknowledgement
of country are important protocols of
respect. Advice should be sought from
the local community about their way of
welcoming and acknowledging country.
• Traditional owners, performers and other
Indigenous participants should be remunerated
for their contributions to ceremonies.
• Indigenous cultures are living cultures.
• Indigenous culture is diverse. Culture varies
from Indigenous country to country and from
language groups.
• Indigenous people should be represented
by the appropriate Indigenous people and
in a manner they approve.
53
• T
he cultural contribution of Indigenous
people to a performance should be valued,
acknowledged and remunerated.
• Local cultural protocols and protocols
associated with a work should always be
respected and observed.
2. Indigenous control
Indigenous people have the right to determine
how their cultural property will be used. They
have the right to own and control their heritage,
including Indigenous body painting, stories,
songs, dances, images, traditional knowledge
and other forms of cultural expression.
When working with Indigenous people:
• Identify appropriate Indigenous information
and authority structures.
• Discuss your ideas for performances and
projects with Indigenous dance schools,
associations, Indigenous theatre companies,
and Indigenous media organisations.
• The Australia Council for the Arts currently
requires all Indigenous participants to
provide a letter confirming their Aboriginal
or Torres Strait Islander identity from an
incorporated Indigenous organisation.
• When engaging Indigenous contributors to
participate in a project, most organisations
use the definition of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander identity used by the Australian
Government as a guide.
• Keep appropriate/relevant Indigenous people
informed and advised, and where possible,
provide regular updates.
3. Communication, consultation
and consent
When performing, recording, publishing or
otherwise dealing with Indigenous material
consider the following checklist:
• Have you considered how the work might
impact on or portray Indigenous people?