This is the early assessment task for this unit. In 1,000 words, summarize the arguments contained in the readings that have been set for the first 4 weeks of this unit. Focus on the set readings for each week (i.e. reading 1 and 2) and then 'name check' (i.e. just in-text cite them once) the additional readings if you can find links between these readings and the set readings. If you can't find links between the additional readings and the set readings then you do not have to include the additional readings. 

An example of a literature review is available via the unit iLearn site. Check out how the author has reviewed the literature and in doing so, has produced a ‘dense’ piece of writing that surveys a lot of literature while also picking up on key themes. Note how the different texts are put ‘in conversation’ with each other. This is what you should aim to do for your literature review assignment for this unit. This will help you to work towards the learning outcomes of being able to summarise creative industries literature and of learning how to identify the major themes, issues and debates relating to the creative and cultural industries. Furthermore, this assessment task is designed to lay the foundation for the following descriptions of the history of creative industries policy and this will enable you to locate arguments within a broad historical context later on in the unit.

This type of exercise is called a ‘literature review’ because in order to create new knowledge (the aim of academia), we first need to find the gaps in the literature by surveying what has already been published. This assessment task will therefore help you to meet the learning outcome of being able to summarise creative industries literature so that later on in the unit you can collaborate with other students in order to evaluate, contrast and defend personal judgments concerning artistic creativity within an industrial context. In this way what you are doing as undergraduate students in this unit mirrors the approach that a Higher Degree Research (HDR) student would take. If you are interested in this field of study you should consider applying to enrol in Macquarie University’s Masters of Research (MRes) after you have completed your degree.

By doing a literature review, you will have learnt a valuable new skill and you will have started to engage with the ideas, to see links between the different topics, and by thinking in a critical and analytical way early on, you will now be able to let the ideas incubate in your mind across the semester. This will lead to better moments of insight when you produce the following assessment tasks. By way of its design, this unit will enable you to generate moments of insight and this often results in outstanding conceptual elaboration, metaphorical thinking and conceptual combination in the latter assessment tasks. Ultimately you will then be able to apply these concepts to specific arts and entertainment industry case studies.

Marking criteria:

• Demonstrated ability to clearly articulate the arguments put forth in the readings so far using academic language
• Demonstrated understanding of how key theories are framed within disciplinary contexts
• Demonstrated ability to engage with, interpret, and apply academic sources
• Clear identification of assignment aims (and whether these are achieved)
• Cited works should be referenced using an established system
• Clarity of expression in line with expected academic standards

This assessment task involves interpreting and evaluating various funding opportunities in order to produce a funding application that is designed to nurture and facilitate groundbreaking artistic creativity. Specifically, your task is to draft an application for the Australia Council for the Arts for funding. You will need to envisage an arts activity of your choosing and then apply for funds under one of the grant categories listed on the Australia Council website and in the council’s grants handbook. http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au

The Australia Council’s strategic plan reflects their desire to “make more visible the vitality of Australia’s arts and culture, and to recognise the evolving way in which Australians make and experience art” (http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/about/ accessed 12.2.15). Please note that the Australia Council’s role is to nurture and facilitate artistic creativity in Australia specifically, not to fund projects that use the arts to address social issues (we will discuss this and the issue of ‘instrumentalism’ on the unit). Therefore the focus of your application should be the facilitation of ‘artistic excellence’ or ‘innovation in the art form’ or ‘ground breaking artistic creativity’ etc, rather than a project that will use the arts in some way to help a disadvantaged group within our society etc. There are alternative funding bodies that assist with the latter: whereas the focus of the Australia Council for the Arts is … ‘the arts’.

The Australia Council’s strategic plan states that their “role is to support the unimagined along with the reimagined, the unknown and experimental along with the keenly anticipated” (ibid). The Australia Council is a champion for Australian arts both here and overseas and invests in “artistic excellence through support for all facets of the creative process" and they are "committed to the arts being more accessible to all Australians” (ibid). Your funding applications will need to speak to the Australia Council’s strategic plan. Through doing this assessment task you will meet the learning outcome of being able to interpret and evaluate various arts funding opportunities in order to produce a funding application that is designed to nurture and facilitate groundbreaking artistic creativity.

In addition, your funding application needs to address the following:

•  what are you planning to do?
•  why do you want to do it?
•  who are the key artists involved?
•  where do you intend to do it?
•  provide details of the actual art to be performed, presented or promoted, as relevant to your application
•  what are your strategies for audience development?
•  provide abridged biographies of key artists involved in your project, and highlight their career achievements (NB - these can be fictitious)

You will need to provide your responses in approximately three A4 pages of space. This is based on using Arial font in 12-point, single-line spaced.

Marking Criteria:

Funding application assignments will be assessed with address to the following marking criteria:

• The calibre of the artists and arts workers involved and the quality of the artistic contribution. In assessing this criterion, the marker may consider:

                        -  the track record of the key artists involved, including their achievements, as evidenced by their biography and professional profile.

• Contributions to development of Australian culture. In assessing this criterion, the marker may consider:

                         - proposed additional community activities included in the application, such as workshops, master classes and/or all-age performances


                        -  any partnerships or collaborations with local personnel or organisations in the location(s) in which the activity is to take place.

                        -  benefits provided through the activity to people in the location(s) in which it is to take place (e.g. local emerging artists, audiences) 


• If your application is for a project that is to take place in regional Australia, then the regional extent of the proposed activity will be considered. 
In assessing this criterion, the marker may consider: 


                         - the geographic locations of the proposed itinerary.

• Realistic and logical budgeting and (if necessary) touring. In assessing this criterion, the marker may consider:

                        -  how viable and achievable the project is (as evidenced by the budget and itinerary)

                        -  the quality of the marketing/audience development strategy, including evidence of demand in proposed locations.

• Support received from other sources. In assessing this criterion, the assessment panel may consider:

                        -  the resources supporting the project (including financial and/or in-kind)

                        -  the strength of the people, presenters and partners involved (including confirmations).

For this assessment task, students will be put into groups in the first two tutorials. Groups will also choose a weekly topic in the first two tutorials. Each student group will lead the discussion for their chosen week. This task requires students to summarise the literature and collaborate with other students in order to evaluate, contrast and defend their own judgements concerning the arts and entertainment industries. This task does not require a formal presentation, just student-led discussion. You will be required to collaboratively work with your tutor to present and critique the ideas contained in the readings. This assessment task is therefore designed to help you achieve the learning outcome of being able to summarise cultural/creative industries literature, and to collaborate with other students in order to evaluate, contrast and defend personal judgments concerning artistic creativity within an industrial context.

• Please note that because group assessment tasks in which the contributions of individual students cannot be identified are graded on a pass/fail basis (as per the University's assessment policy), these group exercises will be graded on this basis in this unit. This is because there is no fair and transparent way to identify individual contributions to this group exercise. 
• Detailed instructions are available on iLearn.

Marking Criteria:

In order to pass this assessment task, students will need to:

• Display comprehension of key debates, theories, and perspectives, through the detailed analysis of key texts and further readings
• Actively engage with the class in order to generate discussion
• Demonstrate knowledge of the relevant topic(s)
• Integrate the information presented with the broader themes of the week
• Demonstrate independent research of the topic

2500 words.

For your final essay, you will be required to select one question from a list that will be distributed during the second half of the semester. This list will feature questions that draw from ideas that emerge across the semester so that you can explore these further. You will play a part in developing the essay question options and ideas through group brainstorming sessions that will take place in the tutorials and lectures in the latter weeks of the semester. This way we can crowd source ideas from the MMCS220 student body and then collaboratively generate the essay questions and topics that you would like to research. By helping to develop, and then selecting, your own research question, this assessment task will help you to achieve the learning outcome of being able to demonstrate an understanding of the structure and dynamics of contemporary arts and entertainment industries and potentially to apply concepts to specific arts industry case studies.

Questions and further details will be available on iLearn and this task will be discussed further during the lectures.

•     Grading Criteria in the form of a rubric is available on iLearn.

•     Assignments must be submitted via the Turnitin dropbox that is available via the unit iLearn site. 

Marking criteria:

• Demonstrated understanding of the essay question
• Demonstrated understanding of how theory is used and framed in terms of cultural and creative industries research and how it differs from other disciplines
• Demonstrated ability to clearly and articulately structure an argument using academic language
• Evidence of analysis and understanding of the history of creative industries policy and an ability to locate arguments within a broad historical context.
• Demonstrated ability to research, interpret and apply academic sources
• Relevance of sources
• Credibility of sources
• Clear identification of assignment aims (and whether these are achieved)
• Detailed analysis of key texts and further readings
• Demonstrated ability to conduct independent wider research
• Cited works should be referenced using an established system
• Clarity of expression in line with expected academic standards

Essay grades:
Obviously at the base level there is referencing. This needs to be in order. There is a referencing guide available on the unit iLearn site. Grades above P as a general rule have to be referenced well. 
 
After this, there is the issue of writing style. Essays above P have to be written clearly and appropriately. You need to employ a formal/academic writing style and you need to substantiate claims you make with evidence. Your topic sentences need to flow together and your paragraphs need to be tight and punchy. For example, a paragraph typically consists of the following sentences: 
 
Topic Sentence 
Statement of Position 
Evidence/quote 
Summary 
 
If your paragraphs are constructed in this way, you will avoid the common pitfalls relating to paragraph length: when paragraphs are too short, this signifies to the marker that you most likely have not substantiated the assertions you have made with evidence; when paragraphs are too long, the marker will often lose the thread of your argument because long paragraphs are fatiguing to read. 

Essays using a colloquial/conversational and/or journalistic writing style will be viewed unfavourably. Don't use rhetorical questions and don't write in the first person unless you have justified writing in this way by way of your research methodology (for e.g. if you have stated that you are using a participant observer methodology then obviously at some point you may need to write in the first person). You also need to use numerous references in order to contextualise your essay within the surrounding discourse. Remember, you are making a contribution to knowledge. There is academic freedom, not freedom of expression. These are different. Academics are only free to make points that they can prove. Your opinions cannot be based on thin air. 
 
Essays that will receive grades higher than CR will need to have a certain density to them. Academic writing often involves big words and concepts. In this way, academic writing is a form of short hand (for e.g. relativism and essentialism are words that signify larger paradigms of thought) and therefore good academic writing is able to say more using less words. Authors who demonstrate that they are fluent in this shorthand will be viewed favourably. The amount of extra-curricular research conducted and the originality of each individual research initiative will also be considered.

Furthermore an essay is considered to be excellent or outstanding when the student can fluently relate the readings and lectures to the arguments and evidence made in the essay. Students will therefore be assessed on how well they evaluate theories and issues, which means that students will be assessed on how they make judgments about the value of ideas they are expected to comment on, or write about. Making judgments or evaluating would usually be demonstrated by a reflection or discussion on what the student considers to be the limitations or intellectual perspectives of the theory, or a discussion of the limitations and perspectives taken by particular texts or readings, or by comparing and discriminating between ideas, issues and theories.