Casting off the cultural strait-jacket: Art and multiculturalism today

Photo by El Seed

Is the spirit of multiculturalism still alive in Australia today? Is it relevant? And who decides what it means, anyway? Join us for a lively Wednesday night panel discussion featuring voices from the arts, the social sector and academia: Nikos Papastergiadis, director of the Research Unit in Public Cultures; Moya McFadzean, senior curator of migration and cultural diversity in the humanities department at Museum Victoria; Nur Shkembi, Muslim artist and curator; Nicholas Tsoutas, independent curator and writer; Frank Panucci is executive director of grants at the Australia Council for the Arts; and Ghassan Hage, Lebanese-Australian academic.

Discussing the role of the arts in challenging subscribed conversations about multiculturalism, the panel will attempt to unpack exactly who shapes our cultural diversity discourse. Hold on to your pew once the dust settles: the hour-long conversation will wind down (or up) with the psychedelic garage-pop sounds of Empat Lima. A dreamy occasion for further healthy rumination.

This talk is presented by the Research Unit for Public Cultures, the University of Melbourne’s School of Culture and Communication and the Minor Culture Conference.