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2026 DramaWest AGM
2026 DramaWest AGM
Saturday 21 March
Via Google Meet
Keynote Speaker
This Keynote section of the AGM will be open to all 2026 PLAY! Delegates and current DramaWest Members.
Dr Peter Duffy
'Play (in 3 Acts)'
This keynote describes scientific evidence behind play and its relationship to learning. Play enhances learning in classrooms by stimulating neurotransmitters, increasing learning hormones in the brain, improving mental health, self-concept and confidence, and also by encouraging creativity. Organised into three acts, the keynote describes how play transforms learners, teachers, and communities – regardless of age.
- Act One – Play for learning. This act describes the impact of play on brain chemistry and how it activates hormones most connected with learning. We will look at examples of children learning through drama in South Carolina (US).
- Act Two – Play for Health. This act demonstrates the impact of play on adults with aphasia and their overall feelings of increased confidence and language development.
- Act Three – Play for teaching. This final act looks at research exploring the effects on teacher of embracing play in the classrooms.
The curtain comes down on the talk by celebrating the work of drama specialists - whether in classrooms, care facilities, or beyond - and extolls the contributions we all make to creating a more vibrant, joyous, and playful world.
About Dr Peter Duffy
DR PETER DUFFY is a professor and head of the Master of Arts in Teaching program in theatre education at the University of South Carolina. He researches how theatre impacts learning and teaching and how to use qualitative research to co-author community stories. Other areas of research interest are creativity, teacher education, social justice, and reflective practice. Previous to the U of SC, Peter taught English, German and Drama for a decade in Maine public school and worked as an actor/teacher in New York City schools. He co-edited the books, Drama Research: Provocations of Practice; Youth and Theatre of the Oppressed and edited A Reflective Practitioner’s Guide to (mis)Adventures in Drama Education – or – What Was I Thinking?
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Drama Australia Updates
Drama Australia Updates
What does Drama Australia do?
A video presentation has been prepared that summarises the role and activities of Drama Australia.
All DramaWest members are automatically a member of Drama Australia.
All DramaWest members are automatically a member of Drama Australia.
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Drama Advocacy
What is the point of Drama?
This article from The Conversation with members is especially useful at subject selection time.
This article from The Conversation with members is especially useful at subject selection time.
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ADEM 2025 Call for Papers
We are delighted to announce that the call for papers for the 2025 edition of ADEM is now open! Once again, we have drawn on the Drama Australia Conference for inspiration for our theme, INVIGORATE. We encourage presenters from the national and state conferences to submit articles based on your presentations. We also invite submissions from writers who have not presented!
Please read the attached Call for Contributions for details on the theme, guidelines and responsibilities. All articles must be submitted by Monday 30 June 2025 via email ADEM.Drama.Australia@gmail.com. If you would like to discuss an idea with the Co-Editors, please email prior to this date.
Please read the attached Call for Contributions for details on the theme, guidelines and responsibilities. All articles must be submitted by Monday 30 June 2025 via email ADEM.Drama.Australia@gmail.com. If you would like to discuss an idea with the Co-Editors, please email prior to this date.
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Join the National Community of Drama Australia
Want to receive publications from Drama Australia such as the Communiques and the ADEM? Join DramaWest to become a Member of Drama Australia!
IDEA
Become a Member of DramaWest today to access resources and events provided by International Drama Education Association.
NAAE Updates
An Update from John Saunders - Chair of NAAE
| With several Australian tertiary arts, creative industries, and arts education courses being discontinued, reduced, or currently under review, the NAAE is conducting an anonymous survey to gauge the full impact of these changes. If you know of a course or major at an Australian university that has been affected between 2018 and 2025, please consider submitting an anonymous response to the survey. The survey can be completed as many times as needed for individual courses. | |
| Please feel free to share. This is also on their socials. The NAAE are preparing to write to the Commonwealth Minister for Education and Minister for Arts regarding this. |
An Update from Susan Davis (Drama Australia) – Summary of latest NAAE Meeting
NAAE – Term 3 Summary
The National Advocates for Arts Education met in September 2024. We discussed the following key items:
- Reflections were shared on the NSW Joint Select Committee’s Inquiry Into Arts and Music Education and Training. Several NAAE national and state affiliated associations gave testimony at the hearings. The inquiry’s submissions, transcripts and videos of the hearings are available here. NAAE’s submission can be accessed here.
- NAAE’s chair worked with Professor Daniel Harris (RMIT) and Dr Rachael Jacobs (Arts Nexus/Western Sydney University) to provide a briefing to Commonwealth Education Minister’s Schools Advisor as a follow-up to the Arts Nexus Forum on PISA’s Creative Thinking assessment. We emphasized the interconnected nature of arts education and creative thinking. A brief summary can be found here.
- NAAE’s is hosting a Queensland Arts Education, Arts Training and Arts Industry Roundtable with our state affiliates and other key organizations and institutions to discuss the current state of the arts in the lead up to the Queensland state election in late October.
- NAAE members continue to map commonwealth policy initiatives against the National Cultural Policy: Revive. We are setting up meetings with The Office of the Arts, and Creative Australia to discuss the actions in Revive pertaining to arts education.
- Dr Jeff Meiners Dance, former NAAE member and outgoing Chair of Dance and the Child International(daCi) joined the meeting to provide a briefing about UNESCO’s work in developing the framework for culture and arts education.
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We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land in which we live and work. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and future for they hold the memories, traditions, culture and hopes of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People of Australia.
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