Molly Mullen
I am a senior lecturer in applied theatre. To this role I bring over ten years of experience producing theatre education, youth theatre, community arts and children’s theatre projects in the UK and New Zealand.
My research focuses on the ways in which theatre and the arts can contribute to social justice and well-being. Most of my research is ethnographic and/or arts-based, involving in depth, often collaborative, fieldwork to understand the relationship between examples of practice and the contexts in which they are produced. I am also involved in collaborative creative practice projects exploring issues of environmental and economic justice.
I have a particular interest in the diverse economies of applied theatre and community-based arts practice; the multiple ways in which projects and organisations are resourced and managed. I am interested in developing complex understandings of the interrelationship between policy, funding and practice. This area of research extends into the ways in which theatre and performance makers experiment with alternative economies and engage creatively with themes and issues related to economy.
In all of my projects, I draw on a range of critical, poststructuralist, feminist and performance theories.
See: https://unidirectory.auckland.ac.nz/profile/m-mullen
My research focuses on the ways in which theatre and the arts can contribute to social justice and well-being. Most of my research is ethnographic and/or arts-based, involving in depth, often collaborative, fieldwork to understand the relationship between examples of practice and the contexts in which they are produced. I am also involved in collaborative creative practice projects exploring issues of environmental and economic justice.
I have a particular interest in the diverse economies of applied theatre and community-based arts practice; the multiple ways in which projects and organisations are resourced and managed. I am interested in developing complex understandings of the interrelationship between policy, funding and practice. This area of research extends into the ways in which theatre and performance makers experiment with alternative economies and engage creatively with themes and issues related to economy.
In all of my projects, I draw on a range of critical, poststructuralist, feminist and performance theories.
See: https://unidirectory.auckland.ac.nz/profile/m-mullen
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Books by Molly Mullen
resource their work.
Part One addresses longstanding concerns in the field about the effects of economic conditions and funding relationships on applied theatre practice. It considers how applied theatre's relationship with local and global economies can be understood from different theoretical and philosophical perspectives. It also examines a range of ways in which applied theatre can be resourced, identifying key issues and seeking possibilities for theatre makers to sustain their work without undermining their social and artistic values.
The international case studies in Part Two give vivid insights into the day-to-day challenges of resourcing applied theatre work in Chile, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the US. The authors examine critical issues or points of tension that have arisen in a particular funding relationship or from specific economic activities. Each study also illuminates ways in which applied theatre makers can bring artistic and social justice principles to bear on financial and organizational processes.
Papers by Molly Mullen
Methods
Study One used an online survey to understand the approaches, aspirations and challenges of 19 organisations involved in youth arts for well-being. Study Two used ethnographic methods with three youth arts organisations to explore their experiences of the funding and policy context.
Results
Specific aspects of the funding system in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, hinder the sustainable development of creatively rich, culturally responsive, inclusive and strengths-based practice that takes youth participation seriously.
Conclusions
New approaches to resourcing youth arts for well-being are needed to better support good practice and sector development.
Free downloads: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/K97FVJR4DCJZYQZTFSCX/full?target=10.1080/17533015.2021.2017306
The economies of applied performance include the multiple ways in which projects and organisations are resourced and managed. They involve complex interactions between financial and more-than-financial resources, along with activities and notions of value within specific economic, social and cultural conditions. In Aotearoa New Zealand, applied performance has struggled in a policy context infused with neoliberalism, neoconservatism and managerialism. This chapter examines Taurima Vibes’ kaupapa and process. Taurima Vibes walks alongside the people it engages with, creating safe, interactive environments for collective creativity. The chapter looks at what this means in Taurima Vibes’ creative practice and its approach to resourcing and organising its work, with a focus on the Puawai Festival, an event aiming to reduce stigma through performance, education, laughter and song.
Policy proposals about social change and well-being shape the implementation of applied theatre projects through technologies such as evaluation practices and funding applications. Representations of projects can, in turn, effect public discourse about who participants are and why they are or are not ‘being well’. Like public policy, applied theatre for social change has to establish a problem that needs to be solved. Drawing on debates about change in applied theatre literature, we consider how funders, governments, and communities call on applied theatre practitioners to frame particular issues and/or people as problematic. We then examine discourses of well-being in Australia and New Zealand, drawing on policy documents and funding schemes to discuss the politics of change in applied theatre in each country. We consider how the field might navigate policies, technologies and public understandings of well-being, change and social good to produce work with and for participants in neoliberalised contexts.
When financial resources are scarce and uncertain, youth performance organisations find ways to ‘hold it together’: to carry on no matter what. Engaging critically with theories of organisational resilience, this article examines how two youth performance companies in Auckland experience and respond to a precarious funding environment. The local policy and funding context compels organisations to ‘shape up’; to become more effective in the competitive system. Within this environment, however, the promise of sustainability remains ever-elusive. An alternative response, then, is found in the different ways organisations experiment with localised, culturally responsive community and solidarity economies.
enmeshed within such problematic narratives. As a result they can play a role in reproducing stigmatised identities and inequitable social relations. In some international contexts, conflicting
narratives of disability have meant that the relationship between different areas of arts practice has been either non-existent or fraught with tensions. In this paper, we suggest that the performing arts can contribute significantly to the vision and aspirations articulated in New Zealand’s Disability Strategy if different areas of practice find common ground on which to engage in dialogue and work in coalition.
This paper is a reflective report on Re-storying Disability Through the Arts, an event that aimed to provide a space for productive conversation between students, researchers, artists, educators and practitioners
with different involvements or interests in disability arts (broadly conceived). It begins with a story that introduces some of the tensions this event evoked. This is followed by a critical commentary that unpacks these tensions, examining the three exam
ples of community-based arts practice that were presented. In each instance we identify the ways in which these different forms of performance engage in a strategy of re-storying disability. The paper concludes by identifying some of the key issues that arose in the discussion that ended Re-storying Disability and from our
reflection on the event. These include pressing structural issues and questions for consideration by those involved in disability arts in Aotearoa New Zealand.
resource their work.
Part One addresses longstanding concerns in the field about the effects of economic conditions and funding relationships on applied theatre practice. It considers how applied theatre's relationship with local and global economies can be understood from different theoretical and philosophical perspectives. It also examines a range of ways in which applied theatre can be resourced, identifying key issues and seeking possibilities for theatre makers to sustain their work without undermining their social and artistic values.
The international case studies in Part Two give vivid insights into the day-to-day challenges of resourcing applied theatre work in Chile, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the US. The authors examine critical issues or points of tension that have arisen in a particular funding relationship or from specific economic activities. Each study also illuminates ways in which applied theatre makers can bring artistic and social justice principles to bear on financial and organizational processes.
Methods
Study One used an online survey to understand the approaches, aspirations and challenges of 19 organisations involved in youth arts for well-being. Study Two used ethnographic methods with three youth arts organisations to explore their experiences of the funding and policy context.
Results
Specific aspects of the funding system in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, hinder the sustainable development of creatively rich, culturally responsive, inclusive and strengths-based practice that takes youth participation seriously.
Conclusions
New approaches to resourcing youth arts for well-being are needed to better support good practice and sector development.
Free downloads: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/K97FVJR4DCJZYQZTFSCX/full?target=10.1080/17533015.2021.2017306
The economies of applied performance include the multiple ways in which projects and organisations are resourced and managed. They involve complex interactions between financial and more-than-financial resources, along with activities and notions of value within specific economic, social and cultural conditions. In Aotearoa New Zealand, applied performance has struggled in a policy context infused with neoliberalism, neoconservatism and managerialism. This chapter examines Taurima Vibes’ kaupapa and process. Taurima Vibes walks alongside the people it engages with, creating safe, interactive environments for collective creativity. The chapter looks at what this means in Taurima Vibes’ creative practice and its approach to resourcing and organising its work, with a focus on the Puawai Festival, an event aiming to reduce stigma through performance, education, laughter and song.
Policy proposals about social change and well-being shape the implementation of applied theatre projects through technologies such as evaluation practices and funding applications. Representations of projects can, in turn, effect public discourse about who participants are and why they are or are not ‘being well’. Like public policy, applied theatre for social change has to establish a problem that needs to be solved. Drawing on debates about change in applied theatre literature, we consider how funders, governments, and communities call on applied theatre practitioners to frame particular issues and/or people as problematic. We then examine discourses of well-being in Australia and New Zealand, drawing on policy documents and funding schemes to discuss the politics of change in applied theatre in each country. We consider how the field might navigate policies, technologies and public understandings of well-being, change and social good to produce work with and for participants in neoliberalised contexts.
When financial resources are scarce and uncertain, youth performance organisations find ways to ‘hold it together’: to carry on no matter what. Engaging critically with theories of organisational resilience, this article examines how two youth performance companies in Auckland experience and respond to a precarious funding environment. The local policy and funding context compels organisations to ‘shape up’; to become more effective in the competitive system. Within this environment, however, the promise of sustainability remains ever-elusive. An alternative response, then, is found in the different ways organisations experiment with localised, culturally responsive community and solidarity economies.
enmeshed within such problematic narratives. As a result they can play a role in reproducing stigmatised identities and inequitable social relations. In some international contexts, conflicting
narratives of disability have meant that the relationship between different areas of arts practice has been either non-existent or fraught with tensions. In this paper, we suggest that the performing arts can contribute significantly to the vision and aspirations articulated in New Zealand’s Disability Strategy if different areas of practice find common ground on which to engage in dialogue and work in coalition.
This paper is a reflective report on Re-storying Disability Through the Arts, an event that aimed to provide a space for productive conversation between students, researchers, artists, educators and practitioners
with different involvements or interests in disability arts (broadly conceived). It begins with a story that introduces some of the tensions this event evoked. This is followed by a critical commentary that unpacks these tensions, examining the three exam
ples of community-based arts practice that were presented. In each instance we identify the ways in which these different forms of performance engage in a strategy of re-storying disability. The paper concludes by identifying some of the key issues that arose in the discussion that ended Re-storying Disability and from our
reflection on the event. These include pressing structural issues and questions for consideration by those involved in disability arts in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Working with methodologies that are emerging and which challenge established notions of empirical research can present particular opportunities and challenges for postgraduate researchers. We present the critical moments from our research journeys, our ‘lost moments’, 'aha moments’ and affirming ‘found moments’. We invite the audience to engage with this performed presentation as part of our attempt to take methodological theory into practice. We use narrative, metaphor, symbol, poetry and dramatic conventions in many different ways in our research projects. We make use of them in this presentation to invite your critical and felt responses to our work.
This collective presentation demonstrates that although the Ph.D. journey is an individual one it can still involve and benefit from collaboration, synergy and the cross pollination of ideas.
Working with methodologies that are emerging and which challenge established notions of empirical research can present particular opportunities and challenges for postgraduate researchers. We present the critical moments from our research journeys, our ‘lost moments’, 'aha moments’ and affirming ‘found moments’. We invite the audience to engage with this performed presentation as part of our attempt to take methodological theory into practice. We use narrative, metaphor, symbol, poetry and dramatic conventions in many different ways in our research projects. We make use of them in this presentation to invite your critical and felt responses to our work.
This collective presentation demonstrates that although the Ph.D. journey is an individual one it can still involve and benefit from collaboration, synergy and the cross pollination of ideas.
This paper focuses on the ways in which Hong Kong theatre company FM Theatre Power experienced and managed the affects to their artistic and organisational practices of receiving a one-year grant from the Arts Development Council after eight years of operating outside of the formal arts funding system. The analysis draws on theories of cultural and organisational performance to consider the ways in which they responded to the performative demands of efficacy and efficiency.
Many theatre groups and practitioners have developed applied theatre practices specifically for early childhood settings. In this paper I will describe and analyse the work of three theatre companies: Oily Cart (UK), Make Believe Arts (UK) and Kids4Drama (New Zealand). Engaging with key debates from the academic discourse of applied theatre, I will focus on the the ways in which each company’s practice has been shaped ‘by, with or for’ this particular context.
Through a multi-sited ethnographic approach, my PhD research seeks to examine the ways in which applied theatre practices interrelate with local, national and global economies. I am interested in the ways these (inter)relationships are perceived and managed by practitioners working for companies whose main ‘business’ is applied theatre. Previous studies have suggested that economic relationships have significant implications for the politics, ethics, pedagogies and aesthetics of applied theatre practices. The dependency of applied theatre practices on external funding is seen to make them vulnerable to the demands of donors and other stakeholders. In negotiating financial relationships there is a risk that practices end up being manipulated in the service of intentions that are not in the interests of the participants. Prentki and Preston (2009) observe that ‘...it is a very subtle and politically sophisticated business to facilitate without becoming prey to the agendas of the sponsors...’ (p.14). My study is concerned with the ways in which people working for applied theatre companies go about this sophisticated business in their day-to-day activities and how they negotiate other kinds of relational possibilities.
The experience of designing and carrying out this study has raised many questions for me about how to be within the process of researching organisational and management practices. I will discuss some of the theoretical and methodological paradigms that I have drawn on in my attempts to engage with ‘the entanglements and relationalities’, the thinking, doing and being, of research with/in organisations (Keevers and Treleaven 2006).
The term applied theatre describes a wide range of drama, theatre and performance practices, each with their own techniques and discourses. Applied theatre practices are usually subsidised through public grants, or respond to local, national and/or international policy to attract other sources of funding. Previous studies have suggested that economic factors and conditions have significant implications for the pedagogies, aesthetics, politics and ethics of applied theatre practices. It is suggested that their financial dependency make them, and the values that inform them, vulnerable to the agendas of funders and other stakeholders. In this presentation, I will explore the complexities of funding relationships and consider how such relationships are experienced and negotiated by practitioners on a day to day basis. In doing so, I will engage critically with debates from applied theatre discourse that set up artistic value in opposition to instrumentalism.
Since the global economic crisis in 2008, the financial resources on which many applied theatre companies and practitioners depend seem to be getting increasingly scarce. At the same time, many academic departments, researchers and students are also experiencing shifts and reductions in available funds. It is not surprising then that across the field there has emerged an interest in the economies of applied theatre. Looking back through the discourse of the field, however, it is clear that there has been ongoing discussion and debate around its interrelationship with socio-economic policy and conditions. Even the term itself is seen by some to have emerged as a strategic response to economic pressures placed on university departments in the 1990s (Nicholson, 2011, pp. 241-242). Drawing on different theories of discourse analysis I will consider what kind of resource these discussions and debates might afford to those in the field who are trying to negotiate the complexity, fragility and instability of current local and global economies. I will also expand on Hardy and Palmer’s (1999) model of discourse as a strategic resource to explore the apparent tension between applied theatre as an academic discipline and applied theatre as an emerging profession and industry.
Working with methodologies that are emerging and which challenge established notions of empirical research can present particular opportunities and challenges for postgraduate researchers. We present the critical moments from our research journeys, our ‘lost moments’, 'aha moments’ and affirming ‘found moments’. We invite the audience to engage with this performed presentation as part of our attempt to take methodological theory into practice. We use narrative, metaphor, symbol, poetry and dramatic conventions in many different ways in our research projects. We make use of them in this presentation to invite your critical and felt responses to our work.
This collective presentation demonstrates that although the PhD journey is an individual one it can still involve and benefit from collaboration, synergy and the cross pollination of ideas.
The play was devised and performed by the following doctoral students:
Claire Coleman, Esther Fitzpatrick,Jane Isobel Luton, Molly Mullen and Adrian Schoone.