Programming value for Australian Contemporary Dance

A significant proportion of performing arts centre programming decision making in Australia is financially based and therefore potentially disastrous for contemporary dance when it draws small audiences and is expensive to program. This research investigated how presenters make decisions when programming contemporary dance in Australian performing arts centres so as to facilitate greater transparency in the decision-making process and to analyse the presenter’s agency within the performing arts environment. A representative sample of presenters were interviewed for this study which also included a snapshot survey of programming patterns in 2021 across thirty performing arts centres. This research revealed that producer and presenter priorities are not always complementary, and that presenters are often adversely affected by their programming environment. The interview data revealed the significance of using a framework to guide programming decisions, and the criticality of supporting presenters in selecting a more diverse and cutting-edge range of contemporary dance