Well, so much for regular blog entries. My last entry was approximately four months ago. I’m calling it a maelstrom in the header above this entry, but one might just as well call it ‘Verity Meets Whackamole’. Just as I undertook the project that I mentioned in the previous blog entry, the universe (or whatever) decided that it was my turn for a little abrasion and possibly upgrading by throwing something truly unpleasant at me every two weeks for three months.
These things happen. I know. I’m something of a fan of Joseph Campbell, despite the fact that his writings have been reduced to cliché in much commentary. But to be asked to front up to a new and different Call to Adventure every two to three weeks for ninety days or so was, I think, a bit much.
But the entire world in the meantime has been given a Call to Adventure, hasn’t it? And artists in Australia have been cast into the Belly of the Whale for what may end up being a generation. All our best and brightest had already started to flee our shores. I imagine that when the worst of the Covid-19 re-set is done, and our corporations-preferring government has thrown out a few more Whackamoles of its own, we will lose many more.
What to do? What are all the makers and dreamers, solo-practitioners and budding creativity entrepreneurs to do? During my Whackmole period I was also researching the creative industries in the South Australian regions, those beautiful, spare and mysterious lands that surround my small, faux-capital city of Adelaide, are informed by the ancient learnings of the Kaurna, Ngadjeri, Nukunu, Nharungga, and Adnyamathana peoples, and form a central core to the southern half of the island continent of Australia. I have handed in my report, which suggests a number of actions that policy-makers could take to help the creative industry practitioners in those regions. It will be available in the coming months from the Legatus Group website.
Now that I’m back to blogging, I’ll write about those findings shortly. For now, I hope this dizzy number of hyperlinks may provide a little distraction for anyone wending their way to this particular shoreline.
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