Snuff Puppets: Seagulls (Hong Kong), 2014. Image by Daniell Flood.
Collaboration, like innovation, is a concept frequently invoked but not often defined. In Australia’s small to medium arts sector, the idea of collaboration is encouraged and supported by major funding bodies, investors and organisations, who see it as a mechanism for more efficient use of limited resources and increased impact. But these collaborations are often project oriented, output focused and finite. Strategic collaborations – where many of the benefits of efficiency, increased capacity and impact occur – are long-term, intensive commitments centred on mutual goals. They require significant investments of time, resources and emotion by all involved.
