Dr Rebecca Scollen

I am the Manager of USQ Artsworx. Artsworx operates as a not-for-profit production house within the University of Southern Queensland to enable and deliver arts and cultural experiences for regional Queensland. Artsworx presents an annual season of high quality, innovative and challenging artistic and cultural experiences which showcase emerging artists from the University's Faculty of Arts as well as professional guest artists, in collaboration with a range of community and corporate stakeholders.

My key research interests concern regional arts (advocacy, capacity building, audience building), audience reception and development, arts management, arts marketing, and community engagement. I have published in these fields since 1998 (recent work and previous work). I am the chair of the ‘Creation to Consumption: Artist to Audience’ research cluster in the Faculty of Arts. The cluster houses a number of collaborative research projects including: Shakespeare’s Audiences: then and now; Australian Symphonies; How do we know the arts are good for us?; Transforming Heritage Tourism; and Creative Cherbourg. I am always on the lookout for postgraduate students and am happy to hear from prospective candidates. I have published a number of publications including my more Prior to working at USQ, I was awarded a 3-year Australian Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2004-2006) to work on the ‘Talking Theatre’ project. This audience development program assisted 14 regional performing arts centres throughout Queensland and the Northern Territory to better engage with their local communities and to build new audiences. I achieved my Doctor of Philosophy degree in 2003 at QUT. My thesis, Building New Theatre Audiences: post performance audience reception in action, allowed me to work directly with professional theatre companies and non-theatregoers in Brisbane.

I have also volunteered my services to a number of community organisations, including two years as the Southern Region Director on the Board of the Queensland Arts Council (2009-2011). I am passionate about animal welfare, environmental protection, and creative communities.