Power relations and the production of new knowledge within a Queensland Music Festival community cultural development project

Abstract

Conflict during the creative development process of community cultural development projects is inevitable (Adam and Goldbard 2001), yet through the productive use of power (Foucault 1977, 1980, 1982) new knowledge can be created for the festival organization, the community, and individual participants. In this article I identify power/knowledge relations within the Queensland Music Festival community cultural development project Behind the Cane, a three-year project with the South Sea Islander community in Bowen, Queensland, Australia, through a narrative analysis of different stories that my participants told about the project. These stories emphasize strategic and disciplinary power during the creative development process of Behind the Cane, as well as the power of the story and the performance itself and what it meant to the local community and the festival organization. From these stories I explain how new knowledge was created within the community as well as the festival organization.