Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Thursday 18 October
5:45 PM - 6:45 PM
Australia has long been haunted by the spectre of ‘cultural cringe’ – nowhere more so, perhaps, than in our arts.
But in the globalised new millennium, has all that changed? Have we finally stopped waiting with baited breath for international tastemakers to tell us what’s worth celebrating – or are we developing a confident new swagger of our own?
Gina McColl, arts editor of the Age, will be talking to a panel of decision-makers from our leading arts festivals: Carrillo Gantner, president of the Melbourne Festival, Josephine Ridge, creative director at Melbourne Festival and Emily Sexton, artistic director at the Next Wave Festival.
They’ll consider whether globalisation has meant opportunities for Australian artists working overseas – and to what extent Australian culture has won over audiences beyond our shores.
Are there first, second and third world cultural economies? And what does this mean for indigenous art and artists – and for the concept of the cultural cringe?
Co-presented by the Melbourne Festival and the Wheeler Centre.
Featuring
Carrillo Gantner
Carrillo Gantner is President of the Melbourne Festival and chairman of the Sidney Myer Fund.
His many achievements include being the first drama officer at the Australian Council for the Arts (1970-1973), general manager of the Melbourne Theatre Company, and being founding director, executive director and artistic director of Malthouse Theatre (originally the Playbox Theatre Company).
Carrillo has also been counsellor (cultural) at the Australian Embassy in Beijing, chairman of the Performing Arts Board and a member of the Australia Council. He has been chairman of Asialink and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and president of the Victorian Arts Centre Trust.
Carrillo was awarded an officer of the Order of Australia in 2001 for services to the performing arts and Australia’s cultural exchange with Asia. In 2007, he was Victorian of the Year. In March 2011, Carrillo was awarded a Green Room Lifetime Achievement Award for his services to the performing arts.
Josephine Ridge
Josephine Ridge is one of Australia’s most experienced and internationally respected arts identities. Earlier this year, she began her tenure as Creative Director at Melbourne Festival, planning the Festival program from 2013. From 2003 to 2012 she was at Sydney Festival as General Manager, followed by Executive Director and co-CEO.
Josephine has had extensive experience in a varied number of roles across the arts: as Deputy General Manager of Australian Ballet, Deputy General Manager of Australian Chamber Orchestra, and Marketing Manager of Playbox Theatre Company. She has also held positions in the visual arts arena, including membership on the Board of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art in Melbourne, and is currently a Board Member of the Tarrawarra Museum of Art in Victoria’s Yarra Valley.
Her experience includes periods of development with a focus on brand and organizational repositioning, which will prove to be beneficial as she meets the challenges of a changing arts landscape.
Gina McColl
Gina McColl is The Age’s arts editor. Before becoming a journalist, Gina taught fine arts and cinema studies at the University of Melbourne.
She joined BRW in 1997, where she edited BRW.com.au, flagship issues, and covered cultural and social trends. Previously the visual arts feature writer for The Sunday Age’s magazine, Gina joined The Age in 2010.
Emily Sexton
Emily Sexton is a former Head of Programming for the Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas.
She was the recipient of a prestigious Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship in 2014. Previously, she was Artistic Director of Next Wave (2010–14), where her key achievements were a radical rethink of an arts festival model, and a series of landmark commissions, publications and talks featuring First Nations artists, co-curated with Tony Albert and Tahjee Moar and titled Blak Wave.
In 2013, she was Artistic Director of the Ian Potter Cultural Trust’s 20th Anniversary Celebrations at the Melbourne Recital Centre. She was also Creative Producer for Melbourne Fringe Festival for 2008–10.
Emily has been a proud Board Member for Arena Theatre Company, Snuff Puppets and Theatre Network Victoria, and is alumnus of the Australia Council’s Emerging Leaders Program (2011). She is a regular peer assessor for the Australia Council for the Arts, Creative Victoria, and other philanthropic trusts and foundations. Emily holds a Bachelor of Arts (Media and Communications, English) from the University of Sydney (2005). She is a regular host and facilitator for writers’ festivals and arts organisations around Australia.