Speeches
Thursday, 07 November 2024
Opening of the inaugural Arts Leadership Symposium
I am pleased to be with you to open Day One of the Arts Leadership Symposium.
I should like particularly to welcome those of you who have travelled from overseas to take part, and also acknowledge the wealth of international experience among the Australia‑based delegates.
Let me start by congratulating the Adelaide Festival Centre and Flinders University on their Education Partnership announced on 8 October, of which this event is an early and weighty deliverable.
I know that this Partnership builds on many years of successful collaboration, but it takes the relationship between you to a new and exciting level.
Among many other prospective benefits, students will welcome the opportunity for a new intensive course on festivals and the opportunity for Work Integrated Learning Placements.
In this regard, while the institutional collaboration is welcome in itself, the co‑location of the Flinders new city campus and the Adelaide Festival Centre presents unique opportunities and synergies, with the academic and the practical effectively taking place within the one precinct.
When opening the new city campus in February this year, I remarked particularly on Flinders’ network of industry collaborations, and see this as a noteworthy example.
I am also pleased at the extent to which this co‑location will contribute to the evolution and renewal of North Terrace as Adelaide’s premier boulevard of the arts and intellectual capital.
In saying “renewal” I am not and should not be taken as making any comment on the current state of North Terrace or its institutions: I am not blind to debates that have been taking place around some of these institutions but as Governor must remain apart from the political and policy considerations involved.
But I can encourage you as leaders and thought‑makers to forge ahead.
In this case I merely note that the passage of time both engenders and demands a process of rejuvenation in our institutions, in our teaching, in our conceptions, in how we achieve outcomes.
Your proposed deliberations on the impact of the latest technologies -which I am sure will include A.I. - are ample proof of that proposition.
In the same way as the growth of the biomedical precinct to the west of us has, over the last decade, added new lustre to North Terrace, so too, I am sure, will the creative energy of Flinders University and the Festival Centre.
I want also to congratulate and thank Richard Ryan for instigating the Arts Leadership Program here at Flinders, of which your symposium is the culmination. His contribution and drive, unswervingly supported by Paula Nagel, have been exceptional.
Friends
A day after the most consequential leadership contest on the planet, we should need no reminder of the importance not only of leadership, but equally, if not more so, of the structures, social fabric and habits that underpin its effective exercise.
Undoubtedly some among us have greater or lesser innate or gifts strengths as leaders, but equally undoubtedly there are many technical skills and habits which can be applied to the art of leadership.
As Governor, I am committed to nurturing and encouraging leadership among all ages and backgrounds, in whatever field.
Leadership is one of my six priorities as Governor, a position in which I build on sure foundations laid by my predecessors, especially Sir Eric Neal, who established the Governor’s Leadership Foundation 25 years ago.
I am therefore pleased to see the Leaders’ Institute of South Australia, of which I am patron, intimately involved in your work.
It is gratifying to note that as part of its regular training, the Institute looks at the role and power of the arts – to communicate, to reflect our culture, to question assumptions, to replenish us.
The Institute’s curriculum includes visiting arts organisations/spaces and hearing the perspectives of people working in the arts.
Among the distinguished arts alumni of the Institute are many who will be known to you, for example: Heather Croall and Jo O’Callaghan from the Fringe; Jane MacFarlane from Helpmann Academy; Emma Fey from the Art Gallery of South Australia; and others from Creative Australia; the Adelaide Youth Orchestra; Carclew; Access2Arts; Ukaria; Adelaide Film Festival; Jam Factory; and more.
Our state’s leadership in the arts has been both long‑standing and, if not necessarily always bipartisan, then at least prosecuted by both sides of politics in their own way.
For example, as many of you would know, the genesis of the Festival Theatre spanned three changes of government before it was opened in 1973 as the first major lyric theatre in the country.
I note that your reflections include discussion on how universities and arts institutions can best “...leverage relations with Government and industry to promote the interests of the sector”. This could, perhaps, be recast this more felicitously in your outward facing communications, but the fundamental point is valid.
My own view is that both government and the sector share an interest in seeing culture and the arts as integral elements of a healthy society and economy, the warp and weft of the social fabric I mentioned a moment ago.
In considering, as you are doing, the “value” of the arts in a changing world, I am sure there are several conceptions of “value” that you will be considering.
The economic value, which shows for example that in 2020-21, South Australia had more than 10,000 creative businesses employing an estimated 15,000 full time equivalent employees, contributing $1.8 billion to the economy, and growing at 9% per annum.
The multi‑ and intercultural value proposition, so well exemplified for many years now by the OzAsia Festival, this year including 300 local, national, and international artists from 12 countries, not to mention 7 world premieres, 4 Australian premieres and 9 Adelaide premieres.
The social and mental health value proposition: A 2022 study for the South Australian government shows that 96% of South Australians engage with the arts, 83% acknowledge the significant positive impact the arts have on their lives, 69% believe arts and culture make for a richer, more meaningful life, and 56% experience the arts as improving their sense of wellbeing and happiness.
And, looking forward, what I might term the demographic value proposition.
In coming years, South Australia has a significant role to play in delivering outcomes for the whole nation. We are a major contributor to Australia’s defence capabilities, a world leader in renewables and agriculture, and the home of the Australian Space Agency and Cyber Collaboration Centre. What we offer goes beyond conventional state boundaries.
Fulfilling these ambitions within our state will require a rapidly growing workforce, raising families, needing housing and schools and services, but also needing – and wanting - sporting, cultural and artistic sustenance.
To the extent that shared concepts of value between the sector, government and the community can be created, democratic and political process should tend, even if the arc is long, towards good outcomes across the board.
My message here goes to your point about influence: governments come, and governments go – leaders in all fields, including and perhaps especially your field, need to build and cultivate relationships that transcend these cycles.
Situated as you are adjacent to Parliament House, I think you are ideally positioned to develop shared perspectives with Government, whilst recognising that these links must reach much further than the building next door, whether to Canberra or beyond.
Looking beyond, I see your discussion points – properly – take the value of international collaborations across the Asia‑Pacific as read and look instead to how they can be widened and deepened.
In these deliberations, you have the advantage of long‑standing membership of the Association of Asia Pacific Performing Arts Centres and Douglas Gautier’s role as Chairman to draw upon.
You will all be aware that Douglas last week announced he will be stepping down as CEO of the Festival Centre. There will I am sure be other, many, occasions to do so, but let me take this one to record the profound appreciation of the state and my personal appreciation for all you have done for arts in South Australia. It is a truly distinguished record.
In this context, however, I am pleased that Douglas will be continuing in his role at AAPPAC.
The task of widening and deepening falls to many: arts practitioners themselves, institutions, governments.
I can say with confidence from my experience as a diplomat and department head that cultural diplomacy, including the integration of First Nations perspectives, is an embedded and valuable part of Australia’s international engagement.
Indeed, it would not be disclosing any secrets, or diminishing the intrinsic value of cultural exchange, to say that cultural outreach can be a valuable way to maintain contacts and relationships when stresses and strains in other parts of a relationship come to the fore, as they sometimes do.
Again, South Australia has a long and storied history on which to build in its international outreach, whether in policy terms or through the inclusion of international artists in our many festivals.
I am delighted too to make my own contribution during my travels as Governor, meeting with arts organisations in the countries I visit to help forge and deepen ties.
In closing, let me say that I think I have touched on all your discussion points, with the exception of that asking how universities and arts institutions can collaborate.
Without wishing to flatter you, I think I can say that the very fact of this symposium means that you are off to an excellent start.
I wish you all the best for your deliberations.