Home Event Calendar About SAMAG Support Us Resources Contact SAMAG's 23 February Seminar: The Fine Art of Strategic Planning Date: Monday 23 February 2015 at 6pm Where: Warwick Fairfax Studio, Opera Australia 480 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills Speakers: Frank Panucci, Executive Director, Grants, the Australia Council for the Arts (Chair) Bec Allen, Executive Producer, Force Majeure Atul Joshi, General Manager, Playwriting Australia Sam Peters, Strategic Program Lead, EPMO Transformation, Group Services, Westpac For many of us the development of a strategic plan is an onerous process. If it was not a funding requirement for state and federal government, most companies probably wouldn’t bother. So SAMAG is starting the year with a practical investigation into the approach and philosophy required to generate an effective strategic plan. As many companies prepare to submit operational funding to Arts NSW and the Australia Council in 2015, this seminar will look at ways your organisation can plan for vibrancy, originality and sustainability without selling your artistic soul. SAMAG's 26 March Seminar: Arts Leadership: A View from Brooklyn with BAM's Joseph V. Melillo Date: 26 March 2015 Where: Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House With the generosity of the Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund, SAMAG presents a unique opportunity to hear internationally renown arts leader Joseph V Melillo, Executive Producer at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), share his insights from a thirty year career as a leader in the arts. Under Melillo’s guidance and vision BAM has been transformed from a single site local music academy to a performing arts complex at the vanguard of the Brooklyn Arts Renaissance and the forefront of innovation in the arts and audience engagement around the world. Ann Mossop, Head of Programs, Sydney Opera House will lead an in-conversation session with Joe to discover how the man widely credited with having ‘written the book’ on audience engagement, respected for creating a destination arts program that still supports emerging art forms and celebrated for his vision and leadership, views leadership in the arts. SAMAG's 27 April Seminar: Beyond Pale, Male & Stale: Embedding Diversity in the Arts Date: Monday 27 April 2015 Time: 6pm Where: The Australia Council for the Arts 372 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills Arts organisations have long struggled to reflect the diverse experiences of the communities they serve. The 'establishment' has been accused of being 'elitist' while emerging and community arts are criticised for being too 'niche'. Solutions to this problem have covered the gamut from quotas to positive discrimination, policy directives to fierce debate. Recently a watershed seems to have been reached and with significant shifts in programming across arts forms that seem to embed diversity on stages, pages and platforms. Join Penny Miles, Manager Cultural Engagement, Arts Strategy of the Australia Council in conversation with arts leaders who are embedding diversity in the arts and getting beyond "Pale, Male and Stale". Speakers: Lisa Havilah, Director, Carriageworks Lee Lewis, Artistic Director, Griffin Theatre Company Bali Padda, Co-Chair of the Equity Diversity Committee Jenny Bisset, Director, Blacktown Arts Centre, Manager, Arts and Cultural Development at Blacktown City Council Chair: Penny Miles, Manager Cultural Engagement, Arts Strategy, the Australia Council for the Arts SAMAG's 1 June Seminar: Creative Minds: Transformative Artistic Directorship Date: Monday 1 June 2015 Where: Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House Speakers: Ralph Myers, Artistic Director, Belvoir Rosie Dennis, Artistic Director, Urban Theatre Projects Johanna Featherstone, Artistic Director, The Red Room Company Stephen Page, Artistic Director, Bangarra Dance Theatre Chair: Ben Strout, CEO, Biennale of Sydney The arts in Australia is headed by Artistic Directors of varied credentials: those who have carved strong careers as practitioners, those who hit the Director circuit, jumping from festival to festival and those who join us temporarily from afar. So who should be leading our arts organisations? What does it take to be an Artistic Director? And how do Artistic Directors strategise to ensure an organisation’s future? Artistic Directors simultaneously navigate the past, present and future of an organisation. With a nod to the past, they deliver artistic programming and organisational leadership in the present, whilst also planning for the future to ensure the continued success and relevance of an organisation. How do Artistic Directors deliver an inspired program whilst also being an inspiring leader? How do they ensure valuable outcomes for creatives as well as staff? And how do they plan for succession? Hear about challenge, innovation and hands-on leadership from Sydney's most inspiring Artistic Directors. SAMAG's 28 June Seminar: Don't Mention the "C Word": Debate About Collaborations between Arts Organisations Date: Monday 29 June 2015, Time: 6pm Where: The Australia Council for the Arts 372 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills Speakers: Michael Cohen is the Creative Producer, Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority John Kirkman is theExecutive Director, Information and Cultural Exchange Inc. Lily Shearer is a Muruwaroi (north-west NSW/south-east QLD) woman with over 30 years experience in Aboriginal Cultural Development, Arts Management and in Theatre and Performance making. Chair: Lenine Bourke is the Director of Community Partnerships, the Australia Council for the Arts Organisations often work together, but how often do they collaborate? What are the barriers to genuine organisational collaboration? Why does collaboration so often seem fraught with perceived and actual difficulties? What do organisations risk through collaboration? What do they stand to gain? Come along to hear about the pleasures, perils and pitfalls of such collaborative endeavours from arts organisations who have succeeded in such collaborations. SAMAG's 27 July Seminar: The Future is Now: Nurturing the Next Generation of Great Artists: part of Underbelly Arts Lab 2015 samag from John A Douglas on Vimeo. Date: Saturday 25 July 2015, Time: 2pm Where: Building 124 Cockatoo Island Speakers: Simon Abrahams is the Creative Director at Melbourne Fringe the Chair of Theatre Network Victoria. Nick Atkins is the Producer, New Work at Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, and a Board Member of PACT Centre for Emerging Artists Roslyn Helper is the Artistic Director of Electrofringe, Co-founder and Co-director of art partnership zin, and an artist interested in the intersections between art, politics and technology. Erica McCalman is the Associate Producer at Legs On The Wall and is a descendant of the Noongar (Balardong) people with Irish convict, German and Scottish heritage. Chair:Fiona Winning is currently the Head of Programming at Sydney Festival How do we find space for the new voices in contemporary arts practice to be heard? What can we do to support the great artists of the future? Where are the surprising opportunities and non-linear pathways to sit alongside the more traditional forms of artistic and skills development? Join us as we explore the role the Australian arts industry can play in cultivating the next crop of emerging artistic talent. SAMAG's 21 September Seminar: Benvenuto! Australia at the Venice Biennale Date: Monday 21 September 2015 Where: Australia Council for the Arts Benvenuto! Australia at the Venice Biennale In the midst of the Venice Biennale’s 56th edition, Australian artist Fiona Hall will discuss her experiences at the Biennale, including her work ‘Wrong Way Time’, Australia’s new pavilion, the Emerging Curator programme and the most outstanding exhibitions from around the world. Fiona's work is described by the Australia Council as: 'bringing together hundreds of disparate elements which find alignments and create tensions around three intersecting concerns: global politics, world finances and the environment. In common with many of us, Hall sees these as failed states, as ‘a minefield of madness, badness and sadness’ stretching beyond the foreseeable future. Hall’s lifelong passion for the natural environment can be felt intensely in works that respond to our persistent role in its demise, or to the perilous state of various species.' Elaine Chia, Director, International Signature Projects at the Australia Council will be be moderating the discussion with Fiona. SAMAG's Regional Seminar: "Excellence" and Regional Arts Date: Monday 28 September 2015 Where: HotHouse Theatre, Lincoln Causeway, Wodonga Due to recent changes in Federal arts funding arrangements, the notion of what constitutes ‘excellence’ has become hotly contested. What might the implications of this ‘excellence’ debate be for regional artists and arts organisations? Can excellence be measured differently in regional Australia? How? Why? To what end? What opportunities might be emerging for regional artists and companies from this newly-framed discourse of excellence? What unique perspectives might regional artists offer the current debate about the constitution and measurement of artistic excellence? SAMAG heads to the Murray Region of Albury-Wodonga for this critical public conversation, and this special seminar will include a panel of regional arts leaders to debate this issue. Speakers: Vic McEwan, Artistic Director, The CAD Factory Karen Gardner, General Manager, Murray Arts Lyn Wallis, Artistic Director, HotHouse Theatre Chair: SAMAG Committee Member Dr David Williams. SAMAG's 12 October Seminar: Create in NSW: Arts and Cultural Policy Framework Date: Monday 12 October Where: Parramatta Artists Studios, Level 2, 68 Macquarie Street, Parramatta The NSW Government launched its new Arts and Cultural Policy Framework: Create in NSW in February this year with a bold vision for our arts and culture, built on the ambitions of excellence, access and strength. The panel will talk about what these ambitions mean for artists, arts workers and audiences across NSW. Join Arts NSW Executive Director Mary Darwell, Wagga Wagga Regional Arts Development officer Scott Howie and performance artist David Capra for a conversation about creating in NSW. The panel will be chaired by festival director and media producer, Jess Scully. Speakers: Chair: Jess Scully: Curator, policy thinker, festival director and media producer Scott Howie: Regional Arts Development Officer, Eastern Riverina Arts David Capra: Western Sydney based Artist and Curator Mary Darwell: Executive Director, Arts NSW SAMAG's 30 November Member's Event: Creative Leadership: Michael Lynch in Conversation with Simone Whetton Date: Monday 30 November 2015 Where: Baker & McKenzie Law Firm Michael Lynch, CBE, AM is one of Australia's most recognised and experienced arts administrators and cultural figures. His distinguished career has comprised overseeing some of Australia's most prominent arts companies including Sydney Theatre Company, the Australia Council for the Arts as well as director of the Sydney Opera House. From 2002 to 2009 he was chief executive of the South Bank Centre in London and has also served as Director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and as a board member of Film Victoria. In 2011, Mr Lynch was appointed CEO of West Kowloon Cultural District Authority by the Hong Kong Government. During his four-year tenure of the multi-billion dollar project - one of the world's largest cultural districts - his work included overseeing the 40-hectare development which is expected to include 17 arts and cultural venues, including M+, a 60,000-square-metre building designed by Herzog & de Meuron, which will become one of the world's largest museum spaces for contemporary visual culture upon its completion in 2019. Mr Lynch will be joined in conversation by one of Australia's most respected arts journalists, Simone Whetton, Chair of Legs on the Wall Theatre Company and board member of Griffin Theatre. Together they will reflect on Mr Lynch's distinguished career in the arts, discuss the future of creative leadership in Australia and examine the current turbulence within the Australian arts political landscape. Join SAMAG at Baker & McKenzie Law Firm's beautiful offices for networking, drinks and canapés to reflect on the past year and on what is means to be an effective creative leader today. As numbers are limited, admission is open to SAMAG Members only at this stage (membership includes all events in 2016). SAMAG is supported by the NSW Government through Arts NSW and by the City of Sydney. The SAMAG seminar series is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, through provision of a venue.