Lucy Kenneth dons global thinking cap in Salzburg
The former head of Tasmanian Regional Arts and now director of RedHOT Arts Marketing in Alice Springs, Lucy Kenneth, has been awarded a fellowship that is taking her to Salzburg in Austria to join a group of 60 'global thinkers'. It is part of the Salzburg Global Seminars that began shortly after the end of World War Two to bring together global thinkers for 'candid and informed' discussion to pioneer practical strategies for change. Lucy's seminar is Cultural Institutions without Walls: New Models of Arts-Community Interaction which aims to 'identify imaginative and effective new models of arts and community interaction and to see how these could be replicated elsewhere or adapted to other contexts.
Lucy writes:
"This is a fantastic opportunity and I am really looking forward to being part of this international arts think tank. The format is also about art and community and looks full on, with lectures followed by hands-on workshops aimed at policy change and collaborative project development.
As arts practitioners in regional Australia we both endure and enjoy our isolation. Getting out and gathering fresh ideas that I can share with the local sector will be amazing.
Apart from being an info sponge I'd like to share what it is like to work in the arts in regional Australia. Being isolated, our art is often shaped by the way that we connect with our communities. It is a much deeper relationship beyond that of presentation and passive consumption. Sometimes it is impossible for an artist or group to just fly solo on a project; the community just insists on being involved. It is such a balance working in regional places, you need to be inclusive and spread the opportunity but at the same time you might have to defend the artistic outcome and the integrity of the project. It'd be good to find out how other communities cope with this.
I am also looking at inspiring as many of the 60 international delegates as I can to come to Alice Springs in 2008 to be part of the Art at the Heart - Regional Arts Australia Conference. I'll have six days to convince them, imagine how awesome it would be to have ideas people from all over the world here."
