Jacquie Riddell

A useful new report from A New Approach (ANA) looking at arts and culture funding in Australia. With inquiries at federal and state level at the moment looking at local government sustainability/funding there are some really interesting figures looking at the breakdown between levels of government, subsectors and capital/ongoing expenditure. There's some positive news there as well, with funding, still down over the long term, starting to grow again - which in a time where communities are looking for joy and social cohesion and creativity and all the things that make life worth living, is good to see:) #LibrariesTransform #Libraries #Research

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As much as I am attracted to smaller and regional cities, the reality is that our large cities are where creativity (and more importantly applied creativity – innovation) occur, because critical mass and larger-scale proximity encourage experimentation and interaction and new ideas. Just up the road from where I live, the city of Sydney, the largest city in Australia (for the moment, anyway), is grappling with the loss of creative talent and the creative economy which has driven much of the excitement and liveability of the city for decades.   On 12 June, from 6:30pm–8:30pm at Centennial Hall, Sydney Town Hall, a massive line-up of Australian and global speakers – prominent artists, strategists and political decision-makers will discuss what to do about it, to help kick start strategies to turn the situation around. The organisers lay out the importance of the issue, ‘culture and creativity are the soul of our cities and communities - they create a sense of belonging, revitalise neighbourhoods, build communities, drive innovation and contribute to local and city centre economies.’ They clearly identify the problem looking for solutions – and it’s a problem many larger global cities increasingly face ‘While Sydney is a powerhouse of culture for the nation, what makes that possible is at risk. Our creative workforce increasingly can’t afford to live or work in Sydney. The availability of affordable, suitable workspace for arts and creative industries is the primary issue facing the cultural life of rapidly urbanising global cities.’ If you are in Sydney or going to be visiting at the time, this is a must. For details of the event and to book a free ticket, see here: https://lnkd.in/gvx9BBU5.

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Looking at this topic, I think it's important to consider the different perspectives on this critical topic that face Children, Councils and playground owners. While some may advocate for risky play to encourage creativity and exploration, others will argue that safety should always come first to prevent accidents, however what does the balance need to be and how big a risk is considered too unsafe? This will certainly be a very interesting debate and highly valuable to those within the play and playground industry. #Playground #CommunityPlanning #Play #Community #Innovation

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HOMESPUN is now available on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) so if you’re looking for something to watch on this long weekend be sure to head to https://lnkd.in/g3AFy2zT to check it out! As someone who grew up on a diet of ABC TV it’s such an exciting milestone to see our show alongside such incredible titles...what a joy! In HOMESPUN I wanted to create something that went against the grain - no boy meets girl bush romance, none of the overdone tropes and caricatures we see time and time again. I wanted it to be fast paced, dynamic, different – a show that respected the audience by encouraging them to join the dots in a format that is atypical, non-sequential, unconventional. Given structure is often so set in stone we knew this would be confronting, and we were deliberate in wanting to give audiences agency. Our intent was to relinquish the desire to control the audience’s interpretation and let them make sense of the world in a way that is meaningful to them...meaningful to you. In this age of mindless scrolling, digital overload, content clutter we want you to have to do a little bit of work in your navigation of the story when you step into the world. In HOMESPUN, beautiful artistic animations are threaded through out and there are so many little gems of meaning that have been meticulously planted for people to find as they frolic through the experience. The desire to make something out of the box influenced how we made HOMESPUN – we chased creative freedom so that we could forge a refreshed way of looking at the regions. It’s not perfect. It’s a like a jar of homemade jam. It’s not a mass market, preservative laden, factory generated, off-the-shelf sugary sales winner. It’s rustic and chunky, slightly tart, and slightly sweet but it’s made from a bespoke handwritten recipe and it’s laden with love. We made it like this so you can see the possibilities – where we can go to with these kinds of stories…the people you can meet, the ideas you can explore, the music you can enjoy, the places, faces and stories that we could expand on if we were trusted to dial them up with the kind of support that could help the recipe be replicated. Just like jam, it’s not for everyone…we made if for regional Australians who routinely get the p*ss taken but who never get to take the p*ss themselves. We hope you enjoy our labour of love!

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The latest Essential Report is out looking at reaction to last week's federal budget. TLDR: we like most of what's being proposed but don't think it will make a huge difference to cost of living. That said, there is something interesting going on here, where government is looking to actively intervene in the economy. It's part of a global post-pandemic trend for more interventionist government that might mark the end of the 40 year neo-liberal experiment. https://lnkd.in/gpj6hyQu

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As a Strategy & Policy Designer it is great to see the keynote from Catherine Livingstone on the value of design thinking for strategy and for boards to approach in this new way at the AICD Governance Summit 2024. “Design thinking is hard, but pays enormous dividends and with the increasing velocity of change, as a capability, will be a critical success factor. It drives simplicity from complexity, providing a rigour, which enables more resilient strategic thinking.” Highlighting examples from Tesla to Apple, and her own executive career at Cochlear, she stressed the transformative power of design thinking in strategic disruption, challenging the notion that its application is limited to product or fashion design. However, for the philosophy to work it requires a communicable strategy and a linked business plan.” I will write more about this in my newsletter (660 in a week and growing) - Theory for the Business in the coming weeks. Subscribe if you not already done - here on LinkedIn (https://lnkd.in/geCqNC23 ) or Substack (https://lnkd.in/gTV_MmCq).

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More than 600 professional artists were surveyed in late 2022 and early 2023 as a data sample for the report, Artists as Workers, co-authored by Professor David Throsby and Katya Petetskaya. This is work that has been ongoing and vital. The Age reported on it the link is below There’s a lot of gumpf in the comments gaslighting highly talented hardworking people. When you read the article you’d note the vast transitions at play and decrease in artists incomes, these are structural. Governments in Australia have reduced directly or by stealth (through no CPI increases to sector funding for 20 years) the available money while the number of artists has grown as has our population. Artists work in all kinds of incredible ways - they observer, create, tell stories, build safety and capacity for others to do this , to heal to be part of the solutions to complex wicked problems in our country. Other sectors in the economy get huge levels of government subsidy but their works aren’t vilified and told to get a real job because there is subsidy in the sector- mining, healthcare, education. The return on investment in the creative sector is huge but it shouldn’t be at the expense of the people working in it, their mental health or their ability to meet ordinary financial goals , raise their kids, have a home, eat and be healthy. Jobs at Bunnings: How Australia’s musicians, actors and artists scratch a living

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The Albanese Labor Government has delivered on our commitment to support First Nations arts and the Australian literature sector with new legislation passed by Parliament today. The Creative Australia Amendment (Implementation of Revive) Bill 2024 continues our Government’s reinvigoration of the arts by establishing First Nations Arts and Writing Australia. These two new parts of Creative Australia will invest in and grow First Nations arts practice and Australia’s literature sector – delivering on commitments in Revive, Australia’s national cultural policy. First Nations Arts and Writing Australia will sit alongside Creative Workplaces and Music Australia, both of which are already up and running and delivering support for Australian artists, arts workers and organisations. The creation of First Nations Arts recognises the crucial place of First Nations stories at the centre of Australia’s arts and culture. Self-determination is important – it means supporting First Nations artists and organisations to tell their stories. First Nations Arts, together with its governing First Nations Board, will allow for autonomy over investment decisions and enhance opportunities for First Nations artists and arts workers. Writing Australia will provide greater investment and support to our writers, illustrators and publishers, who have been historically overlooked and underfunded. That changes now. First Nations Arts will receive up to $52 million for First Nations Arts over the next four years from 2024-25 to support and promote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts practice, enhance sustainable career pathways for young First Nations people in the arts and increase opportunities to grow First Nations audiences. It will be overseen by the First Nations Board, which will allocate funds to support and invest in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and promote best practice in First Nations cultural protocols and principles. Writing Australia will receive over $26 million for Writing Australia over three years from 2025-26 to strengthen the Australian literature sector and develop further markets and audiences, here and overseas. Through targeted investment and the development of national industry initiatives, it will increase opportunities for authors, illustrators and publishers to create new works, tell new stories and establish a poet laureate for Australia. It will be overseen by the Writing Australia Council. First Nations Arts will commence later in 2024. Expressions of interest for the First Nations Board are now open and can be submitted at the attached link. Writing Australia will commence on 1 July 2025.

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Jumped on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) this afternoon to discuss the LNP’s housing plan, released today. Also, considered points of convergence between the Labor and LNP plans, both in focus this state budget week. Check it out, hopefully it offers some interesting analysis. https://lnkd.in/gPiqp-RE #StateBudget #BudgetReply #Queensland #HomeMatters #BetterTogether

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Reconciliation from a Victorian Traditional Owner's perspective. We're kicking off a series of interviews with Victorian TOs about what reconciliation means to them. For anyone involved in reconciliation, this series will be a must! Kicking it off with Wotjobaluk woman, Aunty janine coombs. https://lnkd.in/gmbuuFtA

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New data on domestic and international travellers who attended theatre, concerts or other performing arts was created by the team at Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade)’s Tourism Research Australia to support our evidence at the Australian Parliamentary Committee inquiry in Live Music. The TRA analysis indicates the number of domestic travellers attending theatre, concerts or other performing arts follows a seasonal pattern with peaks generally in summer months and troughs in the winter. Attendance dropped off significantly through the COVID period but began to recover from early 2022. The number of domestic travellers attending theatre, concerts or other performing arts in March quarter 2024 was 2.5 million and this was was 17% higher than the number in March quarter 2019 (pre-COVID). In 2023, 652,000 international visitors attended theatre, concerts or other performing arts. This was 87% of the number in 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 10% of all international trips in 2023. The number of international visitors in the March quarter of 2024 of 257k was 8% higher than the number in March quarter of 2019. Australian live music and arts performance are clearly valued by our international travellers. When planning for travellers or our own trips - consider how you can include live performances to enhance the experience. #Tourism #Travel #Australia #LiveMusic #Theatre #Arts #Data #PerformingArts #FirstNations Creative Australia Australian Tourism Export Council

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This was my other ABC interview, way too early this morning. The invention of the domestic violence refuge 50 years ago was a world-changing innovation. Refuges were set up because a vast number of women and kids didn't just need a safe place to sleep for the night - they needed to go into hiding from men intent on harming/killing them, and in that place of hiding they needed support. Now, due to chronic underfunding by state and federal governments, refuge beds are mostly full by the morning, and the vast majority of women and kids in the highest risk situations are being put into motels. In Victoria, they are staying in motels for 14 days on average. 14 days sitting in a room - alone, or trying to parent multiple kids. Trying to work out what to do. Maybe getting threats from the ex. Scared, traumatised, confused. Motel stays (and everything that goes with them: caseworker visits, food vouchers etc) are *more expensive* than refuge beds, and have far worse outcomes. There are alternatives - alternatives that work! I talk about this in more detail in the interview below. Over the decades, we've seen refuges become increasingly devalued, referred to as merely 'the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff'. Yes, we need to be doing far more to prevent the coercive control from starting in the first place, but for the foreseeable future refuges will be an absolutely critical part of the system. Refuges are homicide prevention. Refuges are suicide prevention. Refuges help to break the cycle of multi-generational violence. Fund refuges. Thank you to Dr Chelsea Tobin GAICD (Safe Steps) and Annabelle Daniel OAM for their guidance. https://lnkd.in/gPi_kici

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Keyton launched its second, biennial Keyton Retirement Living Lifestyle Report today. The report tells the stories from our survey of 4,500 Australians over the age of 55 years. We asked them to tell us about the things that matter to them, and worry them, when they think about their lifestyle. Check out this article about the report in today's Australian: https://lnkd.in/dkedW3Ts Download the report here: https://lnkd.in/dFBhDWCx. #retirement #retirementliving Retirement Living Council

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This morning Ross Bryan Joyce, CEO of the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO) spoke to Thomas Oriti and Georgia Stynes of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) about the underwhelming budget from a disability point of view. There are a large number of recommendations stemming from the Disability Royal Commission, and the NDIS Review, but no money to roll them out. Other issues include: -> a lack of housing and homeless measures for PwD,  -> exceedingly low core funding for advocacy orgs,  - > inadequacy of Jobseeker increases for those assessed with partial capability to work (largely PWD), and  -> lack of increase to Disability Support Pension #budget2024 #disabilityrights #ndis #auspol https://lnkd.in/dF4AaEZg

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Did Costello resign, or was he pushed? Best practice is that Nine's Board acted. It is not a passive role.   If that’s the case, from a communications POV, there are two more immediate proactive steps that will impact the reputation of the Board to staff, shareholders and others.   1. Catherine West, the new chair, can broadly flag her (the Board's) philosophy and the company’s pending cultural change. She can either make a headline announcement or the Board can act by engineering further changes, or both.   Saying/doing nothing is not a good option.   2. If the Board decides to continue with more change, to act, then CEO Mike Sneesby is a target. If the Board wants to continue clearing the house, any other ‘dinosaurs’ can go.   Then, of course, there’s a review of the $1m payout to Darren Wick.   This is simply best practice communications, measured by ‘Does it meet the communities’ expectations?’   3. A presentation? Catherine West’s option, ideally from a comms POV, is to talk to staff; the more interactive, the better. It will go public, leaked or otherwise, so it reaches shareholders, etc. It doesn’t have to be detailed. An investigation is underway, and it’s usually fairly easy for an insider to predict many of its findings. Getting ahead of the investigation’s findings with the obvious creates trust. It will be stabilising for staff particularly (it's also a chance to flag Nine's financial challenges). She can identify certain cultural principles that are essential: a broad commitment to cultural inclusiveness, no harassment, a complaints mechanism, cultural training, etc. She must be honest. A commitment to a degree of transparency is also an essential; how that's engineered can be managed later.   Some of these principles are already Nine Board policy: “The Board sets and monitors progress against measurable objectives to track our performance in engaging, retaining and fostering a diverse and inclusive culture”, is the Environmental, Social and Governance Policy – https://lnkd.in/gZ7iM6zk.   The other ‘rule’ in this headland conversation is not to commit to detail. CEOs and Chairs have long learned the hard way to avoid making early commitments that they can’t keep. That’s not an absence of transparency; it's common sense.

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This is a love letter to community advocacy... On the 18th of December 2020, as Deputy Mayor, I had the privilege of launching the nbn® Australia First Nations Art Node Project - which was a partnership with the Mornington Peninsula Shire, that covered Twenty-One #NBN node cabinets across thirteen townships with Aboriginal art wraps from 6 local Aboriginal groups/organisations including Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, #Balee Group, Baluk Arts, #Bunjilwarra, #LivingCulture & Willum Warrain Aboriginal Association. At this event I met Leon Magree, who had tirelessly advocated for something to be done about the proliferation of graffiti on these nodes. From that time on, Leon would email me regularly with his frustrations regarding graffiti on infrastructure around #Rosebud and #Rye. If the vandalism is not offensive or doesn't have negative connotations then the utility company will decline to clean their asset, and suggest the matter is referred to the local Council. However, Council doesn't have the responsibility & they do not have the authority to clean this infrastructure. So today at #Council - we unanimously passed this Notice of Motion 1. That Mornington Peninsula Shire Council calls on the Commonwealth Government, State Government, NBN Co Ltd, VicRoads and utility companies to work with the Council to clean up our townships and reduce instances of graffiti and vandalism of assets not owned by the Shire including but not limited to fences, signage, electrical infrastructure and telecommunications boxes. 2. That Council affirms that it is willing to explore innovative ideas to deter graffiti including engaging local artists to decoratively wrap publicly accessible infrastructure. 3. That a letter encapsulating this sentiment is sent to relevant Commonwealth and State Ministers, non-government Chief Executive Officers and local Members of Parliament. On the Peninsula we're lucky to have lots of people like Leon - advocating, caring and showing up for our #community. To all those people I say thank you! #morningtonpeninsula #LocalGovernment #artinthewild https://ow.ly/CNJa50Rqn2e

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