You do what you do, because you love it, and you make a difference. The work you do brings great value to your community, your audiences and the people that you work with.
If you want to:
develop your skills,
expand your reach,
develop global or local partnerships,
increase your impact and understanding,
or more…
Then let’s work together!
I am a trusted advisor with over 20 years experience in senior roles in the Arts and Creative Industries, Government and Not For Profit sectors. Developing, creating and delivering innovative and transformative solutions are my forte.
I’m a different kind of consultant for a new kind of world. Let’s change it together.
1. You need to get to the centre of things pretty quickly, so make sure you ask the right questions.
2. Listening and being present are far more important than speaking, especially the first time you work with a client.
3. You often work with clients in a very vulnerable time in their lives, whether it be through change or being on the precipice of great success. Be calm and be clear.
4. Don't be afraid to ask them the question that they are afraid of asking themselves.
5. The biggest compliment is when a client recommends you to someone they admire and trust. Good work begets more good work. It's worth more than any marketing strategy. #artsconsultant #trust #client trust
It’s time for lunch (and a little snow break) @januaryjazz just a little magic on a Tuesday ❄️ #snowintassie #snow #magic
Since the end of March we've been swapping our roll up white board and roll aboard luggage for a new kind of toolkit. It's been so satisfying to bring boards together to do the crucial work of strategy and decision making when they need to stay physically distanced. I'm so humbled by the trust they place in me. #facilitation #governance #digitalfacilitation #thinkanddo #theboltcutter #strategy
Because people often engage you for who you are and not just because of what you've achieved I'm diving into a weekly 'Get to know me Monday'
I love festivals. I love the way they can transform a city, make you remember and forget all at once. I like the way there's an intimacy formed between strangers through a shared experience in public. The way they're joined by a moment of longing for meaning and immersion.
I've spent a decent chunk of my working life writing about festivals, photographing them, performing in them, funding them and leading them.
At the moment in time we find ourselves in festivals represent a kind of uncontrollable multiplier that needs to be controlled. Not for now the wandering and coming across of surprises, the unplanned and spontaneous nature of a festival footprint. Not for now the gathering in enclosed spaces.
Later we will come together like we used to, but this time it will be with greater longing. #festivallife #together #festivalseason #festival #gettoknowmemonday
Rounding out the weekend of future virtual gigs are new clients @brownalley_melb who throw the kinds of get up and get sweaty events that people talk about for decades. They'll be back and we'll be back, unafraid, totally up for it and just more hand sanitised than before. Until then stay safe Melbourne 💕 #brownalley #notgone #livemusic #music #thisbloodyvirus #melbournemusic @support_live_music @supportact
A big shout out to clients Bourke St Courtyard and The Royal Hotel Melbourne who would ordinarily be getting ready to welcome a whole bunch of sweaty, happy humans onto the dance floor this weekend. We know you will again soon. #thisbloodyvirus #savelivemusic #supportlivemusic #supportact #bourkestcourtyard #dot 📸 duncographic
Client, actor and writer, Wahibe Moussa aka @januaryjazz killing it tonight at the Melbourne Spoken Word Festival. @melbspokenword with @mothertongueofficial #gogetemgal #spokenword #playwright #legend #writer 📸 @journeyoflightphotography
Flashback Friday the time when I was Director of Artstart at @auscouncilarts designing and implementing a nationwide program of support for early career artists. I feel fortunate to have been with them at a time when we could be responsive and well resourced to respond and lead the response to the sector. To level the playing field and support a diverse range of artists at a crucial point in their professional arts life. How much the funding landscape has changed since then. #fundingcutbacks #artsfunding #artstart #fertiliserforbuddingartists #thosewerethedays #integrity
A good grant writer will be able to understand what you do quickly. They'll be able to look at your organisation or individual practise holistically and be able to craft a case for support that really speaks to the selection criteria. But a good grant writer is often so much more than that too. That's why we have a team of people that can provide the detail, rigour and intelligence, and it's why people keep returning to work with us! #grantwriting #strategy #storytelling #budgets
I'm so very proud to be the Co-Chair of this incredible organisation Second Echo Ensemble. It's been a massive year, and I feel deep gratitude for the way the organisation's fearless leader @kdcwork has handled all its challenges! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 "Like a lot of people the crew at Second Echo Ensemble were feeling inspired by 2020 – the start of a new decade, a new organizational structure, new funding, and a new chance to start fresh once more.
Then the fires ... then coronavirus...
Now the year is halfway over - a rollercoaster ride of emotion, stress, hope, and so many other things. As we slowly find new ways to reemerge from isolation, to live and work together Second Echo are peering through the fog of uncertainty, imagining and re-imaging, visioning and creating a way forward with Resolve, Resilience, Re-imagination, and Reform. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Resolve - We will scale, and pace our work
Resilience - We will grow our economic and social sustainability
Re-imagination - We will keep pushing the envelope of technology
Reform - We will continue to be experimenters, innovators and change makers. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟So let's look to the next normal —a normal that looks unlike any in the years preceding the coronavirus, the pandemic that has changed everything."
kdc @secondechoensemble #performingarts #governance #resilience #tenacity #makingithappen
Great to be back in town today meeting at the LongHouse with @core_collective and @wmindigart plotting the next steps for a mobile version of Tin Camp Studios. So lovely to see the ladies of @nayriniara and poke my head into see the wonderkids @secondechoensemble . That's what makes The LongHouse so fantastic- it's a hub of activity, creativity and community. #comingtogether #firstnations #indigenous #tincamp #rockstars
Because people often engage you for who you are and not just because of what you've achieved I'm diving into a weekly 'Get to know me Monday'
When I was nine I was tested to have a reading age of 15.
I read voraciously and I enjoyed the process of distilling stories into meaning. More than an exercise of remembering and repeating, but one that involved digesting and discovering.
I coveted those choose your own adventure stories and cried at the tales of unwanted animals finding their forever homes in short story collections. Especially dogs and ponies who were outcasts. And Ferdinand The Bull, the misunderstood pacifist. I loved my illustrated Spanish book about a boy and his horse who drowned together in the sea. My sister knew how much I found it precious and she drew giant penises on most of the horse illustrations
But then came the tween Gen X dystopian fiction like Victor Kelleher's Taronga and I prepared diligently for a nuclear Winter.
When teenagehood beckoned, like many we devoured Kathy Letti's Girls Night Out and Puberty Blues, SE Hinton, and of course Judy Blume.
15 came with it blue hair,doc martins and Nick Cave's When The Ass Saw the Angel and I read a bunch of Kerouac poetry and prose. It took till my 30's to realise how sexist it was, but I think I always saw myself as a Kerouac protagonist and not the dedraggled bit parts his female characters were relegated too. At 16 it was the morbid pointlessness of Satre and Herman Hesse's Sidartha and the cheeky Play Power by Richard Neville
At uni I discovered Jeanette Winterson and Oodgeroo Noonuccal (known back then as Kath Walker)
I wish I read more books during lockdown. I just couldn't seem to focus long enough to move into that wonderful stage of getting lost in the pages and now work has taken over those unstructured days. I hope I get to read more soon.
#gettoknowmemonday #childhoodreading #books #judyblume #sehinton #jeanettewinterson #kerouac #nickcave #chooseyourownadventure #genx
Working today with this guy, Warren Mason on getting Tin Camp Studios ready to tour and operate off grid post COVID. ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️ "Kicking off at the Nayri Niara festival on Tasmania’s Bruny Island in early 2019, The Tin Camp is going from strength to strength. In his newfound role as curator, Warren is gently finding his feet with a project that can help others. “Really what I’m about is taking this relocatable space to others, to help their journey and to get people talking. The Tin Camp Studio offers a music, art and workshop space to bring people together. We’re about recording stories…and having those documented is really important for the future. We can all appreciate, learn from, and enjoy other people’s stories.”
Taking the Tin Camp Studio on the road is Warren’s next big adventure. “This is something that really means a lot to me and has helped my healing for sure,” he says. “It’s awesome to see how other people react to it and what the space can play home to. It’s always a good night in the camp.” ☀️☀️☀️☀️ So excited to help Warren with this next stage. Image: 📸 @thetasmaniantuxedo #indigenousartist #indigenousowned #indigenousmusic #tincamp #touring #warrenmason
If you only get a few hours off a week, spend it with your favourite people (or dog people) #dogmother #bullarab
Friday nights would usually be the time that we'd be thinking about plans for the weekend that involved some kind of gathering, celebration, moment of coming together. We can't do that right now, but it won't be forever. A big shout out to the events industry, the resilient and tenacious makers of happy that create some of my favourite memories. And a big shout out to new clients @velodromeevents. Here's a little magic from their @abilityfest event with @untitledgroupau #festivalswillbeback #makinghappy #festivalswillreturn #festivalcrew
Some days you remember that when you work for yourself that you can make your office anywhere that has decent wifi. Today’s office isn’t so hideous. #consultantlife #casualfridays #officewithaview #feetinthesand