A new Dawn for Powerhouse
Us here at StageNoise (Diana, Damian and Tim) wish you all the very best for Christmas and whatever other festival you care to celebrate - and a peaceful 2008.
Thank you for being with us this year - thanks too to everyone who has submitted to podcasts, interviews and scrutiny. We enjoy ourselves immensely because we love what we do and admire beyond description the artists, creatives and the rest of the industrious community that bring us theatre, music, books, art and the joy of living in Sydney in the 21st century.
We're taking it a bit easy over the next week or so - but look out over the weekend for the definitive word on The Wiggles and Blackbird. Meanwhile ...
It’s been a shapeshifting year, what with one thing and another. Kevin07 on the one hand, the Blessed Cate on the other. It was thrilling to watch Senator Penny Wong take the world stage; the sun shone for Maxine McKew and Deputy PM Julia Gillard. Suddenly, love is in the air - again.
Talking to stagenoise this week (full interview on January 2) Brett Sheehy - grand fromage of Australian arts festivals - said he feels there has been a change in the atmosphere since the federal election. And it’s one thing we can’t put down to global warming.
I described to my sister in New York city the sensation of waking up post-election night and, through the champagne fog, figuring that without realising it, the drudge factor of the latter part of the Howard years had been a bit like East Germany - but with better weather.
And now, further evidence of new times and the kind of Australia to be excited at living in: the Powerhouse Museum today announced the appointment of Dawn Casey as its new director!
Those with memories longer than an issue of Woman’s Day will recall Casey was the founding director of the National Museum in Canberra, getting it off to a cracking, innovative and politically suicidal start. Her commitment to indigenous history and the brilliantly unconventional telling of Australia’s story meant the new museum was a visitor magnet until she was white-anted and finally got rid of by the forces of darkness.
Now, after what Dr Nicholas Pappas, President of the Board of Trustees of the Powerhouse Museum, says has been a worldwide search, they have decided on Dr Casey - who was in our backyard all the time (Adjunct Professor at the University of Queensland, Griffith University and University of Sunshine Coast).
The Powerhouse media release quotes Dr Pappas: “Dr Casey’s vast experience in the museum and cultural sectors and her recognised talents are the attributes we have been seeking as the Powerhouse enters a new era. Under her leadership we look forward to seeing the Powerhouse projected to the forefront of the international museum community.”
Now all we want for Christmas - and the future - is an arts and education policy out of Labor that recognises that the answer to a smart population is not merely a laptop in the backpack from years 9-12, but art and drama and learning for learning’s sake from kindy to uni and beyond. That has to include rich cultural experiences - such as are to be had at the Powerhouse and other galleries, museums and theatres - which will expand and fill the imagination of every child and equip those kids for full and joyous lives.
Wake up Straya! It’s tomorrow already - it’s where P.J. Keating wanted us to go all along: the future - woo hoo!
