LARSEN | KEYS – arts, cultural and non-profit consultancy

Reading and writing in 2021

2021 was another difficult year, but one that interspersed bleak blank numbness with the first few stirrings of hope. Hope for the world, but also hope that my ability to think, write and create may (eventually) return.

Resetting our arts boards

Many (if not most) of us are part of the hugely messy and even more misunderstood space that is not-for-profit governance in Australia.

We report to boards, or report to people who report to boards. We apply to the organisations they oversee for our jobs, grants and opportunities. We are board members ourselves.

But this governance model is broken. Even when they’re working well, our boards are usually much harder work than either board members or staff members would like. And good boards can become bad boards in the space of one AGM.

List of Aussie publishers

It’s been a while since I updated my list of Aussie publishers. So with the end of the year and everyone’s 2021 writing resolutions in sight, here are some of the trade publishers currently or soon to open to unsolicited manuscripts.

Isolation (re)reading recommendations

When the world gets hard, I turn back to my bookshelf. Re-reading is solace, my superpower and my safe space.

Changing the culture of arts governance

A new report from the Australia Council for the Arts, the Institute of Community Directors (ICDA) and Our Community has shone the spotlight on arts governance in Australia.

Digital, flexible and accessible: launching Our Hybrid Future

Here are two things about me: I work from home. And I manage teams remotely (or I have done in the past). At the start of 2020, these things – while nowhere near unique – were still rare in the circles I worked in. Most of my friends, colleagues and clients went to work each day in offices, and most of them worked with or managed people within the same buildings they shared.

The art of governance

Australia’s arts boards are broken. The very ground on which our arts organisations and institutions are built is unpredictable, unsteady and (increasingly) unsafe.

All hole and no plot: fixing Australia’s literary sector

If you could do one thing to ‘fix’ Australia’s literary sector, what would it be? When recently asked to recommend a high-impact, culture-shifting initiative, I found myself flummoxed. More funding? More support? More, um, of the above?

Reading and writing in 2020

2020 was a strange and difficult year. One in which worry replaced creativity, and in which I returned to re-reading, great TV writing and easy reads in search of distraction from the drama outside, and to multi-book series for the relief of staying within the same world for longer than one book alone could provide. But in spite (or because) of all this, I still read 134 books in 2020 (just 13 short of my personal best).

Consulting during COVID-19

As my 2020 working year comes to its end, I have found myself reflecting on the differences of consulting during COVID-19.