Writing – Page 6 – LARSEN

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.

The art of connection

In addition to its many theatres, museums and galleries, Adelaide’s city centre is home to dozens of smaller cultural spaces in which artist and creatives make, share and sell their work.

I was commissioned by City of Adelaide to produce The Art of Connection, a research and advocacy paper about the importance of inner city artist spaces.

List of Aussie publishers

It’s been a while since I updated my list of Aussie publishers, which is still one of the most-read pages on this website.

So, with the end of another year and everyone’s new year writing resolutions back in sight, here are some of the Australian trade publishers currently or soon to open to unsolicited manuscripts.

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.

Putting people first post COVID-19

Managing team wellbeing can be a challenge at the best of times – and the best of times seem very far away.

As we settle into our newest new-normal, our teams are stressed and preoccupied. Many are still recovering from being distanced from the social, cultural and creative interactions important for their health and happiness. Many are still adjusting to what it means to re-engage with the world.

How to make digital and hybrid work

Digital and hybrid work is nothing new – but it has never been so ubiquitous or so clearly understood, nor changed at quite this rapid pace.

In a post-COVID creative sector, we need to take the opportunity to reflect on our recent experience and imagine new, hybrid arts organisations that allow for more flexible and effective employment and delivery options.

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.

Don’t ditch the digital

COVID-19 rushed the world into digital and hybrid working faster than anyone could have imagined.

Conversations and processes that may previously have taken years (or never even got started) were implemented basically overnight. Organisations without work-from-home policies suddenly found themselves working entirely from home – and communicating entirely with others doing the same thing. Artists without an online presence had to entirely rethink their creative practices and find ways to make a living within the digital space.

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?