Arts Leadership – Page 3 – LARSEN

And another thing: receiving and responding to harm

When boards and orgs don’t provide the accountability each other needs, it may fall on us to do so.

And another thing: the merit of merit

I’m spending February with my family on Gabrielino-Tongva-Kitz Lands just outside Los Angeles – which feels like a very different place since the last time I was here.

With everything going on, it seemed like an opportune moment to reflect on the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and the alleged merit of merit-based board and staff recruitment and quotas.

And another thing: succession planning

I’m starting the new year with a lesson from the corporate world about leadership succession planning (yet another thing the arts, cultural and for-purpose sector is notoriously bad at).

My 2024 writing year

Community-engaged practice, for-purpose governance, along with arts and human rights advocacy were the key themes of my 2024 writing year.

Why (nearly) everything you thought you knew about boards and governance is wrong*

In October 2024, I was part of the line-up for TEDxCastlemaine with my provocation on why (nearly) everything you thought you knew about boards and governance is wrong.

And another thing: our cultural workforce crisis

For those living (or leaving) the national cultural workforce crisis currently being experienced – deeply and distinctively – across Australia’s arts, cultural and for-purpose organisations and sectors, the language of ‘crisis’ isn’t hyperbole, nor something that’s up for debate.

But the last few weeks have reminded me that there are some gaps in this understanding – unfortunately (though not unsurprisingly) from some of the people with the most power to affect change, including board members who aren’t meeting either their fiduciary duties or their duty of care.

Victorian Inquiry into the cultural and creative industries

The Parliament of Victoria’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee has opened an inquiry into (some of the) funding and supports available to Victoria’s cultural and creative industries.

November giveaway

Just in time for end-of-year book-giving season, everyone who subscribes to my free occasional enews in November 2024 will go in the draw to win a copy of The Relationship is the Project: a guide to working with communities.

The statements we make

As artists, cultural workers and arts organisations, ours is the business of statement-making.

I was reminded of this recently by the work of Portuguese artist Tiago Casanova, whose installation Every wall is a Statement is currently part of the A liberdade e só a Liberdade exhibition (‘Freedom and only freedom’) at The Art and Culture Center of the Eugénio de Almeida Foundation in Évora.

I was also reminded, less pleasantly, by recent rushed and fumbled public statements made by Australian arts and cultural organisations in response to local and global issues or events like last year’s Voice Referendum (or the need for voice, treaty and truth more broadly) and the ongoing genocide in Palestine — including the statements that many have made with their silence.

Victorian creatives, have your say

The Victorian Government wants your thoughts on what the arts mean to you and what they should do to support the state’s arts, cultural and creative sector.

Have your say on the Creative State consultation by Monday 26 August 2024.