Toward a Sustainable Future....Will the Arts be Leading or Following?

Robert Theobald is an internationally renowned consultant and writer on issues relating to sustainable futures. He visited Australia in October to engage in a number of workshops and seminars. One of these was held at Museum Victoria's Scienceworks campus and will focus on the role of cultural institutions. Participants were invited to this facilitated discussion of issues related to areas such as technology, work, environment, and social policy in the context of achieving sustainable futures.

This seminar was an opportunity to hear Robert Theobald expand on his understanding of the need for change and his view that the arts 'can move us from one vision of reality to another'.

The seminar focussed in particular on the role of the arts and cultural institutions such as museums, libraries, art galleries and educational institutions. Can they be vital leaders in creating a sustainable future?

Members of the audience had the opportunity to engage with these leading thinkers, through group discussion, and question time.

Speakers
Robert Theobald - ‘Caught between Two Worlds, One Dead, One Powerless to be Born’
Robert Theobald, an internationally renowned futurist currently residing in the USA, argues that we need to make fundamental social changes and radically reconstruct our communities if we are to survive and thrive in the next millennium. He believes a new vision of reality is being born today, just as it was in the time of the Renaissance. But the challenge today is to communicate it widely. The Arts could be a primary carrying wave for this new style of perception but to do so they will have to break out of the many established styles that would not serve them well in the future. Theobald is committed to finding ways to encourage geographical, professional, work and Internet communities to reweave resilience into their networks.

Robert Theobald visited Australia in 1997 where he presented widely at seminar forums. He also presented his radio series The Future of Work, which was broadcast by ABC Radio. Due to popular demand he is returning to Australia in October to present and facilitate a range of public forums and meetings. He also presented earlier this year a second radio series The Healing Century for ABC Radio.

Morag Fraser - Putting the Public into Museums
Morag Fraser, renowned editor and social commentator, will present a position statement from the perspective of a "consumer" who uses museums and other cultural institutions. She will focus on the cultural significance of museums and galleries based on her experiences in visiting local, national and international museums. She believes that museums are one of the prime makers of civilisation and that this role needs to be maintained and not get managed out of existence as we move into a Virtual Age.

Morag Fraser has worked extensively in radio broadcasting and has had regular commentary spots on Radio National, ABC 3LO and ABC television. Morag is currently the editor of Eureka Street and has been editor and co-editor on a number of prestigious publications, including Save Our ABC and biographies Gareth Evans, Cheryl Kernot, John Clarke and Fr Frank Brennan – to name a few. She also writes regular reviews and essays for the Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian and The Age.

Des Griffin - Creating and Developing Sustainable Museums
Des Griffin speaks from 22 years of experience as Director of the Australian Museum. He believes that effective museums, like effective institutions of any kind, pay attention to how people work together, to effective communication, appropriate rewards and development of staff. From this base they focus on the interests of visitors and the ways in which learning experiences are enhanced. Des will outline the challenges which museums face in the current more competitive environment: - being seen as unique institutions; using information technology to make accumulated knowledge more accessible; and learning from the methods used by other enterprises to present powerful experiences.

Dr Des Griffin has published widely on the management of museums and on their role in relation to indigenous peoples. He is currently completing research on the management of effective museums worldwide and on the management of change within them. Des was Director of the Australian Museum, Sydney from 1976 through to 3 September 1998. He is also conjoint Professor in the Graduate School of business, University of Newcastle.

Lesley Alway - Leadership and Cultural Institutions
Lesley Alway has a broad perspective on the arts. Her position paper will discuss how artists have long been leaders in society, presenting fresh perspectives and challenging beliefs and assumptions. She believes that a healthy arts sector needs strong creative leadership at all levels to keep it vibrant, forward looking and sustainable. Leadership needs to be encouraged in all spheres of artistic activity, from the creation of art through to its management and marketing. As major repositories of knowledge and interpreters of society, the significant Government and corporate investment in cultural institutions should be viewed as both an opportunity and obligation for these institutions to play a greater leadership role in the future development of both their respective sectors, and society at large.

Lesley Alway is Director of Arts Victoria. In her previous position as Deputy Director Industry Development, Research and Information at Arts Victoria she was responsible for the implementation of some of the key Arts 21 strategies. Lesley also has been Director of Artbank the Commonwealth Government’s art rental agency where she successfully transformed it into a self-funding agency. She has also worked for Sotherby’s Australia and a broad range of Arts administration and teaching positions.