Insights no 24
Welcome To The New Insights
Welcome to the new look ArtsNational Insights Newsletter.
We’re excited to continue bringing you wonderful stories and articles from our Societies and members around the country, as well as interesting news and information on the arts. You will notice that the new format includes a short summary email directly to your inbox allowing you to quickly identify which items you may want to read. You can click on article links in your email which will take you directly to the detailed article in the full newsletter. The newsletter content is held on our website at www.artsnational.au. The new format newsletter now has a clickable table of contents to help with navigation. At the end of each article you can click back to the table of contents. We want Insights to be as easy as possible to read.
In this issue of Insights, you’ll find an interesting story on the challenges of starting a new ArtsNational Society at Margaret River as well as something from one of our favourite Australian lecturers, Sam Bowker including access to his next free online series. There’s a brief member story from Marion Pescud of ArtsNational Northern Rivers, plus an article from our National President, Geoffrey Edwards. Lucy Costas talks about some of the fabulous young Arts programs run throughout the country in 2025 plus there is a special partner offer for members from Opulent Journeys.
We hope you enjoy this new look issue of Insights. Please send me any feedback or news items you might like included in future issues.
Cheers
Bevan Rigato, General Manager and Insights Editor
Insights@artsnational.au
FROM THE CHAIR
Welcome to the first issue of Insights in its refreshed format. Insights aims to keep all ArtsNational and ADFAS members across our 36 Australian Societies connected, enriched and inspired by the arts. While ArtsNational is a national association, our lectures are delivered locally. Our 36 Societies spanning regional and metropolitan Australia are each distinctive and unique, yet united by a shared heritage and common purpose.
Your Society plays an important role in promoting cultural enrichment within your community, offering high quality lectures delivered locally and presented by world-class experts on a wide range of topics. This strong sense of local ownership is at the heart of ArtsNational, and it is what makes membership of your local ArtsNational Society so valuable.
Your membership also supports young artists and national conservation projects through the Patricia Robertson Fund, administered by ArtsNational. Thank you for being an ArtsNational member, and we hope that you enjoy this year’s lecture program. Many societies welcome visiting members, so when you travel, visit our website at www.artsnational.au and consider adding an ArtsNational lecture to your itinerary.
Carolyn Larkin, our Executive Assistant, will be retiring at the end of August this year. If you know someone who may be interested in this casual role, please refer to the job description in this newsletter. Experience working with volunteers, and familiarity with ArtsNational, would be highly valued.
Finally, if you are not seeking paid work but would like to contribute your time, please consider volunteering. Many societies welcome “friends of the committee,” those who wish to lend a hand without committing to a formal role, and committees across the country are always looking for new members. Volunteering is a rewarding way to develop skills, build connections, and support the arts in your community.
Sally Louw, Chair Artsnational
chair@artsnational.au
THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF STARTING A NEW SOCIETY
Okay, there is no sugar coating this. It’s a lot of work setting up a new society – but it is rewarding. To establish a new Society, it is helpful to have some prior knowledge of the organisation. Having been involved with establishing ArtsNational Perth there was a lot of DNA knowledge regarding the organisation. Having moved to Margaret River, I thought Margaret River had the right demographic, was an artistic hub and felt confident the region could accommodate a second society in WA.
The national body has a checklist that had to be fulfilled. The lecture would take place on a Monday as the lecture tour dictated. I spoke to the CEO of the venue we were hoping to use and provided her with an outline of ArtsNational and the dates 12 months in advance. The venue is excellent and seats 140 or a larger theatre 400.
I sought people within the community that were going to be champions of ArtsNational, people that would assist with either promoting the organisation or spreading the word. A newly assembled committee had loads of enthusiasm but little ArtsNational experience. We did have a treasurer – one of the hardest positions to fill.
The most onerous task for me was formulating a constitution and satisfying the various government requirements both national and state, and in the correct order. Formulating a constitution, minutes of committee meetings, setting up a bank account, a website, an ABN, registering with ACNC, a PO Box, a membership QR code, a logo, produced 2000 brochures, a square reader – were all necessary steps.
Once these steps had been completed how best to get ArtsNational Margaret River members?
We needed to launch the organisation. Each committee member provided a minimum of 10 contacts. One contact had a wedding venue in a beautiful garden and was willing to host us free of charge. We secured sponsorship with Vasse Felix and the Brewhouse in Margaret River who provided alcohol either free or at very reasonable rates. The food was supplied by the wonderful committee members; it was a sellout event. We charged a nominal amount to cover costs and ensure that we didn’t lose money on the launch. The Event was a sell out!
We had our brochure printed and available outlining the 11 lectures, the website up and running so we were able to take memberships on the day which was vital. Membership is $200 with each member receiving a complimentary $30 guest ticket.
Marketing is key. We had the Arts Margaret River, Margaret River Open Studios and The Farm Artist Residency send out advice to their mailing list as well as ArtsNational Perth promoting the organisation. We communicate with members and guests via a regular EDM updating on the next lecture and any other events we have created. Using tiles created by the Cairns Society we post on the socials. We advertised in the local paper and I was interviewed on the local radio station. Getting articles into the local paper has proved difficult and is a source of frustration.
We had posters on notice boards and brochures in various outlets around the region.
Our first lecture on 3 March was before the international lecturers arrived. Alan Dodge, former art director of the Art Gallery Western Australia has been a great champion of ArtsNational in Perth and agreed to deliver the inaugural lecture – New York Art scene in the 50s and 60s. We thought this would be a great lecture and it did not disappoint.
The fiscal demands are considerable. Our venue and accommodation costs are greater than in Perth. We would have perished without the financial support of the national body and ArtsNational Perth. We are seeking a Lottery West grant to assist with the establishment of the organisation – which is a work in progress.
We currently have 87 members – our aim was 100 so we are slightly less than hoped for.
At the March conference we were admitted as the 36th Society in the ArtsNational family.
A lot of work yes, but very rewarding.
Key Steps For Establishing a New Society
2. Complete New Society form from the National body and submit with budget
3. Secure a venue
4. Establish a committee
5. Create your constitution
6. Obtain ABN, PO Box, bank account, ACNC, DEMIRS, government requirements
7. Formulate event program
8. Provide website information to the National body
9. Create brochure – print
10. Establish awareness in community with ongoing marketing programme
11. Launch your new Society
12. Hold the first lecture
13. Cross your fingers!
Kay Campbell is a past chair of ArtsNational Perth and the chair of the new ArtsNational Margaret River Society.
Images by Anna Anderson, courtesy of ArtsNational Margaret River
THE JOY OF HOME-HOSTING
It was an honour to host Dr Albert Godetzky, a truly international citizen who now calls France home. He was an excellent conversationalist a very easy house guest, and truly a joy to host. He enjoyed the sights of our region, particularly our lush landscape and the wild surf at Snapper Rocks.
When not lecturing for ArtsNational, Albert is on the steering committee member of a private foundation which holds an important collection of 16 -17th century Netherlandish art. Based in a 17th century palace in Leiden, it is due to open in 2030.
By Marion Pescud, ArtsNational Northern Rivers
Image courtesy of ArtsNational Northern Rivers
ART AND BOOKS
It has been such a privilege to share Art & Books with you, following the success of The Art of Everywhere Else. Your generous feedback was overwhelmingly positive and very perceptive.
I believe this collaboration is a great benefit for both ArtsNational and Charles Sturt University. We both share the values of community spirit through the pursuit of meaningful scholarship. Our model for ambitious yet intimate public lectures – essentially ‘propping open the lecture theatre door’ – is currently unique in Australia. We have created a community each Tuesday evening, as art lovers unite to expand their horizons, possibly in pyjamas or while preparing dinner. My enrolled students gain tutorials, resources, and the ability to re-watch the lectures as they wish – and they create vibrant sketchbooks or erudite commonplace books.
Art & Books questioned the ‘whatness of bookness’ through medieval manuscripts, the printed word, children’s books and forays into the future. Our globe-spinning next series – The Art of Everywhere Else – will set sail again on Tuesday 14 July 2026 at 6pm. Through this 12-week journey we will explore the art history of the entire world beyond Australia.
Register here for The Art of Everywhere Else, starting Tuesday 14 July 2026 at 6pm. There will be 12 weekly lectures without a holiday break, to avoid complications caused by daylight saving.
And yes, you can tell your friends!
Associate Professor Sam Bowker, Charles Sturt University
Image: Courtesy of Sam Bowker
DISTANT FRIENDSHIPS AND GREAT MEMORIES
The book club to which Diana Harden belongs is made up solely of ArtsNational Northern Rivers members who share a love of books, art, culture and travel. A recent book was ‘Lady Tan’s Circle of Women’ by Lisa See by a female doctor from a privileged household during the Chinese Ming Dynasty. The doctor was an actual identity who had penned a book detailing her patients and their prescribed treatments.
Diana brought a book on Imperial Chinese Robes to the book club meeting to show the members photographs of the beautiful robes and better understand the symbols and status of the embroidery on the clothes, which featured highly in Lady Tan’s Circle of Women.
The volume ‘Imperial Chinese Robes’ was a gift to Diana and her husband Peter, from international lecturer David Rosier (from Scotland) as a thank you for hosting him and his wife when he gave (an ADFAS) presentation on the subject in 2018. He also showed several embroidered panels from imperial robes that he had collected while working in Hong Kong.
Diana wrote to David telling him that there were ‘lots of oohs and aahs from the group’, and to let him know how much his gift was appreciated. Below is an extract from his reply:
Greetings from a very snowy Perthshire – in the midst of an early Winter Storm. Luckily, I made it home from 2 weeks of lecturing yesterday before the bad weather arrived.
Lovely to hear from you and hope you are keeping well and active. We certainly remember our visit and your wonderful hospitality – particularly the whale watching. Tell Peter his advice to purchase a pair of R M Williams boots was followed, and they are still going strong.
I am still very active with Arts Society lecturing and whilst the range of topics on Imperial China has expanded over the years, I still prefer my speciality of Imperial Court Costume.
Wendy and I were very fortunate because in late 2019 we agreed for The Shanghai Museum to acquire our collection of nearly 700 items in its entirety – timing was perfect as events played out because the collection left UK in Jan 2020, a month before Covid would close China. The new Eastern Annex of the museum is due to open in a year. This will be the new home for our collection.
This is a good news story on all levels. Happy memories, intellectual stimulation, distant friendships, the joys of home-hosting, and the appreciation extended by the guests.
Written by: Marion Pescud, ArtsNational Northern Rivers
Image courtesy of ArtsNational Northern Rivers
PT LEO ESTATE SCULPTURE PARK
At the invitation of Peter McGinley and Bevan Rigato, l’ve been asked to say something about my role not as President of ArtsNational but as curatorial adviser to Pt Leo Estate Sculpture Park, Australia’s most spectacular destination of its kind. ArtsNational members who know my lecture From Miami to Merricks which tells the story of sculpture parks worldwide may recall Pt Leo Estate—the coastal sculpture park that opened in late 2017 on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula—as the finale, so to speak, of my lecture. Here is a little more about Pt Leo Estate, but more specifically what the role of curatorial adviser entails.
Simply put, a curatorial adviser performs much the same role as a full-time curator in a public art gallery but does so on a contract or consultancy basis. My clients at Pt Leo Estate Sculpture Park—the founders of the property and owners of the park’s valuable collection of Australian and international sculpture—are the prominent Melbourne philanthropists John Gandel AC and Pauline Gandel AC. As their curatorial adviser, l recommend potential acquisitions, having sourced appropriate works from international or local dealers, auction houses, from private collections and, on occasion, directly from the artist and his or her agent. Once acquired (needless to say, not all recommendations proceed to purchase), the adviser recommends the most advantageous location for the work in the park, including its specific orientation and other aspects of presentation. There is liaison with engineering and technical consultants (for example, calculations and allowances for wind loading is a serious consideration at coastal and exposed Pt Leo) as well as, naturally, responsibility for the scholarly but ‘accessible’ interpretation of the work for extended exhibit labels, the Estate’s website and for publication.
Given the colossal scale of many of the works, their initial installation invariably becomes a dramatic side show of sorts, with mighty crane trucks assembled to ease the various components of large-scale works into position. This involves equally mighty crane drivers in high-vis vests and hard hats, engineers similarly attired, and then there’s the curatorial adviser in the background, calling out helpful things like ‘any chance we could try it a little further to the left guys, say half a metre, no more’ and gentle invocations of the kind. Visitors seem to enjoy these spectacles as much as they enjoy the finished exhibits. I urge ArtsNational members to go and see for yourself.
Geoffrey Edwards
ArtsNational President
Image 1: Jaume PLENSA, Spain born 1955, Laura 2013 (detail), cast iron, Pt Leo Estate Sculpture Park. Photograph: Chris McConville. Geoffrey Edwards with the artist Jaume Plensa beside Plensa’s Laura
Image 2: KAWS, USA born 1974, Share 2020, painted bronze, Pt Leo Estate Sculpture Park. Photograph: Chris McConville
YOUNG ARTS COMPETITION 2025 – THE WINNERS
Winners of the annual Young Arts Awards were recently announced at The ArtsNational National Conference in March 2026. This annual competition looks at Young Arts support programs run by ArtsNational Societies all around the country. The Judging Panel this year included the Chair Support team of Peter McGinley and Lorraine Polglase, along with myself. This year we received seven entry submissions of Young Arts programs completed in 2025 for which we had the challenging but exciting task of ranking them and deciding on the winners.
Across the range of our Societies, Young Arts projects can be very diverse. They require each Society to reach out to its own community and forge a partnership with a school or an institution which is involved in teaching young people in any of the many fields of the Arts. Funding the project aims to offer encouragement in the form of a reward, whether it is monetary or public recognition of the skill displayed. We seek to foster in young people a feeling of pleasure in being involved in an artistic pursuit and ultimately a love of the arts.
The panel had several criteria with which to assess the entries:
We looked for evidence of consultation and cooperation with the community in seeking out a worthwhile project. A good example was ArtsNational Narrabri, which got together with the artistic community of the town and devised their unique project. With these contacts they were able to harness the skills of a local artist, Graeme Compton, known for his work in portraiture, fantasy and graphic art, illustration and writing. The result was a two-day workshop for Year 12 art students titled “Literally Illustrating”
In those projects which worked with groups of children we looked for ambition in the number of young people who benefited from the project. Some societies such as ArtsNational Molonglo Plains (2026) will fund the purchase of musical instruments for a music school. These instruments will be lent to successive child performers and will be used by many children over the years. Others, such as ArtsNational Hobart, fund an orchestra to travel around a region and bring the music to all the children in the schools visited. ArtsNational Armidale works with the New England Conservatorium of Music to bring Chamber music to many children at regional schools.
Evidence of an innovative or creative approach ticked an important box. When a project showed signs of exploring new ways of challenging the students, the judging panel took note. ArtsNational Brisbane River’s “Dead Puppets Society” was a great example. So was ArtsNational Narrabri’s “Literally Illustrating”.
We were also mindful of the value of ongoing funding of an award year after year, giving the entrants the confidence that the prize will be around next year. ArtsNational Murray River has an ongoing relationship with Bright Birds Studio, supporting artists with disabilities, which I think has resulted in a general development of skill by the artists beyond what might have been achieved in only one year.
Some projects fund structured ongoing competitions for individual performers to compete for prestigious awards and community recognition. For example, one of ADFAS Brisbane’s projects offered not only monetary rewards for finalists but, for the winner of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s Young Instrumentalist Prize, the chance to perform in concert with the orchestra. What a marvellous opportunity for a young instrumentalist!
Finally, we looked for evidence of providing an experience requiring the children to work as a team. A great example is ArtsNational Narrabri’s project, where Year 12 students worked in groups, each of which produced their wonderful illustrated book. And the concentration and delight on the faces of the indigenous kids in ArtsNational Brisbane River’s project, “The Dead Puppets Society”, as they walked their horse puppet along the table, was utterly captivating.
Three prizes were offered for 2025 submissions and the winners are:
Click below to watch the video.
Partner Special Offer
Opulent Journeys are offering a special on their Japanese Art, Gardens and Culture Tour from
20th Nov – 5th Dec 2026 with benefits offered to both you and your Society. These benefits are
listed below:
Your society will receive $200 for every one of your members who chooses this Opulent tour.
ArtsNational members will also get a $200 discount on the listed price of the tour.
Click here for more information and to book.
Be sure to mention that you are an ArtsNational member to get your financial benefits.
NB: The special offer is only available on the tour mentioned above.
Photo provided by Opulent Journeys
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
Executive Assistant
(Work-from-home, casual)
We are seeking an Executive Assistant to provide comprehensive administrative, operational, and technical support to the National Executive Committee, General Manager, and Societies around Australia. This position is Sydney-based and primarily works from home. Working hours will vary, with peak periods in March, July and September and minimal available hours in December and January. Hours are typically not less than 40 hours per month.
The ideal candidate will have:
• Extensive experience in an executive support role
• Advanced proficiency in and experience as an administrator of Microsoft 365 (Exchange, SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive)
• Confidence in managing databases, digital platforms, and website content (WordPress/Divi)
• Excellent written and verbal communication and liaison skills
• Capacity to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines
• Sound judgement and a proactive, solutions-focused approach.
Previous experience working with volunteers would be valued.
The appointed candidate must have their own discrete home office.
For further information and a copy of the position description, please contact Bevan Rigato, our General Manager on gm@artsnational.au. Applications, including a detailed resume and a covering letter addressing the selection criteria should be sent to Bevan at gm@artsnational.au on or before 1 June 2026.