marcus westbury

I’ve been meaning to write a long essay about this for a while but stumbled at figuring out exactly who would publish it. So brain dump follows… One of the things that my friend, collaborator, enabler, and founding Renew Newcastle board member Craig Allchin has pointed out to me many times is that is that i used [...]

In response to some recent posts and articles of mine about arts funding and cultural policy,  Nick Herd from the Australia Council pointed me to this comprehensive history of arts policy in Australia prepared by the Parliamentary Library. It’s very useful background reading for anyone thinking of putting in a submission to the National Cultural [...]

I’ve been using the word “initiativist” recently to define my philosophical approach to culture. I used the term in my lecture in Newcastle the other night and attempted to sneak it into my column in The Age this week but it was removed by an overzealous sub-editor probably on account of it not being a [...]

My Age column next week is on “Intelligent design” (couldn’t resist the pun) or how design is metamorphasing from function or a skill to a crucial connection point between most other creative fields. I’m wondering if any designers have any observations or comments about the changing role and perception of design? Particularly interested in the [...]

I’m working up an idea for a new TV series at the moment about censorship. Still early days but i’m keen to connect up the current debates about censorshop — particularly the proposal for a national internet filter and sedition laws — with the history of cultural censorship in Australia. I’m not planning on doing [...]

The googlewhack is dead and it’s all twitter’s fault. Last night i inadvertently stumbled across a googlewhack. Well sort of – i actually entered a single made-up word and it came back with one result. Technically, a googlewhack is meant to be when you enter two words into a search engine and come up with [...]

I’m crowdsourcing ideas for my column in The Age next week. I’m after all the non cash/funding related things that governments could do to help artists. Or even just areas where they should get out of the way? I’ve got a few in mind from my own experiences. Obviously the experience of the Renew Newcastle [...]

I am conducting a little experiment over at Facebook. I’m trying to work out whether it is possible to somehow round up all those people who don’t quite fit the “Art” boxes and as a result never get a seat at the table. My theory is that a relatively small number of highly centralised and [...]

My musing from friday about recessions and their cultural consequences has been picked up in a few places. It’s been republished both in today’s Crikey and over at Larvatus Prodeo. Further to that post, I’ve been thinking a little more about the implications of the global financial crisis on our cities and our cultural life… [...]

It’s quite likely that i will have a new gig coming up around the middle of the year organising a “Creative Industries” festival conference event in one of our major cities. It’s all very hush hush for now while we are all working quietly behind the scenes. But… The best (and most daunting thing) about [...]