marcus westbury

I was googling myself this morning – as i should confess that i can be a bit prone to doing at times – and i noticed the strangest thing. Someone has bought my name! Google “marcus westbury” yourself and see. Sadly, it hasn’t been bought by a global a talent agency, or by that Nigerian [...]

From the Not Quite Book notes. Click here for an explanation… Traditionalists will hate me but I am less and less convinced that artforms are a particularly useful way to slice up the way that cultures are talked about or resourced in the world. The qualities that interest me are far more about the resonance [...]

From the Not Quite Book notes. Click here for an explanation… I have a problem with the word “Art.” I duck the question of what is and isn’t Art. I’ve resorted to all the flippant throw away clichés: that like pornography “I know it when I see it”; that “I don’t know what it is [...]

I am stuck in Singapore for a few days. There is nothing quite like being bored and away from the constant series of distractions that pepper my life to focus the mind a little. I’ve decided to spend at least some of this time productively by digging through some old notes I’ve compiled and posting [...]

If you were are all convinced that this site would be reserved for serious discussion of arts, cultural policy, the state of the nation and the odd tale of a bizarre night at the logies. Think again! For the 8 weeks leading up to the Olympics i will be doing a regular spot on 774 [...]

I’m off to Canberra this morning. I had the best of intentions of replying in detail to a lot of the ideas and comments that have been raised over the last few days. But the sheer rate and volume of contributions have made that impossible. I’ve read everything i can get my hands on and [...]

If anyone is interested, we will be talking 2020 summit and the future directions of Australian art and cultural policy type stuff on Radio National’s Australia Talks tonight at 6pm (EST). I’ll apparently be joined by fellow summiteers Robyn Archer, and Trevor Green from the MSO. If people want to be part of the discussion, [...]

What is the difference between a 1920s and a 2020 summit? It’s not a joke. It’s the question that I have been mulling over since my last minute call up to the “Towards a creative Australia” stream of the 2020 summit next weekend. The seeming disparity between the stated goals and the mix of people [...]

[Yes, somewhere inside me is a frustrated headline writer just busting to get out.] I have to thank Ben Eltham and the comments over at Larvatus Prodeo and Christian McCrea for drawing this to my attention. Despite the fact that one of the agenda items for next weekend’s 2020 Summit is explicitly “How to encourage [...]

One of those strange days. Until early this afternoon I was not one of the people attending next weekend’s 2020 summit in Canberra. I took a 3 week writing sabbatical back in early March and dropped mostly out of communication with the world. When i came back to civilisation i discovered that the nomination process [...]