marcus westbury

Earlier this year, the Federal Government called for submissions in response to their draft discussion paper on the forthcoming National Cultural Policy. Being quite time-deprived at the time i hastily cobbled together a response – somewhat compiled from other things that i written in the past and probably desperately in need of a good editor. [...]

[This essay was originally written for Griffith REVIEW back in 2008. In many respects it is the forerunner of the Renew Newcastle project which did not exist (and i had no intention of creating) at the time that I wrote it. I realised recently that i had never actually published it on this blog so [...]

On the off chance there are any Canadians reading this blog or following my twitter feed, just a quick heads up that i will be in Toronto between the 12th and 17th of June. My main reason is to be a keynote speaker on the 14th at Canada’s 3rd Transforming and Revitalizing Downtowns Summit. Obviously i will [...]

While i was waylaid in Melbourne with a newborn Renew Newcastle and our first major property partner GPT took out the Australian Business Arts Foundation Toyota Community Partnership Award for the best partnership “between businesses and arts and cultural organisations that enhance the life of communities” in New South Wales at a glittering do at [...]

WHAT is the etiquette for tweeting at the theatre, a concert or any other live performance? Should you do it at all? Or never? Should it be encouraged  even rewarded  or frowned upon? It may not have been the biggest arts story going around in the general community last week but, as you [...]

ARE rising property prices a threat to cultural diversity? How do we keep artist and creative communities living and working in our cities as rising property prices threaten to slowly push them out? Later this week, various venues around Fitzroy will host an “anti-gentrification festival” hosted by the “radical craft group” Craft Cartel. Their aim, [...]

I BOUGHT a guy a beer last week. No, I’m not so cheap that that is remarkable. What is remarkable, though, is that the guy I bought a beer for is a writer and theatre-maker who lives in Chicago and I’ve never met him. The little transaction demonstrated one of the many ways that artists [...]

HOW often does it have to happen? How many times has government – in order to solve one problem such as late-night violence and antisocial behaviour in notorious nightclub zones – implemented a crackdown that inadvertently sideswipes a whole range of people who had nothing to do with the problem in the first place? Call [...]

Some tips on how to start a Renew Newcastle type project in vacant buildings in your own cities and towns from my ABC Arts blog.

LYNDON Terracini has been outspoken and surprisingly frank about the limitations of Australia’s major performing arts companies in recent weeks. The incoming Opera Australia artistic director has slammed Australia’s orchestras and opera companies as “conservative and predictable,” admitted that Melbourne has been poorly served by Opera Australia from Sydney and, most notably, has drawn attention [...]