marcus westbury

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 it [...]

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 [...]

There is a palpable sense of decline, decay and even a little despair in Europe. I’ve spent the past few weeks passing through major centres such as Dublin, London and Cologne and made a few side trips. The recession is hitting, creative communities are suffering and yet they’re demonstrating initiative and resilience at a time [...]

The discussion just keeps coming…
The  HVRF talk i gave last week has garnered a lot of attention for its analysis and response to the problem of dysfunctional commercial property markets. In the contexts in which i find myself talking about Renew Newcastle the economic issues are rarely discussed or analysed. Given the interest i really [...]

Just a quick heads up that i am speaking at the Brisbane Ideas Festival on Friday of this week.
New Operating Systems for Creativity
New York arts worker Liz Slagus, arts commentator Marcus Westbury and Urban Informatics consultant Dan Hill discuss how technology and new media are rearranging our creative lives.
Liz, Dan and I are working together [...]

I have two separate speaking engagements this week.
On Wednesday night i’ll be speaking as part of the Inspired Media series organised by the folks at Portable Content:
Date:    Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Time:    6:00pm – 8:00pm
Location:    Horse Bazaar
Street:     397 Little Lonsdale Street
City/Town:    Melbourne, Australia
Their facebook group has all the information.
On Friday afternoon (31st October), i’ll be speaking [...]

One of the strange things about being on television is that it creates the impression that you’re busy, jetsetting and living some sort of glamorous, high profile existence. To be fair, i did get to go to the Logies but it isn’t all tedious and bizarre nights surrounded by people who dig up people’s gardens, [...]

It’s been pretty quiet around here – mainly becuase i’ve been a little preoccupied with getting the new series of Not Quite Art finished off. We wrapped production last week and the show is now in the hot little hands of the ABC.
Look, they’ve even got a web page up for it!
I will be up [...]

For those of you who are in Newcastle and want to find out more about the “Renewing Newcastle” proposals, we are holding an information night on Wednesday 10th of September at 6:30pm. The venue is the Lock Up (next to the now derelict Post Office) at 90 Hunter Street Newcastle.
I’m pleased to say that I’ve [...]