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 [...]

Expect much more on this as the months roll on but i’ve finally gone public about what I’ve been running around proposing for the Newcastle CBD. It’s so crazy it just might work. Courtesy of ABC Radio 1233 (you can hear the interview and see some pictures here)… Vacant shopfronts in the Newcastle CBD should [...]

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 [...]

I was asked recently by the folks at the Department Of Culture and the Arts in WA to take part in a forum about “Creative People” as part of their process to develop an “Umbrella Policy Framework” for the state. I thought it might be useful to post the notes here that i made for [...]

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 [...]

I was asked by the good folks at Griffith REVIEW to write a major essay for their current edition Cities On The Edge. It’s my first crack at the “writing a major essay” caper so i’d be very interested to get people’s thoughts. The essay Fluid Cities Create picks up on several of the themes [...]

Apparently not. I’ve long been advocating a more enlightened approach to liquor licensing in NSW and particularly in my home town of Newcastle. I’m convinced (and convinced i can convince most people) that a more diverse culture (and i mean everything from punk venues to jazz clubs) of drinking, dining, music, art and entertainment is [...]