President’s Statement
Artistic Director Brett Sheehy certainly
delivered with his third Melbourne
Festival in October 2011. Not only did the
Festival achieve record box office and high
attendances, taking a total of $2.9 million,
it also attracted outstanding public and
critical response for its program.
MTC. His successor has been appointed,
Josephine Ridge, though her title has been
changed to Creative Director (and joint
CEO with Executive Director Tim Jacobs)
to indicate the changes being made in
our Festival model. Josephine comes to
Melbourne Festival with a distinguished
pedigree in the performing arts. She is
already hard at work developing her ideas
around programs and partnerships.
The Board extends heartfelt thanks to
all our partners, sponsors, patrons and
supporters who make the Festival possible
and encourage us to be ambitious about
the future. In particular we thank our
major partners, the Victorian government
through Arts Victoria, the City of
Melbourne and FOXTEL who, in addition
to direct support, carry some Melbourne
Festival programs to a national audience
through STUDIO, their dedicated arts
channel. I also take this opportunity to
thank my very committed Board colleagues
and the hard working management and
staff who deliver the Festival for your
collective pleasure, fun, inspiration and
exhilaration.
Hundreds of thousands enjoyed the huge
and enigmatic public sculptures Angels
and Demons that presided over Swanston
Street and St Kilda Road from the Town
Hall to the Arts Centre, while the theatres
were packed for great international and
Australian productions. Everyone has
their own favourites: for me this included
the stunning Hedda Gabler from the
Schaubuhne Theatre in Berlin that was
both utterly faithful to Ibsen’s text and
yet utterly contemporary, the surprising
Rhinoceros in Love from Beijing that
gave an insight into relationship issues
among young Chinese, India’s gorgeous
Manganiyar Seduction, the Lithuanian
Chamber Orchestra, Aftermath the
devastating documentary theatre piece
from New York on the Iraq War, Assembly
that brought our own Chunky Move
together with the Victorian Opera in a
fascinating partnership in music and
movement exploring the curious behaviour
of crowds, the unique Quartetthaus with
its remarkable ‘in your face’ chamber music
from the Australian National Academy of
Music, and many more.
This October will see Brett’s fourth and
final Festival before he takes up his next
challenge as Artistic Director of the
Over the last 18 months, the board of the
Melbourne Festival has been engaged in an
important process of strategic review and
definition of goals. We have been asking
ourselves the fundamental questions,
namely what kind of festival does the
community of Melbourne want and
deserve, and what will that Festival look
like in 2020?
We believe that Melbourne Festival should
be one of our city’s pre-eminent major
events uniquely identified nationally
and internationally with Melbourne and
‘owned’ by its citizens. A Festival that
reaches a broader demographic with a
program of greater critical mass, diversity,
breath and impact; that attracts wide
public participation through expanded
accessibility, reach and presence across the
city; that delivers a large suite of creative,
civic and community partnerships; and
that attracts significantly increased private,
corporate and government support. We
aspire to be a strong, capable and admired
organization that has a high reputation for
leadership, artistic excellence and civic
value.
These are ambitious goals and they will
take time to be achieved, but we set out
with conviction that is the correct road and
with enthusiasm to tackle the challenges
ahead. In a year when state and federal
governments are under significant financial
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pressure, we must therefore lead from the
front to build capacity through increasing
private and corporate support, expanding
our box office and other earned income,
and building partnerships to deliver great
experiences for the people of Melbourne
and the visitors who come from interstate
and abroad to enjoy the annual Festival
program.
I encourage you to read the details of our
last year in the following pages and to join
with us in the coming years as we continue
to build and reposition the Melbourne
Festival so that you and all Melburnians
experience a major event that is refreshed,
re-energised and renowned.
Carrillo Gantner AO