Executive Director Arts Funding
Libby Christie
I studied piano until I was about sixteen and I sang in the choir at school but at home, I listened to a lot of opera. My father was a huge fan of Joan Sutherland. He was a banker and I believe that after he sat next to her on a plane one day, he went on to make the decision that led to the bank’s sponsorship of Opera Australia. (This story probably means that it would be a very good investment to always fly our artists Business…!)
I worked in the commercial sector until about seven years ago when I took up my first arts position as Managing Director of the Sydney Symphony. It might seem unusual to have a business person taking a leadership role in a cultural enterprise but it’s not uncommon now: more than ever arts organizations need reliable financial and operational support. The challenge is to get the marriage right between artistic goals and business targets.
I went into the orchestra role well aware that I’d need to take a different approach to how we set and measured our objectives. Someone coming from the full-profit world will instinctively have their attention firmly on the bottom line but the bottom line for these musicians wasn’t just about financial success, it was about artistic excellence too. They didn’t join the Sydney Symphony to be part of the most profitable orchestra in the world, they joined to be part of an orchestra with the highest standards.
Now here I am at the Australia Council and I can’t tell you the number of people, hard-headed business people, who say to me, ‘Oh I’d love your job.’ And I know they would! Creating a stable and supportive environment where artistic excellence can flourish is tremendously satisfying.
Social media