About the organisation

The Australia Council’s structure has two primary groups.

The first – comprising the major performing arts, arts development, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and community partnerships and market development divisions and Artsupport Australia – is the organisation’s frontline to the sector and our primary policy development and funding arm.

The second group – the governance and public affairs and corporate resources divisions – manages the Australia Council’s governance, external affairs, business planning and operational resourcing.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts
Board chair: Dr Chris Sarra
Executive director: Lydia Miller

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts board assists Indigenous people to claim, control and enhance their cultural inheritance. The board supports the development and promotion of traditional and contemporary arts practices – and new forms of cultural expression – by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who practice all artforms and live in urban, regional and remote areas. It upholds the principles of respect, authority, rights and responsibilities, and other priorities of the Australia Council’s National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Policy.

Arts development
Executive director: Ben Strout

The arts development division supports the excellence and diversity of Australian arts practice through its grants and initiatives and multi-arts projects. The division is made up of six artform sections, plus the key organisations and operations sections. The artform sections support the artform boards, which are the Australia Council’s major source of arts policy development and funding advice.

Dance
Board chair: Dominique Fisher
Director: Jennifer McLachlan

The dance board fosters the development and growth of Australian dance to express the spirit of our country. It supports excellence, encourages participation, increases distribution, enhances artistic sustainability, and helps build a vibrant, diverse and accessible sector. Its vision is to see dance thrive.

Literature
Board chair: Dr Imre Salusinszky
Director: Josie Emery

The literature board supports the excellence, diversity, vitality, viability and distinctiveness of Australian literature. Its main focus is supporting the creation of literary works and broadening the readership of works by Australian authors. It supports writing in fiction, literary non-fiction, children’s and young adult writing, poetry and creative writing for performance or new media.

Music
Board chair: Dr Graeme Koehne
Director: Kate Lidbetter

The music board supports Australian music-making in all its diversity. Its key focus is support for music of the highest quality – regardless of style or genre – and to help more Australians experience the power of the artform. It also supports new forms of expression such as sound art and electronica that use new media to push the boundaries of music.

Theatre
Board chair: Vacant as at 1 January 2008
Director: John Baylis

The theatre board ensures that Australian theatre continues to be a vibrant contemporary artform, which connects creatively with communities. It supports quality and diversity in the creation and presentation of contemporary theatre. The theatre board supports most forms of live performance including multi-disciplinary works.

Visual arts
Board chair: Professor Ted Snell
Director: Anna Waldmann

The visual arts board supports the creation, presentation and interpretation of Australian visual art, media, craft and design. It provides support to Australian artists and contemporary art organisations. It aims to bring the highest quality art to the Australian public.

Inter-arts office
Director: Andrew Donovan

The inter-arts office supports interdisciplinary and hybrid arts, cross-disciplinary projects, and other new artistic practices. It supports artists working to transform our experience of art – works that are new, challenging and push the boundaries of established artforms.

Key organisations
Director: Atul Joshi

The key organisations section manages the Australia Council’s relationships with the 139 small to medium arts organisations that receive multi-year funding. The section analyses the business plans of applying organisations and assists the relevant artform board or commitee with decision-making. The key organisations section also conducts research and provides advice and skills development for the sector.

Operations
Manager: Carolyn Watts

The operations section coordinates the initial processing of grant information, responds to mailing inquiries, and manages the grants system and associated processes.

Major performing arts
Board chair: Rick Allert AM
Executive director: Tony Grybowski

The major performing arts board supports an artistically vibrant, financially viable and broadly accessible major performing arts sector. It is responsible for overseeing the operations of Australia’s 29 major performing arts companies and provides capacity building resources to assist them achieve their goals. The board works in partnership with state funding agencies.

Community partnerships and market development
Executive director: Karilyn Brown

The community partnerships and market development division is responsible for the Australia Council’s work in community arts, national and international audience and market development, and arts marketing skills development.

Community partnerships
Committee chair: Vacant as at 1 January 2008
Director: Frank Panucci

The community partnerships section develops and maintains partnerships that help communities engage with the arts. Typical partners include artists, arts organisations, community organisations, all spheres of government and the private sector. The section invests in long-term, sustainable outcomes for communities through the arts. It also manages several Australia Council policy areas and a number of significant partnerships.

Market development
Director: Sandra Bender

The market development section helps build audiences and markets for Australian arts at home and overseas. The section supports a long-term approach to identifying, growing and retaining audiences. Some of its activities include artist and market profiling, networking, skills development and specific funding strategies. The market development section also manages major international projects such as the Venice Biennale and Australian Performing Arts Market.

Artsupport Australia
Director: Louise Walsh
www.australiacouncil.gov.au/philanthropy

Artsupport Australia is the Australia Council’s initiative to grow cultural philanthropy. It works with artists and arts organisations to help build their capacity to secure philanthropic funding – through one-on-one mentoring, relationship building, specialist resources and services, presentations to boards, annual lectures and master classes. Artsupport
Australia also helps connect philanthropists and foundations with artists and arts organisations.

Governance and public affairs
Executive director: Dr Catherine Brown-Watt
Director marketing and communication: Stephen Mahoney

The governance and public affairs division is responsible for the Australia Council’s external relations. It manages the secretariat, research, stakeholder and government relations, and marketing and communication functions.

Corporate resources
Executive director: Robin Cowdery

The corporate resources division provides the Australia Council’s human resources, finance, legal and compliance, information technology and office services functions. This includes cross-organisational support for business planning and resource allocation.