At our AGM on 25 November 2023, Arts in the Valley (Kangaroo Valley Arts Festival Inc) elected a new committee to guide the association in supporting arts activities in the Valley and region.
After very distinguished service, Nick Minogue (President for ten years) and Caroline Minogue (Secretary for eight years) stepped down to devote more time to family. I am honoured to have been elected as the new President.
I am delighted to announce the team moving forward: Gudula Dornseifer as Vice President, Chris Green as Treasurer, newly elected Wendy See as Secretary and Greg See as Music Director. Robert Calkhoven, Elizabeth Clark, Bridget Crouch and Stuart McCreery remain on the committee. And we welcome long-time member, attendee and volunteer Helen Lunn to the committee. The committee now stretches from Berry to Illaroo to the Highlands.
We are also very happy to announce that Nichole (Nikki) Sharp has been selected from a strong field of applicants as the new Manager for Arts in the Valley. Holding a BA in computer science, Nikki has all the IT, communications and marketing skills necessary for the position. She also has a strong background in the arts, holding a BFA from the National Art School with an emphasis on sculpture and being represented by two galleries in Sydney. She also has significant experience in dance direction and administration, having re-established the Sydney City Ballet in 2019 and being the general manager and director of the Tanya Pearson Ballet Academy in Sydney until 2021.
The positions of Director of Visual Arts and Director of Sculpture are open. A search committee is seeking candidates for these two very important roles. We are happy to receive expressions of interest or field any questions. Please feel free to contact me at gary.moore@sydney.edu.au..
In my acknowledgement comments, I thanked those present for their confidence that I might be able to follow the daunting leads of past-presidents, and now Life Members, Nick Minogue and John Wright. I also indicated that I am willing to serve for one year while we search for a longer-term president.
As part of the transition, the time is right to take stock of where we are as an organisation and to consider if we wish to set new priorities and strategic directions for the future.
We would like to engage as many of you from the KV community as wish to help us decide what directions we, collectively, would like to pursue in terms of arts events for the Valley in the next, say, five years.
A key object in our constitution is “To organise, promote or facilitate a range of quality musical, performing and creative arts performances and exhibition for residents of and visitors to Kangaroo Valley.”
In the early years, there was an emphasis on attracting people from the city to enjoy arts in the valley. But our databases indicate that the vast majority of music attendees are from the Valley. Likewise, the vast majority of those who purchase visual arts and sculpture are from the Valley. Moving forward, do you think we should try to attract more visitors to the Valley, or do you prefer that we primarily serve those who live and work in the Valley?
Would you like to see a return to a major weekend festival of music and the arts, or do you prefer musical concerts spread through the year? What types of music would you like to hear? Regarding visual arts and sculpture, would you like to see the exhibitions smaller and more focused or larger and more encompassing? Would you like to see other performing arts, like drama? Or dance? Or arthouse movies? Would you like to see arts events targeted to a younger audience? Or more integration of the arts, like short dance pieces with live concert musicians, or music and visual arts together as they were in the early years?
Please feel free to make your views known to me or to any member of the committee. In addition, we will launch a survey of members and others in the Valley to learn your preferences.
We can’t promise to do everything, far from it, but we would like to hear what the community prefers. If there is a groundswell in favour of a new art forms, we will need to count on new people joining us to help organise them. We will then, together, see what range of arts activities we can bring to our doorsteps.