THEATRE NETWORK NSW
Patrick McIntyre Real Value
T
hanks to TNN for inviting me to speak. And it is our pleasure to welcome you all here to The Wharf as one of our first public events. It is a stunning place; and we acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation as its traditional custodians. The topic for our speeches today is a good one because it directly addresses the value of the arts. The real value. The value that no one ever seems to be able to nail down. The arts provide experiences which are personal and qualitative and therefore cannot be objectively measured. In the neo-liberal world, if you can’t put a number on something, it doesn’t exist. It’s valueless. And yet the arts have been a fundamental part of human culture for millennia. You’d think by now we would have earned our keep. I see the arts as being an important part of the humanities in general. And the humanities are also, if not under attack, then being deliberately, or maybe just negligently, sidelined just when we need them the most. Look at the dwindling resources available to the humanities in the education system, and the perception created that an arts degree is a waste of time and money. An indulgence.
Patrick McIntyre has over twenty years’ experience in arts management and is currently Executive Director of Sydney Theatre Company. Prior to that, his roles include Associate Executive Director of The Australian Ballet, General Manager of Sydney Film Festival, and Marketing Manager of Sydney Dance Company and Sydney Opera House Trust. Patrick is a member of the Executive Council of industry body Live Performance Australia, was on the advisory boards of SCOPE for Artists, ArtsReady and the Deakin University arts management program, and was Chair of Streetwize Communications, a non-profit community publishing enterprise. He was a member of the New South Wales State Creative Industries Task Force. Holding a BA (Communications) from UTS, Patrick has also worked extensively as a freelance music and entertainment writer, and has presented on arts management, audience development and cultural value at conferences and events in Australia, the US and Hong Kong.
We are human animals and our problems are human. The humanities is an area of study that focuses on humanity and the human experience. So it’s pretty important.
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THEATRE NETWORK NSW Inc.
2020 State of the Sector Address Pi cn ic
