PAC Australia’s Annual Conference and Performing Arts Exchange opens on the Sunshine Coast

Australia’s leading arts professionals are convening this week on the Sunshine Coast - during the annual Horizon Festival - with more than 300 artists and arts managers attending PAC Australia’s 33rd annual Performing Arts Conference, REAP: More. Deeper. Different. and the National Performing Arts Exchange (PAX).

Being held at The Events Centre Caloundra until 29th August the event is one of the most significant annual gatherings of performing arts professionals anywhere in Australia.

REAP: More. Deeper. Different. focusses on the fundamentals of audience development; reaching more audiences, serving audiences deeper experiences and diversifying our audiences and the work they see.

PAC Australia’s Executive Director Rick Heath explained “iIn times of uncertainty for the arts industry it’s important that we don’t assume that what went before is a solid predictor of what lays ahead. At PAC Australia we keep our ear to the ground … we’re curious … and we want to share the stuff that we’ve discovered from around the globe to enable us all to stay ahead of the curve.

“REAP focusses on audiences; the people in our communities that we entertain, inspire, lead and serve. We’ll be providing the ideas and tools, that maximise outcomes and quite simply, making it easier to succeed.”

Opening this week, PAX is Australia’s only national performing arts market, a platform to showcase and pitch shows to presenters and programmers from around the country; and for delegates to connect and collaborate with fellow arts workers. This is where the industry gathers to find the shows that end up on stages across Australia, but we ask delegates to think deeply about the work they see, be open to the new people they meet, and maybe even rage at times about the things they feel – this is not just a place to buy shows this is a place to share in the role of curating culture in Australia.

The speaker line-up features the big thinkers in audience development from across the world including Bryan Joseph Lee (The Public Theater, NY), Anne Torreggiani (The Audience Agency), Alan Brown (Wolf Brown), Alison Clark (Arts Council England), and Deborah Cullinan (Yerba Buena Center for the Arts). The conference will be hosted by the 2019 Thinker-in-Residence, Sydney Festival Artistic Director; Wesley Enoch. Wesley hails from Stradbroke Island (Minjeribah) in QLD and is a proud Noonuccal Nuugi man. Wesley’s vast experience will bring context to conversations and spark the conversations that need to happen.

Happening in conjunction with the conference is a symposium on the Evolving Role of Arts Centres. Arts centres have the potential to cut across outdated binaries of presenting or producing, community or artist and high art or entertainment. The symposium will explore how arts centres will serve their communities into the future and continue to be relevant.

This year’s Conference and Performing Arts Exchange is held in partnership with the Horizon Festival - connecting creative programs to provide delegates with a packed program of performances, pitches and networking.

Festival Director Zohar Spatz adds “we are looking forward to hosting delegates and providing artists with the chance to showcase their work within a festival context.”

Click here for event details in the Australasian Leisure Management industry Calendar.

Gary Mears, General Manager of The Events Centre Caloundra is profiled in the latest issue of  Australasian Leisure Management.

Images: Aboriginal welcome ceremony at the Horizon Festival (top) and The Events Centre Caloundra from the air (below).