5th Jul 12
WELCOME TO OUR NEW DIRECTOR
The team at Regional Arts Victoria are thrilled to welcome Esther Anatolitis in her new role as Director, commencing this week.
"Esther Anatolitis brings a wealth of leadership experience across all artforms, as well as extensive networks, and a committed and passionate advocate's voice," said Dennis Goldner, Chair, Regional Arts Victoria Board. "Regional Arts Victoria is delighted to welcome Esther to the organisation."
Premier of Victoria and Minister for the Arts TedBaillieu welcomed the news of Esther's appointment and said he looked forward to working with her in further developing Victoria's regional arts.
"Esther's engagement with so many facets of arts and culture, locally and further afield, stands her in good stead to bring creative ideas and different perspectives to RAV, along with her great enthusiasm," Mr Baillieu said.
"We look forward to the new opportunities that Esther will no doubt bring about for the arts in Victoria's regional areas."
Esther joins us from her role as CEO of Melbourne Fringe, Victoria's leading organisation for the independent arts, a role she has held since 2008. Esther had led key Victorian arts organisations including Craft Victoria, Express Media and the Emerging Writers' Festival, and is a former Chair of the Arts Industry Council (Victoria). She has co-curated the Architecture+Philosophy series since 2005, has served on numerous literary and design juries, fosters sector-wide arts networks, and is regularly invited to consult with small-to-medium arts organisations on their programming and strategic development. Esther's past professional roles have focused on cultural diversity, education, publishing and broadcasting, and she has served on numerous boards. As a writer her practice is both critical and creative, and she has been published widely in Australia and overseas, most recently in The Age, un Magazine, Arts Hub, Artichoke and RealTime Arts. Esther has worked on artistic and site-specific projects across a range of media and locations, and was awarded the DAAD Künstlerprogramm residency at the BauhausDessau in 2001-2002. As well as regional and national networks, Esther brings significant arts, cultural and government networks to the role, and she is an alumnus of both the Australia Council's and the Australia Business Arts Foundation's leadership programs.
"I'm thrilled to be joining the RAV team," said Esther Anatolitis. "Victoria is home to Australia's most vibrant and diverse artistic regions, and I look forward to consolidating RAV's fine reputation inchampioning, fostering and curating regional arts and culture. I am passionate about the role of arts-led place-making in fostering independent arts practice and sustaining our complex arts ecology. There's certainly some big shoes to fill following on from the dynamic Lindy Allen, but I come to the role energised by RAV's impressive forty-year record across our state of the arts."
Esther will be working Thursdays and Fridays throughout July, and then full time from 6 August 2012.
