Helplessness, grief, agency: a personal note

This weekend, I spent two days at the Malthouse Theatre talking about the climate crisis. It was part of an event called Tipping Point Austr...

Happy Invasion Day

Happy Invasion Day 2010 from Fear of a Brown Planet on Vimeo.Courtesy Footscray Arts.

Review: Godzone

At what point does politics move beyond parody? Maybe when you have a Prime Minister who looks as if he belongs in a Lego set, and who ought...

Gender and all that: where are the magic bullets?

Ms TN is back in Melbourne listening to the gentle patter of the rain, after a packed couple of days in sun-drenched Sydney. The major event...

Ministering to the arts

Gobsmacked to read in the Age this morning that every single former Victorian Arts Minister, Labor and Liberal, has written to University of...

Blowin' in the wind

Even gale-force winds couldn't stop the theatrical event of the week: to wit, the Save VCA protests, which culminated in a 1000-strong m...

VCA debate

In lieu of a post: a pointer to the discussion on TN about the reforms at VCA.

Saving the VCA

Update: more info on VCA action - tent cities! flash mobs! sing outs! - and links to more info at Twitter and Facebook.This week, SaveVCA is...

Oh no!

Update: some early industry responses on the Ragged Claws blog.The Productivity Commission today released its long awaited report on the par...

Seven Jewish Children

Update: George Hunka on British playwrights, responding to David Cote's Time Out blog, is a must-read. And see Andrew Haydon in the Guar...

Guest Essay: Olive Branches

Pondering whether to attend a theatre conference or the weekend protests in London against the violence in Gaza, Chris Goode decides he will...

Children in art

The Australia Council yesterday released its Draft Children in Art Protocols, which will determine council funding where artists are working...

Hope and so on

Over the weekend, Ms TN's body found new and nasty ways to remind her that she is human, all too human. I succumbed to a few minor but u...

Hello, America!

Welcome back to the world!

Getting heard: the realpolitik of arts advocacy

Robert Musil (1880-1942), the great German novelist and intellectual, observed once that if there was to be real social change of any kind, ...

The Minister You Have When You Don't Have A Minister

While our elusive Arts Minister, Mr Peter Garrett, spends his time propping up the pulp mill industry, it's nice to know that at least o...

Speaking with grace

It was good to see Bill Henson speaking publicly for the first time after the recent fracas and negotiating the inevitable media glare with ...

The 2020 experience

Yesterday, I felt like Wil E. Coyote after he's been thumped by a giant hammer. That little flattened concertina shape was Ms TN, just b...

I read it in the newspaper...

...so it must be true. Your faithful blogger is, it seems, off to the 2020 Summit in Canberra next month to debate future Australian arts po...

And on the national stage...

I am proud of Australia today.