Francois Matarasso
Francois Matarasso is an independent researcher and writer specialising in community cultural practice. His work focuses on practice-led research, mostly around the impact of participation in culture, but he's also published work on libraries, heritage, museums and other related issues.
In addition to his own projects, Matarasso works as a consultant for arts organisations, foundations and public agencies on policy, organisational change and evaluation. He is an Honorary Professor at Gray's School of Art, Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen (Scotland) and International Fellow of the Centre for Public Culture and Ideas at Griffith University in Brisbane (Australia). He teaches and provides practice-based training.
Until 1994 he worked as a community artist and creative producer in neighbourhoods, schools and institutions, an experience of arts practice and community development that continues to shape his work and writing.
Matarasso is based in Nottingham, in the UK, but he works throughout Europe; he's also lectured and worked with projects in Africa, North and South America, Australia and Japan.
Dr. Ernesto Sirolli
Chairman and C.E.O. of the Sirolli Institute
Italian-born, Dr. Ernesto Sirolli received a Laurea di Dottore in Political Science from Rome University in 1976 and a Ph.D. from Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia in 2004. He has worked in Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the U.S.A. in the field of economic development.
In 1985, he pioneered in Esperance, a small rural community in Western Australia, a unique economic development approach based on harnessing the passion, determination, intelligence, and resourcefulness of the local people.
The striking results of "The Esperance Experience" have prompted more than 250 communities around the world to adopt responsive, person-centered approaches to local economic development similar to the Enterprise Facilitation® model pioneered in Esperance.
Enterprise Facilitation has been documented in Dr. Sirolli's book: "Ripples from the Zambezi - Passion, Entrepreneurship and the Rebirth of the Local Economy."
Adopted as a textbook in an increasing number of academic courses in community and economic development, the book has helped to introduce Enterprise Facilitation to a new generation of economic development practitioners and civic leaders interested in growing their communities from within, one passionate person at the time.
Dr. Ernesto Sirolli is the Founder of the Sirolli Institute, an international non-profit organization that teaches community leaders how to establish and maintain Enterprise Facilitation projects in their community. The Institute has actively worked in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Ecuador and (a triumphant return to) Africa.
Dr. Sirolli is a noted authority in the field of sustainable economic development, and is in demand as a speaker worldwide.
Jane Bennett
Jane Bennett is the Managing Director of Ashgrove Cheese Pty Ltd, a family owned and operated business located in Elizabeth Town in central Northern Tasmania. The Ashgrove brand is recognised as a leader in Australian Specialty Cheese focused on the production of award winning hard and semi hard cheeses. The business expanded in 2008 into a range of fresh milk products to enhance the tourism and retail experience of the Ashgrove site.
In 1997 Jane was named the ABC Radio Australian Rural Woman of the Year. In 1998 she was awarded the Regional Development category of the Young Australian of the Year Awards.
In addition to her work in the family business Jane is involved with a number of State and Federal Government bodies. Jane is a member of the Brand Tasmania Council and immediate past Chair of the Tasmanian Food Industry Council. She has been a member of the National Food Industry Council and a member of the Trade Advisory Council to the previous Federal Government. Jane was a member of the 2000 Telecommunications Service Inquiry that produced the Besley Report and the 2002 Regional Telecommunications Service Inquiry that produced the Estens Report.
In 2008 Jane undertook a Nuffield Farming Scholarship looking at the role of regionality in the marketing and branding of food. The scholarship involved global travel with particular focus on looking at regional branding initiatives across North America and Europe.
Mike White
Mike White is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Medical Humanities and St. Chad's College, University of Durham, UK.
His work for the Centre has included workforce development programmes in arts in health, project-based evaluations, and audits and literature reviews of arts in health for Government agencies. In 2005 he was awarded a fellowship of the UK's National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts to research community-based arts in health and build international links in this field, particularly with South Africa and Australia. A book based on that research Arts Development in Community Health - a social tonic was published by Radcliffe in 2009.
He was previously at Gateshead Council where he developed many arts in health and arts for older people projects, as well as public art commissions such as the landmark Angel of the North by Antony Gormley. He has also worked as Development Director of the influential celebratory arts company Welfare State International, and a long time ago he was a founder member of WOMAD, the international music festival agency.
Mark Pesce
Known internationally as the man who fused virtual reality with the World Wide Web to invent VRML, Mark Pesce has been exploring the frontiers of media and technology for a quarter of a century.
His work has kept him on the forefront of emerging developments in science, technology and media. With a unique ability to make abstract concepts clear for lay audiences and to further the knowledge of the technologically savvy, he is a highly sought-after public speaker, lecturing throughout the world on a variety of topics: from the latest trends on the Internet, to current developments in neuroeconomics, to the future of design in an energy-conscious world.
Pesce is first and foremost a storyteller, taking everyday examples from the world around us, then using these to illuminate the finer features of world that seems to be changing more rapidly every day.
The author of five books and numerous articles, Pesce is widely respected as a technologist, futurist, philosopher and communicator who can translate abstract concepts into concrete explanations. Mainstream publications such as Forbes ASAP, TIME Digital, WIRED and The New York Times have profiled him and his views on the interactive era. A well-respected journalist, Pesce has written for WIRED, Salon, The Age, ABC Unleashed, and NETT. For the last five seasons, Pesce has been a panelist on the hit ABC show The New Inventors.
From 2003 to 2006, Pesce chaired the Emerging Media and Interactive Design Program at the world-renowned Australian Film Television and Radio School. His mandate - to bring cinema and broadcast television into the interactive era - led him to create a program that encouraged creative vision and is now producing a generation of award-winning entertainment professionals who are shaping the media of the 21st century.
Pesce currently holds an appointment as an Honorary Associate in the Digital Cultures Program at the University of Sydney, and in 2006 founded FutureSt, a Sydney media and technology consultancy. Working with clients such as Telstra, Lonely Planet and Amnesty International, Pesce brings his encyclopedic knowledge of technology together with a consumer-focused sensibility to refine clients products and strategies.
Kathy Keele
Kathy Keele was appointed chief executive officer of the Australia Council and member of the Council (ex officio) for three years on 14 December 2006. Combining a wealth of business experience with a passion for the arts, Kathy previously worked in promoting private sector support for the arts in her role as chief executive officer of the Australia Business Arts Foundation (AbaF). Prior to this, Kathy had a more than 20-year career in executive, marketing and corporate affairs roles with iconic Australian and international companies. She was executive general manager responsible for marketing and business development at Siemens Ltd Australia-New Zealand before joining AbaF. Kathy has also held senior executive roles in marketing and communications at Telstra Corporation, BHP Ltd and BHP Steel (now BlueScope Steel). Kathy has served on the boards of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Cabrini Institute for Research and Clinical Education, the BHP Foundation and Young Achievers Australia. She is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in languages and a Masters in Business Administration from Pacific Lutheran University, Seattle.
On stage during the plenary sessions
You may notice some amazing furniture on stage during some of our plenary sessions. Junction would like to thank and acknowledge Hobart-based artist Sue Hall for providing us these works. Visit her website here
