Renowned broadcast journalist Sir John Tusa hosted a roundtable discussion on the impact that impending budget cuts and more limited financial resources will have on the performing arts sector. The roundtable was conducted at the Salzburg Global Seminar in Austria as part of the conference: "The Performing Arts in Lean Time: Opportunities for Reinvention."
Tusa spoke with leading arts administrators from the United States, South Africa, Lebanon, and Ireland, asking them to reflect on different arts funding models and differing contexts within which the arts exist in various parts of the world. Are there lessons to be learned from regions where the arts have always confronted "lean times?"
Discussants included Lawrence Goldman, chief executive officer of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in the United States; Delecia Forbes, director of the Department of Economic Development and Tourism of the Western Cape in Cape Town South Africa; Lyne Sneige, Regional Manager of Cultural Leadership International, British Council, Lebanon; and Willie White, Artistic Director of the Project Arts Centre in Dublin, Ireland.
Bio
Delicia Forbes
Delecia Forbes is acting director for Creative Industries for the Provincial Government Department of the Western Cape: Economic Development and Tourism. She has also served as executive director for Spier Arts Trust, executive director for Community Development for the City of Cape Town, arts and culture officer for the London Borough of Merton, arts-education officer for Weekend Arts College – London, and senior lecturer at Battswood Training College in Cape Town.
Her research experience includes developing the first Arts and Culture Policy for the City of Cape Town (first democratically elected local government). Ms. Forbes received a B.A. from the University of Cape Town, a B.Ed. from the University of South Africa, and an M.A. from the University of Durham in the United Kingdom.
Lawrence P. Goldman
Lawrence P. Goldman became the first president of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in June of 1989, and in 1993 was named chief executive officer. The non-profit NJPAC opened in 1997 and is a $187 million multi-facility arts center in the business district of Newark, New Jersey. Dr. Goldman previously served as was vice president of Carnegie Hall where he was responsible for organizing the restoration, renovation, and expansion of Carnegie Hall and the development of a 60-story tower adjacent to Carnegie Hall.
He holds M.P.A. and Ph.D. degrees in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, and an A.B. from Colgate University. In 2008, he was awarded the prestigious James Madison Medal from Princeton University.
Lyne Sneige Keyrouz
Lyne Sneige has worked for the British Council in Lebanon since the late 1990's as a senior member of staff, where she oversees programs in the arts, education and governance, advising on strategy, and building a strong network and presence for the office.
She is currently managing projects in arts and culture for the Levant and North Africa region. Before joining the Council in Beirut, she worked for a publishing house that specialized in Arabic children's books. Ms. Sneige has more than 10 years of work experience in the arts and culture scene in Lebanon and the region. Her interest lies in the development and growth of the arts and culture sector in the Arab World. She holds a master's degree in sociology and communications from the American University of Beirut.
John Tusa
John Tusa has fifty years experience of working in broadcasting, journalism and arts administration. During his BBC career, he presented BBC 2's "Newsnight" program from 1980 to 1986, and, from 1986 to 1992, he was managing director, BBC World Service. After retiring in 2007, he became chairman of the University of the Arts London, and chair of the Clore Leadership Programme. He remained chairman of the Wigmore Hall Trust and has just become chair of www.theartsdesk.com.
He has served on the Board of the National Portrait Gallery and the British Museum. He has written four books on the arts and arts administration: Art Matters, Engaged with the Arts, On Creativity and The Janus Aspect. He is a regular columnist and commentator on the arts and broadcasts regularly for BBC Radio4.
William White
Willie White has been artistic director and chief executive of Project Arts Centre, a multidisciplinary contemporary arts centre in Dublin, Ireland since 2002. At the Centre, he commissions, co-produces and programs for two performance spaces and has recently produced and directed a dance film and projects for community television. His freelance work includes serving as the artistic director of Dublin Youth Theatre from 2007 to 2009 and as curator of the annual conference of Theatre Forum in 2007.
He is interested in how culture can build communities. In 2008, he was awarded the Jerome Hynes Fellowship at the Clore Leadership Programme. He is a graduate of University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin where he received masters' degrees in English and Irish theatre, respectively.
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