Of the many reactions reverberating through the Australian arts sector amid the Adelaide Writers Week fiasco, the one with perhaps the greatest irony behind it is the feeling that we have been here once or twice (or 67 times) before, and that the Adelaide Festival Board should have known better after a plethora of recent arts board controversies that have harmed artists, programs and organisations.
While there is a long list of cautionary horror stories to choose from, one could start with the spectacular outcomes of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s (MSO) handling of political comments made by pianist Jayson Gillham in August 2024, which led to the departure of the company’s Managing Director after a vote of no confidence in the Orchestra’s senior management by its musicians. This was followed by an external review of the events and an ongoing court case between Gillham and the MSO.
