Vale Fiona Winning: the game-changing arts producer is sorely missed

The culture-shaping arts leader and producer was farewelled by family and friends last Friday, with mourners encouraged to think, ‘What would Fiona do?’ as a way of carrying her legacy forward.
Image description: A photo of Fiona Winning, smiling at the camera. She has short red hair, glasses and is wearing a colourful green, pink and yellow top.

The funeral of the much-loved Fiona Winning – a dynamic producer and arts leader whose behind the scenes impact and support benefited generations of Australian artists – was held last Friday 5 September, attended by many of her friends, family and colleagues in the arts community.

Alongside the heartfelt tributes and eulogies, her friend, the artist Deborah Kelly, disseminated a laminated card containing a collectively-sourced list of Winning’s precepts and rules for life. Entitled ‘What Would Fiona Do?’, the list is shared here with Kelly’s permission.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the 2019 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts