After a rocky three years for Create NSW, Executive Director Chris Keely says he is a stayer, and has a vision to lead with a collaborative spirit and an open door.
Chris Keely, Executive Director Create NSW. Image supplied.
Over the past three years, Create NSW has been through three Executive Directors (or variations in nomenclature), as well as a dose of restructuring after the last state elections in March 2019. It was a wave of change that has effectively destabilised the organisation since it was conceived in late 2016, when Arts NSW and Screen NSW were joined as Create NSW.
Like oil tankers, government organisations don’t ‘turn’ quickly. But after just 10 weeks in the job, Chris Keely acknowledged that the sector is hungry for surety.
Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's Senior Contributor, after 12 years in the role as National Visual Arts Editor. She has worked for extended periods in America and Southeast Asia, as gallerist, arts administrator and regional contributing editor for a number of magazines, including Hong Kong based Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. She is an Art Tour leader for the AGNSW Members, and lectures regularly on the state of the arts. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW.
Instagram: fairleygina
