Australian museum director offers insight into mood of US cultural sector after University of Michigan trip
As the Trump administration’s executive orders ramped up, an Australian museum director was touching down in Michigan. Their first-hand insights say a lot about changes likely to come.
How will the US government’s rapid-fire cultural policy changes affect us here in the Australia? One of our most prominent contemporary arts museum directors had the chance to find out. Image: Charlotte May, Pexels.
Seb Chan is the leader of one of Australia’s most significant contemporary cultural institutions.
As Director and CEO of ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image), he has worked with the Museum for the past decade, playing a pivotal role in transforming ACMI’s visitor and digital content experiences before taking up the Director and CEO role in 2022.
But Chan is also no stranger to the US – having worked in a senior leadership role at the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York in the early 2010s.
ArtsHub's Arts Feature Writer Jo Pickup is based in Perth. An arts writer and manager, she has worked as a journalist and broadcaster for media such as the ABC, RTRFM and The West Australian newspaper, contributing media content and commentary on art, culture and design. She has also worked for arts organisations such as Fremantle Arts Centre, STRUT dance, and the Aboriginal Arts Centre Hub of WA, as well as being a sessional arts lecturer at The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).
