A Space Of Possibles: Artistic Directors and Leadership in Australian Theatre

Abstract

This research investigates the agency of artistic directors of subsidised major Australian theatre organisations in the post Major Performing Arts Inquiry (1999) sector. The research was conducted in response to a new generation of artistic directors commencing leadership of the major theatre companies from 2008. This new era of leadership was expected to revitalise the sector, however it remained in a perceived state of artistic and financial crisis. This thesis considers the role of the artistic director as an artistic leader of the field, and examines how the agency of this position came to be shaped by arts policy, economic and artistic forces. I argue that historical arts policies and the recommendations of MPAI altered the structures of the sector. Furthermore, while the changes these policies introduced reorganised the structure of the sector and administration of the companies, they also restricted the transformative agency of its artistic leaders to advance the artistic and economic performance of their organisations. This research uses a qualitative case study methodology. The data was collected through interviews with artistic and administrative leaders in the field, document and archival analysis and observation. The data is analysed within a theoretical framework inspired by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s space of possibles, a conceptual device put forward in “The field of cultural production” (1983, p.313). Three chapters present the research. The first, a case study, examines episodes of artistic leadership at Sydney Theatre Company (STC) between 1980 and 2014. The second chapter also presents a case study that examines the career path of Aubrey Mellor and his leadership as the final artistic director of Playbox Theatre Company (Melbourne) between 1993 and 2004. The third chapter discusses the length of artistic director’s tenure as a significant constraint in the sector, with the time spent in the position revealing the effects of several artistic, economic and personal forces. The findings of the research indicate that the agency of an artistic director is predetermined through the organisation’s position in the field, established through the agendas of arts policy. Additionally, the agency of an artistic director is also profoundly influenced by the dynamic of the transition between generations of artistic leaders and the career trajectory of the individual artistic leader. These conclusions suggest the agency of artistic directors at major theatre companies is shaped through sector-wide and personal forces. Their capacity for transformative agency is limited.