Tony Bonney - Perth Theatre Company
Tony Bonney
General manager, Perth Theatre Company
Four months in the role, 16 years in the arts
WABN: Describe – in one sentence – a day at work.
TB: “Like all good stories it has a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order.”
WABN: What is the best piece of advice you can give someone to motivate a team?
TB: “Motivation comes from ensuring that everyone is on the same page of the book; get everyone to buy into your vision and you are almost there.”
WABN: What is the main quality you look for in your team members?
TB: “Respect for artists and the work of the company, as well as someone who is willing to learn from and participate with other members in the team, irrespective of age or role…and a sense of humour to deal with my ‘patchy’ jokes and endless anecdotes.”
WABN: What’s the best measurement of your performance, and can you name a highlight in your career?
TB: “That programs that I have done or set up are still going, or that I can still work in this town! A highlight was coercing Ben Elton to make a public appearance for the Fringe and seeing the queue around the venue for people waiting for the doors to open.”
WABN: How do you deal with egos in your workplace?
TB: “Paul Keating once said that leadership is all about egos, so I suppose that in the arts we have to learn to embrace the ego and recognise it as an asset.”
WABN: Is there an organisation/business model that you thrive to achieve/reach?
TB: “There are so many creative models that we are told about these days, so not one in particular stands out. The Lockheed ‘skunk works’ advanced development programs is a great example of a company prepared to eschew the normal way of working to develop projects quickly and efficiently. The key driver for that model is being a small team that assumes or is given responsibility for developing something in a short time with a small number of members in order to reduce communications overhead. A skunk works is sometimes used to spearhead a product design that thereafter will be developed according to the usual process, and a skunk works project may be secret.”
WABN: What frustrates you the most about your sector and what would you do to change it?
TB: “Political ineptitude, infighting and lack of common goals. There is the assumption that our role as arts companies in Perth is to complain about the nature of the industry and not trying to do anything about it. I have always advocated that we maybe need to reconsider the scale of the sector and maybe reduce the number of ‘producers’ we have in the market, recognising that we are an inherently small market that is extremely over-serviced. Less companies, doing more and better is a pretty unpopular philosophy in this town.”
WABN: What are the specific hurdles that you meet on a daily basis?
TB: “While the arts have continually been told that we need to be more like sports or adopt this or that business model, I think that the arts are, or should be, inherently creative and flexible in the way that we deal with issues. We are not like Telstra or PBL or Rio Tinto – and we should not wish to be like them either. Most days we deal with hurdles, be they micro/macro, social, political or environmental. To some degree I think business can learn more from the arts…and one day I will know what that is.”
WABN: Who is someone you dream to work with?
TB: “Luis Bunuel [Spanish filmmaker] for the insight, Howard Barker [English playwrite] for the challenge and Isabella Rossellini for the ego. Whilst on the desert island wish list, it would be good to chew the fat with Tom Waits or Serge Gainsbourg.”
