Jenny Simpson General manager, AWESOME Arts Australia Ltd Seven months in the job
Jenny Simpson
General manager, AWESOME Arts Australia Ltd
Seven months in the job
WABN: Describe a day at work.
JS: “Presently my day at work is largely taken up with festival business, as we are in the two-week lead-up to the event. The team is busy putting the finishing touches on various projects and events for the festival and the major focus is taking bookings, organising tours and festival promotions.
“When the festival is in downtime, much of my work day is committed to the funding-related documentation that enables AWESOME Arts to operate. This documentation includes reporting back to funders, compiling statistics, financial reporting, meeting with new and ongoing sponsors, writing proposals for funds and budgeting.”
WABN: What was the most challenging event in your career?
JS: “The greatest challenge in my career was moving out of the corporate sector into the arts. I think the biggest issue was a lack of confidence in my skills at that time, as I wondered if they could transfer into a new area. I slowly realised that it was more important to just get on with it and make a few mistakes rather than be fearful and do nothing.
“These days I don’t get too caught up in the mistakes that I or other people make as I appreciate that it sometimes just takes more guts to get on with it and the mistakes that happen along the way serve to increase our learning and development.
WABN: What is the main quality are you looking for within your team members?
JS: “I rate attitude over experience every time. I think that someone who is enthusiastic and committed to a role will learn quickly, while the most experienced person in the world is no use to you if their heart’s not in it.”
WABN: What's best measurement of your performance, and can you name a highlight in your career?
JS: “I take a great deal of pride in seeing people whom I have mentored and supervised develop their own successful careers as managers. I am proud to work alongside several fantastic managers for whom I have played a small role in their development.
“I work in the arts because I believe that art in its various forms has the capacity to transform and change people’s lives for the better. Measurement of this quality is often difficult, and you usually discover success long afterwards. I teach community choirs and over the years many people have made contact and expressed strong feelings about the difference that singing has made to their lives. Knowing that I made a difference somewhere along the line counts for me.”
WABN: What frustrates you the most about your sector and what would you do to change it?
JS: “I’ll probably get shot for saying this, but I have found WA to be relatively well supported in the arts compared to other states.
“We have a thriving arts scene with some of the nation’s most talented artists and managers. “Having seen how grim support for the arts can be in other states, I am heartened that our state government not only provides financial support, but can see the benefits and potential on what’s on offer in the west. Of course, like most sectors, there’ll never be enough money.
“I have several corporate colleagues who seem to think that the arts is a soft area. Just because we get paid less and enjoy our work doesn’t mean that we work less hours or have fewer skills.
“I’d happily challenge a corporate manager to come and spend a week working in the arts and they’ll find some striking similarities in work pressures, skills required and time on the job.”
WABN: What are the specific hurdles that you meet on a daily basis in your sector? How do you deal with them?
JS: “This always comes back to the resourcing issue. Although it’s not necessarily the amount of money that’s the problem, it is a combination of the ever-increasing expectations of funders and the tendency for us to have too many great ideas that we cannot bear not to produce to an outcome.”
WABN: Who is someone that you dream of working with?
JS: “Bill Hauritz, (Woodford Folk Festival), Rhoda Roberts, (The Dreaming Festival) and Dr Dawn Casey (CEO Museum of Western Australia).”
WABN: Have you read a good book on management/leadership that you can recommend?
JS: “I can recommend The Book of the Board by David Fishel. It clearly articulates the responsibilities and roles of not for profit boards.
“Often highly skilled people join boards in the not-for-profit arts sector with the best of intentions but little of knowledge of the function, roles and responsibilities of boards. This book is a great tool to enable boards to function cohesively and effectively.”
WABN: Which personality inspired you the most throughout your career?
JS: “The transition from the corporate world into the arts was challenging at first. One of my co-workers at that time had the most incredible no-nonsense attitude. She kept telling me not to buy into other people’s dramas. It sounds like simple enough advice, but it makes such a difference.”
WABN: What were you doing before your current position?
JS: “I worked as a consultant interim director at Brisbane Multicultural Arts Centre assisting the organisation in its recovery from potential insolvency. Prior to that, I was the director of the National Folk Festival in Canberra for two years.”
