The ACT arts community is in a flurry of speculation as news permeates of the impending retirement of artsACT chief David Whitney.
In the last few days the CEOs of several local arts organisations have received emailed notice of Whitney’s decision to retire.
Whitney, who was previously the director of the Canberra Theatre, is a very experienced arts administrator who came to Canberra from Alice Springs and who has steered the arts bureaucracy through developments like Belconnen Arts Centre and the implementation of the Loxton Report’s recommended “arts hubs” on the Kingston foreshore and around Ainslie and Gorman arts centres.
Whitney’s arts preferences have dominated the Canberra landscape for some years and the community is now abuzz with anticipation of what comes next.
Names floated during the week as possible replacements for Whitney include the livewire director of Canberra Museum and Gallery and a former artsACT officer, Shane Breynard, although as a visual artist himself, he is known to be very happy in his present position.
A more likely scenario, some say, is the promotion of a career bureaucrat to this important position.
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