Kerri Glasscock - culture leader - ep 29

Kerri Glasscock - culture leader - ep 29

Having fallen in love with The Sound of Music and never wanting it to end, Kerri Glasscock packed her bags at 15 and moved away from her family and her tiny country town to make a play for the theatre. She performed and put on shows and started the classic 505 jazz and theatre venues - rated in the top 150 jazz clubs worldwide by Downbeat - as well as turning the The Sydney Fringe into one of the most adventurous slots on the city’s calendar. Along the way, she emerged as a key change agent for Sydney's culture, advocating for reform, leading the review of the state’s culture policy - and this year taking the helm of Create NSW, the state’s creative agency. Kerri has an instagram grid full of extraordinary cakes, a magnetic personality and she’s larger than life - of course, I’ve always wanted to know more, and this conversation more than delivered.

Philip Thalis - architect - ep 28

Philip Thalis has been described as an influencer for a better future. As one of Australia's most respected architects, he’s literally shaped the physical environment of Sydney. In being awarded the Australian Institute of Architects’ highest honour - the Gold Medal - he was described as a role model for the architect as a public intellectual. Through his research, teaching, his magisterial tome Public Sydney and his persistent advocacy, he’s changed the way we think about our city - I’m constantly challenged to look at the city differently by the care and affection in his social media posts. So, of course, I’ve always wanted to know more!

Amanda Tattersall - change maker - ep 27

Amanda Tattersall is a community organiser, author and researcher. She was a founder of GetUp, the Sydney Alliance and Labor for Refugees, and she makes the excellent Changemakers podcast, too. Amanda’s prolific and undeniably deeply creative in her impact, and she’s also become a powerful voice in the still far too taboo space of mental health and the way our brains work. Despite all that, she’s far from a household name, so, of course, I’ve always wanted to know more.

Ebony Wightman - artist - episode 26

Ebony Wightman doesn’t like the term ‘trigger warning’ because it can stop people from talking about lived experience. This deeply insightful conversation uncovers a whole life’s worth of experiences from the dark depths of loneliness, poverty and attempting to take her life through to the joy of creativity, community and expressing yourself. Her work has been shown across Sydney from the Hawkesbury and Blacktown to the Biennale and Art Gallery of NSW, and her advocacy is driving real policy change. In short, she’s doing the work of changing our city’s culture, and I’ve always wanted to know more.

Caroline Butler-Bowdon - librarian - ep 25

Caroline Butler-Bowdon - universally known as CBB - has been a curator and a museum director, a PhD researcher, a government leader with a track record of significant change and she’s now the State Librarian. She’s one of those people who seem to attract good people into their orbit, who become a centre of gravity all their own. I see these people and the buzz of activity that forms around them, and especially with CBB, I’ve always wanted to know more.