Future of Arts, Culture & Technology Symposium

Presented with Creative Australia and proudly supported by Creative Victoria and Bloomberg, the 2024 program was aimed at cultural leaders, policy makers, practitioners and those wanting to understand how we make the most of the possible future trajectories of technology in the arts.  In 2024 we had core themes of AI/automation, climate, and changing audiences – and how the cultural sector will change over the next ten years as a result.

Hear from artists and creators, senior cultural leaders, experienced creative technologists, academics and researchers from across the creative industries in a mix of presentation formats and panel discussions that explore the big issues in the field, and ways through the complexities of the next decade.

In 2024, we went deep on the implications of automation, artificial 'intelligence' and computational capacities in the creative sectors; and intertwined with this was the other big theme of climate and how cultural institutions and creators make sense of, and help our communities chart a course towards, a low carbon society and economy.

Hosted at ACMI, the FACT symposium grew out of the multi-art form CEO Digital Mentoring program which ran throughout 2021 and 2022, and has recently been exported to New Zealand in conjunction with the National Digital Forum.

Download the FACT2024 Symposium program and speaker information.

2024 Speakers

• Eryk Salvaggio, Cybernetic Forests, USA
• Clare Reddington, Watershed, UK
• Dr Mia Ridge, British Library, UK
• Claire Pillsbury, California Academy of Sciences, USA
• Dr Johnson Witehira, Indigenous Design and Innovation Aotearoa
• Associate Professor Katrina Sluis, Australian National University
• Dr Joel Stern, RMIT University
• Associate Professor Fiona Cameron, Western Sydney University
• Carmel Reyes, Powerhouse Museum
• Professor Deb Polson, RMIT University
• Vidya Rajan, Writer, performer, artist
• Jarra Karalinar Steel, Multidisciplinary artist and curator
• Dr Keir Winesmith, National Film and Sound Archive of Australia
• Simon Loffler, ACMI
• Stuart Buchanan, Sydney Opera House
• Professor Melanie Swalwell, Swinburne University of Technology
• Professor Kimberlee Weatherall, University of Sydney
• Keri Elmsly, ACMI
• Matthew Lutton, Malthouse Theatre
• Trent Clews-de Castella, PHORIA
• Paula Bray, State Library of Victoria
• Lucie Paterson, ACMI
• Dr Anne Kershaw, Deakin University
• Jade Lillie, Facilitator and Cultural Leader
• Fiona Tuomy, The Other Film Festival, Arts Access Victoria
• Subhadra Mistry, City of Casey
• Malia Simonds, Bloomberg Philanthropies
• Dr Georgie McClean, Creative Australia
• John Wylie AM, Tanarra Capital
• Professor Ross Parry, University of Leicester
• Katie Russell, Australian Museums and Galleries Association
• Kate Fielding, A New Approach
• Dr Indigo Holcombe-James, ACMI
• Seb Chan, ACMI

Hosted at ACMI over two days on 14 & 15 Feb 2023, the Future of Arts, Culture & Technology Symposium was aimed at cultural leaders, policy makers, practitioners and those wanting to understand how we make the most of the possible future trajectories of technology in the arts. 

Attendees heard from artists and creators, senior cultural leaders, experienced creative technologists, academics and researchers from across the arts in a mix of presentation formats and panel discussions.

This symposium drew on the success of the multi-art form CEO Digital Mentoring program which ran throughout 2021 and 2022, and asked how those lessons might benefit the whole of the arts and culture.

2023 Speakers

• Jane Finnis (Director, Culture24, UK)
• Victoria Ivanova (R&D Strategic Lead, Serpentine Galleries, UK)
• Sam Lavigne (artist & educator, USA)
• Tega Brain (artist & environmental engineer, USA)
• Mimi Ọnụọha (artist, USA)
• Liam Young (designer, director, producer, USA)
• Cory Doctorow (science fiction author, activist and journalist, Canada)
• Professor Rebecca Giblin (ARC Future Fellow, Professor at Melbourne Law School, and the Director of the Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia)
• Esther Anatolitis (Editor of Meanjin, arts advocate)
• Professor Larissa Hjorth (School of Media & Communication, RMIT)
• Professor Dan Hill (Director, Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne)
• Professor Jean Burgess, Professor of Digital Media, Digital Media Research Centre, QUT
• Dr Indigo Holcombe-James (ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, RMIT)
• Anne Dunn (Executive Director, Sydney Theatre Company)
• Kath Mainland (Chief Executive, Adelaide Festival)
• Tim Stitz (Executive Producer & Co-CEO, Back to Back Theatre)
• Katrina Sedgwick (Director & CEO at Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation)
• Joel Sherwood Spring (independent artist)
• Seb Chan (Director & CEO, ACMI)
• Keri Elmsly (Executive Director of Programming, ACMI)
• Lucie Paterson (Head of Experience Product & Digital, ACMI)
• Dr Sarah Barns (independent artist-researcher, ESEM Projects)
• Paul Callaghan (Head of Games & Interactive, VicScreen)
• Jamie Lewis (CEO/Executive Director, Next Wave Festival)
• Ana Tiquia (artist, future strategist & Director, All Tomorrow's Futures)
• Stuart Buchanan (Head of Digital Programming, Sydney Opera House)
• Paula Bray (Head of Digital Engagement & Insight, Australian National Maritime Museum)
• Morgan Strong (Digital Transformation Manager, QAGOMA)
• Teina Herzer (Executive Director, National Digital Forum, NZ)
• Claire Evans (Director, Junior Major)
• Dr Bobby Cerini (Deputy Director and General Manager of Science and Learning, Questacon)
• Dr Keir Winesmith (Chief Digital Officer, National Film and Sound Archive)
• Penny Whitehead (Deputy Director Development and Commercial Operations, Geelong Gallery)
• Sejul Malde (Strategic Research Development Manager, Australian National University)
• Fiona Tuomy (Artistic Director, The Other Film Festival & Manager, Digital Innovation, Arts Access Victoria)