Culture’s ‘killing season’ continues in shock shake-up at the top

NSW’s highest-profile arts bureaucrat has resigned and will now lead the state’s flagship museum of historic homes and archives, capping a month of turmoil in the state’s cultural sector.

The outgoing head of the government’s arts agency Create NSW, Annette Pitman, has been named as the new chief executive of Museums of History NSW.

She is its fourth leader since the institution was formed two years ago from the merger of 12 house museums and the state’s $1 billion archives.

Annette Pitman is moving on to lead Museums of History NSW.

Pitman has been one of the key drivers of the $915 million Parramatta Powerhouse Museum, and leaves at a critical juncture for that project.

The building’s opening has been delayed one year, and the budget for the Ultimo campus’s renovations and Parramatta’s opening exhibition programs are said to be under severe strain.

The surprise departure of Pitman also comes as some of the state’s globally recognised arts companies and major cultural institutions grapple with a cost-of-living crisis and rising production costs.

It comes, too, at a time when political tensions between donors and artists and performers over the war in Gaza have sparked sackings, boycotts, withdrawal of vital sponsorship dollars, and the cancellations of events and subscriptions.

The turnover of leaders in the arts sector in the past five weeks has caused some commentators to dub this “culture’s killing season”.

The artistic director of Opera Australia, Jo Davies, has left. So too have Steven Alderton from the National Art School and Alexie Glass-Kantor from Artspace at Woolloomooloo.

While the circumstances of each departure are different, Live Performance Australia president Richard Evans said the intense pressure on cultural leaders post-COVID was a common experience for all.

“These jobs were difficult to do 20 years ago, but now they are so much greater for all institutions, with community and funder expectations around representation, global politics and diversification of both the workforce and the audiences,” he said.

“Institutions have less discretionary revenue than ever before,” he added. “Government investment levels were set 25 years ago. The level of public expectation is growing exponentially, while the financial elbow room is shrinking.”

Pitman was appointed to lead Create NSW in 2022, when the two previous executive positions were amalgamated into a single role, signalling a consolidation of policy and infrastructure under the Coalition.

Arts minister John Graham credited Pitman for the revitalisation of Sydney’s Walsh Bay Arts Precinct, The Gunnery and the development of the state’s first arts, culture and creative industries policy, Creative Communities.

But Pitman was often overshadowed by Sydney Opera House’s chief executive Louise Herron, who also helped oversee the writing of NSW Labor’s new 10-year road map to reinvigorate the faltering sector.

Herron also chairs the new 11-member panel established to implement the Creative Communities policy, and was at one stage in the frame for a new role spearheading sweeping changes to arts and culture policy. But it is thought she is unlikely to succeed Pitman and will remain at the Opera House in the short term.

---

At Museums of History NSW, Pitman will need to resurrect the public profile of the institution, which has taken a dramatic tumble since it lost Adam Lindsay, its energetic and dynamic former head, on the eve of its foundation in December 2022.

She succeeds Mary Darwell, who has been acting in the role for 16 months, and takes up her position on October 14.

Several sources with not the authority to speak said Pitman had been encouraged to apply after an initial search.

Darwell’s achievements include support of First Nations peoples and communities and truth telling and significant “under the bonnet” changes to the museum’s corporate systems and processes.

Graham said Pitman had a proven track record in arts, heritage and cultural leadership, and was well-equipped to elevate Museums of History NSW in its mission to preserve and share the stories of the state through places, collections and archives.

“I am excited about the next chapter of this important organisation under Annette’s leadership, leveraging the successes and partnerships she has built across the NSW creative sector to further the mission of Museums of History.”

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.