‘Oh, yeah I think everyone’s always interested in the hot pants’
This meeting is decidedly more relaxed than our first one. Just over two years ago Karen Quinlan and I spoke over the phone, about an hour after she’d been announced as the new chief executive of Arts Centre Melbourne.
It was a strange time to take up the reins and, on the surface of it perhaps, an unexpected appointment. Quinlan had headed up the Bendigo Art Gallery for almost 20 years, followed by four years as the director of the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. At the time her new role was announced, the Arts Centre was looking down the barrell of its largest theatre being closed for several years as part of the $1.7 billion arts precinct project.
Chief executive of Arts Centre Melbourne Karen Quinlan at Saké Restaurant.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
Why was a seasoned visual arts professional stepping into the top job of a performing arts company? And why would she do so at such a tumultuous juncture in the company’s history? For her, the answer to both questions is simple. “I’m a person that likes a bit of a challenge.” Oh, and she is keen to clarify that Arts Centre Melbourne is about much more than performing arts.
Quinlan’s gentle authority and keen focus on the task at hand come through during our conversation, whether it is her ability to stay on message about her plans for the Arts Centre, or her thoughts on what we are going to eat.
We are at Saké Restaurant in Hamer Hall. It’s a regular haunt for Quinlan, which makes sense given the proximity to her workplace. “It’s very good,” she says. “I don’t often come at lunchtime though – it’s usually night.”
We choose a few dishes to share – the 10 piece sashimi and one of that day’s specials, crab on toast, plus a miso soup each. “It’s quite cold today – I feel like something a bit warm,” Quinlan says.
Chef’s selection of sashimiCredit: Luis Enrique Ascui
Quinlan is originally from Melbourne and is glad to be home. “It feels good at this stage in my life to be back in Melbourne,” she says, looking out at the Yarra.
From where we sit we are within easy walking distance of all of the different facets of the Arts Centre. The restaurant sits within Hamer Hall, the theatres building is just down the street, and the Sidney Myer Music Bowl not much further.
Over the next few years, the Melbourne Arts Precinct plan will be rolled out, aimed at connecting the major creative institutes more. Among the changes, there will be a new gallery and a large garden.
The most significant change for the Arts Centre over the past two years is that the “short-term pain” Quinlan described when I first spoke to her is here – the renovation of the State Theatre.
Its closure last year has left a significant gap in the Melbourne performing arts landscape, with The Australian Ballet and Opera Australia essentially relocating to the Regent Theatre in the interim, creating knock-on effects as companies vie for space to stage productions. Quinlan says the refurbishment – due to finish in 2026 – is on schedule.
As we tentatively start picking at our shared plates, each conscious to make sure that we both get to try the different kinds of sashimi, I bring up the last time we met – a few months ago, when we were taken on a tour of the works in progress. After navigating a maze of doors and beams and clutter we were told that we were standing on the stage. It had been difficult to believe. “I know – you go in there and you don’t even recognise it,” says Quinlan with a small smile. “You can’t even work out where you are because of all the scaffolding.”
Once it’s done, “you won’t notice a visible difference – but you’ll feel it,” she says. The changes are quiet but necessary. “Air conditioning, audio, seating, more aisles, more accessibility, new carpet, new chairs, seating … [and] a more efficient back of house”, she lists.
Karen Quinlan CEO Arts Centre Melbourne, Minister for Creative Industries Colin Brooks and local MP Nina Taylor in the construction site of the State Theatre in September 2024.Credit: Justin McManus
In the meantime, she adds, the smaller Fairfax and Playhouse theatres are open, and “We have another little space called the showroom, which does new and emerging art, performing arts. So we’re still active down there.”
One thing she has been pushing against in her now two years at the helm is how the Arts Centre is perceived. While she highlights the resident companies and programming with pride, she also underscores that “in many ways, we’re more than a hall for hire”.
The Arts Centre, she says, known for its live performances across the theatres buildings and the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, but hidden in its depths is a collection of artwork and of performing arts artefacts from across Victorian and Australian history – ranging from paintings by Arthur Boyd to Kylie Minogue’s famed gold hot pants. “Oh, yeah, I think everyone’s always interested in the hot pants,” she says with an edge of amusement.
One of the newest pieces added to this collection is a photograph of David Hallberg, artistic director of The Australian Ballet, by Bill Henson. The image depicts a statuesque Hallberg looking out over the construction of the State Theatre. “That commission is a slightly new direction for us in terms of building upon what we already have as a collecting institution – which a lot of people don’t know about,” Quinlan reflects. “There are more than 850,000 items.”
Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet David Hallberg (left) with photographer Bill Henson with the work that Henson was commissioned to produce of Hallberg by Arts Centre Melbourne that will hang in the State Theatre foyer when it reopens.Credit: Justin McManus
The shift from visual arts to performing arts is not the biggest one in her career. Quinlan started out teaching at an all-girls Catholic school, working with textiles. “A lot of garment construction and fabric screen printing,” she explains. “The course I did was very practical. It also had a very strong art history component.” Over her few years there, her role changed and expanded into teaching art and media studies. “It was a good experience, and I loved education,” she says. From there, however, she had a gear shift and a range of jobs – administration at the State Library and a position in the gallery shop at the NGV.
As she became more interested in textiles and fashion at the gallery, she approached the curator to ask if she could do some voluntary work in the department. After a few years of volunteering, she began work as a curatorial assistant. “I came into museums and galleries, in a non-traditional way, I suppose.”
She notices that I have stopped eating while listening, and ushers me to continue, serving us each a bit more.
Chef’s special: Spanner crab on shokupan toastCredit: Luis Enrique Ascui
There wasn’t a set plan or strategy in her career pathway, though “I was always fairly ambitious,” she says. While at the NGV she applied for a course in conservation in London. “But then I had a change of heart and I decided I wouldn’t go. You know how you have those moments in your career?” she asks, looking off into the distance.
“I don’t know if you have – where you contemplate a number of things? You finally work out what you want to do.” It was during this period that a curator role came up in Bendigo, and that shaped the next 20 years of her life. In 2000, she took over as director and in her almost two decades at the helm, the gallery’s ambition and reputation grew.
They worked with the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Portrait Gallery in London. “When I was at Bendigo, I loved doing exhibitions that were about people and the stories, and, you know, Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe and I had a lot of grand plans. I brought fashion in. You know, you name it we did it,” she reflects. “If you take a few risks and you have the community with you in a small place like Bendigo, that works, and it has worked, and it’s still doing it,” she says. “It’s just got a great reputation now. So it is, yeah, I’m very proud of the work I did up there.”
For her current role, she says, “I don’t think I was necessarily concerned about the fact that I was moving from visual arts to performing arts.” But, would she have taken up the Arts Centre post if it weren’t for the collection? She pauses, “I always knew about the collection, and I always knew that it was not getting the attention that it should have. So probably not.”
Kylie Minogue’s shoes are one of over 850,000 items that make up the Arts Centre’s performing arts collection.Credit: Justin McManus
Only a few snippets of the personal weave their way into the conversation – Quinlan’s laser-sharp focus is on her work and her plans as chief executive, but she does have one long-term side project that she lights up when she speaks about. Research into Australian artist Agnes Goodsir. It’s an interest that has seen her digging through archives for several years.
“I like the process, and I love the discovery, and I’m addicted to it.”
She doesn’t know what final form this research will take, acknowledging that it is difficult to dedicate time to the project while working a demanding job.
Quinlan is halfway through her five-year contract and has a lot of plans for the next few years. But she also has her eye on the future, both for herself and those following in her footsteps.
She’s not someone who never plans to retire.
The bill at SakéCredit:
“It’s actually good thing to let younger people come in and take on – you can’t hold on to these roles forever. I think with CEOs and director roles, it’s good to see the movement,” she says. “When I think about collecting institutions, curators stay with the collection, and they keep working. They’ve got that lifelong contribution, and they’ve got great knowledge. But I think when you’re a CEO or a director, you can move a bit more, and I think you should.”
She pauses. “I’m fairly ambitious for every institution I’ve ever worked for ...I won’t be here forever, but I want to make sure what I do in the time that I am here is really as significant and maintains what this place is.”
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