New show as Powerhouse director exits the building

VETERAN arts executive Rose Hiscock has been tapped to run Sydney's Powerhouse Museum from July, replacing Dawn Casey.

Dawn Casey

VETERAN arts executive Rose Hiscock has been tapped to run Sydney's Powerhouse Museum from July, replacing Dawn Casey whose job was advertised at the end of her five-year contract.

At a 9am staff meeting yesterday Casey and the Powerhouse's chairman of trustees, John Shine, told staff of the impending handover.

According to a Powerhouse spokeswoman, during the meeting Casey outlined to staff the highlights of her time at the museum, which followed a stint as director of the Western Australian Museum and as director of the National Museum of Australia.

Following the meeting Casey refused to discuss publicly the non-renewal of her contract and Shine boarded an international flight, rendering him unavailable for comment, too.

NSW Arts Minister George Souris issued a press release thanking Casey for her commitment and "significant contribution to developing the direction of the museum, revitalising its gallery spaces and bringing (in) a series of highly popular exhibitions".

A 2011 auditor-general's report was damning of Casey's leadership of the Powerhouse, citing a diminished acquisition program and decline in visitors of 19 per cent across two years because of a decrease in the number of exhibitions.

The Powerhouse 2012 annual report reveals visitor numbers bounced back to almost 500,000 during the financial year. Those numbers largely were due to the blockbuster Harry Potter exhibition, which was the most popular paid exhibition in the nation last year.

Hiscock will begin in July after extricating herself from her present role at the Australia Council for the Arts, where she oversees arts development. The appointment marks a return to the museum sector for Hiscock, who spent 16 years at Museum Victoria.

She started as a publicist at Scienceworks and rose to oversee marketing, communications and commercial operations across all the museum's venues.

Hiscock says she will wait until she starts her new job to outline what she wants to achieve at the Powerhouse. "My focus is really on building audiences, cradle to the grave stuff," she says.

Hiscock credits early exposure to the sector for her enthusiasm. Her father managed the historic goldmining theme park Sovereign Hill, in Ballarat, Victoria, and she worked there as a youngster.

"That experience really started my appreciation of how audiences interact with cultural assets," she says.