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Thursday, 24 October

Everyone's a critic in the digital age

Deborah Jones

WHAT did you think? Did you like it?

Saturday, 28 September

Another cringe festival?

Australia exhibition

DEBATE rages over the London exhibition of Aussie art. Long may it continue.

Saturday, 14 September

Hoping for a flourishing book industry

Louise Adler

IN today's global marketplace, homogeneity rules, and that spells disaster for our literary scene.

Thursday, 5 September

Six principles return cultural vision to all

George Brandis

ARTS policy has been neglected by this government. Hardly any ministers who took the slightest interest.

Taking arts to the next level

Senator George Brandis

IT is a simple truth that arts policy has been neglected in the period of this government.

Wednesday, 21 August

Adding dynamism to Indigenous art

Andrew Penn

THE mix of traditional and contemporary art in the NATSIAA should not be argued as wrong or right.

Saturday, 17 August

Forget Sochi - boycott Russian arts

Rudolf Nureyev

NO nation treats art with greater reverence, yet does more to persecute the free spirits who make culture fizz.

Tuesday, 13 August

Dilemma of difference in indigenous art

Jenni Kemarre Martiniello

THIS year's National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award illustrates the incompatibility of the worlds it yokes together.

Saturday, 10 August

Tepid stage for local writers

Rosemary Neill

CRITIC Alison Croggon's claims to the contrary don't stand up to scrutiny.

Wednesday, 31 July

Award for boredom goes to this crew

Michaela Boland

LUCKY for the organisers of the Helpmann Awards on Monday that phone coverage in the Sydney Opera House was limited.

Wednesday, 24 July

Festivals an echo chamber of opinions

Michael Sexton

AUDIENCES are unlikely to have their biases challenged at literary and cultural events.

Saturday, 20 July

The Conjuring scary for susceptible

The Conjuring

IN the wrong hands exorcisms can go horribly wrong. The same can be said of films about demonic possession.

Wednesday, 17 July

Lao drama among Aussie Oscars in wings

Michael Bodey

REEL Time smells a bounteous Academy Awards season for a number of Australian actors and films.

Saturday, 8 June

'A new gangster series is edgier than the usual free-to-air crime fare.'

Radha Mitchell in Red Widow

A NEW gangster series is edgier than the usual free-to-air crime fare.

In tune with the rhythms of learning

Noel Pearson

THE Queensland Music Festival facilitates a crucial component of the Cape York curriculum.

Saturday, 1 June

Aboriginal art loses its lustre

Aboriginal art

THE appetite for contemporary indigenous paintings is fading.

Saturday, 25 May

Baz nails the Gatsby enigma

Baz Lurhmann and Leonardo DiCaprio

THE devices, the cast and the setting all add to this big, brash production.

Thursday, 23 May

Shaping museums of the future

Elizabeth Anne MacGregor

EXPERTS favour realignment rather than a new model.

Monday, 20 May

Love of footy is no bar to music

Rachel Scott

MARK Latham should watch little Rabbitohs fans lap up the classics.

Thursday, 16 May

Gatsby: smart, exhilarating, annoying

Carey Mulligan and Baz Luhrmann

BAZ Luhrmann's 3D adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's celebrated book is faithful in essence to the source but light years away in the treatment.

Friday, 19 April

Venice pavilion will be worthy showcase

Rupert Myer

NATIONS have boosted their reputations for excellence in the visual arts by exhibiting at Venice since 1895.

Wednesday, 27 March

'Mistress' and FDR were not lovers

Michael Sexton

HOLLYWOOD may make good films but bad history.

Saturday, 23 March

A colourful evocation of van Gogh

Christopher Allen

JUDGES thankfully have avoided rewarding any of the extremes of oversizing, photo realism and various attention-getting devices.

Wednesday, 20 March

Time of flourishing creative momentum

Kate Cherry

I DID not have high hopes for the cultural life of the city.

Wednesday, 13 March

The arts need more than cash

Jonathan Biggins

THE best way government can assist is not by handing out money, but by putting arts firmly on the national agenda.

Tuesday, 5 March

The art of shelving culture

George Brandis

WHEN it comes to cultural policy, Labor is all talk and no action - unlike the Coalition.

Tuesday, 5 February

Nasty artsy words clutter our culture

The Secret River

YOU'D think creative people who work in the arts would not be prone to the lapses of language that the rest of us fall into.

Friday, 1 February

Arts companies need to take control

Leigh Tabrett

ARTS ministers sometimes ask: "Why do we keep giving money to the same people year after a year?''

Wednesday, 23 January

Crowe steps in as host for awards

Michael Bodey

RUSSELL Crowe will host next Wednesday's AACTA Awards after Hugh Sheridan pulled out because of an audition in Los Angeles.

Saturday, 19 January

The loss of high culture

130119 rev sightgeist

WHO occupies the public spaces in your mind? Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott, Ricky Ponting, Hugh Jackman, Kylie Minogue, Bert Newton?

Arts Opinion

Geordie Williamson

'Tim Winton's new novel, Eyrie, thrums with righteous anger at Western Australia's addiction to mining'

A dilapidated high-rise is the home of Tim Winton's underclass subjects in Eyrie.

IT is hard to write about Eyrie without first discussing an illustrious forebear of Tim Winton's, especially since he is mentioned in its pages.

Evan Williams

'The main characters are mostly naked - I wondered why three people were listed in the credits for costume design'

Stranger By The Lake

ON the evidence of French thriller Stranger by the Lake, I would describe Alain Guiraudie's filmmaking style as minimalist.

Deirdre Macken

'These days sex is so ubiquitous that some will seek a 12-step program to avoid it'

The Sightgeist: Jon Kudelka

THE television series Masters of Sex manages to achieve what the global sex industry fails to do: make sex titillating.

Iain Shedden

'Pop a pair of sneakers in front of a pop star and there's no telling what will happen'

Iain Shedden

POP a pair of sneakers in front of a pop star and there's no telling what will happen, at least if you tell them they have to draw on them.

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OUR TEAM

Ashleigh Wilson

Ashleigh Wilson
Arts Editor
Sydney Bureau, Australia

Ashleigh Wilson is The Australian's arts editor. He has been at the paper for 11 years, and was deputy arts editor from 2008 to 2011. In 2006, he and Nicolas Rothwell won a Walkley award for coverage of indigenous affairs.
Wilsona@theaustralian.com.au
Twitter: @ashleighbwilson

Deborah Hope

Deborah Hope
Review Editor, The Australian
Sydney Bureau, Australia

Deborah Hope edits Review, The Weekend Australian's culture section. She recently rejoined The Australian after two years in the Middle East. She is a former literary editor of The Australian, edited Review from 2008-09 and was a senior writer here for a decade.
hoped@theaustralian.com.au

Matthew Westwood

Matthew Westwood
Arts Journalist
Melbourne Bureau, Australia

Matthew Westwood, the newspaper's chief arts correspondent, was arts editor from 2008 to 2011. He has been writing about the performing arts, particularly classical music and opera, for two decades. He writes a column in the arts pages every Tuesday.
westwoodm@theaustralian.com.au
Twitter @matthewwestwood

Stephen Romei

Stephen Romei
Literary Editor
Sydney Bureau, Australia

Stephen Romei is The Australian's literary editor. He blogs at A Pair of Ragged Claws and can also be found on Twitter and Facebook. When pressed, he nominates Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment as his favourite book, though sometimes it's Moby Dick.
romeis@theaustralian.com.au
Twitter @PairRaggedClaws

Michael Bodey

Michael Bodey
Journalist
Sydney Bureau, Australia

Michael Bodey is a film and media writer for The Australian and was previously arts editor, showbiz editor and media editor at The Daily Telegraph and film critic for The Age. He is the author of Broadcast Wars and co-author of Aussiewood: Australia's Leading Actors and Directors Tell How They Conquered Hollywood.
bodeym@theaustralian.com.au
Twitter: @michaelbodey

Michaela Boland

Michaela Boland
Journalist
Sydney Bureau, Australia

Michaela Boland has been The Australian's national arts writer since 2009. For the decade before that she was the Australia reporter and theatre critic for Variety, and film and television contributor to the Australian Financial Review.
bolandm@theaustralian.com.au
Twitter @michaelamarea

Iain Shedden

Iain Shedden
Journalist
Sydney Bureau, Australia

Iain Shedden has been The Australian's music writer for the past 14 years. He has interviewed some of the biggest names in music and writes profiles, news, reviews and a weekly column for Review. He also spent many years as a professional drummer, most successfully with rock band The Saints.
sheddoni@theaustralian.com.au
Twitter @sheddy12

OUR OBJECTIVE

News Reviews Opinion

The Australian’s arts section is the nation’s most authoritative source of cultural coverage. It’s where you can find the latest news stories, in-depth features and reviews canvassing the latest performances, events, exhibitions, personalities, trends and artistic developments taking place in Australia and beyond. 

Our team of writers, reviewers and columnists are leaders in their fields and their expertise unrivalled.

Banks lift share market to 5-year high

Australian share market

THE Australian sharemarket has closed at a five year high as the major banks lifted ahead of the release of NAB and ANZ results.

Banks lift share market to 5-year high

Australian share market

THE Australian sharemarket has closed at a five year high as the major banks lifted ahead of the release of NAB and ANZ results.

Audience with Reed a confronting affair

Lou Reed

THERE were few more daunting prospects for a music journalist than an interview with Lou Reed.

Carr right on ALP's lost canniness

Troy Bramston

THE opposition will be in the wilderness until it rediscovers the art of political judgment.

Clarke ready for early return

Michael Clarke

AUSTRALIA skipper Michael Clarke is set to make an unexpectedly early return for NSW in the Sheffield Shield season opener against Tasmania.

Palmer party's warning to Tasmania

Jacqui Lambie

CLIVE Palmer's political party is setting its sights on a balance-of-power role in Tasmania.

How iiNet recovered from dark days

How iiNet recovered from 'dark days'

IT will come as a surprise to some that iiNet founder and chief Michael Malone handed his resignation to his board in 2006.

Leviathan on the loose

The Star RV Pegasus

THE joys of a family motorhome adventure in NSW's central west.