She may have dismissed "face-painting and jumping castles" in favour of words and concepts when it came to Canberra's big birthday bash last year, but Robyn Archer may have to rethink her approach to crowd-pleasing with her latest venture.
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Indeed, up until two months ago, the woman who was on Monday appointed the Gold Coast’s official arts guru had never been to a theme park.
‘‘I was a theme park virgin,’’ confesses Archer, former creative director of the Centenary of Canberra and now the Gold Coast’s new strategic adviser in arts and culture.
Having visited Dreamworld, she was impressed by the Corroboree Aboriginal area, which employs 17 indigenous artists and creatives, in a spot which gets half a million visitors every year.
‘‘If a theme park can actually work with the local indigenous community to do that, the potential of the theme parks is enormous,’’ she says.
Taking a fresh look at the culture in the region will be Archer’s main role, after she was tasked with nurturing the Gold Coast’s cultural life beyond the traditional stereotypes of sun and surf, and giving it a new identity in time for when it comes under the spotlight with the Commonwealth Games in 2018.
As part of the City of Gold Coast’s $7 million commitment, Archer says she will be bringing to light what is already up for grabs on the creative front, such as its annual Bleach festival which mixes surf culture with music and arts events.
Other surprising aspects beyond the well-trodden path of Surfers Paradise include a vibrant community of music, film, fashion and digital media, and places such as the Rabbit + Cocoon creative precinct, which is home to businesses and markets.
A $300 million cultural precinct is also in the pipeline, which the council hopes will add to strengthening its tourism draw, which currently brings in about 12 million visitors and $3.5 billion to the economy, as well as providing a cultural centrepoint for the city’s 700,000 residents.
‘‘There’s no one big challenge,’’ Archer says of her role. ‘‘What is good is being able to advise people and to somehow inspire them to pursue their ideals and what they want to do with the arts here, and to give that profile. It’s not me preaching, it’s actually giving local artists and creatives empowerment, to empower them to start gaining profile with their work.’’
Archer, who famously authorised the Skywhale hot-air balloon while at the helm of Canberra's 100th birthday celebrations, says her job now is to research the region and look to see what can benefit from further professional development.
‘‘I just hope that by 2018, people think about the Gold Coast differently, that they don’t consider it some sort of cultural wasteland, that they actually know it for what it is and what it will become over the next four years.’’
She points to next weekend’s Opera on the Beach, where Opera Australia will stage Mozart’s The Magic Flute on the sand at Coolangatta.
‘‘Now that says something about the willingness of one of the largest professional companies in the country to do that on the Gold Coast, but it also says the Gold Coast has the chutzpah and the know-how to bring that off as well.’’
