The eloquent and prolific virtuoso recorder player, Genevieve Lacey is another Churchill Fellow with towering achievements. Her Churchill Fellowship in 2006 was to assess models for the presentation of classical music outside the traditional focus. She interviewed 69 people about the future of classical music, travelling to Europe and the United States to do so. Concerned that the world of classical music in Australia was shrinking, she wanted to know: was it the same in other countries? And if so, what were they doing about it?
In her report, which is a model of refined intelligence and clarity, Genevieve Lacey writes that her Fellowship can be best described as a series of conversations, averaging two hours each, with musicians, philanthropists, educators, arts administrators, festival directors and publicists.
She learned that a corporate model does not work well for arts organisations. The arts sit uncomfortably in a consumerist world: ‘It is not possible to count the emotional, intellectual, cultural values and effects of art in the same way that is it possible to count box-office takings.’ She believes that growth does not equal success. ‘Less quantifiable concepts of quality, pleasure, adventure, challenge and learning are essential in the arts,’ she writes. Genevieve also believes that the promotion and support of amateur music making is essential for a healthy music environment.
One of the major lessons she learned overseas is that ‘Music education in Australia must be improved in order for a healthy sustainable culture to grow. Until this part of the curriculum is adequately supported, we will continue to fail to develop the true musical potential of our population.’
As well as being a recorder virtuoso, Genevieve is a serial collaborator and artistic director with a substantial recording catalogue (ABC Classics) and a high profile career as a soloist with orchestras and ensembles around the world. She has won two ARIA awards, a Helpmann award, and an Outstanding Musician Melbourne Prize for Music. In 2012 she was artistic director of the Four Winds Festival in Bermagui, on the New South Wales coast.
Genevieve played the recorder music in the powerful 2010 play, Namatjira, produced by the innovative and dynamic arts group Big hART. Genevieve is currently making a film with Sophie Raymond, a bio-docu-fantasy about the power of music and a layered portrait of a life lived in sound. She is also involved in a documentary about the making of the multi-layered production of Namatjira.
Genevieve writes in her report that her Churchill Fellowship allowed her ‘to make major reassessments. We will see the fruits of this over many years to come.’ Genevieve Lacey’s wide-ranging and risk-taking career embodies the truth of this.
Excerpt from “Inspiring Australians” written by Penny Hanley (2015)
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