They say the arts are for everyone, but are they? Arts institutions compete for eyeballs, bums on seats, and cash—as if their lives depended on it. But is broadening audiences the best way to maximise them, and is it good for art? Do artists necessarily want to talk to everyone? Are there stories they don’t want to share and people they don’t want to share them with? Is our aim cultural democracy or democratising culture? And is there a sweet spot?

Our panel of arts-institution insiders discuss the pressures and pleasures of working at the interface of art, money, and political expectations, idealism and pragmatics. How do they make it work?

Chair Alison Kubler (Editor-In-Chief, Vault Magazine) will be joined by Ebony Bott (Artistic Director, Brisbane Festival), Iván Gil-Ortega (Artistic Director, Queensland Ballet), Simon Wright (Assistant Director of Learning and Public Engagement, QAGOMA), and Stephanie Parkin (Chair, Indigenous Art Code, and Co-Founder and Principal Solicitor, Parallax Legal).

Seating limited. Registration essential.