Thursday 22 September, 2011
Media Release
New $16,500 arts leadership scholarship
Social Leadership Australia—the leadership development centre at Australia’s first charity,
The Benevolent Society— today announced an inaugural scholarship for leaders from the
arts and cultural sector.
The scholarship for Sydney Leadership 2012 will provide an established or up-and-coming
arts practitioner (or administrator) with access to Australia’s most highly regarded
leadership development program.
Worth $16,500, the scholarship will be awarded to a person working in the arts—including
visual, performance, film and new media—whose work, either directly or indirectly, is
driving positive social change.
The inaugural arts scholarship will be supported by:

The Nelson Meers Foundation, which fosters artistic and cultural expression by
supporting organisations and projects that use the arts to create social change; and

The Baly Douglass Foundation, a private foundation that supports organisations
and individuals to create sustained social change.
Sydney Leadership is an annual, year-long program that brings together 30 leaders and upand-coming leaders from the business, not-for-profit and government sectors.
Head of Social Leadership Australia, Robbie Macpherson, said the program’s aim is to foster
new leadership skills and a new determination to create positive social change.
“The arts are almost always at the forefront of social change – art leads discussion, it
creates opinion, and it challenges norms and values,” Mr Macpherson said.
“Sydney Leadership is part of The Benevolent Society’s work to address the root causes of
Australia’s social problems, and it’s fitting we support artists to help lead that change.
“Be it the significant environmental, social, political or even technological challenges that
face our country—art and artists will always be part of the solution.
“We’re building a coalition of people across different sectors to help make our society
better, and this scholarship will provide an arts leader with the skills to achieve that.”
Since 1999, the Sydney Leadership program has brought together more than 400 decisionmakers, and empowered them to effect positive change in their workplace and community.
The program combines the Harvard University Adaptive Leadership model—emphasising
creating change to break through intractable problems—with a hands-on approach.
The award-winning program involves no textbooks or classrooms: it teaches leadership skills
in real world settings such as public housing estates, prisons and remote communities.
Applications for Sydney Leadership 2012 close on Wednesday 2 November, 2011.
Background notes and contacts overleaf
For more information

For more information on scholarships: please call Kyrstie Dunn on 9339 9313

For more information on Sydney Leadership: www.benevolent.org.au/leadership

Free information session: 6.30pm - 8.00pm, Tuesday 11 October
The Benevolent Society, Level 1, 188 Oxford Street, Paddington.
RSVP’s essential - Call 9339 8090 or email leadership@bensoc.org.au