John G. Smithies
BornSeptember 2, 1954
OccupationArts manager
NationalityAustralian
Alma materUniversity of Tasmania
Monash University
Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe

John Geoffrey Smithies (born 1954) is an Australian artist and arts manager. He is a sculptor and installation artist[1] who has been director of the State Film Centre of Victoria, but is best known as the founding director of the Australian Centre for the Moving Image.[2][3]

Early life

Smithies was born in Tasmania in 1954.[1] He studied at the Tasmanian School of Art, the South Australian School of Art, Monash University and the Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe, Germany.

Career

From 1992, John Smithies was director of the State Film Centre of Victoria, until its merger with Film Victoria in 1997 formed Cinemedia.[2]

At Cinemedia, Smithies was deputy director, with prime responsibility for developing the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI). ACMI is the premier cinema-culture venue and exhibitor, and the first institution of its type in Australia. It houses exhibition spaces, state-of-the art cinemas, and media production spaces, and the combined access collection of the National Film and Sound Archive and the State film and media collection.

Smithies became the first director and CEO of ACMI in March 2002.[2][3] He was responsible for opening the new public facilities at Federation Square in Melbourne in October 2002.[4]

After a period of turmoil, with the organisation over budget,[5][6] Smithies resigned from the Victorian Public Service in 2004.[4][7][8] He later said the facility had been forced to open while "under-funded" by the Victorian Government.[9]

In December 2005, Smithies joined the Cultural Development Network (CDN), an independent non-profit organisation that links individual practitioners, community organisations and government across Victoria, as director. About the same time, he recommenced working as an artist (painting and sculpture) with an ongoing interest in digital media and interactive broadcasting.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 Australian Art Auction Records John Geoffrey Smithies (1954-.) Australia. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Making Culture Count Archived 2015-04-02 at the Wayback Machine John Smithies. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  3. 1 2 ACMI Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Report of Operations, 2002. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  4. 1 2 Cultural Development Network Archived 29 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine Staff. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  5. ↑ Coslovich, Gabriella (8 March 2004). "Moving target". Fairfax Digital. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  6. ↑ Coslovich, Gabriella (20 March 2004). "Federation Square film chief set to quit". Fairfax Digital. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  7. ↑ Coslovich, Gabriella (3 September 2004). "Yorkshire museum man to head ACMI". The Age. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  8. ↑ Coslovich, Gabriella (6 December 2004). "Time for tough love". The Age. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  9. ↑ Coslovich, Gabriella (14 December 2004). "ACMI's premature birth". The Age. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  10. ↑ LinkedIn John Smithies. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
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