‘Wales? Why not?’

Judith Isherwood was genuinely surprised when, during interviews with Wales and London-based media following her appointment as the inaugural Chief Executive of the Wales Millennium Centre (WMC), the most commonly asked question was: 'Why Wales?' She tells Michelle Draper why her thoughts on the matter are a resounding, 'Why not?'
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Judith Isherwood was genuinely surprised when, during interviews with Wales and London-based media following her appointment as the inaugural Chief Executive of the Wales Millennium Centre (WMC), the most commonly asked question was: ‘Why Wales?’

Isherwood, who is one of a number of Australians to take up managerial positions at UK arts organisations over the past few months, thought: ‘Well, why not?’

‘It’s just such a fantastic opportunity,’ she enthuses over the phone from the Sydney Opera House, where she is winding up her position as Director of Performing Arts. ‘This [the Wales Millennium Centre] is a relatively unique concept… I genuinely do think it is the right timing, and it’s got all the right elements to be a success.’

Isherwood joins a band of expatriate Australians heading to the UK for leading arts posts, such as former General Manager of the Australian Chamber Orchestra and founder of World Orchestras, Tim Walker, who recently took up the position of CEO and Artistic Director of the London Philharmonic. And, next month, the BBC Symphony management welcomes Opera Australia’s former company manager, Robert Knowles.

However, Isherwood’s move is more comparable with former Sydney Opera House Chief Executive Michael Lynch’s appointment to run London’s troubled South Bank Centre last year. Comprised of the Festival and Queen Elizabeth Halls, the Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery, the centre has in recent times received similar media and public scrutiny as the WMC has experienced throughout its chequered history.

Construction of the £104 million centre on the banks of Cardiff Bay eventually began in May last year, after a string of setbacks, including escalating costs – originally estimated at £75 million. The centre, which will house seven resident companies, emerged out of the rubble of plans to build an opera house. That £95 million proposal was scuppered in 1995, after failing to secure funding from the Millennium Commission, following accusations of ‘elitism’ and criticism of architect Zaha Hadid’s designs.

The project was dangerously close to being shelved in 2000, after a damning report from the Welsh Assembly concluded that the centre had never been on course to meet its budget and would have to be wound down if further funding was not forthcoming. In November the same year, developers Grosvenor Waterside put the land for the centre back on the market, after the WMC board failed to purchase it in an agreed timescale, prompting the Cardiff Council to step in with an offer to save the scheme from collapse. With Jonathan Adams’ designs now underway, the centre is expected to open in November 2004.

Despite WMC’s rocky road from drawing board to actual realisation, Isherwood emphasises the slate is clean and ready for a Chief Executive to step in and get the business up and running.

‘I’ve seen projects that have had a really easy birth and then run into problems, and I’ve seen others which experienced a really difficult birth and now they are successful,’ she comments. ‘So, I actually don’t know whether the way things get opened – the journey from concept through to delivery – is necessarily an indicator of how successful a business is going to be moving forward.’

‘Everything is in place for a new Chief Executive to move [the project] forward, rather than try and fix things that happened in the past.’

Prior to taking on the role, Isherwood says she took into account the level of business planning previously undertaken on the project. Considering the length of time the WMC had been on the agenda and weighing on people’s minds, she was convinced the planning was of a high enough standard to ensure the centre’s success. This, combined with the diverse range of companies in residence at the venue, confirmed Isherwood’s decision to accept the job offer.

‘When I look at my somewhat unique background running such different organisations, this mix actually brings together a whole range of interests and experiences that… well, I’ve not seen anything that has matched my interest so much, with any other organisation,’ she concedes.

Prior to her position at the Sydney Opera House, which has included a stint as acting Chief Executive, Isherwood held managerial positions at Arts Access, a disability arts organisation based in Melbourne, the Melbourne Fringe Festival, and was responsible for the distribution of funds to more than 100 arts organisations at state funding body, Arts Victoria.

Isherwood emphasises that her vision for the centre is that it not simply be a ‘hall for hire’, but have a unique life of its own: ‘The fact that it will have seven companies [which] actually live and produce there, means it will have a creative energy that a venue which has external companies hiring it doesn’t necessarily have.’

The WMC will be home to the Welsh National Opera; Diversions, Wales’ premier dance company; peak music body, Ty Cerdd; and the national promotional body for Welsh literature, Academi.

Hijinx theatre, which produces accessible professional theatre for audiences throughout Wales and England, will also be based at the centre, as will the Touch Trust, which provides touch and sensory therapy for individuals with profound disabilities. Meanwhile, the WMC will also be home to one of Europe’s largest youth organisations, Urdd Gobaith Cymru, providing facilities for young people to live and take part in the cultural life of the capital.

Isherwood points to the Sydney Opera House as an important example of a successful venture which experienced a high level of opposition in its early planning stages. It came about, she notes, at a turning point in Australia’s cultural identity. She hopes the WMC will reflect a similar experience, at a time when Wales, and Cardiff in particular – spurred on by the city’s bid for the Capital of Culture 2008 – is undergoing a period of regeneration.

‘Before the Sydney Opera House, we [Australians] used to import performing artists. There wasn’t a high standing of our own Australian artists, and I think this [the opera house] was an expression of a new-found confidence in ourselves. Whether that was serendipity, or whether it was symbolic of where we were at that time, I like to think that it came about because we were entering this new phase of our evolution… I think that’s where the WMC is coming from,’ Isherwood concludes.

She believes that the WMC has the potential to be a point of reference for the rest of the nation – akin to the symbolic identity the Sydney Opera House holds not only for Sydney-siders, but for the rest of the Australian population.

‘I think the WMC can certainly be a focal point, not only for Welsh culture but the positioning of Wales as a country on an international standing – so it becomes a symbol of Welsh pride.’

Judith Isherwood takes up her post as Chief Executive of the Wales Millennium Centre at the end of March.

For further information on the centre, visit www.wmc.org.uk

Michelle Draper
About the Author
Michelle lived and worked in Rome and London as a freelance feature writer for two and a half years before returning to Australia to take up the position of Head Writer for Arts Hub UK. She was inspired by thousands of years of history and art in Rome, and by London's pubs. Michelle holds a BA in Journalism from RMIT University, and also writes for Arts Hub Australia.