Richard Watts

Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts

Richard Watts's Latest Articles

So you want my arts job? is ArtsHub's ongoing series exploring a wide range of arts careers. Pictured is Spanish conductor Conductor Lucía Marín, who has curly auburn hair, pale skin, and sits with her face resting in the palm of her left hand. She is wearing a green silk shirt; ornate wallpaper can be seen in the background.
Career Advice

So you want my arts job: Conductor

If you are intuitive, passionate, generous and able to understand a piece of music as a whole, perhaps conducting is…

Shane Grant, La Mama Theatre’s acting Venue Technical Manager, discusses his role for the So you want my arts job? series. A dark-haired, middle-aged and fair-skinned man with a greying beard and glasses smiles for the camera against a green background.
Career Advice

So you want my arts job: Venue Technical Manager

If you possess a broad range of technical skills, are calm under pressure and can solve problems creatively, then being…

Stephen Fry at the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts, held annually in the booktown of Hay-on-Wye, Wales. A grey-haired, slightly plump Englishman smiles benignly at the camera. He wear a blue jacket over a red shirt and is sitting in a leather armchair. His right hand is on his knee; his left hand is turned upwards, as if encouraging comment or conversation.
Features

Stephen Fry: Art is complex, terrifying, dangerous and wonderful – and quite useless

English author, actor and raconteur Stephen Fry explains why art is like wine and how he makes people smile as…

Career Advice

Top 3 tips for emerging directors

From the Archives: From independent theatre to the mainstage, directors offer practical advice for those starting out in their theatre…

So you want my arts job? Indie theatre director Cassandra Fumi smiles at the camera. She is fair-skinned and has wavy, shoulder-length blonde-brown hair and wears a black jumper
Career Advice

So you want my arts job: Director, Independent Theatre

If you love collaborative storytelling that helps communities form around a common goal, directing indie theatre productions may be the…

Sydney Festival's incoming Festival Director Kris Nelson. Kris sits on a stairwell smiling; he has short-cropped brown hair and a moustache, and wears an olive-coloured shirt.
News

LIFT's Kris Nelson appointed 2026-2029 Sydney Festival Director

Nelson, previously the AD/CEO of London International Festival of Theatre and Dublin Fringe's Festival Director, will start his tenure with…

Artists dressed in pink and purple promote their show on a grey street at Edinburgh Fringe.
News

Fringe festival furore as state’s US$32 million arts budget vetoed

Fringe festivals have reacted with shock to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ vetoing all arts funding on the basis that some…

An Indian-Australian man dressed all in black sits on a low stone wall. Behind him in the distance stand the Pyramids, rising up from a desert landscape.
Features

Stuff the British Stole: Marc Fennell on repatriation, culture and the evolving museum sector

The second series of the successful Australian-Canadian television series lands on the ABC this month.

Black and white image of a smiling white man leaning against a music packing case wearing a white bow tie and formal suit.
News

Vale Sir Andrew Davis

The much-loved conductor died on Saturday aged 80.

Pitch. Image is a silhouetted figure stands against a photo of the Milky Way in all its cosmic splendour.
Features

How to pitch your work to a festival director

Three festival directors offer tips on pitching your art for inclusion in their events.

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