Go Brisbane!

Marcus Westbury is a man who wears many hats. You might know him from such ABC docos as ‘Not Quite Art’, and other endeavours such as Renew Newcastle, and the ‘This is not art’ festival. He describes himself as a ‘broadcaster, writer, media maker and festival director’, but he is also actively involved in the creative industries and writes about media, culture and politics for a variety of different publications across Australia.

He is basically the ‘go to’ guy for an opinion on anything related to arts and culture.

On his own blog - http://www.marcuswestbury.net/ – he has recently published his thoughts about the cultural lives 4 Australian cities – Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne. He manages to dissect the traditional stereotypes (Brisbane = big country town; Sydney = Busy etc) and provide an informed insight into the state of the cultural pulse which runs through these cities.

Brisbane gets a rave review, which confirms what much of us already know about Brisbane, that it is growing up and there’s alot to be exited about. Here’s a cut & paste:

…Further north, something equally interesting is happening in Brisbane.

Compared with its complacent southern sisters, Brisbane feels young, dynamic and eager to try things. Brisbane is well beyond aspiring to be Sydney or Melbourne and is becoming a city that connects with Asian centres to the north and across the Pacific archipelago. Signature events such as the Asia Pacific Triennial, Multimedia Art Asia Pacific and programs of Chinese and other Asian art at the Gallery of Modern Art all reflect this.

Brisbane is also home to a creative tension and fusion between art and pop culture, culture and technology — itself reflective of an Asian dynamic — that makes for distinctive creative ground.

Read the rest of it here.

Go Brisbane! Woot!