CONGRATULATIONS AUDIENCE ADVOCATES

Each year MWF audiences bring the Festival to life by responding passionately to the ideas and writing at the heart of our events – through conversations online, live at our events, or in bars and restaurants afterwards. As Festival Director, I strive to weave opportunities for reflection, discussion and feedback into everything MWF does as an organisation. Our ongoing dialogue with the readers of Melbourne informs so much of what we do – the style of events we deliver, the writers we invite to the Festival, the themes we cover and even how we facilitate audience questions at events.

Put simply, MWF cares deeply about connecting with Melbourne’s readers in a meaningful way. So earlier this year we introduced a somewhat unusual (but awesome!) initiative to make sure Melbourne’s readers have a direct line to the Festival to share their ideas: Audience Advocates.

Our Audience Advocates are a group of MWF attendees who will meet regularly with me to discuss their ideas and opinions, and to review suggestions for the Festival that have been submitted by our broader audience via social media or our Digital Suggestions Box. (In just a few short weeks we have collected over 450 suggestions, so there will be plenty for our Audience Advocates to discuss!)

From a pool of more than 270 self-nominated applicants, we’ve selected the following 12 Audience Advocates from all corners of Melbourne, with diverse reading passions and a love for the Festival: Amal Varghese, Joshua Adams, Kate Lansell, Sharlene Kuruppuarachchi, Emily Munro-Harrison, Tony Malone, Myfanwy McDonald, Christine Sun, Neroli Wesley, Greg Curtin, Leni May and Judith Morrison.

Thanks to everyone who applied, and congratulations to the final committee. I can’t wait to work with you. It’s not every day that a cultural institution puts its programming in the hands of its audience, so I’m excited and curious to see how Melbourne’s readers want to steer the shape and style of MWF’s program!