Let's Get Loud

Even the most reserved wowser would put money on the fact that there’s no bigger champion of the arts in Sydney than Kerri Glasscock.

Since entering the scene as an actor in the late 1990s Glasscock has gone on to have a hand in almost every artistic element of Sydney. From 2004 to 2006 she was simultaneously Arts Administrator for the Newtown Entertainment Precinct Association and The Seymour Centre, where she was (from 2005–2007) concurrently managing jazz institution The Sound Lounge. Unsurprisingly she then took on the role of General Manager of The Jazzgrove Association (2007–2012) and eventually Festival Director of the Jazzgroove Summer Festival for four years from 2009. She was appointed to the board of the Sydney Fringe Festival for the 2013 event.

As well as co-founding both 505 in Surry Hills and the more recently established Old 505 Theatre, Glasscock also sits on a number of boards and committees, most recently being appointed to the Lord Mayor of Sydney’s Live Music and Performance Task Force. The most recent addition to this unparalleled CV, in October of last year, was her appointment as the Fringe Festival director. So while there’s no question about her aptitude for the job, the mystery of where she found the time remains.

“Our venues 505 are pretty solidly going now and my kids are grown up a little bit, it was just good timing. We’ve got an amazing team of staff at both 505 venues and they’re established enough now that I was able to step away a little bit. Everything I’ve done in the last ten years, longer, seems to have been leading me to a role like this, because whilst I love performing and creating work I’m equally as inspired by facilitating other people’s work and creating space for people to work in. Also, the work that I’ve done with councils and government about advocacy work and lobbying and that sort of stuff – it all feeds into a role like this,” says Glasscock, still sounding a little amazed at the confluence of abilities and responsibilities in her new position.

The Sydney Fringe Festival this year celebrates its fifth incarnation, and while that makes it a relative bub compared to more renowned Fringe Fests around the world, it was part of the appeal for Glasscock. “That’s what’s so exciting!” stresses Glasscock, who each year since the festival’s inception has provided venues and produced and performed work in it. “I’ve watched it try and find its feet, try different models as it’s been developing and I think these next few years are a really important stage for it as a project because it’s had some ups and downs.”

The biggest challenge Glasscock sees now is firmly establishing the purpose of an event of this scale – hundreds of productions in over 60 venues throughout September. “It’s not like other Fringe Festivals around the world because it’s not attached to a main stage arts festival, first of all, most Fringes develop because of that, and if that is the case we need to know what is the opportunity, and what we stand for. For me it’s an opportunity for the independent artists of Sydney to stand up and be heard once a year – and to not only do that, but to make a really loud noise.”