SA attendees: Casey Van Sebille (Chair), Kate Prescott (standing), Kathryn Sproul, Lauren Hesselschwerdt, Kate Hockley, Kerry Reid, Bianka Kennedy (standing), Jeanne Hurrell,  Anita Gabrielli

By SA Committee Chair, Casey Van Sebille

The inaugural meeting of the SA Chapter of the APDG was nestled between the allure of wine and the winter solstice at the National Wine Centre, on Friday 22 June 2018. The attendees were made up of a mix of well-established designers, educators, emergent designers, and recent graduates. Numerous apologies were noted. There was an underrepresentation of practitioners from film, screen, digital and technical areas. The objectives of the meeting were to announce our establishment, increase proportional membership, distribute announcements and establish project committees.

The meeting started with introductions followed by amicable and lively discussion around issues of the moment. The overriding sentiment was one of ‘great that it’s happening’.  A launch event was suggested for November 2018. The benefits of membership were outlined, particularly the value of the new website and the weight of collective voice.

There was lively discussion around sustainable practice and designer expectations of employment conditions on festival events. Also raised was the demise of live performance training in SA and the role the sector has in having a voice in the redevelopment of training in the sector. A small education subcommittee committed to progressing education issues are to meet in the next three weeks to blueprint a plan of action.

Casey undertook to contact companies and affiliated organisations to alert them of our establishment.