PRESIDENT’S LETTER

Congratulations to all the winners of the 2018 APDG Awards announced at a wonderful evening held at the Eternity Playhouse, Darlinghurst. It was a sparkling event, where our design community gathered to celebrate the work of our colleagues and to enjoy their company at the bar and after party. A great night enjoyed by all.

My thanks to our sponsors. Without their contribution, our Awards night would not be possible. I also extend my thanks to Fenella Kernebone, who compered the event with great energy and vitality.

From a small gathering of designers and design professionals at AFTRS in June 2009, we have grown into a nationally and internationally recognised community of practitioners. We are well represented internationally by our colleagues who have been recognised with awards such as Oscars and BAFTAs over the years. An outstanding example this year is our colleague, Deb Riley, who picked up a BAFTA and Emmy for her brilliant work on Game of Thrones. APDG practitioners continue to produce wonderful work here and abroad. We are a relatively small community, but grow in strength each year, while remaining committed to our aim of nurturing excellence in design.

The success of the guild over the last decade has been due to the hard work and commitment of members, who have volunteered their time and talent on the steering committees and subcommittees, making the guild a vibrant and progressive organisation. We continue to expand nationally, with the South Australian subcommittee, chaired by Casey Van Sebille, meeting for the first time this year and joining our Victorian, NSW, Western Australian and Queensland subcommittees in our Australia-wide design community.

A hugely important document for live performance designers was published this year: The APDG Live Performance Standard Agreement for Design, thanks to the contribution of Stephen Curtis and his live performance committee.

Dan Willis, Peter Sheehan APDG and Caitlin Flett are to be congratulated for their work on redesigning the APDG website. The increase in traffic to the website says it all. Members are encouraged to complete their site profiles, to strengthen the APDG directory. Thanks also to our other social media platform managers that keep us well informed on all things related to design: Jacinta Leong APDG, Dannielle Alexander, Paul Matthews and Tobhi Stone-Feller. I must also mention Gail Pearce, who produces all the wonderful graphic work for the guild.

I would also like to acknowledge the contribution Julie Lynch APDG and Peter Sheehan APDG have made to the guild. Julie stepped down from the vice presidency this year to fill the position of Director Centre for Design Practices at NIDA. Julie’s contribution to the guild over the years has been the reason the guild has prospered and expanded. Her intelligent insight and commitment have been an inspiring force. Peter is also stepping down this year from the steering committee. Peter is a founding member of the guild and his prodigious hard work and dedication to the guild is beyond measure. Although Julie and Peter’s guiding hands will be missed, we are comforted by the fact they continue their membership and I am sure in the future they will again play a vital part in the guild’s existence.

I speak for all members of the guild in conveying huge thanks to Jane Healy, Tamara Popper, Tomas Curda and Ashleigh Morton for again producing a wonderful 2018 APDG Awards ceremony and especially to Fiona Donovan for so capably taking on the role of Vice President, and for her expert fine-tuning of the Awards judging process. Of course, thanks to the judges themselves for giving their valuable time to review and judge the work. Finally, thank you to Caitlin Flett, our indefatigable administrator, who manages the business of the guild with smiling grace.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the work of the guild this year. We look forward to a busy and creative 2019.

– George