Resistence is not a one-person job - @anatolitis.bsky.social at #FootscrayWestWritersFest #FWWF2026

Don’t wait for permission or expect it to come, Yves Rees recommends. The people who achieve things are the ones who just do the work. And that find good collaborators. #FootscrayWestWritersFest #FWWF2026

We have, all of us, in these times of polycrisis, a responsibility to be actively looking for and listening to the voices of people who have been oppressed or silenced - @anatolitis.bsky.social at #FootscrayWestWritersFest. #FWWF2026

‘Why not now? Why not me?’ were the questions that led Yves Rees to start Australia’s newest literary journal, Lantana - which aims to be a platform for writers to do radical imaginary work and shape the political narrative. #FootscrayWestWritersFest #FWWF2026

The ‘Uyghur Resistance’ publisher Sam Biddle says a lot of publishers are scared of [powerful nations]. First and foremost, they didn’t want their work or message to be changed or censored - which self-publishing allowed them to do. #FootscrayWestWritersFest #FWWF2026

Kirsty Wilson from Readers and Writers Against the Genocide is that the power of the collective is in its members - in each person bringing and doing whatever they can. #FooscrayWestWritersWeek #FWWF2026

How do you publish a book when you’re just a collective? How do you promote a book when its writer is under siege in occupied Palestine and not allowed to leave or even speak to his readers? That’s what Readers and Writers against the Genocide did with Ezzideen Shehab.

I’m at Publishing as Resistance at #FootscrayWestWritersFest with @anatolitis.bsky.social with Kirsty Wilson, Sam Biddle and Dr. Yves Rees. #FWWF26

“Take your staff emails and public comms out of legal risk management language and treat the people in your care like people that you care about instead.”

Grateful to be back on Wadawurrung and Djajawurrung Country for last night’s Greg Binns Memorial Lecture on artistic censorship in Australia with the Art Gallery of Ballarat.

Latest updates to the long and growing list of the 55(!) Australian arts and cultural organisations, initiatives and groups accused of censoring, threatening or otherwise harming artists, arts workers or audiences between 2023 and 2026. Who have I missed?

“Even though, as current board members, we might not have directly contributed to the problem, it’s still our responsibility to fix it - or, at the very least, to not make it worse.”

Apparently, I had a LOT to say about last month’s Cultural Industries and Artificial Intelligence Forum from @acmimuseum.bsky.social and Creative Victoria larsenkeys.com.au/2026/03/10/g... #FACTsymposium #FACT2026 #GenerativeAI #AntiAI #ArtificialIntelligence

Today’s enews includes me raining on the parade of Generative AI in the arts, some thoughts on the violence of common governance practices, and a standing ovation for the end of a literary legacy. Plus a new poem in Cordite, February reading recs, governance and menopause, and more...

“We know the damage that ‘doing things by the (imaginary) book’ can cause. We know the problems that not understanding our governing Rules can lead to, and what happens when we wield bureaucracy as a tool, or when boards use corporate weaselly words to hurt the people that should be in their care.”

“Writing is another form of running away - disappearing into the page” - @lancerichardson.bsky.social at last night’s #HazelRowleyLiteraryFestival lecture.

Proud to represent one of four generations of @writersvictoria.bsky.social ‘handmaidens to the work’ at last night’s 15th and final #HazelRowleyLiteraryFellowship lecture and fellowship announcement, and to have played even the smallest part in this extraordinary legacy. Congrats to all involved.

This month’s ‘and another thing’ vlog is about the innate violence of some of our common-practice #governance processes - and how they’re not only unhelpful and unnecessary, but in our power to change. And change them we should. larsenkeys.com.au/2026/03/12/a...

ICYMI, you can check out my new poem, (un)#fitspo, in Cordite 119: FIT (with thanks again to this edition’s editor, Emilie Collyer). cordite.org.au/poetry/fit/u...

Learn from mistakes. Separate ‘governance’ from ‘board’. There is more flexibility than we think! What a privilege to have our How We Get to Next panel captured so beautifully by Jessamy Gee of Think in Colour at @acmimuseum.bsky.social's #FACT2026 Symposium last month. 🙏🙏🙏

Latest data show First Nations women are much more likely to be killed than non-Indigenous women. It demands action.

"Boards are in a position to do something most haven’t been asked to do: actively support a different model of how leadership is exercised... That means endorsing leaders who set limits rather than tolerating them. It means asking about workload in executive sessions the way you ask about finances."

Oh my goodness, you guys. With one month to go, my Greg Binns Memorial Lecture on arts sector censorship at the Art Gallery of Ballarat next month is already booked out! (Though you can still join the waiting list at artgal.sales.ticketsearch.com/sales/salese...).

Okay, here I go again - this time counting the long and growing list of Australian arts and cultural organisations, initiatives and groups accused of censoring, threatening or otherwise harming artists, arts workers or audiences between 2023 and 2026 - across all art forms. Who have I missed?

Final proof of my piece on Australia’s lost literary sector for Griffith Review 92: Lost and Found (out in May). Subscribe at link in bio to get your hands on a copy.

It's really hard to be hopeful right now when we have so many examples of once trusted and beloved arts cultural organisations harming their artists and their audiences and reducing our capacity to have deep and nuanced conversations.

Exclusive | OpenAI’s own report predicted a $115bn annual boost to the Australian economy. Treasury’s internal briefing noted AI benefits could be as low as 0.1% productivity growth per year.

Everyone who subscribes to my free occasional enews in February will have a chance to win one of two giveaway copies of my debut poetry collection, #PublicOpenSpace. Read/subscribe at katelarsenkeys.substack.com

Arts, cultural and human rights advocacy and governance were the key themes of my 2025 writing year (with a little bit of poetry here and there). You can read more about my festival appearances, reviews and resources, governance and advocacy writing, and more at larsenkeys.com.au/2026/02/05/m...

Did you know the Albanese Government is committing over 300 times more ($368 billion) on nuclear submarines than on helping women and children escaping male violence and on research and prevention each year.

This month’s ‘and another thing’ vlog is about endings, and the difference between knowing when it’s time for something to end and the types of endings that are outside our control. Because, let’s be honest, our sector isn’t great at either. larsenkeys.com.au/2026/02/11/a...

I have a poem in the new edition of Cordite. cordite.org.au/poetry/fit/u...

Last week’s Cultural Industries and Artificial Intelligence Forum from @acmimuseum.bsky.social and Creative Vic was held under Chatham House Rule. But many of my contributions are covered in my recent piece for @artshub.bsky.social about AI and arts governance. www.artshub.com.au/news/opinion...

Still depleted from Friday’s ethically challenging Cultural Industries and Artificial Intelligence Forum from @acmimuseum.bsky.social and Creative Victoria.

Naarm showed up again this week, as once again @ausgov.bsky.social weaponised the language of ‘social cohesion’ to divide and silence, asking: social cohesion for who?

My latest enews is on getting better at endings and whether arts governance models setting us up to fail (TL;DR version: yes, they are). Plus my 2025 writing year, free Strat Planning webinars for regional WA arts orgs, my Jan reading recs, Feb book giveaway, and more. katelarsenkeys.substack.com

YES!

The "save us" mentality just won't cut it anymore! This was a good (and fiesty!) panel to end the day #FACT2026

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Talking about the limitations of governance structures and ways to subvert the dominant paradigm an regulations to meet the future and face the present of cultural organisations. Kate Larsen and Nick Pickard at #FACT2026

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We need a bigger definition of governance, says Kate. Who is around the table? Do we even need a table? Are the actual decision-makers actually in the room? Bring the board to the rehearsal room: forget nonsense moving and seconding! Design something that serves us now and into the future. #FACT2026

We’ve got more flexibility to explore governance practices than we think, says Kate. A lot of the ageing models we use are actually optional. Sustainability is ouch and burnout is real. The high-profile governance failures are more and more frequent and entirely avoidable. Embrace change. #FACT2026

On the next #FACT2026 panel, Kate Larson sums up the GLAM sector leadership challenge during a poly-crisis: "Fewer people making bigger decisions about more difficult problems".

Kate Larsen: As we are now governing in a polycrisis; we have fewer people making bigger decisions in situations with greater complexity. #FACT2026

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And now for the final #FACT2026 session it’s How We Get to Next: This panel of experienced Australian changemakers looks at the challenges for organisations aware of the need for change, but struggling for financial, infrastructural, and cultural reasons. Sam Cairnduff, Kate Larsen, Nick Pickard.

When hope is so hard, and so many cultural organisations have lost or are losing our trust, how do we get to next? We do it together. By not only asking who’s not at the table, but smashing the table entirely…

Hello, bluesky 👋