8th ENCATC Working Group on Evaluation

John Smithies is the Executive Officer of the Cultural Development Network, Victoria, Australia, where he contributes to knowledge about cultural development, particularly in the local government sector. John is an artist and experienced arts manager with a background of arts programming, research and policy development. He studied at art schools in Australia and Germany.

From 1992, John was Director of the State Film Centre of Victoria, initiating and leading it through its development to become the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) at Federation Square in Melbourne, opening in 2002.

Since joining CDN, he has worked with the Board and a highly skilled team to support stronger planning within the cultural development activities of local government. Key achievements at CDN have been to establish its internationally recognised research program and forming the National Local Government Cultural Forum, a partnership of the Commonwealth government and the Australian local government sector.