Vitalstatistix is thrilled to announce the appointment of nationally respected programmer and producer Jennifer Greer Holmes as its new Artistic Director.
Jenn’s relationship with Vitalstatistix spans more than 15 years across several roles, and she is currently acting as the organisation’s Creative Producer. Jenn was appointed to the role following a competitive recruitment process that attracted local, national and international applicants.
Jennifer started her professional engagement with Vitals in 2009, as General Manager / CEO, leaving the company in 2011. She maintained a close relationship with Vitals as a videographer, artist and curator, until returning to a part time role as Executive Producer in 2021 during which she produced our Adelaide Festival hit The Photo Box by Emma Beech. Alongside her roles with Vitals, Jenn worked part time with Sydney’s Branch Nebula since 2019, with Zephyr Quartet from 2012 – 2020, as well as a range of companies and independent artists across the country including Theatre Network Australia, Karul Projects, Sydney WorldPride, Blacktown Arts, TheatreWorks, Darwin Festival, Brink Productions, ActNow, Carclew, Tina Stefanou, Teddy Dunn, Jason Sweeney, and more.
Jennifer returned to Vitals in April of this year in the role of Creative Producer and from August will begin the role as Vitalstatistix’s eighth Artistic Director.
“On behalf of the board, I am thrilled to welcome Jenn into the role of Artistic Director/Co-CEO,” says Deputy Chair, Stephanie Lyall. “Over the course of her career and throughout her hard-working independent practice, Jenn has cultivated an impressive network of artists and industry colleagues. Her reputation as a strong creative collaborator, excellent communicator and calm leader is evidenced through both her previous work at Vitals, and through her many local and interstate collaborations and leadership roles. Jenn is well-poised to follow in the fearless tradition of Vitalstatistix’s groundbreaking artistic leadership and co-lead the organisation through its 40th birthday celebrations later this year and into its bright fifth decade. Congratulations Jenn!”
Jenn’s first annual program will commence in 2025, coinciding with Vitals’ first year in receipt of Four-Year Investment from Creative Australia.
“It is an honour to walk through the doors of Waterside, as it is a place holding deep significance in my family who have gathered there for cultural and milestone events since they were teenagers. In the 1960s, my mother’s high school graduation ceremonies took place in the hall and my father attended SoundVilla dances, then in the 1970s he worked at the Port Adelaide Haulage Company which was located next door to what they called “Wharfie’s Hall” (Waterside). Since the first time I visited Waterside, I’ve imagined the possibilities for the artists I love to work here and to be able to share the significance of the venue and place of Yartapuulti (Port Adelaide) where I had the privilege to be raised and spend many years of my working life.
”It will be a gift to share the leadership of Vitalstatistix, a company whose values are also my own, and to be embedded daily within the community that I remain deeply connected to. My great grandparents, grandparents and parents were all born, and made a life within, a 2km radius of Waterside Workers Hall, so I feel very connected to this place.
“I’m looking forward to growing the connections that Vitals has with artists and arts organisations around the country and to building our profile in the international community of aligned organisations. My vision is for the company to reflect the arts and wider communities by making space for a variety of voices and perspectives that are structurally disadvantaged. Vitals occupies a unique space in the arts ecology, and it’s our responsibility to make the most of our resources to celebrate, advance, contribute to, and amplify a range of causes and voices in the communities we are part of.
“I am committed to progressing the incredible work of all the artistic directors before me and acknowledge the daily ongoing feminist work in which we strive for equity. And I am reminded that we are able do this because of the vision of the founders, Margie Fischer, Roxxy Bent and Ollie Black, who created the company 40 years ago.”
Jenn commences in the role of Artistic Director from 1st August 2024.
Co-curated by Jason Sweeney and Jennifer Greer Holmes, this year’s program has shifted from the usual open call process, and instead, the participating artists have been selected from the cohort of previous participants. Vitals values deep relationships with artists, nurtured over years, and this program is a celebration of that ethos. 2024 presents us with the opportunity to revisit some of the connections that Adhocracy has enabled our communities of artists and audiences to establish over the last decade and a half by bringing familiar faces back to Port Adelaide, allowing audiences to experience interactions with artists whose work they know and love.
There will be a combination of new works in development, showings from artists who participated in Adhocracy remotely during the pandemic but didn’t have the live audience transaction, as well as open studios, parties and fireside conversations. This year, we are delighted to expand the two week Hart’s Mill residency historically offered to one local group by adding a weeklong Shopfront residency for interstate artists as well.
To mark this important milestone, we have also commissioned a new work that celebrates the pubic value of experimental art by working with our signifiant archive of Adhocracy documentation – its programs, video, photography and publications. This will be launched to mark the opening event of The Gathering, a national sector meeting of invited experimental artists, organisations, presenters and affiliates on Thursday 5th September.
Working across four uniquely stunning Port Adelaide venues, all in close proximity to one another, we have expanded the audience experience of the public program to allow for more exposure to our community that we are proud to be part of.
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Adhocracy 2024 is a celebration of the enduring importance of strange art for strange times. We hope to see you there.
Today we announce that after 14 years at the helm of Vitalstatistix, Artistic Director and Co-CEO Emma Webb OAM has decided to step down from her role.
For almost a decade and a half, Emma’s creative, progressive and fearless leadership has steered vital cultural and community conversations through the organisation’s multidisciplinary contemporary art and public engagement activities. The reach and impact of this work has been felt locally and nationally, and recently culminated in Vitalstatistix’s successful application for four-year Creative Australia funding as one of Australia’s critical and foremost experimental arts organisations.
During her tenure at Vitalstatistix, Emma has overseen the curation, commissioning, production and presentation of hundreds of shows, residencies, and other artistic development opportunities. She has curated the respected national artist hothouse Adhocracy, now in its 15th year; undertaken long-term social practice projects such as Cutaway, Climate Century and Bodies of Work; fostered sisterly relationships with artist-run collectives and contemporary performance presenters around Australia; and supported the careers of South Australian, national and international artists with a focus on women, gender diverse, First Nations, queer, and other under-represented artists.
Emma has also proudly led impactful arts policy and advocacy efforts at the local, state and federal government levels, through Vitalstatistix, as well as the Arts Industry Council of South Australia executive committee and the Reset Arts and Culture Collective (in which she retains her voluntary memberships). Her unwavering advocacy for the rights and public value of artists, and the arts and cultural sector broadly, has influenced funding, policy, workers’ rights and other changes over a difficult decade-plus for arts and culture in Australia.
Similarly, her commitment to honouring, promoting, and protecting the 40-year legacy of Vitalstatistix, the nearly 100-year tradition of our heritage-listed venue the Waterside Workers Hall, and the spirit of Yartapuulti/Port Adelaide has been steadfast. In 2020, Emma was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for her services to the performing arts, particularly in Port Adelaide.
“It’s been an absolute honour to lead Vitals and to have the opportunity to really make a difference over a lengthy period of service. I’ve been considering this decision for a period of time and believe that now is the right moment for a new era and generation of leadership at Vitals. I’m delighted to leave the organisation with a solid vision and funding in place, for its work in the future of progressive and experimental art in Australia and I can’t wait to see what comes next and be a very regular audience member. And I am very proud to join the legendary and bolshy alumni of Artistic Directors of Vitalstatistix!” said Emma Webb.
“Emma has led Vitalstatistix for 14 years and we are incredibly thankful for her outstanding contribution to the organisation during her tenure. She leaves an extraordinary legacy, having firmly placed Vitalstatistix in the national landscape as leaders and champions for Australian artists and the sector. Her support, dedication and tireless advocacy for independent artists and the small to medium arts sector will continue to impact the industry for many years to come. Thank you Emma, and we wish you the best for all your future endeavours,” said Chair, Angela Flynn.
The sold-out and critically acclaimed Adelaide Festival season of Astrid Pill and Collaborators’ I Hide in Bathrooms will be Emma’s swansong at Vitalstatistix, with her tenure coming to a close in late March. A celebration of her achievements will be scheduled for later in the year.
The Vitalstatistix board will commence a recruitment process for the artistic leadership role in the coming weeks.
