Over the last decade, I’ve read an average of 3 books a week, or more than 150 books every year. From romance and fantasy, YA and literary fiction, poetry and political manifestos, my reading is perhaps best characterised as ‘eclectic AF.’
Kate Larsen
@katelarsenkeys.bsky.social
Reader. Writer. Arts, cultural and non-profit consultant and rabble-rouser. 📚 An Apology to the Librarian, Our Hybrid Future, Public.Open.Space., The Relationship is the Project https://linktr.ee/katelarsenkeys
Not sure if it’s fearlessness, frustration or fury, but I’m so grateful for all those sharing or supporting the crowd funding campaign for my new governance book, Beyond Best Practice Boards.
Victorians! If you make, attend, read, consume or participate in any kind of art, music, theatre, dance, performance, film, literature or locally-made TV, please sign and share the petition to #DontBreakOurArts. www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/do...
DON'T BREAK OUR ARTS! Restore funding to Victoria's arts and culture
Victorians love the arts and culture. A 2024 government report found that 99% of Victorians aged 15 years or over engage in creative and artistic events; millions of Victorians enjoy cultural experien...
megaphone.org.au
More lovely encouragement about my new governance book. Grateful for all those sharing or supporting the crowd funding campaign to share it with the world. All donations or publishing partnerships over $2 are fully tax-deductible at artists.australianculturalfund.org.au/s/project/a2...
I started yesterday being interviewed about arts funding and ended it at Fuck Your Funding at Melbourne Fringe, a furious new play about Australia’s failing cultural infrastructure. The state and sustainability of Australian arts and culture is clearly a preoccupation – and so much is at stake.
Tune into Critics Corner on ABC Radio National around 1045am this morning for my chat with Sky Kirkham about Australian arts funding and the impact of grassroots campaigns like #DontBreakOurArts. www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...
Critics Corner with Hilary Harper - ABC listen
Your front row seat to the arts, culture and ideas, Critics Corner brings fresh perspectives from ABC Radio National's leading voices across film, music, literature, and the visual and performing arts...
abc.net.au
HUGE thanks to all those sharing or supporting the crowd funding campaign to publish my new governance book. Now 1/3 of the way to my fundraising target!
The arts and culture in Victoria are in crisis. But arts and culture are not warm-fuzzy optional extras. Don’t Break Our Arts is a new campaign to restore cultural funding in Victoria. Get involved!
New on Enough Trope: Decolonising Your Bookshop by @katelarsenkeys.bsky.social Read it here: www.enoughtrope.com/journal
Today's enews includes a plea to don't break our arts at the Victorian election, an introduction to Artist Corporations, and AMaGA Victoria's Speaking Plainly report, plus a book fundraising update, my August reading recs, and more... katelarsenkeys.substack.com/p/dont-break...
Don’t break our arts at the Victorian election | Introducing Artist Corporations | Speaking Plainly report
Plus a book fundraising update, my August reading recs, and more...
katelarsenkeys.substack.com
Did you know that you don’t need to incorporate as a not-for-profit organisation for your work to serve a purpose? My latest ‘and another thing’ vlog is about an exciting new governance innovation that’s come out of the US this year: Artist Corporations or A-Corps. www.instagram.com/p/DdVnfQGPhmV/
Choosing only ten of my favourite Aussie books is TOO HARD. But here’s my attempt. You have 15 days to vote for yours in ABC Radio National’s Top 100 Australian Books. top100books.abc.net.au/browse/autho...
LAST CHANCE! Some final reflections from my draft response to the Joint Select Committee on AI in Australia. Feel free to copy, paste and edit anything you find useful. Due TODAY, Monday 14/9 (larsenkeys.com.au/2026/09/08/h...).
Please sign and share this important petition: www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/do...
DON'T BREAK OUR ARTS! Restore funding to Victoria's arts and culture
Victorians love the arts and culture. A 2024 government report found that 99% of Victorians aged 15 years or over engage in creative and artistic events; millions of Victorians enjoy cultural experien...
megaphone.org.au
The Joint Select Committee on AI is calling for submissions to a broad parliamentary inquiry about the opportunities, impacts and regulation of AI in Australia. You are welcome to copy, paste and edit anything you find useful from my draft response: larsenkeys.com.au/2026/09/08/h...
“It’s well past time to be doing governance better.” So grateful for all those sharing or supporting the crowd funding campaign to publish my new governance book (artists.australianculturalfund.org.au/s/project/a2...). All donations over $2 are fully tax-deductible.
If my work, writing or rabble-rousing on arts, cultural and non-profit governance has been helpful to you over the last couple of years, I am grateful to all those in a position to share or support the fundraising campaign to help publish my new governance book this year.
By my count, more than 80% of the 80+ Australian arts and cultural orgs accused of censoring, threatening or otherwise harming their own artists, cultural workers or audiences were motivated by local responses to Israel’s genocide in Palestine.
New enews just dropped asking for your help, and including some thoughts on Board Chairs and Treasurers, and on saying the hard stuff out loud, plus all of my resources on Palestine as a governance issue, July reading recs, and more... katelarsenkeys.substack.com/p/asking-for...
Asking for help | Board Chairs and Treasurers: who needs them? | Saying the hard stuff out loud
Plus all of my resources on Palestine as a governance issue, July reading recs, and more...
katelarsenkeys.substack.com
My incomplete and imperfect list of Australian arts and cultural orgs accused of censoring or harming their own artists, cultural workers or audiences is now up to 80 orgs over the last 3 years alone. Here’s my latest update. Who have I missed? www.instagram.com/p/Db48C_foA6...
katelarsenkeys on Instagram: "My incomplete and imperfect list of Australian arts and cultural orgs accused of censoring or harming their own artists, cultural w…"
My incomplete and imperfect list of Australian arts and cultural orgs accused of censoring or harming their own artists, cultural workers or audiences is now up to 80 orgs over the last 3 years alone. Here’s my latest update. Who have I missed?……….If this work, or my other writing or rabble-rousing on arts, cultural and non-profit governance have been helpful for you, I am grateful to all those in a position to share or support the fundraising campaign to help publish my new governance book this year. Thanks to the @AusCulturalFund, all grants, donations or publishing partnerships over $2 are fully tax-deductible (at link in bio). #KateLarsen #Governance #ArtsGovernance #Censorship #ArtsCensorship
instagram.com
Arts boards, did you know that you don’t need a Chairperson? And that you don’t need a Treasurer either? My latest ‘and another thing’ vlog is about how most arts, cultural and non-profit board office-holders are a choice, not a compliance requirement. larsenkeys.com.au/2026/08/11/a...
And another thing: board officeholders
Arts boards, did you know that you don’t need a Chairperson? And that you don’t need a Treasurer either?
larsenkeys.com.au
So grateful for all those sharing or supporting my “utterly necessary and urgent publication to lift the lid on current arts governance practice”. 🙏🙏🙏 Thanks to the Australian Cultural Fund, all donations over $2 are fully tax-deductible at artists.australianculturalfund.org.au/s/project/a2....
I can’t get over the kindness and impact of these words of support. So grateful for all those sharing or supporting the Australian Cultural Fund campaign to help publish my new book on arts, cultural and non-profit governance (artists.australianculturalfund.org.au/s/project/a2...).
So grateful for all those sharing or supporting the Aus Cultural Fund campaign to help publish my new book on arts, cultural and non-profit governance (artists.australianculturalfund.org.au/s/project/a2...). All grants, donations or publishing partnerships over $2 are fully tax-deductible.
Being ‘disruptive’ has started to be wielded as an accusation or slur. But disruption is fundamental to art and artists. Here’s the fourth and final part of my Art Gallery of Ballarat Association commission on disrupting the arts. Read the full version at larsenkeys.com.au/2026/07/08/d....
Proud to facilitate the Case Studies: Transition in Practice panel with Katrina Nitschke from Sovereign Hill, Ineke Dane from Lismore Regional Gallery and Sophie Kahl from KAHLGRUPPE at AMAGA Victoria's Speaking Plainly forum today.
Collaboration is one of the easiest words and one of the hardest things to realise, Regional Arts Victoria’s Jo Porter says at AMAGA Victoria’s Speaking Plainly forum. Finding the path to collaborate can take quite a long time. A lot of unpaid work goes in to getting to the starting line.
Organisations are caught in a cycle of being asked to do and sustain themselves with less, says AMAGA Victoria’s Ash Robertson says at today’s Speaking Plainly forum. This is destroying pathways into the sector and depriving us of the next generation of artists and cultural workers.
Where does the choice come to behave in a competitive over a collaborative way, Emily Sexton asks The Bigger Picture at today’s Speaking Plainly forum with Theatre Network Australia’s Amrit Gill, Regional Arts Victoria’s Jo Porter, AMaGA Victoria’s Ash Robertson and NETS Victoria’s Kent Wilson.
Decisions don't have to come from a place of defeat. They an come from a place of care, Sophie Kahl says at AMAGA Victoria's Speaking Plainly forum. It's not glamorous, but important work. Making it okay to get teary and take breaks is as much a part of good museum practice as collection management.