Senator the Hon. George Brandis S.C.

Minister for the Arts and Sport

The Minister for the Arts and Sport, Senator George Brandis, has announced two new appointments and one reappointment to the Playing Australia Committee. Michael Evans and Margaret O’Donnell have been newly appointed as committee members for three year terms and Alex Budd has been reappointed to serve his second three year term.

“I would like to congratulate Michael Evans and Margaret O’Donnell on their appointments to the Playing Australia Committee and I am confident that their expertise and experience will ensure the committee will benefit greatly from their presence,” Senator Brandis said.

“Likewise I am very pleased that Alex Budd has agreed to serve a second three year term on the committee as he has made a very valuable contribution as a Playing Australia Committee member.”

Ms O'Donnell is an Australian Chamber Music Festival Board Member and former director-general of three Queensland Government Departments: Development and Arts, Equity and Fair Trading and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy. She was Victoria’s first Legal Ombudsman and established and ran the Alternative Dispute Resolution Division in the Department of Attorney-General and Justice in Queensland. Ms O'Donnell is a freelance consultant and contributes her expertise to a number of other boards.

Mr Evans is a corporate consultant and a strategic advisor to the vice chancellor of Griffith University and to Foodbank Queensland. He has served on a number of boards, including as trustee of the Queensland Performing Arts Trust, a member of the Cultural Festival Division of the 1982 Commonwealth Games, a member and committee member of the Queensland State Municipal Choir and chairman of the Stockman’s Hall of Fame in Longreach.

Mr Budd is currently manager of Opera Enterprises at Opera Australia, and he has worked at Oz Opera, Opera Australia's touring arm, in a number of senior positions including company manager, project manager, production manager and tour planning. He gained his technical and touring experience working for organisations such as the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Sydney Dance Company and Sydney Theatre Company.

Playing Australia is the Australian Government’s national touring program for the performing arts, including ballet, theatre, puppetry, classical and contemporary music and dance and circus. It supports the touring of performing arts across state and territory boundaries, particularly to regional and remote areas, where performances would not be commercially viable but are in public demand. The program has an annual allocation of approximately $6 million. Visit www.dcita.gov.au/arts_culture/arts/playing_australia for more information.

Media contact: Travis Bell 0448 950 248

Friday 12 October 2007