23 June 2011
SC085/2011
The National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) will be led by a new chief executive officer and a reinvigorated board following the latest appointments to the popular cultural institution.
Arts Minister Simon Crean today announced Chris Puplick AM has been reappointed as Chair of the NFSA board and Catherine Robinson as Deputy Chair.
Dr Andrew Pike AM has been reappointed as a member of the board and Patricia Amphlett AM, will join as a new member. Michael Loebenstein has been appointed as the new chief executive officer of the NFSA.
Mr Crean said the board appointments ensured continuity in the board's operations and corporate knowledge and strengthened the leadership of the National Film and Sound Archive.
"The industry expertise of Mr Puplick and Ms Robinson has been an asset to the NFSA's important work of collecting, preserving and sharing our rich audiovisual heritage with all Australians," Mr Crean said.
"Similarly Dr Pike AM is a film producer and distributor, and co-founder of Ronin Films and Ms Amphlett has been a professional performer since 1963 and in 2009 was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
"I'd also like to thank the outgoing board members, Dr Deb Verhoeven, Professor Jill Matthews, Grace Koch and Phillip Mortlock for their valuable contributions to the NFSA since the organisation was established as a statutory authority three years ago."
Mr Crean congratulated Mr Loebenstein on his appointment as chief executive officer. Mr Loebenstein has been project manager and researcher at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Geschichte und Gesellschaft, Vienna and the Curator for Special Programs at the Austrian Film Museum.
Chris Puplick AM, Chair of the NFSA Board said Mr Loebenstein was a young and dynamic leader who has a special expertise and interest in all things digital.
"This makes him uniquely qualified to lead the NFSA into the next chapter of its history as the opportunities of the National Broadband Network and the national curriculum open up before us," Mr Puplick said.
"At the same time he is a distinguished film historian and archivist who equally values the tradition, history and scholarship of the film and sound archive world."
Further appointments to the NFSA board will be made shortly.
Replies
On behalf of the Australian Society of Archivists Inc. let me congratulate Catherine on this appointment. For those of you who do not know Catherine is a former President of the ASA who led the Association through quite a tough time and exercised wonderful diplomatic skills throughout.
Well done to you and the NFSA board.
Cheers
Pat Jackson: President Australian Society of Archivists
Thanks Adrian. I'm still getting my head around today's news.
I would like to acknowledge the work of my fellow Board members, including our incredibly dedicated Chair, Chris Puplick, who have helped the NFSA grow and prosper in its first three years as an independent statutory body. And I would like to pay tribute to the staff of the NFSA for their fantastic efforts!