As the founding director of Kape Communications I have left the company for the new role of Multicultural Media Adviser to Victorian Premier, Ted Baillieu.
The decision to relinquish my interest in Kape Communications was a difficult one, but I am honoured to be offered the opportunity to support the relationships between Premier Baillieu and Victoria’s multicultural media and communities.
It is Premier Baillieu and the Victorian Government’s commitment to multiculturalism which made the choice of leaving Kape Communications less difficult.
I leave Kape Communications in the trusted hands of my wife Chari Saldana and my sister, Dorothy Kapetopoulos, the new Directors of Kape Communications Pty Ltd, who will maintain some the company’s exciting programs such as the annual Bite the Big Apple! New York City Arts & Cultural Management Tour.
Dorothy, a visual communicator/design educator and with a background in arts marketing, has been part of the Bite the Big Apple! New York City Arts & Cultural Management Tour since its inception in 2008. Dorothy will be working closely with Chari in Kape Communications and Donna Walker-Kuhne, America’s leading diverse audience development expert to deliver an exceptional program for 2011.
The Cross-Cultural Leadership in the Arts (CCLA) program, formerly MAPD, will now be lead by MAPD Alumnus Bo Svoronos and of course RMIT University.
Bo Svoronos, a PHD candidate in Indigenous Festivals, is a natural leader and the best placed to assist in the development of new leaders.
I want to thank Hass Dellal OAM, the Director of the Australian Multicultural Foundation (AMF), and Lynn Cain the coordinator of the MAPD program, for their support, partnership and guidance. The AMF has led the way in cross-cultural leadership and multi faith and multicultural cohesion programs, nationally and internationally.
I want to acknowledge the partnership with RMIT University, one of Australia’s finest academic institutions and my colleagues, Sue Brennan and Susan Barr who have seen the value of the Cross Cultural Leadership program.
Many of the programs initiated by Kape Communications have been with the support of the Australia Council for the Arts, the most important cultural institution in Australia, and state funding bodies such as Arts Victoria, Arts Queensland, Arts SA and the Department of Culture and the Arts in WA.
My friend and colleague Donna Walker-Kuhne in New York has guided me and the company in the areas of audience development will always be someone I seek advice from in the area of audiences and marketing.
There are many to thank such as the over 80 Alumni that have been through MAPD, and those that have taken the Bite the Big Apple Tour, I have learned much from them all.
I am sure that Kape Communications will continue to succeed in all its ventures and I have no doubt that the work I have initiated and been involved in will also assist me in my new role.
Thank you all!
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