What We Do
TippingPoint Australia incorporated in 2011 following a series of forums in Melbourne (Malthouse), Sydney (Performance Space) and Brisbane (The Edge) in 2010. We are acknowledged as a leading arts and sustainability agency working in partnership and in collaboration. TippingPoint Australia is a not for profit incorporated association.
We convene TippingPoint Australia gatherings where artists connect with scientists, economists, politicians and activists on climate change and support them to imagine and plan artist responses. We lead and facilitate workshops, hackathons and labs with schools, organisations and with different sectors ( eg arts and science). We take opportunities to work with artists and funders to create, develop and promote art projects (the climate commissions) that expand community understanding of, and response to, climate change.
TippingPoint Australia is a sister partner of TippingPoint, a UK-based network organisation.
Who We Are
TippingPoint Australia is a collective of practising artists with extensive experience in all facets of arts production and management, supported by a high-profile and active Board.
The TippingPoint Australia team is Angharad Wynne-Jones, Matt Wicking and David Finnigan, each of whom has a significant background in working with artists and climate scientists at all levels. The organisation is extremely responsive to the rapidly changing environment around the issue of climate change and sustainability.
The Board is Chaired by Michael Kantor (theatre and film director), David Karoly (Professor of Meteorology and an ARC Federation Fellow in the School of Earth Sciences), Matt Wicking and Cathy Oke (City of Melbourne Councillor).
TippingPoint Australia Board.
Angharad Wynne-Jones - Director
Angharad studied theatre at Dartington College of Arts in the UK. In 1994 she became Director of the Performance Space in Sydney. In 1998 she (as Executive Producer) and Gideon Obarzanek established Chunky Move in Melbourne. Angharad joined Peter Sellars as Associate Director in the 2002 Adelaide Festival. She was appointed Director of LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre) 2005 – 2008. She has been on a number of Boards and Panels: Australia Council Hybrid, New Media and Dance Boards, Lucy Guerin Inc, Real Time, Snuff Puppets and Total Theatre (UK). She is Artistic Director at Arts House, City of Melbourne, a contemporary performance centre in Melbourne and co-designed and teaches the Cultural Leadership MFA at NIDA.
Michael Kantor - Chair
Michael was Artistic Director of the Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne from 2004 to 2010. Before Malthouse, Michael devised and directed shows for the Adelaide Festival, the Melbourne Festival, the Perth Festival the Sydney Theatre Company, Playbox Theatre Company, Chunky Move, Edinburgh International Festival and the Lincoln Centre in New York. Michael recently directed the new Australian feature film The Boy Castaways that premiered at The Adelaide Film festival 2013, and an indigenous version of King Lear called The Shadow King was performed as part of the 2013 Melbourne Festival, and will tour in 2014 to the Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane Festivals.
Professor David Karoly - Board member
An expert in climate science, David Karoly is recognised as one of the leading global experts on the dynamics of large-scale atmospheric circulation in the Southern Hemisphere and its variability. Professor Karoly is a member of the Climate Change Authority, established in 2012 as an independent body that provides expert advice on the operation of Australia’s emissions reduction targets. During 2011-2012, he was a member of the Joint Scientific Committee which provides scientific oversight to the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). From 2008-09 he was Chair of the Premier of Victoria's Climate Change Reference Group. Professor Karoly is a member of the Science Advisory Panel to the Australian Climate Commission. He is also a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists and the Australian Academy of Sciences' National Committee on Earth System Science. In 1999 he was elected Fellow of the American Meteorological Society for outstanding contributions to the atmospheric sciences.
Councillor Cathy Oke – Vice Chair
First elected to the Melbourne City Council in 2008, Dr Cathy Oke is a scientist and environmental consultant with 20 years’ experience in the sustainability sector. She has a PhD in Genetics and is currently working at RMIT University with the Interdisciplinary Conservation Science Research Group, a team of researchers working to understand the interaction between society and our environment. At the City of Melbourne, Cathy is Chair of the Future Melbourne (Transport) Committee and Deputy Chair of the Future Melbourne (Environment) Committee. Cathy represents Council on the Regional committee of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability and represents local government on the Victorian Roads Based Public Transport Advisory Council.
Matt Wicking
For the past decade, Matt has worked as a sustainability consultant and facilitator specialising in change, strategy and communication. He has worked with organisations and individuals from all sectors – business, government, the arts, education and more – helping them to green their practice and embrace sustainability. He has a Masters of Environment, plus degrees in Psychology and Commerce and is currently Greenie in Residence at Arts House, City of Melbourne. Matt is also singer and songwriter with Melbourne band, The General Assembly, where his music acts as a creative, vital response to living in an unsustainable culture.
David Finnigan - Associate
David Finnigan is a science-theatre artist and festival director. With theatre ensemble Boho, David creates interactive performances working with research scientists from organisations such as University College London, CSIRO, the Powerhouse Museum and the Asia-Pacific Complex Systems Science Conference. David founded and co-directed the Crack Theatre Festival in Newcastle and the You Are Here festival in Canberra, and is a 2012 Churchill Fellow.