Four years ago I packed up my life in Dublin and moved lock, stock and barrel to Sydney to take up the position of Sydney Festival director.
At the time I received a note from a friend who knew something of the Australian scene. It said, "You'll come back to us as a politician or an archbishop." As it turns out, I've found Sydney to be far less internecine than what I'd grown used to in Ireland.
While it's too early to start reminiscing, I have to say Sydney has given me some of the richest experiences of my life. It has been a great privilege to lead a festival so beloved by this city's people.
In many ways it feels like only last month that I stood, terrified, on the stage of the State Theatre presenting my first Sydney Festival. Tomorrow we will launch my fourth and final festival. Not everything has worked but the festival has had many successes and enjoyed unprecedented growth in the past few years.
The success of the Sydney Festival reflects a similar growth in festivals around the world. There are numerous theories as to why we've grown to love these intense social occasions.
Some suggest our cash-rich, time-poor population has seized on the festival model as the best guarantee that its scant leisure time will be richly rewarded.
Another theory is that our expanded world-view, enhanced by an explosion in international travel, has created a population whose cultural curiosity is best fed by the eclectic offerings provided by a festival.
A broader view suggests that the move away from traditional social and religious gatherings has created a vacuum. Festivals, as communal celebrations and platforms for contemplation and discussion, fill this gap.
Whatever the reason, the frequency and scale of festivals has reached an all-time high. Whether this will be tempered by the economic climate remains to be seen.
In the middle of this rush to package, brand and present large-scale events, it is worth pausing for a moment to consider what it is we are celebrating.
The best festivals and events I've been to have all had one thing in common: they were driven by passionate individuals who believed what they were doing could enrich the community. Good management, marketing and planning are critical to success but these are meaningless without a belief in something greater than economic outcomes.
Great music festivals are invariably run by people whose lives have been transformed by the artform, while the best sports events are driven by a belief in the positive qualities and values that the sport represents. Sharp market research and good branding will get an event off the ground but, if it fails to address social, political or cultural needs at a fundamental level, the interest and energy required is rarely sustained.
For those of us who work at the Sydney Festival, putting work of quality and ambition in front of as many people as possible is what gets us out of bed in the morning. Of course, we all have different ideas of what "work of quality and ambition" means (another good reason for changing the festival director every four years), but we share a deep commitment to the arts. The Sydney Festival has a subtly different approach to other events of its type in that it uses art as a form of inclusive communal celebration, rather than being a celebration of art itself.
As John F. Kennedy said, "Art is the great democrat, calling forth creative genius from every sector of society, disregarding race or religion or wealth or colour."
On Saturday, January 10, thousands of people will fill the central business district for Festival First Night, facilitated by the vision and creativity of more than 300 artists.
For three weeks our city will be enhanced, enlivened and refreshed by singers, dancers, actors and directors from Australia and all over the world. With luck, the media will report millions of dollars in ticket sales, hundreds of thousands attending free events and great visitation to the city.
But these are all by-products. The truly lasting value will lie in the personal and communal experiences shared between the artist and the audience.
It has been a rare and humbling experience to lead a festival whose ownership is so firmly rooted in this city's people. I will always be grateful to Sydney for this opportunity.
But before I get too sentimental, we have a festival to launch. We invite everyone to log onto www.sydneyfestival.org.au tomorrow evening to have a look at next year's program.
We hope you like what you see and that you will join us for your Sydney Festival.
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