Four Winds creative director Lindy Hume has a lifelong connection to the arts, but said being appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia was a reflection of the artists around her.
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Her AM is being bestowed as part of the annual Australia Day Honours List.
"I feel grateful to be part of something greater than the sum of its parts - it's not about me, it's about the various artists coming together," she said.
"I can't direct in a vacuum. These festivals involve hundreds of people and this is a shared accomplishment."
Ms Hume said she was incredibly grateful and said it was wonderful to see the arts being recognised as part of the national discourse, but also said she had conflicting feelings around January 26 as Australia Day, recognising it as Survival Day for many.
"To be quite honest I'm quite conflicted about Australia Day and Survival Day. That said, First Nation Australia needs to be part of this - whatever the national celebration is."
Ms Hume is being recognised for her career, which spans almost 30 years, starting as the artistic director of the West Australian Opera in 1993.
She has since led the Victoria State Opera and Opera Queensland, while also leading the Sydney International Arts Festival and the Perth International Arts Festival.
She has most recently directed the 10 Days on the Island Tasmanian arts festival since 2018 before returning to the Far South Coast to direct Four Winds.
Ms Hume said she was dubious after receiving news by email she would be appointed an AM.
"I got a very nice email - which went straight into the spam folder - so I didn't discover it until a few weeks later and was then a bit suspicious of it," she said with a laugh.
"But It's a lovely and very affirming feeling to know people value what you do to that extent.
"It's very humbling."
Ms Hume said the honour did give her pause to reflect on her career and said the arts had been integral to who she is today.
"People know me as an opera director - but I'm also a festival director and my big passion is regional Australia," she said.
"That big mix of those three - they fit really interestingly together and are not always seen united, but those three things inhabit me and my world."
Ms Hume said Four Winds would host a Survival Day event on Tuesday and hoped bringing people together could help progress the national discourse.
"There is increasingly a sense of diversity, fluidity and fluency in different cultural languages.
"I've always felt regional artists in regional Australia have an important voice in the national discourse and I would hope the arts in the Bega Valley and the Far South Coast more generally are seen as a vital and distinctive part of our lives."
Jacob McMaster
I am passionate about amplifying people's stories and trying to do them justice in the written word. I find pressure washing videos soothing. email me jacob.mcmaster@austcommunitymedia.com.au or 0406 212 845.
I am passionate about amplifying people's stories and trying to do them justice in the written word. I find pressure washing videos soothing. email me jacob.mcmaster@austcommunitymedia.com.au or 0406 212 845.
