Welcome Sylvie Huigen, Philanthropy Manager
In June we were delighted to welcome Sylvie Huigen to our Development Team as our new Philanthropy Manager.
Sylvie brings with her a wonderful breadth of experience as an arts fundraiser, having previously been employed as the Development Executive for State Opera South Australia and more recently as the Development Manager for InReview. As our new Philanthropy Manager she will be leading the delivery of our individual giving philanthropy program, including annual giving, major gifts and bequests.
We sat down with Sylvie for a Q&A.
What is one part of your day as Philanthropy Manager that you look forward to most?
If there’s a concert then that’s the best part. It means there are patrons and donors to meet and get to know and excellent music ahead. If you see me please do come up and say hello! I love that it’s my job to go to concerts and experience Australia’s greatest music in Australia’s best concert venue and share that with all of you.
What are some interesting parts of your career that have led you here?
Luckily I fell into philanthropy by having the right personality and a mix of the right skills – a little project management, a bit of events experience, a stint as a florist, some legal secretarying, a handful of admin and hospitality jobs… But it was some early experiences with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra that really got me started. At the time they were running a program for a cohort of ten 20-somethings – free rush concert tickets, Q&As with artists and administrators, some volunteer work at ASO events. The aim was to reach young people and make advocates of classical music out of us. And it worked! From there I realised that I love the beauty, thrill and solace of live music, and the community around it. I knew I had to work in the arts and make sure that other people could have the same life-changing experience as me.
What drives your passion for funding within the arts?
The arts give me joy, peace and help me make sense of the world. My existence is bettered every time I encounter beauty and every concert and exhibition has that thrilling possibility – it’s what keeps me, and many others I suspect, coming back. That my work can help others create these experiences of beauty through their art or philanthropy is an extraordinarily powerful reason to get out of bed each morning.
I also believe that our arts are part of the historical and future narrative of Australia, and cultural literacy is required for all Australians to participate in that nationhood storytelling. Anna Goldsworthy and Julian Meyrick have both written about this in The Monthly recently. The arts can and should be part of reconciling and facing our colonial past and present and understanding and questioning our multicultural, diverse nation.
In a similar vein I read that Dame Elisabeth Murdoch was once quoted as saying that the Melbourne Recital Centre was part of ‘a civilised Victoria’. The phrase has kept returning to my mind. The arts and live music teaches us civility. It teaches us to listen, to participate as part of group, to be curious, to understand, to be courteous of our neighbours, to value excellence and hard work, to reflect, to be quiet, to hope, to trust experts, to talk about ideas. A concert is a communion of civility. The arts lets us practise being good citizens.
Funding the arts is essential and precious. There’s too much at stake for our inner worlds and collective citizenry not to.
Have you had the chance to enjoy much of what the Melbourne Recital Centre has to offer yet?
A few weeks ago I went to my first relaxed performance. Whilst the artsong was beautiful, it was the audience that made the show. There was a little girl in the audience playing the piano in the air copying the exact movements of the pianist on stage. And a one-year-old boy transfixed by the singers. Then he giggled with surprise and delight every time the audience clapped. It was heart-warming. I’m looking forward to more Great Performers concerts – I hear that’s where all our wonderful supporters will be!
You’re new to Melbourne – what struck you about the city initially?
It’s actually a homecoming for me! I was born in Lilydale and spent my first twelve years on the edge of the Yarra Valley before my family shifted to Alice Springs for an adventure. I moved to Adelaide for uni after my gap year, and was there until the Melbourne Recital Centre lured me back to my birthplace.
I’m really enjoying finding Melbourne’s beautiful public and open gardens – I’d be a flower gardener at the Botanic Gardens in another life. I can’t wait to see a proper Melbourne springtime again and I’m going to try growing daphne in a pot on my balcony.
Sylvie Huigen
Philanthropy Manager
(03) 9207 2648
sylvie.huigen@melbournerecital.com.au