Simon Spain

Simon Spain has 30 years of experience in running engaging arts programming for children and families. He trained as a printmaker in the UK and had worked around the world as an artist and presenter. He settled in Australia in 2004 to establish ArtPlay for the City of Melbourne, moving to Tasmania at the beginning of 2016. Following the completion of a Masters in Social Investment and Philanthropy in 2015, Mr Spain was invited to undertake a reflective Practice PhD on his social practice, taking as his area of research the transformative power of community engagement in the arts and the artist role in responding to the challenges of the 21st century. Mr Spain combines a personal compulsion to make art, expertise in the co-design of public participatory arts experiences, and a commitment to social justice with a strong entrepreneurial spirit. He was awarded the Australia Council for the Arts Fellowship in Cultural and Community Development in 2017 and is the Arts and Culture Leader for the B4 Early Years Collective impact initiative in Tasmania. Mr Spain's project in Tasmania provides residency and capacity building opportunities for artists within his personal home.