Dr Christen Cornell
Research Fellow and Manager, Research Partnerships: Australia Council for the Arts
Christen Cornell is Research Fellow and Manager, Research Partnerships at the Australia Council for the Arts. In this position, she conducts and facilitates research to support the Australian arts sector, to advocate for the value of arts and culture, and to advise the Australian government on arts and cultural policy.
Before working at the Australia Council, Christen was a lecturer in the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney, working in cultural studies, cultural policy, Inter-Asia cultural studies, and urban and housing studies. With over ten years’ experience in the tertiary sector, she also has a background in arts and culture, working as Manager of Rights and International Sales at Allen & Unwin publishers (between 2005-2008), selling translation rights to overseas publishers and film rights to local and international production companies.
Christen is also a Chinese speaker, living and working in Beijing for periods between 2001-2011. Between 2008-2015 she contributed articles on contemporary Chinese art to a number of art publications (e.g. Asian Art News, RealTime Arts, Artlink, Senses of Cinema), and worked as a freelance Chinese-English translator for several Sydney galleries.
“The arts are a site of experimentation, exploration and play, all of which provide the scaffolding for developing ideas and a sense of self. The arts provide a safe space for taking risks. They enable young people to conceptualise and trial new propositions, and give them the agency and confidence to do so. There is also a very beautiful, dignifying and empowering sociality to many youth arts activities and cultures, in which young people mentor one another and develop leadership skills. These relationships build important capacities in young people, resourcing them for unknown futures.”