Platform Arts has a new co-chief executive and artistic director by the name of Jonathan Homsey. He speaks with Jena Carr about his new role and connection to Geelong.
What is your connection to Geelong?
My connection to Geelong started as a dancer during university, where I would compete in the Splashdance choreography competitions.
Fast forward a decade, and now I am humbled to be the artistic director of Platform Arts in our home at the Old Geelong Courthouse.
What do you like most about Geelong?
I was born in Hong Kong and raised in San Diego, a coastal town two hours south of Los Angeles, and Geelong reminds me of San Diego as it is a place wrapped by waterfronts.
I love the balance of nature amongst the brutalist architecture in the surroundings of Little Malop Street.
Where is your favourite place in the region to spend time?
Point Addis! Do I need to say more?
On a tangent, I hope that, whether we are at the beach or our loved ones, I do not want us to spend time. Time is not something spent; it is held by our family and loved ones with each other.
I hope that Platform Arts will hold time for audiences and fellow artists. Holding time is the evolution of holding space, which I wrote about in my academic research.
How does being the new Artistic Director and Co-CEO of Platform Arts feel?
It feels like a slow skydive. I am in the first month of my tenure and looking above and trying to get a pulse check on what people across the G21 want.
It encompasses listening and two-way conversation with artists, audiences and my colleagues.
I enjoy seeing a bird’s eye view, and like a skydive, I am getting a closer view each week, and soon I will land (got to stick with the metaphor) and get to action locals’ desires for what they want Platform Arts to be during my tenure.
I have been a dancer my whole life, so I expect a lot of joy on the beautiful wooden floors at Platform.
What do you like most about being with Platform Arts?
I love that we are a multi-arts organisation and am so excited to honour this plurality. From our performance space to our gallery, we have multiple rooms and contexts where we engage with artists.
Being at the helm of a genre-blind organisation is exciting, and the organisation is open-minded and welcoming of various artistic tastes.
What is something people may not know about you?
I am a second-degree black belt in Taekwondo; however, I am very rusty, so please don’t ask me to spar.
I am mainly a Waacker now, a queer-street dance from 1970s Los Angeles, and I have been a proud member of Burn City Waack for 10 years.
One of my fellow members, Carmen Yih, has a show coming up at Platform Arts with collaborator Jiawen Feng. There are only two shows, July 11 and 12, and I hope to see y’all there.
