Speech Night Guest Speaker Martha Lott

Who Am I? When I saw the message from Mamta asking me to call the School I thought ‘Why?’ I mean surely they wouldn’t be chasing a library book after 33 years? Then when I spoke to Jane, I was quite surprised at her request for me to speak tonight. And I tried to remember who spoke at my Speech Night and couldn’t. But I assured myself that it was probably someone with letters after their name or a gown that symbolised more achievement than l was sure I was ever going to reach. Jane asked me to talk about why art and creativity are important. As an artist and creative, my life is about taking risks and facing challenges head-on, and there’s also the saying ‘Fake it, till you make it.’ So, I said yes. And here I stand. In my line of work, there is a clear requirement for arts and creativity. As an actor you prepare, brace yourself; you walk out onto stage trusting yourself and the creative team around, and you just go for it. As an Artistic Director, you look for ways to engage and challenge the audience and give a platform to artists and creatives from which to thrive.

Before Holden Street Theatres, I had started from the bottom and climbed the ladder so many times. And as an actress, writer, director, event coordinator, venue manager, producer and artistic director, some of my adventures have been successful, some okay, and some colossal failures. But at every low point, I’ve gotten up and given it another go, something that’s not particular to just the Arts industry. I believe that art and creativity are two of the most powerful assets we have as a society. Because art shows us who we are and what we have done, and creativity gives us the tools to change the future. Art is incredibly powerful, and it’s everywhere; it’s Literature; Visual and Graphic Arts; the Plastic and Decorative Arts; the Performing Arts and Music Composition; Architecture and Design. It’s a form of communication, an expression of thought and feeling that gives us a greater understanding of the human experience, and it gives a voice to people who can’t speak out, for whatever reason.

Art can rally us to stand up for what’s right and evoke hope that our future will be better - that we can improve social relationships, and improve the world we live in.

Art records history for everyone, and forever. It can show us what we need to change and give us hope that great moments of change will happen again. It also gives colour to our lives. It adds enjoyment to what otherwise would be a beige existence. Now many of you may not be considering a career in the Arts, but it’s not actually the point. The point is you get to decide how our present will be remembered as your history, and how the future will be sold to the generations to come. You are the artists, the trend-drivers. You are the influencers of the future and the role models for the next generation. More than ever, art, marketing and advertising sells hope. Hope that if you buy this thing, look this way, eat this food or smell this good, then your family will be perfect, your life will be perfect and your career will be perfect, and you too can spend the rest of your life in perfection purgatory dancing on a beach in the Bahamas with Zac Efron. Or living it large in Hollywood like Kylie Jenner with over 283 million followers on Instagram. Did you know that the most-followed individual on Instagram is footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo, with over 369 million followers? That’s 15 times the population of Australia.

Icons now known as influencers gain the trust and loyalty of the consumer, the audience.

It’s propaganda, and propaganda or, more commonly known today as SPIN, and can sway a population to believe a leader, a leader who may be a politician, a musician, movie star or celebrity who made it famous by posting a skit on TikTok. But this doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It’s an amazing opportunity for you. Art sells hope; hope breeds optimism.

And optimism can navigate a population through a depression, a war, or a pandemic. And it takes creativity to create art, and creativity requires imagination and innovation.

There is not a career or a path in life that doesn’t require art or creativity. The closing argument in a court of law is a story. A politician is a symbol of a political party’s ideals, and you need to appear as a perfect representation of the life that is on offer if you are elected. In science you hypothesise, search for the answer until you can call it truth and fact, and then you tell the story of your findings and market it to the world. Write a thesis, which is published and read by millions all over the world and that changes the course of the future, and then you get a beautifully designed award, and the photo of this event is remembered as an iconic moment in time - and you are quoted by a person talking at a speech night in Adelaide. Yes, the Arts industry requires creativity but so does a career that requires a specific set of skills, an engineer, a paramedic, a mathematician, any career that you choose - including a mother guiding her family through life. You need to be creative and willing to take a risk.

For me, theatre was the career that showed me that I could take risks and dream the impossible, and then make it happen. As John Cleese said, ‘Creativity is not a talent; it’s a way of operating’. Creativity is the courage to visualise, and experiment. It teaches resilience, problem-solving, adaptability, tenacity, fight and determination, bravery, the passion to never give up and the need to question ourselves and constantly grow. It allows us to be individuals. And it teaches us to open the mind and solve problems with innovation and a broader perspective. In creativity, you sit at the turning point, the specific, significant moment when something begins to change - and this turning point doesn’t need to be huge. Creativity opens us up to our own possibilities and exposes us to hidden parts of ourselves. There is a saying that everyone shines in their own time, and everyone learns differently.

I didn’t have the best time at school, I didn’t shine, I never fit in, and I never felt good enough - and people still joke about how funny it is that my first acting role at school was a dead body in a box. My report cards were always ‘Could do better’ or ‘If only she would apply herself’.

But I am in good company. John Lennon’s report card; ‘Certainly on the road to failure… hopeless… rather a clown in class… wasting other pupil’s time.’ Dame Stella Rimington, first female Director General of MI5; ‘Stella has ability. She must determine to make fullest potential of it.’ What Wilderness gave me was the bravery to fail and to be different, the strength to fight for what I wanted in life, and the knowledge that success for me was not yet defined - that bit was up to me. And for me? Creating a career doing what I love in my hometown is success. For you, it will most likely be different. You are Generation Z.

You were meant to inherit a world of opportunity, with a strong economy and a low unemployment rate. Instead, you have inherited a world still managing a pandemic, questioning the priorities and values of life, and a massive debt that you and the next generation, Gen Alpha, will be paying off. But it’s not all bad.

You are said to be the most welleducated generation - a generation of fairness and equality. Your generation is more racially and ethnically diverse than any generation before you. The first generation to be truly global. You are the iGeneration. You are digital natives. You are passionate, pragmatic and proactive. You are the new generation of change. As you walk out of this school, you may leave with great sadness that you are leaving your friends; they will be there if they are true friends. You may be leaving with fear that this is a structure you know and understand; give yourself time, you will understand another structure.

You may be leaving with the hope that you will make it to the next goal you have set yourself; you will, or you won’t, but you can always set another goal. You may be leaving with the expectation that you will shine in the world as much as you have here at school. I hope you do, and if you don’t, you will be ok. You will find a way, another moment to shine, or with creativity, you can make one. Or you may be running out of here as fast as you can, and to you I say enjoy the wind in your hair and run wild pony, run. Before I go, I want to remind you of one thing, you only spend 13 years of your life at school.

That’s 2600 days - assuming you’ve gone every day. That’s a total of eight percent of the average Australian woman’s life. Approximately four percent is spent being a baby and toddler. So, that leaves 88 percent of a life to do something with. Whatever you leave with, whoever you are, however tomorrow turns out, remember there will always be another tomorrow to change the world with. Surround yourself with good people - some like you, some you agree with, and some who challenge you. Nurture your confidence and self-belief, focus on yourself, define what success is for you, listen and absorb, and do not be passive in this world.

Martha Lott Class of 1987