By Luke Voogt
Stage fright during a primary school play ultimately inspired Jill Smith’s life’s work “helping others who do not have it”.
“I had memorised my lines and was ready to go,” the Aireys Inlet local remembered, amusedly, after earning membership into the Order of Australia (AM) this week.
“Then I got onstage and immediately I froze, so clearly, I wasn’t going to put myself through that again.
“I learnt very quickly that that wasn’t my forte.”
But she never lost her passion for theatre that she developed growing up in Melbourne.
“We had lots of music and books, and we used to go to the theatre all the time – it just captured me,” she said.
Ms Smith grew fascinated with the details behind staging a live show and was “fortunate” to become general manager at The Playbox Theatre, now The Malthouse, in 1978.
“At Playbox we were focused on Australian writing,” she said.
“It was fantastic to get those plays on stages across the country and overseas.”
She helped lay the foundations for acclaimed playwrights such as David Williamson and Joanne Murray-Smith, and Oscar-nominated film and TV writer Tony McNamara.
“I feel very proud of the legacy. It’s been my whole life’s work,” she said.
“Some were very successful and some were not so successful, but it was really important that Australian voices were being heard and the writers were given the opportunity.”
Ms Smith moved to Aireys Inlet two decades ago and worked as general manager at Geelong Arts Centre from 2008 to 2018.
“We brought a lot of Indigenous works to Geelong,” she said.
She joined state government’s Geelong Authority, which guided the redevelopment Little Malop Street, the Green Spine project and government agencies moving to the city.
“I think Geelong was a bit of hidden treasure and it’s being discovered in a big way now,” she said.
“Ten years ago that sort of atmosphere was struggling and you had the issues with Ford and Alcoa leaving.
“Now Geelong is seen as a much more vibrant and creative city.”
While working in the administrative side of theatre, she also founded the Arts for Life Endowment Fund and currently chairs Theatre Network Australia.
The network’s Crisis Cash campaign, which is continuing from last year, has helped small independent groups survive and artists pay their rent or buy groceries.
“In COVID the arts were first to close and it looks like they’re going to be the last to open,” she said.
Ms Smith hoped to use her recent honour to further help an industry decimated by COVID-19.
“It’s important that the arts are recognised – I think the arts are underrecognized in these awards,” she said.
Details: www.tna.org.au
