About Esther Anatolitis

Esther Anatolitis develops the ideas, the platforms and the places where creative practices lead public agendas.

This work spans architecture and design, publishing and broadcasting, spatial and experimental practices – and the arts across all artforms.

Leadership
Esther is a former CEO of the National Association for the Visual Arts, Regional Arts Victoria, Melbourne Fringe, SYN Media, Craft Victoria and Express Media. She was a founder of the Emerging Writers’ Festival and has also held leadership roles at SBS and the National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasters’ Council. Esther holds an Honorary Associate Professorship at RMIT School of Art, serves the Governing Council of the National Gallery of Australia, and is CoChair of the Australian Republic Movement. Since 2022 she has been Editor of Meanjin, Australia’s leading literary journal.

Governance
Esther has held a diverse range of governance roles with arts and media organisations, where she has developed frameworks for excellent decision-making and strategic planning. She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors week-long directors’ course, and a qualified company secretary. In 2022 Esther was appointed to the Governing Council of the National Gallery of Australia. In 2023 she was elected onto the Australian Republic Movement’s Victorian Council, and in 2024 elected Co-Chair. Esther is a former Chair of Arts Industry Council (Victoria), former Deputy Chair of Contemporary Arts Precincts, and a past board member of ACMI, Antipodes Festival, Elbow Room Productions, Emerging Writers’ Festival, Open Spectrum Australia and Regional Arts Australia. Esther has served the programming committees of the Melbourne Writers Festival, Music Viva and the State of Design Festival. One of Australia’s most experienced arts governance professionals, she has established and reviewed the frameworks that constitute multiple organisations, and has served boards as chair, deputy chair, treasurer, secretary and director.

Facilitation
The hallmark of Esther’s work, a facilitative approach is at the core of her practice. Esther has nurtured individual artists, evolving organisations, industry networks, national advocacy campaigns and emergent creative precincts. Having led multilingual newsrooms and producer teams, public programs and experimental forums, as well as complex conflict resolution, Esther is adept at modulating her approach to dynamic and sensitive contexts.

Advocacy
Articulating the public value of arts and culture is an essential element of all of Test Pattern’s work. Esther has benchmarked arts advocacy nationally and internationally to develop a robust industry, policy and public engagement work. Her media background and extensive government relations at all levels offer an expert approach that’s strongly oriented towards achievable change.

Creative places
Esther brings a uniquely comprehensive arts expertise to creative place development. After a formative period collaborating on Serve City: Interactive Urbanism at the Bauhaus, Esther has maintained a long-term relationship with RMIT Architecture + Design as an external critic, examiner and design studio leader. She regularly works with architecture practices advising on competition and public realm work, and with urban and regional councils on strategy and programs. Her ten-year strategy for the Kingston Arts Precinct was recently endorsed with a forty-year funding commitment by the ACT Minister for the Arts.

About Test Pattern

Test Pattern was founded in 1999 as an independent strategic and creative practice offering services across a diverse range of industries including urban development, health, telecommunications, arts and culture.

Decades later, Test Pattern develops the ideas, the platforms and the places where creative practices lead public agendas.

Alongside leadership work in media and the arts, as well as academic and creative work and public program curation, Test Pattern’s focus has developed a unique creative industries specialisation, working at all scales and practice modes. With clients all over Australia and substantial global relationships, this work spans Creative Places, Policy and Strategy, Industry Advisory, Critical Reflection and Advocacy and Public Value.

Test Pattern is based in Melbourne, Australia, and works across the world.

IMAGE CREDIT: Esther Anatolitis facilitating In These Critical Times at MPavilion. Photo by Daniel Gardeazabal.