CULTURE CORNER

reg Coffey

Festival director of the Wild West Comedy Festival (3 years)

WABN: Describe a day at work. GC: "On the phones talking with agents, venues, acts, sponsors, our staff, PR people and the media. Then there's the meetings, photo shoots, checking facilities, design and proof reading...and then there's the balance-the-daily-budget; oh, and we laugh a lot too."

WABN: What is the best piece of advice you can give someone to motivate a team?

GC: "What is it that you are really committed to and how are you going to create it all? In that way, people are able to own what they really do want and [we can] set up a way for them to measure how successful they were in making it happen."

WABN: What has been the most challenging event in your career?

GC: "Sponsorship - every year. It is a case of creating the great plan and getting it to work on a fraction of what we originally budgeted, and then working to give the audience more than they expect.

"I listen to the audience through surveys and most importantly I listen to them [as they] watch our shows. And after all these years I never really know how an audience will respond. Now that's funny."

WABN: What is the main quality you are looking for within your team members?

GC: "Having people around me who are willing to learn and think outside the box - the most creatively challenging, and constantly refreshing way to develop and maintain the cutting edge."

WABN: What's best measurement of your performance, and can you name a highlight in your career?

GC: "My highlight was last year's gala night in which all but one performer were WA comedians. The moment came about halfway through the evening when I looked around the filled Regal Theatre (1,000 plus) and saw the audience having the most amazing world-class comedy experience, and better still [it was] from WA comedians - I saw that this was the future; now Perth audiences were ready."

WABN: How do you deal with egos in your workplace?

GC: "I listen and enquire what's going on for them because if an ego is flying, there is under the front generally someone not being acknowledged or not being heard."

WABN: Is there an organisation/business model that you strive to achieve/reach? What is it?

GC: "The Melbourne International Comedy Festival combined with the range of Working Dog Productions (they're the team who made The Castle, The Panel, and Thank God you're Here). In this way it would ignite creative dynamics in WA; imagine what that would generate here."

WABN: What frustrates you the most about your sector and what would you do to change it?

GC: "Financial support from the private sector. I don't know if it is a WA phenomenon; it is still a struggle to find companies that are willing to take the next step in investing financially in the arts.

"To alter it we have to keep talking to the private sector until the culture changes and they see what really is possible for them."

WABN: Who is someone that you dream to work with?

GC: "An excellent marketing and sponsorship person or the team from Working Dog."

WABN: What were you doing before your current position?

GC: "I co-created a short film festival with Phil Jeng Kane - the Over The Fence Comedy Film Festival. During the past 12 years I have directed the festival from a one-venue show to become the biggest touring comedy film festival in Australia (the last festival toured to 44 venues around the country). It has also become an international event, screening in the US, India, Brazil and Malaysia."