Helen Pitt

Sydney

Journalist at Sydney Morning Herald

Sydney Morning Herald journalist. Sun Herald columnist. Walkley Award winning author of The House.

Articles

Australia's arts sector faces generational challenges

2 weeks ago | abc.net.au | David Marr |Helen Pitt

It's been a turbulent few years in Australia's arts sector - post-pandemic financial pain, to major leadership changes, shifting consumer tastes, and censorship over the war in Gaza. Brook Turner examines the drama inside some of Australia's oldest arts institutions. Guest: Brook Turner, freelance journalist, contributor to the Australian Financial Review, author of Turbulence and Transcendence: Biennale of Sydney: The First 50 Years Producer: Helen Pitt Art, Theatre, Government and Politics
Why has the theatre interval gone out of style?

1 month ago | abc.net.au | David Marr |Helen Pitt

For the past century the interval has been as much a part of the theatre experience as the curtain call and the standing ovation. So why is it disappearing? And how will our bladders cope?
Australia's rabbit invasion

1 month ago | abc.net.au | David Marr |Helen Pitt

Australia’s rabbit plague was the fastest colonisation rate for an introduced mammal ever recorded anywhere on Earth. Which is why reports of an emerging plague of rabbits in the Adelaide Hills have locals and scientists worried. • GUEST: Mike Letnic, Professor of Conservation biology and Ecosystem restoration, University of New South Wales
How Australia developed its own vernaculuar

1 month ago | abc.net.au | David Marr |Helen Pitt

Take your favourite podcasts and radio with you
One musical to rule them all: As Frodo sings, Sauron swings

Dec 30, 2024 | brisbanetimes.com.au | Helen Pitt

, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Jemma Rix, who is set to dazzle audiences as Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings: A Musical Tale when it premieres in Sydney, found her way to Middle-earth through Peter Jackson’s iconic film adaptations. The 40-year-old performer, who grew up on the Central Coast and now calls Melbourne home, is no stranger to epic roles.
The extraordinary ancient artwork kept secret until 1987

Nov 29, 2024 | smh.com.au | Helen Pitt

By Helen Pitt November 30, 2024 — 12.00am, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. “It never gets old,” says our guide Ryan Paget as he leads us through the world’s largest single collection of rock art at Mount Borradaile, in the remote Northern Territory. Of course, he doesn’t mean that literally.
Cruising Sicily’s seven Aeolian Islands, known as the ‘seven pearls of the Mediterranean’

Sep 16, 2024 | smh.com.au | Helen Pitt

By Helen Pitt September 17, 2024 — 5.00am, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. We are bobbing up and down on a boat in the middle of the Tyrrhenian Sea, having a science lesson about volcanoes from two American high school teachers, when suddenly Stromboli erupts. It is a sight to behold.
Could this be the new face of the Sydney Opera House?

Sep 5, 2024 | smh.com.au | Helen Pitt

, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. As she climbs the stairs at Jacksons on George, Brenna Hobson has flashbacks. Although she’s lived in Glasgow for seven years working as executive director of the National Theatre of Scotland, Sydney-born and raised Hobson has been here before in a different life.
Jimmy Barnes, Missy Higgins, Bernard Fanning voice concerns over AI in music

Aug 18, 2024 | smh.com.au | Helen Pitt

Leading musicians including Jimmy Barnes, Missy Higgins and Bernard Fanning have lent their voices to a report warning of the potentially devastating impact of generative AI on their industry. The AI and Music Survey report, published today by Australia's music rights organisation, estimates that by 2028, the cumulative total damage of AI on the music industry will be about $519 million.
The choir helping school boys find their voice, and their tribe

Aug 15, 2024 | theage.com.au | Helen Pitt

By Helen Pitt August 16, 2024 — 11.30am, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for laterAdd articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. When Omar Laksono moved to Australia from Indonesia two years ago, he was pretty miserable until he taught himself to play the piano and sing. He’d never learnt music before.