Arc of Opportunity

Abstract

Born in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, the author had a 20 year career in diplomacy, political affairs, and development policy analysis at the Pacific Islands Forum, the United Nations in New York; the Prime Minister's Department in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and in the Foreign Ministry of PNG. He has also been involved in theatre for over a decade in PNG, and participated in a three-month program at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in Connecticut, USA. He is currently the Business Development Manager at the Torres Strait Regional Authority (Commonwealth) on Thursday Island. Since 1975 the Australian government's overseas development policy has supported various sectoral programs in its neighbouring countries, in particular Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The "creative" field has not been prominent in this strategy. While natural resources and the sports sectors have gained much greater attention, in terms of being viable international commercial enterprises, the arts, have remained stagnant. In this paper the need for joint programs genuinely supporting "wellbeing" and promoting social enterprise throughout the "arc of opportunity" is described to harness Melanesian creativity to compete successfully in world-markets, starting with penetration of the largest economy at its door-step: Australia.