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Fast Five with Dave Garner

Right in the engine room of Penrith Performing & Visual Arts you’ll find Dave Garner, our Business Manager, keeping the wheels turning on the business, people and logistics side of both The Joan and Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest. We caught up with Dave to shoot the breeze on his day-to-day and daydreams.

Describe a day in your working life…

Well every day is different but I generally get to the office, check how we are tracking for ticket sales for each upcoming show and then my team and I have a discussion around what each day holds for us. I then go about working through the priorities of the moment which could involve meetings with other parts of the business, Council, a regular trip to the Lewers Gallery and on the fly troubleshoot any number of issues that crop up day to day.

What did you want to do with your career when you were growing up?

For a long time in my youth I harboured great ambitions to be a journalist. Actually studying journalism made me realise it wasn’t what I thought it would be…but I had a good grounding in writing and storytelling that went on to help my songwriting. For a little while I thought being a shepherd would pretty much be a dream job…sitting on a hill overlooking the sheep, gently playing a lute…are there shepherds anymore?

What has been your favourite moment or moments in the theatre?

Hard to pick. Some of the great moments for me have been really well performed work by small theatre groups. Twelfth Night in a tiny theatre in Canberra comes to mind. And most recently seeing Q Theatre’s Teacup In A Storm was a great experience as I was lucky enough to see a peek into its development. To see it grow into an amazing production was something special.

And your favourite / most memorable musical moments?

So many to choose from. Bruce Springsteen solo at the Capital Theatre was amazing, Emmylou Harris with Buddy Miller on guitar is a biggie, Chris Whitely, Chris Wilson, Peter Green, Wilson Pickett, Paul Simon, Lucinda Williams, Prince…all would rate very very highly

If I could see anyone perform at The Joan it would be

Paul Kelly and Renee Geyer performing together would be pretty special…

Name six people you’d invite to dinner if you could invite anyone at all, living or not.

My gorgeous wife Carrie could help me cook dinner and throw in some well-timed funny remarks. Frank Sinatra would be there to bring the classiness and Jagger for the swagger…I’m a cricket tragic so Merv Hughes would have a tale or two and he could keep the glasses topped up. We could all laugh along with Billy Connolly and by the end of the night we would have all fallen in love with Audrey Hepburn…