WITH a new performance home and new general manager at the helm for the 2012 season, the WA Youth Jazz Orchestra is ushering in a new era.
Fiona Symonds took the management reins just last week, but is already looking forward to the organisation moving its performances from Perth Concert Hall to the shiny new State Theatre Centre of WA.
“It's a more appropriately-sized venue for WAYJO; it was quite hard for us sometimes to fill the Concert Hall with major international artists because it is 1800 seats,” she said.
“Having attended the first WAYJO concert there mid-this year, I was just blown away by how well-suited it was for WAYJO.”
Symonds has amassed more than 20 years of experience in the performing arts in various capacities, including events co-ordination, venue management and stage management.
Her previous role was at the City of Joondalup, where she was responsible for programming large-scale concerts and festivals headlined by the likes of Marcia Hines, Clare Bowditch, Josh Pyke and The Whitlams.
Her new position, at an organisation that has grown from one full-time and three part-time staff in 2008 to two full-time and nine part-time team members in 2011 - will bring with it its own set of challenges.
“It's still a relatively small organisation but it has big plans for the future, so it's a matter of doing what we can with the resources we have available and building those over the next few years so that we really increase our national and international profile,” she said.
Symonds is inspired by the arts scene in Perth, which has shed its reputation as a cultural backwater.
“The development of the new State Theatre Centre was a huge boon to the industry, and just in general, Perth has become more vibrant and culturally aware and engaged,” she said.
“I've got a lot of optimism for the future of arts and culture activities in Perth.”
Emilia Vranjes