Remarks by Professor Rosemary Addis AM

25 March 2026

“Welcome – What a beautiful evening on the lands of the Gadigal as we look out over the harbour.  I’ve come here from the lands of the people of the Kulin nation in Melbourne around Port Philip Bay and acknowledge all of the Indigenous custodians of the lands and their elders. 

Thank you to the Summit organisers who have brought us together again this year.  Please join me in acknowledging Kerry and Ben in particular. 

I also want to spotlight Creative Australia as sponsor this evening and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as sponsor of the conference.  It is such a critical thing to have constructive engagements from Governments. Many of us spend time advocating for policy and action, so I want to take this moment to acknowledge the positive and proactive engagement from both of these agencies.  And what inspiring and lovely entertainment Creative Australia have arranged for this evening also.  Let’s show our appreciation again for these talented artists.

I’m Rosemary Addis and for many years my work has been shaping impact funds, policies, strategies and markets, including as one of the co-founders of and a Global Ambassador for GSG Impact and Founding Chair of Impact Investing Australia. This evening I’m also wearing my hat as Chair of the Advisory Board on impact investment to Creative Australia and acknowledge my colleagues here including Cathy Hunt, Ingrid Albert, Danielle Logue and the Creative Australia team. 

We meet at a significant time for impact – as a movement or field, as a guiding principle for the consequences of our actions and the potential to deliver better outcomes for people and planet – and as a unifying call to action to shape what comes after this period of rupture  - to shape societies and economies people can see themselves in and get behind.

Whether I paint a picture of a Dickensian time of the tale of two futures or speak to the choices ahead of us as our sliding doors moment, in each case, those few words communicate meaning grounded in a shared cultural reference.

As we gathered to discuss investing for people and planet, film and stories can transport us to the beauty of nature or show us what we mean by reaching families and communities around the world.

As we grapple with the profound shifts occurring around us and how we can create prosperity for all, the challenge is to be ambitious and keep people and society front and centre.  We’re confronted by the laws of nature and the forces of technology and the ways in which they affect resources and power and politics.  As Mark Carney pointed out in his (now famous) Davos speech, we also need to face facts that the institutions and systems on which we rely were already showing cracks. 

Last year Viktor Schvets spoke powerfully about decades of over-financialisation that fuelled growth irrespective of the consequences.  Combined effects of climate change, AI, inequality now bring us to an era of consequences.  The experience of distrust in institutions, polarisation, fierce politics are symptoms we’ve seen before.

There is no going back – this is a paradigm shift.  The assumptions on which we’ve operated for decades no longer hold true. It may take some time for society to search out new paradigms. 

The work ahead requires moral courage and proactive, adaptive leadership to shape the kind of society we want.  That includes financing the things that will bring that vision into relief and help it take concrete form.  I believe that this community has a significant role to play, that the work we’ve done in impact can inform the way forward, provide guiding principles and guard rails.  That is not the job of the next 3 weeks or 6 months or even 6 months or 12 months, it may take some years.

How will we do or even fathom that without ensuring robust and dynamic cultural capacity? How do we understand our collective identity and enliven a sense of democratic fabric of what we value?  How will we imagine a world and ways of working and being different from what we know now?  What will we fight for? 

Through this period, the stories that are told, the things that weave identity and purpose, the songs we sing, the places we come together are fundamental to reshaping how we see, understand and engage with one another and with the changing world order. 

Culture and creativity cannot be one of the drivers for the future of society and economic prosperity from a position of marginalisation – whether through under-capitalisation or because we are not optimising these aspects of who we are and how we relate to deliver impact. 

Arts-based and creative enterprises were early adopters of mission-driven business. They have demonstrated where commercial revenue models, governments and donor funds could be brought together in complementary ways. 

Many have influence and reach – think a Billie Eilish concert requiring venues to include more sustainable food options for concert goers; think the Guggenheim at Bilbao which has helped re-enliven the city and region and its economy. 

Creativity and culture can bring energy and focus within a world where much progress has been strong and ugly.  They can communicate the complexity of what people are experiencing and inspire a vision for what could be and transport us beyond the experience today to a shared future to which people can aspire and in which people can see themselves and their families.

Creative industries can be emblematic of a broader, more dynamic and multi-faceted conception of value. They stand as beacons of the ways in which (non-financial) value is often left on the table. 

The creative economy encompasses a kaleidoscope of enterprises, from fashion to social media, hospitality, live entertainment and creative spaces.  It is economically significant. A 2022 UNESCO study found the creative and cultural sector contributes 3.1% of global GDP and accounting for some 6.2% of global employment. These enterprises and sectors also bring new and different jobs, utilisation of real estate, health outcomes and a range of other social and economic outcomes, and have a higher multiplier effect than many industries. 

The creative and cultural sector has featured in impact longer than we’ve had the term impact investment.  Triodos Bank has a long track record of financing arts organisations, based on the belief that ‘they contribute to society by connecting ideas and people, and reflecting, stimulating and encouraging positive change’. 

The Australian Chamber Orchestra Instrument Fund enabled the orchestra to develop what’s billed as the greatest golden age collection of instruments in the world, attracting talent and providing a competitive edge for musicians and a unique experience for audiences. 

BPIFrance has invested billions of Euros in French companies spanning fashion, music, film, gaming, media, design, publishing, and lifestyle, with a clear focus on export and trade for French brands and culture. 

Yet, even in conventional financial and economic terms, the full potential of the cultural economy remains untapped. 

This is a story we know in the impact investment field.  And like analogues across other domains of impact, investment is already happening across the spectrum from grass roots to institutional scale and across asset classes, from innovative, bespoke transactions to funds and portfolios at scale.

There are practitioners around the world demonstrating the potential of investment in creative industries and for cultural considerations to inform a more developed and transformative approach to how we conceive of and deliver impact. 

In many ways the creative and cultural industries and impacts sit at an apex of what it is and what it could be to realise the ambition of this field of impact investment and evolve impact economies.

Funds and transactions and new value creation already a feature of impact and broader markets – and more potential still unrealised.  

There is a vibrancy and dynamism to cultural life that helps us understand ourselves and others that is imperative for understanding what makes us human, what we value in our democracies and for facing into the challenges of these times. 

As we navigate the difficulties and uncertainty changing and challenging us, creative industries provide humour and insight, capture the unimaginable and are a source of both distraction and focus, giving voice to hard truths, speaking a different kind of truth to power and reminding us of our common humanity, who we are, what we love, and how we are connected.  

Perhaps then, it’s a robust creative sector that can illuminate a future in which people can see themselves, find a shared humanity and bring into relief the shape of a future people can agree upon and get behind. 

Thank you”