On May 4 we were honoured to greet guest speaker Clive Scott AM, General Manager of our host hotel, Sofitel on Collins.
Clive was awarded an AM in June 2021 for services to the arts and hospitality. Having devoted years to the hotel industry, including sixteen years as GM of the Sofitel, also a dominant force benefitting society and the arts, supporting populations in Oceania and Melbourne (Committee for Melbourne, Melbourne Awards) igniting courage and fresh thinking in art (Georges Mora Fellowship) and supporting transcendent, transformative art (Finucane and Smith) as well as classical music, craft, dance, opera and visual art.
Clive Scott spoke to the interdependency of arts revival and hospitality in Melbourne. He acknowledged Rotary Melbourne as the first organisation to hold an event post-lockdown. He explained the difference between Melbourne as a cultural capital in 2018 and now. He forecasted that pre-pandemic activity would rebuild by 2024. He pointed out that more people visit cultural events than a whole range of sporting activities bundled together and illustrated how the hotel industry in Melbourne benefits from and contributes to their interdependency. He cited the NGV Winter Masterpieces bringing millions of visitors to Melbourne and accounting for one quarter of hotel occupancy. He also mentioned the partnership between the Sofitel and the M Pavilion (opposite the Arts Centre). There was a moment of poignancy when he recalled that the Sofitel was inhabited at one point of the lockdown by himself and just three staff. Current occupancy - fifty-one per cent. Clive Scott’s final point: it is not just the arts which make Melbourne such a cultural drawcard, it is culinary, sport, events, lifestyle and accommodation working hand in hand. Clive Scott cited a family staying at the Sofitel. The wife went shopping, the husband went to the AFL and their children went to the NGV. Hence Melbourne is progressive, compact, and sophisticated – a gateway to and from Regional Victoria, Interstate and the world.
The video of the meeting can be viewed by following this link: https://youtu.be/T5RSJFSdodk
