The Board and staff of Melbourne Theatre Company congratulate MTC Chair Jane Hansen on her appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the Australia Day Honours, for ‘distinguished service to the community, to education and cultural institutions, and through philanthropic support for charitable foundations.’
Jane joined MTC’s Board in 2014 and in 2015 she led the establishment of the Company’s Foundation, of which she was founding Chair. With the Foundation Board, she has overseen its success in raising extensive philanthropic support for MTC’s mainstage productions, as well as the Company’s landmark Education Program (the largest of any State theatre company in Australia), Women in Theatre Program (unique in the nation’s cultural history), NEXT STAGE Writers’ Program (the largest play development program ever undertaken by an Australian theatre company), and the First Peoples Young Artists Program (a one-of-a-kind learning opportunity for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people interested in a career in the performing arts).
As MTC Foundation Chair, Jane also established MTC’s General Endowment Fund (GEF) with the largest single gift in MTC’s history from the Hansen Little Foundation, of which she is executive Chair.
Jane is also Deputy Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, of which MTC is a Department, and a Board Member of Melbourne’s Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation and of Opera Australia.
In December 2019, Jane was appointed Chair of Melbourne Theatre Company. MTC is very proud that Jane’s contribution to this Company and a raft of other social, cultural and education enterprises – locally and nationally – has been recognised with this honour.
Published on 28 January 2020