Richard Letts

Education

In 1964 he moved to the University of California (Berkeley) where he completed his Doctor of Philosophy in 1971.

Career

Richard Letts trained as a classical pianist and composer and worked as a jazz band leader in his early years. In 1972 he built and became the director of the East Bay Center for Performing Arts, a community performing arts school in a ghetto on San Francisco’s East Bay. In 1980 he became Director of the MacPhail Center for the Arts, the downtown music school of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and in 1981 was elected Vice-President of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts.

In 1982 Doctor Letts returned to Australia as Director of the Music Board of the Australia Council, where he initiated major developments in policy that "had a profound influence in reshaping the pattern of government support for music in Australia" (Bebbington 1997).

He became Director of the Australian Music Centre in 1987, and introduced programs in digitisation, record production, publishing, retailing, the awards program and others In 1994, he founded the Music Council of Australia, of which he is currently (2009) the Executive Director.

In 2005, he was elected President of the International Music Council, based in United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in Paris, and has been responsible for some major innovations in its program including establishment of an international Music Sector Development Program, the weekly e-bulletin Music World News and the initiation of the International Minerals and Chemical Corporation Musical Rights Doctorate.

Achievements

• 1996: Member of the Order of Australia (Department of Administration and Management) under the Australian honours system, for services to music 2008: The Addiction Prevention and Recovery Administration/Administrative Management College Classical Music Award for Long-Term Contribution to the Advancement of Australian Music.