by Carla Caruso

A ballroom dance class was what led Marina Ritchie to joining the 2023 Adelaide Park Lands Art Prize organising committee.

It was there that she met Nataliya Sard – the committee’s chair – and the two connected over their love of the arts. Both are also originally from Russia.

Marina said with a laugh: “The difference between us is that Nataliya was a ballet dancer who always dreamt of being a ballroom dancer, and I was a ballroom dancer who dreamt of being a ballet dancer.”

While Marina now works as a business coach and marketing consultant, she was heavily involved in the arts as a teen. This included coming up with the idea for a website for musicians from her hometown of Vladivostok - and designing it.

She said: “When I started my corporate career, the arts had to go on the backburner. So, when Nataliya said that she was going to be involved [with the Park Lands Art Prize committee], I said I really wanted to be involved as well, because I really miss that part of my life.”

Her role, as marketing guru, has been to “spread the word as much as possible” about the competition, online and beyond.

And spread the word Marina has. The number of entries this year – 480 – “exceeded all of our wild expectations”. It was a record for the contest, up 33 per cent on the 360 entries that were received last time.

In February, the judges spent a whole day working through these entries, whittling them down to just 80 finalists.

Marina was grateful not to have the hard task of being one of the judges. “I’ve been amazed by every single entry. Instead of trying to narrow them down, I probably would search for an opportunity to display them all!”

She adds: “I think what makes the Park Lands Art Prize very unique is that it’s open to all media – mixed media, digital photography, you name it. We’ve even had hats and jewellery. There is no limitation. It’s whatever you could imagine and not even imagine as a form of art.”

Also special, according to Marina, is the 16 different prize categories, extending from school students to First Nations artists.

Marina’s focus is now on promoting all the finalists’ work, which are up for sale. (Thirty per cent of the proceeds go to the Adelaide Park Lands Association, to fund our activities of Explore, Inspire, Protect and Restore.)

There’s also the VIP opening night at the Adelaide Festival Centre on March 24. All the finalists have been invited, with the winners announced on the night.

The public will then have six weeks to view the artworks – at the Festival Centre - and to consider buying one or more of the pieces that will be on display.

For Marina, it’s been a whirlwind few months, but when she needs to catch her breath, she knows the perfect place: the Adelaide Himeji Garden in Peppermint Park / Wita Wirra (Park 18).

In the port city of Vladivostok, she used to watch the sunset at the beach most nights to unwind. But in Adelaide, her retreat from daily life is this authentic Japanese garden.

“It’s just my thinking spot when I need to connect to myself. The timer stops. I grew up close to Japan [Vladivostok is near its border], and I used to know Japanese pretty well. So, this is like my second home.”