Australian actress Cate Blanchett may have missed out on a second Oscar, but she has been picked to head a think-tank on the future of arts in Australia as a consolation prize, the Australian Government said.
Blanchett, who lost to Tilda Swinton and Marion Cotillard in two female
acting categories at the Oscars ceremony, has been picked by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to head an arts panel at an April summit that will also deal with other challenges facing the country, such as climate change.
Blanchett, the co-artistic director and a board member of the Sydney Theatre Company, will lead 100 of the country's best minds in a brain-storming session on the subject "Towards a Creative Australia" during the same month her third child is due.
"Individuals such as Cate Blanchett, along with the other nine members of this national steering committee for the summit, are competent, creative individuals in their own right, with ideas to contribute," Rudd said.
