Arnel Rodriguez, Creative Services Manager, Transport for NSW, Brand Lead, Communicating the Arts (Sydney, Australia)

Arnel Rodriguez is the Creative Services Manager at Transport for NSW and the brand lead for the Communicating the Arts conference. He has over 15 years of design and leadership experience across cultural institutions and government, having previously managed design delivery and strategy at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and Museums of History NSW.

As a multiple-award-winning design lead, Arnel focuses on translating curatorial and organisational objectives into clear visual narratives. His expertise spans comprehensive branding initiatives, high-profile campaigns, and multidisciplinary design across exhibitions, publications, and digital platforms, with his work receiving recognition from Museums Australia and other industry bodies. By combining his background in the cultural sector with the operational scale of public infrastructure, Arnel brings a strategic approach to complex creative problem-solving.

Connected Worlds: The Architecture of Breakthrough Creativity

We are often told to "think outside the box", but true innovation rarely comes from staring at a blank canvas - it comes from colliding entirely different worlds. In Connected Worlds, this interactive breakout session dismantles traditional views on creativity to explore the power of cross-pollination.

Grounded in Frans Johansson's concept of "The Intersection", this session reveals how monumental leaps in design and problem-solving occur when distinct disciplines borrow from one another. Audiences will discover the hidden lineages of everyday and extraordinary innovations - from how the mechanics of a commercial ballpoint pen inspired the first roll-on deodorant, to how ancient Japanese origami techniques are currently being used by NASA to fold massive solar arrays for space travel.

Particularly within the cultural and scientific sectors, the most successful communications and operational breakthroughs happen at these intersections. The presentation explores compelling case studies, including how the Yale School of Medicine utilises the Yale Center for British Art to drastically improve clinical observation skills, and how modern exhibition spaces are adopting Disney Imagineering tactics to revolutionise storytelling.

Moving beyond theory, the session concludes with a hands-on "Reverse Engineer" workshop, challenging attendees to abstract everyday systems and map their mechanics directly to their own curatorial, programming, or audience engagement challenges. Connected Worlds leaves cultural practitioners with a tangible framework for stepping out of institutional silos, looking to adjacent fields, and designing their own breakthrough exhibitions and visitor experiences.