Kath Dolan is a freelance journalist and communications consultant, and the Head of Publicity, Events and Partnerships at ClarkeHopkinsClarke Architects, Melbourne Connect’s anchor tenant. She writes regularly for design media including Green magazine and Houses, and works with established and emerging leaders in the arts, business and social impact to tell timely stories of substance.
For two decades Kath worked as an editor at Lonely Planet and Niche and a freelance feature writer and columnist for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, where her Meet the Maker column was syndicated nationally. Her stories and client collaborations have been published in Architecture Australia, Habitus and Indesign; broadcast on ABC Radio National and Triple R; and programmed at NGV Melbourne Design Week and Open House Melbourne.
Kath was drawn to ClarkeHopkinsClarke five years ago for its longstanding commitment to holistic, measurable, collective impact at scale through community focussed architecture, urban design and interiors. As Australia’s largest architectural BCorp, the certified carbon neutral practice is part of a network of 8255 businesses in 96 countries using best practice social, environmental and governance to transform the global economy.
She works in a small, highly collaborative marketing team in a national practice of 170 creative people with studios in Melbourne and Sydney. At any given time there are multiple fascinating projects on the go, from zero-carbon communities to inclusive schools, hospital redevelopments and regenerative master planning. So the challenge and fun of her role is identifying precisely which stories to tell, when and how, in order to achieve maximum impact in everyone’s interests. Having a journo’s nose for news, an editor’s eye for detail and a publicist’s strategic approach definitely helps.
Curiosity, playfulness, purpose and optimism keep life endlessly interesting. Ditto opportunities to nurture talent and keep morphing to meet the changing demands of contemporary storytelling. She’s literally pitching editors one minute and curating events the next.
One of Kath’s enduring joys is the First Nations Design group she co-founded at CHC to help designers embed designing with Country into commercial practice. This passionate crew’s evolving learnings and impacts are her most rewarding storytelling opportunity to date. They excite and motivate her head, heart and spirit.
