John Smithies is an artist and arts manager with experienced in programming, executive management, research, and policy development. He studied at the Tasmanian School of Art, the South Australian School of Art, Monash University and the Academy of Fine Art Karlsruhe, Germany. From 1992, John was Director of the State Film Centre of Victoria, initiating and leading it through its transformation to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) at Federation Square, Melbourne.

Since joining CDN in 2005, he has applied this experience working with the Board and a highly skilled team to develop stronger planning and evaluation frameworks for cultural development across arts, libraries, and heritage.

The successful completion of multiple local government research projects from 2006 to 2013, led to the establishment of the National Local Government Cultural Forum (2013–2018), a partnership between the Federal Government, through the Australia Council for the Arts, and local government across Australia. A primary focus of the Cultural Forum was the development of an evidenced-based and outcomes-focused planning framework for local government and others in the cultural sector. Central to the framework is a schema of measurable outcomes alongside an agreed set of inputs and outputs that are applicable across different cultural activities for all levels of governments.

These frameworks underpin the WhiteBox Outcomes Planning Platform®, which is being developed and rolled-out with publicly funded cultural organisations, capital cities and other councils across Australia.