About US
EXPERT-LED SMALL GROUP JOURNEYS EXPLORING FINE ART, HISTORY & THE PERFORMING ARTS
Limelight Arts Travel is a cultural travel company based in Sydney, Australia. Each year we offer a select range of culturally themed travel experiences both within Australia and abroad, especially to Italy. All our journeys are led by subject experts, passionate about sharing their knowledge. There is a maximum of 16-20 people in a group. Journeys abroad generally last from 10-17 days.
Our journeys are designed to appeal to lovers of art, music, history and culture who are seeking enriching and stimulating travel that is flexible but nevertheless carefully planned.
We offer a distinctive range of travel styles, including:
long-stay programs which investigate a destination in depth
active programs which incorporate walking, art classes and short history and culture courses
visits to performing arts festivals
small group coach journeys
Limelight Arts Travel is a partner company of Limelight, for 45 years Australia’s leading publication in the field of classical music and the performing arts. Each year more than 1 million readers access our reviews, news and features through Limelight’s website and monthly magazine.
Looking for Limelight magazine? Please visit their website here.
SMALL GROUP JOURNEYS
Our tours are designed for travellers with a strong interest in history, art, music and culture and have a maximum of 20 people in a group
GAIN KNOWLEDGE AND INSPIRATION
Our tour leaders combine genuine scholarly insight with enthusiasm and finely-honed leadership skills
SLOW DOWN AND SEE MORE
Long stays and a balance between group activities and independent exploration are a feature of our journeys
The perfectly planned itinerary
Designing an itinerary is much more than finding the top ten things to do between two airports. Our genuine academic expertise enables us to select fabulous sites to visit that help you to understand the different histories and cultures of the place you’re visiting. Over the course of a tour you’ll gain a deeper understanding and richer appreciation of your chosen destination. Our thorough knowledge of practicalities, from hotels and restaurants to even the roads with the best views, ensure your time away with us will be as comfortable and stress-free as possible.
Genuine Expertise
Limelight Arts Travel prides itself on the genuine expertise of its tour leaders and lecturers. With solid postgraduate qualifications, extensive teaching experience at university level and a history of undertaking research, our tour leaders are thorough subject area experts. But they’re also very familiar with the destinations to which they lead tours, having lived, worked or travelled to those places for decades, and many of our tour leaders have significant second language expertise too.
PASSIONATE COMMUNICATORS
Most importantly, our tour leaders and lecturers are passionate communicators. They understand that the significance of a destination is more than a dusty collection of facts or statistics, and their subject area expertise means that they are sensitive to the cultural specificity and contemporary local experience of the places they travel. They know what you need to understand, and when you need to hear it – but they also appreciate that the most memorable parts of a trip can be unexpected and personal joys, so they’re adept at stepping back when necessary.
Limelight Arts Traveller
As anyone who has travelled will know, half the pleasure is in the anticipation – dreaming, planning and learning about the destination. As well as touring, Limelight Arts Travel offers online lectures, podcasts, blog articles and videos exploring history, art and culture around the world. Our online lecture programs let you experience the world of Limelight Arts Travel without leaving your lounge room. Our podcasts, blogs and short videos explore the destinations and topics that our tour leaders know and love. They are a great way to get to know our expert tour leaders and find out what we’re all about.
You’ll find all of our content here at Limelight Arts Traveller.
Lecture Program
Our lecture programs bring the knowledge of our experts to you throughout the year, with topics ranging from classical music, to Renaissance Italy, Japanese art and the history of music in the German-speaking lands. These events are a great way to get to know our expert tour leaders and find out what we’re all about, and to learn more from the comfort of home.
Responsible Tourism
Travel is an intensive activity, but it also provides a livelihood for almost 1 in 10 people globally. Our short term goal is to make our Australian operations carbon neutral by 2025. At the same time, we will begin the undertaking of the first steps to reduce the footprint of our tours - and the complex Scope 3 emissions they entail in an international supply chain.
We will keep you updated about our roadmap to these goals, our progress and the challenges that may arise in a dedicated blog in Limelight Arts Traveller.
Corporate Responsibility
At Limelight Arts Travel, we believe in the transformative potential of education to enrich people's lives and amplify their potential. We have personally experienced the benefits of education and are committed to supporting opportunities for others.
For every person who joins one of our tours, we make a donation to The Smith Family's Learning for Life program. It creates better futures for disadvantaged Australian children by providing financial assistance and access to educational programs. We send an annual update in our newsletter detailing our contributions and how they have been directed by The Smith Family to close the educational gap.
Our Team
The Limelight Arts Travel team brings together genuine academic expertise, decades of experience organising special-interest travel, and the renowned quality and connoisseurship of Limelight, for 40 years Australia's authoritative journal of classical music, culture and the performing arts. We have established relationships with travel partners in Australia and abroad, to ensure the thoughtful and smooth planning and execution of our tour program.
Nick Gordon – Director
Nick Gordon has designed cultural tours since 2005. He holds a University Medal and a PhD in History, both from the University of Sydney, and taught history, architectural history and cultural studies for a number of years at the University of Sydney, UNSW and Western Sydney University. Most recently, he designed and implemented a comprehensive short course and lecture program for Academy Travel, and he is also the owner of the online educational platform The Short Course. He has experience in partnership development, working with Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre, the Australia Council for the Arts and the Nicholson Museum, and has strong destination knowledge of Western and Central Europe and Australasia, as well as in the design of contemporary art tours.
Kathleen Olive – Director
Kathleen Olive is one of Australia’s most recognised cultural tour leaders, with more than 15 years’ experience designing tours and leading groups to Western Europe, Asia, Australasia and North America. She led popular tours for Academy Travel for over a decade, and was most recently Head of Product at Renaissance Tours. With a PhD in Italian Studies, Kathleen has published scholarly research in Italian Renaissance studies and has been a regular lecturer at the Italian Institute of Culture (Sydney), the Art Gallery of NSW, The Johnston Collection (Melbourne), and for the Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society (ADFAS). She has outstanding destination knowledge of Western Europe, North America and Japan.
Robert Veel - Director
We are saddened to report the passing of Robert Veel in early October 2023.
Robert Veel has significant expertise as a founder of cultural tour programs, having led the tour program at the University of Sydney’s Centre for Continuing Education as Deputy Director before co-founding Academy Travel in 2004. For 17 years he designed and led tours to Italy, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Taiwan, Turkey, the United States and within Australia, and he is one of Australia’s best known tour leaders. He has a BA in Italian and a Masters of Education from the University of Sydney, where he also lectured for several years. With Bruce Watson, he is a director of Limelight Arts Media Pty Ltd and co-publisher of Limelight magazine. A dedicated italophile, Robert spends part of every year in his beloved Venice.
Bruce Watson – Director
Bruce Watson has significant professional experience as an actuary and senior executive, specialising in the management of long-tail insurance and compensation schemes. Now self-employed, Bruce was a founding director of Finity Consulting and has held senior management roles with Comcare and as an external member of Oxfam Australia’s Finance Risk and Audit Committee. He is a director of Limelight Arts Media Pty Ltd, which publishes Limelight magazine in print and online. Bruce is also a director of Operantics and sings with Bel a Cappella and the Sydney Philharmonia Chamber Singers.
Rebecca Kitlinska - Senior Operations Manager
Rebecca Kitlinska leads our operations team and is an industry professional with over twenty years’ experience in small group cultural travel. Rebecca has worked at Wendy Wu Tours, one of Australia’s leading providers of specialist tours to Asia, as well as most recently at Bill Peach Journeys, which honed her expertise in Australasian cultural tour offerings. For five years, Rebecca was Head of Operations at Renaissance Tours, one of Australia’s largest cultural tour operators. She lived and worked in Italy, speaks Italian, and has travelled extensively in Europe, South East Asia and Africa. Rebecca looks after the client journey at Limelight Arts Travel, liaising with our group members before their departure and ensuring that all on-tour arrangements run smoothly.
Mark Lalor - Senior Product Manager
Mark Lalor researches and designs our tour itineraries. He has more than 30 years experience in the travel industry, having commenced his career as a concierge in a large 4* hotel in Tokyo before working as a flight attendant with Qantas International and as a frequent flyer specialist in United Airlines Reservations. He was an Aircruise Director for Bill Peach’s Aircruising Australia and has worked as a product designer at Explore Holidays (Africa specialist), the Centre for Continuing Education’s study tour program, Academy Travel and Renaissance Tours. Mark speaks fluent Japanese and has significant expertise in designing tours to Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Scandinavia.
Jee Tai - Finance Officer
Jee Tai is Limelight Arts Travel's Finance Officer, looking after our accounts, bookkeeping and financial records management. She has over 30 years of experience in accounting, including almost a decade at Trood Pratt & Co Chartered Accountants as a Business Service Accountant. For the last several years, she has worked as an independent bookkeeper. Jee is a frequent traveller herself, visiting family in Malaysia, and she counts dancing and cooking among her spare time pursuits.