The 1999 annual CHCI meeting was held in Brisbane, Australia, July 5–8, 1999. Entitled “The Humanities, Arts and Public Culture in Two Hemispheres,” the conference took place at the Queensland Art Gallery and focused on the role of arts and humanities in relation to intellectuals and public cultural institutions, private versus public funding of the arts and humanities, and the ways in which the arts and humanities have been affected by the privatization of culture. The conference was co-organized by John Frow and Iain McCalman, in conjunction with the Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University and the Australian Key Centre for Cultural and Media Policy. The plenary speakers included Ien Ang, Michael Bérubé, Chua Beng Huat, Kathleen Woodward, Malcolm Gillies, Helen Grace, Doug Hall, Ian Hunter, J. Paul Hunter, Meaghan Morris, Margo Neale, Frank Panucci, Paul Patton, Richard Rorty, Gabriele Schwab, and Thomas Streeter.