Cate Blanchett leads Australia arts brainstorming meet

Australian actress Cate Blanchett, nominated for two Oscars for best actress in ''Elizabeth: The Golden Age'' and as best supporting actress for ''I'm Not There'' respectively, arrives at the 80th annual Academy Awards in Hollywood February 24, 2008.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australian actress Cate Blanchett may have missed out on a second Oscar, but she has been picked to head a think-tank on the future of arts in her home country as a consolation prize, the government said on Tuesday.

Blanchett, whom lost to Tilda Swinton and Marion Cotillard in two female acting categories at Oscar ceremony, has been picked by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to head an arts panel at an April summit that will also deal with other challenges facing the country such as climate change.

Blanchett, the co-artistic director and a board member of the Sydney Theatre Company, will lead 100 of the country's best minds in a brain-storming session on the subject "Towards a Creative Australia" during the same month her third child is due.

"Individuals such as Cate Blanchett along with the other nine members of this national steering committee for the summit, are competent, creative individuals in their own right, with ideas to contribute," Rudd told Australian radio. The April 19-20 summit will bring together 1,000 of Australia's best thinkers to discuss 10 areas critical to the nation's future, including the economy and climate shift.

(Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)