National Council Elections 2017-2019
2017 is an election year for the Museums Galleries Australia National Council. Inside this booklet are the nominees for the position of Ordinary Member for election. There are six (6) Ordinary Member positions available. The National Council Executive positions of President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer have been filled. Nominations for these four positions were unopposed and therefore there will be no election for the Executive. The National Council for 2017-2019 will be announced at the Museums Galleries Australia Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 16 May 2017 at the Brisbane Convention and Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, as part of the National Conference, Museums in their cultural landscapes (14-17 May). Please carefully review the candidates for Ordinary Member and vote for the six people that you feel would best represent the museums and galleries sector at the national level for the next two years. Remember that each State/Territory has automatic representation by their President on National Council separately from these Ordinary Members. Candidates appear here in alphabetical order. The order on the voting form was determined by lot.
Ordinary Member Nominees Paul Bowers Paul Bowers has been Head Exhibitions at Museums Victoria for three and a half years. Prior to that, Paul led exhibition development and major projects at the Natural History Museum, London and the National Railway Museum, York, UK. Paul is committed to engaging audiences with great stories and collections, and supporting our sector s positive impact on society through supporting our sector s talented people, and creating strong evidence-based advocacy. Head, Exhibitions Museums Victoria Melbourne Dr Mark Crees Director Araluen Cultural Precinct Alice Springs Mark Crees is the Director of the Araluen Cultural Precinct in Alice Springs, a 9 hectare Northern Territory Government site encompassing Central Australia s key cultural institutions and collections, including the Araluen Arts Centre, one of the most remote major regional galleries in the country and home to the Araluen Art Collection, with a focus on the beginning and continuing development of contemporary Australian Aboriginal art and artistic response to place. As Director, Mark has overall responsibility for leadership, site management and the management of the human, financial and, as appropriate, cultural resources of the Araluen Cultural Precinct including the development and implementation of Araluen Arts Centre: Galleries and Theatre programming and the development, implementation and monitoring of community and arts sector communication strategies to promote an awareness of Government priorities and programs, as delivered by the Araluen Cultural Precinct. Mark is a creative and people-focused arts leader with an outstanding record of success in strategic, operational and financial management as well as planning and organisational development, particularly within the government, not-for-profit and arts and culture sectors. Mark has a PhD in critical and cultural theory and has twenty years experience across multiple parts of the arts and community sectors. Mark brings both a citybased and regional perspective to the overarching place that museums and galleries occupy in the Australian and international arts and culture ecology and is keen to contribute to the advancement of cultural facilities and collections, particularly museums, galleries and historic houses, in relation to their contribution to the fabric of Australian culture, including attention to the place that our first peoples occupy in this narrative.
Suzanne Davies Suzanne Davies is Director and Chief Curator, RMIT Gallery from 1996. Suzanne studied Art, Art History and Marketing at RMIT, Universities of Melbourne, LaTrobe and UTS respectively. She has extensive publishing and curatorial experience having curated and managed some 280 exhibitions of fine arts, design, craft, fashion architecture and new media in Australia and internationally and been active in arts publishing as company director, editor, designer, critic and writer in publications as various as LIP: Women in the Visual & Performing Arts, Arts Melbourne, Art-Network, Monument and The Australian, News Ltd. She has served on the board of many national bodies, as Chair of the Biennale of Sydney Director RMIT Gallery Melbourne 1991 1996, the Commonwealth Tax Incentives for the Arts Committee, Cultural Gifts Program and Board member and Chair, Commonwealth Australia-India Council, DFAT; as President of the Jessie Street National Women s Library, Family Health Foundation, Print Council of Australia and Museums Australia (Victoria); as Board member Australia Business Arts Foundation 1997 2009 and was co-founder of NAVA (National Association for the Visual Arts). She currently serves on the board of the Dax Centre. Suzanne is the Chair of the MGA Galleries Taskforce, which is looking at ways of improving advocacy and representation of Australia s galleries. Sacha Fawkes Sacha has been an educator for the past 10 years working in schools, arts organisations, and museums. He has successfully developed programs at the Western Australian Museum and the National Museum of Australia for primary, secondary, and adult audiences. Having lived in remote, regional, and urban Australia he brings a range of networks, perspectives, and experience. He is also passionate about creating opportunities for early career professionals. Education Officer National Museum of Australia Canberra
Timothy Hart Director Public Engagement Museums Victoria Melbourne Dr Lynda Kelly Director LyndaKellyNetworks New South Wales Tim has worked in museums for nearly 30 years, in collection management, policy development, project management, information technology, multimedia development and senior management. In 1997 Tim was appointed National Project Manager of Australian Museums On Line (AMOL). In 1999 he became Chief Information Officer at the Powerhouse Museum, establishing a new division and executive role. In 2001 Tim was appointed Director of Information, Multimedia and Technology at Museum Victoria. Tim was involved in the establishment of the Australian Registrars Committee (ARC) in the early nineties and has been an active member of Museums Australia for over 15 years. For the past two years I have been the Director of Public Engagement at Museum Victoria. I am passionate about the positive role technology can play in driving change and innovation in museums, we are all living through a period of significant change largely driven by technology - let s enjoy the ride while we re-shape our museums and redefine our role within the community. Tim is concerned about Museums Galleries Australia s direction and believes that radical change is needed around membership. What does a vibrant membership organisation look like in 2017? Lynda is currently the Director of LyndaKellyNetworks, a consultancy specialising in audience research, digital production and learning/ education across the cultural sector and government. Before this Lynda was the Head of Learning at the Australian National Maritime Museum, responsible for all visitor programs and engagement across the museum s physical and digital sites, and prior to this was Manager of Online, Editing and Audience Research at the Australian Museum. Lynda has been working in the museum sector since 1987 and has an extensive knowledge of and publication record across audience research, digital technologies and learning. She completed her PhD in museum learning in 2007 and is principal author of the popular professional development blog Museums and the Digital. During 2012-2013 Lynda taught Museums and the Digital (Museum Studies, Sydney University), and placed more than 100 interns from Australia and internationally. Lynda has made a great contribution to MGA over the past two years, enjoying her time on the Council as Chair of multiple sub-committees including Communications, and Awards. Lynda really wants to continue with this work, especially as the Chair of the Professional Development sub-committee an area she is passionate about, has lots of ideas on and wants to see MGA move ahead with in order to meet the needs of a digitally-literate, younger membership who desire new ways of engaging with their national professional association.
Craig Middleton Craig Middleton is the Curator, Centre of Democracy (History Trust of South Australia) in Adelaide, South Australia. He works towards researching, collecting, documenting and interpreting South Australian democracy and political history. Additionally, he works towards LGBTIQ+ inclusion in museums and galleries through community engagement projects. Craig also sits on the MGA South Australia branch committee and the MGA Emerging Professional National Network steering committee. He is dedicated to supporting early career and emerging professionals in SA and across the country through his involvements. Curator, Centre of Democracy History Trust of SA Adelaide John Petersen Curator, advisor & consultant Victoria John Petersen is the outgoing Director of the not for profit Duldig Studio museum + sculpture garden in Melbourne. John is currently regional museums advisor to the Wollongong City Council, a casual lecturer in Significance for Melbourne University s Master of Art Curatorship course, and a collections curator at Yarra Ranges Regional Museum in Victoria. In 2016, John Petersen was the co-consultant for the GLAM Peak digital collections access for small organisations national project. John has worked in the museum and heritage sector for over 20 years across diverse collections from modernist 20th century art at Duldig Studio to convict collections as the supervising curator of the Hyde Park Barracks Museum in Sydney and more recently as resident heritage manager on Norfolk Island. As the first movable heritage policy officer for the NSW Heritage Office, John developed state-wide policies for movable heritage collections, and brokered collaborative collection thematic studies in regional NSW resulting in many publications. John was for 9 years the manager of the Powerhouse Museum s NSW Migration Heritage Centre working in partnership with museums and galleries across NSW, documenting migration and settlement collections and telling migration stories on-line, in print and exhibitions. In 2016 he continued his association with the Illawarra Migration Heritage Project Inc and was volunteer editor of Meredith Walker s book Every Story Counts. John has worked in large and small museums, in curatorial, leadership and policy roles supported by staff and volunteers. John is passionate about the opportunities for regional museums and galleries to collaborate in documenting their diverse collections with communities and sharing their stories on the internet.
Rebecca Pinchin Collections Manager National Trust of Australia (NSW) Sydney Rebecca Pinchin has worked with local government and community museums and organisations in regional NSW for over 20 years. She trained as an educator and worked initially in schools in western New South Wales before transferring to the regional museum and gallery sector. Rebecca was for 13 years the manager of regional services at the PHM where she developed an acclaimed program working with museums and galleries across NSW in collaborative projects, advice on collections, internships, student fellowships, mentoring, workshops, exhibitions and community festivals. She was one of the instigators and the manager of the Australian Dress register, planning and delivering training to help museums list significant costumes on the register. Rebecca Pinchin is currently the collections manager of the National Trust museums in NSW where she works with the volunteers and managers at the Trust s historic properties across NSW. Rebecca understands the importance of the collections held in museums and galleries for the identity, history and contemporary culture of their communities. She believes that capturing local stories and a creative engagement with the material culture of the past, enriches our lives and informs our future as a community. Rebecca Pinchin is passionate about working collaboratively to support those who care for cultural collections in museums and galleries across Australia. Samantha Rutter Writer and Museum Educator Canberra Samantha Rutter s career in museum education and public programming has spanned the State Library of Victoria, the Australian War Memorial, Bell Shakespeare, the National Library of Australia, and the National Archives of Australia. She has also worked as a museum education consultant. At the heart of her approach to public engagement in GLAM settings, is a passion for communicating cultural heritage, and a steely determination to ensure that geographic location is no hindrance to accessing museums and keeping places. In 2008, she was a research fellow at the Bibliothéque nationale de France, which focused on engaging young audiences. Her alter ego, Samantha Tidy, is a published and award-winning author, and she is a Director on the Board of the ACT Writers Centre.
Debbie Sommers Volunteer Curator Port Macquarie Museum Port Macquarie Debbie Sommers is the volunteer curator at the Port Macquarie Museum, Vice -President of the Port Macquarie Historical Society, President of Museums Australia Mid North Coast Chapter, Convenor of the Hastings Museums and Heritage Group, and a member of Museums and Galleries of NSW Panel of Peers. As a leader, manager, mentor, advocate, worker and participant in the sector for the past 15 years, Debbie has become well aware of the issues facing regional, community and volunteer-managed museums. Debbie believes that volunteer managed and regional museums need representation at the National Council. Volunteer-managed museums hold a large proportion of Australia s significant cultural collections but are generally overlooked when it comes to national planning and resourcing initiatives. Community and volunteer-managed museums, and particularly their collections, need dedicated advocacy if they are to break the poverty cycle in which they operate and exist. Suesann Vos Consultant Brisbane Suesann Vos describes herself as a Museum Mummy and has worked in the industry at Senior and Executive level for the last 10 years. She is deeply passionate about Museums and their contribution to society and loves technology and new media. A specialist in digital marketing, business development and cultural tourism with a Degree in Archaeology, Anthropology and Politics and a Diploma in Management. Suesann is a strategic thinker, a strong networker and believes in the linkage between innovation and sustainability, with a passion for regional museums. Suesann is well credentialed academically and has a commitment to ongoing learning, she enthusiastically seeks opportunities to share her expertise with people and organisations. Suesann is the Sponsorship and Marketing Manager for the Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology, is a Director on the Board of the Queensland Sports Museum, is secretary of Museums Galleries Australia Queensland, Ordinary Member on Museums Galleries Australia National Council, and is on the Moreton Bay Regional Council s Cultural Strategy Working Group. Suesann is well versed in the Design, Implementation and Management of sophisticated Marketing Activities combining best practice with day to day hands on practicalities, her work has recently been acknowledged by Arts QLD with her addition to the Culture Champions Wall of Fame. Suesann likes to get things done, and influence positive change.