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The Board of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia (NPGA) has announced the appointment of Karen Quinlan as its incoming Director.
For the past 18 years, Quinlan has been Director of the Bendigo Art Gallery, serving as its Curator for three years prior to that. Under her leadership the Bendigo Art Gallery has come to be recognised internationally for the quality of its exhibitions, many undertaken with overseas partners, such as the National Portrait Gallery in London. Many of those exhibitions have focused on portraiture, such as the iconic Grace Kelly exhibition and the recently announced staging of the Tudors to Windsors exhibition.
Quinlan is also currently Professor of Practice at the La Trobe Art Institute, within La Trobe University. This builds on her long-standing commitment to visual arts education, which started with her obtaining a Bachelor of Education in Visual Arts from the University of Melbourne, and led to her initially becoming a Visual Arts Teacher and Arts Co-ordinator.
Quinlan said of the NPGA: ‘It is one of a kind! It celebrates our success, our inventiveness, our artistry, our cleverness as a nation and our identity. It must continue to collect works that symbolise the breadth and depth of Australian life.’
Quinlan currently serves on the Board of the Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, at the National Gallery of Victoria, as well as being a Director of the State Library of Victoria. She has also been the Chairman and a board member of the Public Galleries Association of Victoria and a board member of the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival.
Minister for the Arts Senator Mitch Fifield welcomed Quinaln’s appointment, describing her as ‘highly regarded in Australia’s arts sector’.
He added: ‘The Australian Government acknowledges the significant contribution to the NPGA over the past five years of the outgoing Director, Mr Angus Trumble. Mr Trumble has overseen an important chapter of the Gallery’s story, nurturing a highly successful donor foundation, an exciting program of acquisitions and exhibitions and, particularly in its twentieth year, an ambitious commissioning program.’
Quinlan takes up her appointment on 10 December.
The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (TSO) has announced the appointment of Caroline Sharpen as its incoming CEO, with a 5-year contract commencing in January 2019. She will succeed Managing Director Nicholas Heyward, who will step down in December after a 17-year tenure.
Originally from Tasmania – with family connections dating back to 1804 – Sharpen joins the TSO following senior positions with Musica Viva Australia, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and most recently, operating her own consultancy, Sharpen Creative Industries Consulting, which has worked with Tasmanian organisations including the University of Tasmania, TMAG and the Tasmanian Youth Orchestra, and high profile arts organisations including the Australian World Orchestra and Australian Brandenburg Orchestra.
Sharpen holds a Bachelor of Music with honours from the University of Tasmania Conservatorium of Music and an MBA. She was the first Australian to be awarded a prestigious Kennedy Center Fellowship in Arts Management, a year-long management program for aspiring performing arts leaders resulting in a placement with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C.
She served as Director of Development with Musica Viva, where she introduced a range of initiatives for engagement with the broader community; and, subsequently, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, where she doubled philanthropic income and developed the strategy for the SSO’s engagement in China, among other key achievements.
Of her appointment, Sharpen said, ‘This appointment is a lifelong dream! My first orchestral experience was with the TSO aged seven. That early experience fuelled my passion for music and shaped my life and career in orchestras and chamber music organisations in Australia and the United States. I’m thrilled to return home to Tasmania and contribute to the artistic growth of the TSO for future generations.‘
Ausdance National has announced the appointment of Kathy Baykitch as Executive Director following the resignation of Kerry Comerford.
Baykitch has extensive experience in dance as a producer, educator, practitioner and community artist in Australia and the United Kingdom. She most recently held positions as Executive Producer for Shaun Parker & Company and at the Faculty of Education, Programs Manager for the Royal Academy of Dance, Australia. She was founding Director of FORM Dance Projects, formally Western Sydney Dance Action.
A recent Board Member of Ausdance National, Baykitch has been part of significant changes occurring in the organisation over the past 18 months, including rebranding and restructuring.
On her appointment she said: ‘Ausdance National is an important voice for the Australian dance sector which provides support and advocacy for dance in its many forms. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to continue to lead and drive recent changes in partnership with the Board and the wider sector.’
Kerry Comerford is resigning to take up another national position within the arts sector, yet to be announced.
Baykitch commences her appointment on 8 October 2018.
The sudden removal of Managing Director Michelle Guthrie from the ABC dominated this week’s news. David Anderson, the ABC’s Director of Entertainment and Specialist, will serve as Acting Managing Director.
ScreenHub reported this week: ‘The federal government has created an artificial way of crippling the ABC and SBS. It has simply strangled the money supply as they struggle to transform themselves into digital media organisations … Michelle Guthrie correctly identified structural problems which she tried to reform, but seems only to have created a different set of bureaucratic mouths. While she moved the furniture and hired consultants, she never worked out how to put content first. The ABC exists to make great media and find an audience for it. If that doesn’t run in your bloodstream, in this time of crisis, you are doomed.’
Read: ABC door slams shut behind Michelle Guthrie
After 13 years with Asialink Arts, Sarah Bond will be leaving the position of Director at the end of September. Since joining Asialink Arts in 2005, Bond has produced 40-plus exhibitions and projects, in collaboration with some of the region’s best curators, artists and institutions. Highlights include producing exhibitions for the Asian Art Biennale, Kuandu Biennale, Setouchi Triennale and Yokohama Triennale. Through the Asialink Arts exchange program, she has also enabled hundreds of Australian creatives to engage new audiences and test ideas.
She said of changes in the Asia-Australia cultural landscape over the past 13 years: From my thinking, the cultural landscape between Asia and Australia over the past 13 years has become truly collaborative and internationalised. Opportunities and understanding have expanded, and confidence in the sector to realise projects has risen exponentially. Making things happen has always been and continues to be about colleagues – networks are important of course, but respectful friendships in the region are invaluable. That is how things really happen.’
Bond concluded by adding that her current top five art spaces to visit within Asia were Art Sonje, Seoul; Cemeti, Jogykarta; Ilham, Kuala Lumpur; Substation, Singapore; MCAD, Manila.
The Robin Boyd Foundation has announced P. Joy Villalino as as Chief Executive Officer. Villalino brings a unique international and multidisciplinary approach to lead the Foundation in its mission to continue the work and ethos of seminal architect Robin Boyd and his advocacy of the value of good architecture and an Australian design culture.
Her strong background in public architectural education and design includes outstanding successes in the United States and Australia as the Executive Director of openhousenewyork, as a museum educator for the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, and as the General Manager of Victoria’s State of Design Festival
Villanlino succeeds Tony Lee, who established the Foundation and generated a new wave of public interest and discussion in architecture and design during his 10-year tenure. In 2019, the Foundation will be partnering with several Melbourne and regional galleries and museums in a celebration of the centenary of the architect’s birth.
The Foundation has also announced new board appointment, Tony Isaacson as Chairperson, who come to the role after his long-term as Managing Director for Kane Constructions. His appointment is part of the new leadership for the Foundation.
Tony’s appointment as Chairperson follows P. Joy Villalino commencing as CEO of the Foundation in early September.
Lucy Keeler has been appointed this week as Vivid Light Curator.
‘Lucy is one of the nation’s leading creative talents and I am delighted to have someone of her immense skill and passion as part of the team working on Australia’s largest event,’ said Destination NSW Chief Executive Officer and Vivid Sydney Executive Producer, Sandra Chipchase.
Vivid Sydney Creative Director Ignatius Jones added: ‘Lucy is widely acknowledged by her peers as a leader in her field and we are excited to welcome her to the Vivid Sydney team. With experience that spans specialist areas of screen design, interactive design, 3D virtual art, projection animation, theatre and sound design, Lucy’s skills are a wonderful mix for the Vivid Light Curator role, fusing analogue creative practice with new technology, which will be sure to amaze and delight Vivid Sydney audiences.
Keeler joins the Vivid Sydney team after success as the co-director of Ample Projects, an award winning studio responsible for large scale lighting projections in Australia and around the world, including the Berlin Festival of Lights. She takes over from Vivid Sydney Light Curator, Anthony Bastic of AGB Events.
She said of her appointement: ‘Having designed and worked on some of Vivid Sydney’s largest light installations over the years, including the animal sculptures at Taronga Zoo, Urban Tree Project in Martin Place and Snugglepot and Cuddlepie this year at Customs House, I’m excited to be able to contribute even more of my creative energy to this amazing event.’ Vivid Sydney is owned, managed and produced by Destination NSW, the NSW Government’s tourism and major events agency.
