Art Centre Manager

Lead Bábbarra Women’s Centre, a celebrated Indigenous women’s textile art centre in remote Arnhem Land and drive creative excellence 

Bawinanga Homelands Aboriginal Corporation (BHAC) is a progressive Aboriginal corporation based in Maningrida that employs over 200 people. We represent and assist over 4000 Aboriginal people in the 32 homelands surrounding Maningrida in West Arnhem Land. Our work is carried out in the context of people’s traditional lands, cultural practices, and languages. Our services include new building and maintenance, road maintenance, arts, community development programs, collection of wild foods, and many more.  An opportunity exists for an arts management professional to lead the operations of our Indigenous women’s textile art centre, Bábbarra Women’s Centre, situated in Maningrida, Northern Territory.

About the Opportunity

In this exciting arts management role, you will be the manager of Bábbarra Women’s Centre and its textile brand, the internationally recognised Bábbarra Designs textile studio. You will: Relocation assistance will be provided

• Develop, implement and manage an annual workplan, aligning to organisational strategy
• Manage a diverse team of 6 staff, including a Studio Project Officer and indigenous arts workers and trainees, to support artistic, cultural, and core business outcomes
• Oversee screen-printing operations, including exposing artwork, printing, caring for screens and maintaining equipment
• Manage artwork archives and coordinate screen-printing and fashion design workshops for girls and women in Maningrida
• Procure and oversee ethical licencing agreements
• Customer service; wholesale and retail, maintain strong sales outcomes
• Participate in exhibition/event participation and award entries
• Mentor and develop staff in studio operations and retail administration
• Administer the SAM database to catalogue textile artwork and ensure accurate artist records and payments
• Drive marketing & social media, including overseeing the website and online shop 
• Prepare and deliver funding applications and acquittals
• Ensure robust budget and resource management for a sustainable and thriving arts centre
• Support artists and art workers to attend exhibitions, markets, art fairs and professional development opportunities across Australia and internationally
• NB: The ability to travel interstate with staff and artists is vital to this role

About You

You will thrive in this role if you can demonstrate:

• 3–5 years’ management experience within the arts, cultural, or creative industries – an Indigenous art centre or women’s centre is highly regarded

• Proven experience managing significant multi-year funding such as IVAIS and work collaboratively with a grants coordinator to successfully deliver, report and acquit a range of grants. 

• Strong business and operational management capability including budgeting procurement, and grant reporting
• Demonstrated leadership and people-management skills with the experience of more than two direct reports, this role oversees a project officer, studio coordinator and a team of arts workers.
• Highly developed interpersonal and conflict-resolution skills in a cross-cultural setting
• Experience working with key sector stakeholders, such as Government, Arts Law, Copyright Agency, national cultural institutions, galleries, and industry

• Strong understanding of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander art and textiles and a genuine interest in language, culture and art centres
• Hands-on experience in creative production preferably screen printing, lino printing or fashion production

• Strong project and team leadership skills, with demonstrated success in staff development
• Experience using the SAM database to catalogue artworks and manage artist payments and customer invoices
• Demonstrated success in exhibition development and the marketing of Indigenous artwork and textiles.
• Tertiary qualifications in fine arts, fashion, business or community development
• Advanced customer service skills
• Manual drivers licence

Highly regarded:

• Knowledge of the textile and/or fashion industry, including base fabrics, suppliers, colour trends and production workflows.
• Graphic design or product development skills that contribute to creative direction, merchandise or product ranges including T-shirts.

• Experience in a NFP environment or previous experience in a remote Aboriginal community
• Advanced computer skills, social media and web content administration.
• Experience reporting to an Indigenous board or committee and demonstrating collective decision making
• Understanding of Aboriginal women’s issues and community-led development

Applicants need a cover letter addressing the selection criteria and a cv  

• You must have the right to work in Australia

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander applicants are encouraged to apply

For further details on the position please contact via email to [email protected] or contact Human Resource Team on

Ph (08) 8979 6555 Option 1 Corporate Office. 

Click here to check the services provided by Bawinanga. (or go to www.bawinanga.com)

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