Leading The Substation into its ‘teenage years’

After moving to Melbourne and six months into the job as CEO of The Substation, Nuala Furtado shares her biggest learnings so far and what’s next.
Panels of artworks installed outside a redbrick building. The works depict colourful First Nations motifs. Three figures are standing in front of the panels looking at them.

The Substation is situated in the heart of Melbourne’s westside creative neighbourhood. Built over a century ago but falling into disrepair before its restoration and adaptation for creative use, the impressive historic infrastructure has hosted an array of contemporary and experimental artistic practices since it reopened in 2008.

Over the past seven years, however, the Substation has undergone major transformations, both operationally and structurally. In many ways, it’s still in this period of transition.

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Celina Lei is an arts writer and editor at ArtsHub. She acquired her M.A in Art, Law and Business in New York with a B.A. in Art History and Philosophy from the University of Melbourne. She has previously worked across global art hubs in Beijing, Hong Kong and New York in both the commercial art sector and art criticism. She took part in drafting NAVA’s revised Code of Practice - Art Fairs and was the project manager of ArtsHub’s diverse writers initiative, Amplify Collective. Celina is based in Naarm/Melbourne.