Yarra Councillors Mi-Lin Chen Yi Mei and Mike McEvoy are members of the committee.
Kate Bailey
Kate Bailey has a predominately visual arts background covering more than 10 years experience in art galleries, non-for-profit organisations, project management, theatre, festivals and arts management. She has managed art galleries in Melbourne and in New Zealand, working with many notable artists. Currently she is Youth Arts and Events Officer at Moonee Valley City Council. Kate is also the Co-Founder of art.speak, a series of mentoring sessions to inspire and support Australia’s early career artists and arts leaders. Her interests involve encouraging arts and culture within the community, managing art programs and increasing audiences in the arts.
Dr Anne Bennett
Dr Anne Bennett is a practicing visual artist, independent curator, writer and art educator who teaches Drawing and Theory in the Bachelor of Illustration, Fairfield Campus at Melbourne Polytechnic. Anne has curated and project managed numerous touring exhibitions and also authored numerous catalogue essays and conference papers. Anne is currently undertaking a Master of Art Curatorship and an internship in Collection Management at the Ian Potter Museum of Art.
Sean Carroll
Sean Carroll is a public art advocate, artist, designer and curator and Director of Backwoods Gallery (Collingwood). Backwoods Gallery has been exhibiting since 2012 and is an active gallery with a focus on the maturing street art and urban contemporary scene. Prior to this position Sean was the Assistant Director of Floating World Arts (event management and production).
Bronek Kozka
Bronek Kozka is a professional artist who works in the medium of photography. His work has been exhibited in Australia and internationally and as part of numerous prizes, of which he has been a finalist on many occasions. Bronek lectures in the School of Art at RMIT and is currently undertaking his PhD.
Shini Pararajasingham
Shini Pararajasingham is the Founder and Director of Off the Kerb since 2007. Her role is in the strategic direction of the gallery and creating an exhibition calendar that contributes to Melbourne’s dynamic arts sector. One of Shini’s objectives at Off the Kerb is to support charities through the arts such as beyondblue, Melbourne City Mission, The Lost Dog’s Home, Whitelion, Innerspace and Clowns Without Borders.
Shini Pararajasingham has sat on the panel of judges at the Victorian College of the Arts Proud Awards. She recently sat on the panel of judges for the Abbotsford Convent Collaborative Award 2014. Shini has also contributed as an invited expert to City of Ballarat’s arts and cultural policy consultation and development. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Monash University (2003) and a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology)/Business Marketing, Monash University (1998).
As a practicing artist, she has had an international solo show in Vienna, Austria, a group exhibition in Prato, Italy and solo and group exhibitions locally and nationally. Currently, Shini dedicates her expertise to her role as Director of Off the Kerb mentoring artists to further their creative limits.
Rebeccah Power
Rebeccah Power is an artist and arts educator who is extremely passionate about the visual arts in all its forms. She exhibits regularly and has an extensive exhibition history. Her artistic practice spans a variety of disciplines, including painting, drawing, photography, digital imaging, projections and installation. The delicate, colourful and detailed approach to her work is juxtaposed with somewhat weighty subject matter. This creates arresting art that, combined with the visceral tactility of the materials used, symbolically highlights the poignant combination of fragility and strength in her subjects.
As an arts educator, Power believes that an understanding of the social, political and historical influences on art making throughout the ages is integral to accurately interpreting and understanding the meanings behind and influences on artworks. She takes an open minded approach to the visual arts and believes that one of its strengths resides in the fact that it has a breadth that caters for all tastes, cultures, ages and socio-economic statuses.
Emma Crimmings
Emma Crimmings is currently the Assistant Director of Artbank, which is an Australian Government support program that acquires the work of living, Australian contemporary artists – making its collection available to the general public through a leasing program. Formally the Director of Gertrude Contemporary, Emma has also worked as the Acting Director and Program Manager of Cultural Affairs at the Embassy of Australia in Washington, DC, as a documentary filmmaker and as a curator at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and the Australian Centre for Photography. In 2015, Emma was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to undertake international research on artists residences programs and creative place-making.
Yarra Councillors Mi-Lin Chen Yi Mei and Mike McEvoy are members of the committee.
Kate Bailey
Kate Bailey has a predominately visual arts background covering more than 10 years experience in art galleries, non-for-profit organisations, project management, theatre, festivals and arts management. She has managed art galleries in Melbourne and in New Zealand, working with many notable artists. Currently she is Youth Arts and Events Officer at Moonee Valley City Council. Kate is also the Co-Founder of art.speak, a series of mentoring sessions to inspire and support Australia’s early career artists and arts leaders. Her interests involve encouraging arts and culture within the community, managing art programs and increasing audiences in the arts.
Dr Anne Bennett
Dr Anne Bennett is a practicing visual artist, independent curator, writer and art educator who teaches Drawing and Theory in the Bachelor of Illustration, Fairfield Campus at Melbourne Polytechnic. Anne has curated and project managed numerous touring exhibitions and also authored numerous catalogue essays and conference papers. Anne is currently undertaking a Master of Art Curatorship and an internship in Collection Management at the Ian Potter Museum of Art.
Sean Carroll
Sean Carroll is a public art advocate, artist, designer and curator and Director of Backwoods Gallery (Collingwood). Backwoods Gallery has been exhibiting since 2012 and is an active gallery with a focus on the maturing street art and urban contemporary scene. Prior to this position Sean was the Assistant Director of Floating World Arts (event management and production).
Bronek Kozka
Bronek Kozka is a professional artist who works in the medium of photography. His work has been exhibited in Australia and internationally and as part of numerous prizes, of which he has been a finalist on many occasions. Bronek lectures in the School of Art at RMIT and is currently undertaking his PhD.
Shini Pararajasingham
Shini Pararajasingham is the Founder and Director of Off the Kerb since 2007. Her role is in the strategic direction of the gallery and creating an exhibition calendar that contributes to Melbourne’s dynamic arts sector. One of Shini’s objectives at Off the Kerb is to support charities through the arts such as beyondblue, Melbourne City Mission, The Lost Dog’s Home, Whitelion, Innerspace and Clowns Without Borders.
Shini Pararajasingham has sat on the panel of judges at the Victorian College of the Arts Proud Awards. She recently sat on the panel of judges for the Abbotsford Convent Collaborative Award 2014. Shini has also contributed as an invited expert to City of Ballarat’s arts and cultural policy consultation and development. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Monash University (2003) and a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology)/Business Marketing, Monash University (1998).
As a practicing artist, she has had an international solo show in Vienna, Austria, a group exhibition in Prato, Italy and solo and group exhibitions locally and nationally. Currently, Shini dedicates her expertise to her role as Director of Off the Kerb mentoring artists to further their creative limits.
Rebeccah Power
Rebeccah Power is an artist and arts educator who is extremely passionate about the visual arts in all its forms. She exhibits regularly and has an extensive exhibition history. Her artistic practice spans a variety of disciplines, including painting, drawing, photography, digital imaging, projections and installation. The delicate, colourful and detailed approach to her work is juxtaposed with somewhat weighty subject matter. This creates arresting art that, combined with the visceral tactility of the materials used, symbolically highlights the poignant combination of fragility and strength in her subjects.
As an arts educator, Power believes that an understanding of the social, political and historical influences on art making throughout the ages is integral to accurately interpreting and understanding the meanings behind and influences on artworks. She takes an open minded approach to the visual arts and believes that one of its strengths resides in the fact that it has a breadth that caters for all tastes, cultures, ages and socio-economic statuses.
Emma Crimmings
Emma Crimmings is currently the Assistant Director of Artbank, which is an Australian Government support program that acquires the work of living, Australian contemporary artists – making its collection available to the general public through a leasing program. Formally the Director of Gertrude Contemporary, Emma has also worked as the Acting Director and Program Manager of Cultural Affairs at the Embassy of Australia in Washington, DC, as a documentary filmmaker and as a curator at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and the Australian Centre for Photography. In 2015, Emma was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to undertake international research on artists residences programs and creative place-making.
