Re-elected as RAA Chair

Regional Arts Australia recently held our AGM in Dubbo, NSW, which is the location for Artlands Dubbo 2016. This was a fantastic opportunity to hear about what is planned for Artlands, and to get a sense of the incredible support in Dubbo for the event. I particularly enjoyed our dinner with Mayor Mathew Dickerson and

Sir Madam Salon is a sterling success

Sir Madam Salon is a pop-up hair salon interactive performance which recently featured at the Broken Heel Festival in Broken Hill. For three days we invited people to come along to enjoy styling each other’s hair and be part of the salon chatter about fashion, art, culture, gender and remote Australia. Want to see more? You

Sir Madam Salon at Broken Heel Festival

Sir Madam Salon creates unique opportunities for people to build unexpected connections through hairdressing. We are a social change hairdressing group, working across remote Australia and festivals. Sir Madam Salon is a collaboration between hairdresser Mel Balkan, live artist Ben Fox and cultural strategist Kate Fielding.   I’m excited to share the news that we will be appearing

Dog Show Dreamer

Recently I had the unusual honour of being a judge for the inaugural Golden Bone Dog Show at the WA Museum in Kalgoorlie-Boulder. As a kid I was mad for animals. Growing up in the dairy country of Victoria’s western district I was blessed to have many animals around. We also went to lots of

Elected RAA President

Last month I was elected to the role of President of Regional Arts Australia. This board meeting immediately preceded the electrifying RAA Summit: Arts & Edges in Kalgoorlie-Boulder. Regional Australia is home to unique experiences, communities, cultures, landscapes and art-making. Regional Arts Australia is the key national body representing those working with, and for, the arts

Wide horizons

For several years now I’ve had the Australia Company Directors Course as a professional development goal. I find directorship fascinating and rewarding, and I’ve been itching to really deepen my knowledge. This week I was awarded a scholarship to complete the course, as part of a board diversity initiative focused on women from rural and

Appointed to Board of the Goldfields-Esperance Development Commission

I am honoured to have been appointed to the Goldfields-Esperance Development Commission (GEDC). Regional Development Minister Terry Redman announced the appointments last week. The GEDC promotes economic and social activity in the region stretching from the south coast up to the Ngaanyatjarra Lands, an area more than three times the size of Victoria. It is

Hair transformations

I’ve just spent a transformative fortnight with Mel Balkan: hairdresser, artist and all round livewire. This was the first intensive stint in an ongoing mentoring exchange around our expertise in hair, social change and art. Social change hairdressing is more common internationally, but relatively new in Australia. Mel is one of the few hairdressers in Australia

Sticks & Stats, with bonus camel

I’ve written a couple of fun-to-make articles in the last few months. The first, for Artshub, is about was meant to be about ‘maintaining a cutting-edge arts practice while living regionally’. Which it is about, though probably not in the way they were expecting as it argues, in essence, that moving to ‘the sticks’ might
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