KULCHA MULTICULTURAL ARTS OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA INC.BOARD OF MANAGEMENT

KULCHA MULTICULTURAL ARTS OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA INC. BOARD OF MANAGEMENT 2008
JENNY SIMPSON - President An experienced Arts Manager, Jenny has recently returned to Perth having spent two years as the Festival Director of the National Folk Festival and in late 2006 completed a consultancy as the Interim Director at Brisbane Multicultural Arts Centre. In April 2007 she was appointed General Manager of AWESOME Arts, combining her passion for presenting high quality and innovative arts, community cultural development and working with regional communities. Jenny has previously sat on a number of Boards, including the National Folk Festival, Brisbane Multicultural Arts Centre and as the Treasurer on the board of Canberra Arts Marketing. Her interaction with KULCHA during the past 10 years has been positive and multi- faceted as a performer, artist representative, community worker, project facilitator and most recently a brief stint as the Marketing and Promotions Officer.
STEVE BARNES - VICE PRESIDENT Steve has been actively involved in the folk, roots and world music scene in WA for over twenty years. He has been Artistic Director of the Fairbridge Festival since 1997, and prior to that had been chair of the WA Folk Federation. He is an active musician and songwriter, and currently performs with European roots music band the Last Five Coins, as a duo with his wife Ros Barnes and a part of the acoustic/roots/bluegrass quintet Five Point Turn. Steve is also a co-presenter of the world music program Roots and Branches on Radio Fremantle. His main areas of interest on the KULCHA Board are in representing the interests of artists and performers, developing opportunities for emerging musicians, liaising with the national folk/roots music scene and assisting the organisation with database design and management. In what remains of the rest of his life he is a research scientist with CSIRO and the parent of teenagers.
PETER KIFT - Treasurer As an accountant with a Bachelor of Business degree and more than 25 years experience in the private, government, non-profit and community sectors, Peter brings with him a wealth of business experience, but with a primary focus on finance and management matters. He is an Associate Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and a member of the National Institute of Accountants. His roles have encompassed public practice accounting and taxation, state government, aircraft R and D, the film and television industry, and more recently in the community health sector where he is currently the Business Manager for the Western Australian AIDS Council. He has a keen interest in the arts, having been a musician, singer and actor in his younger days. Peter has been the honorary treasurer for ATOM in Victoria and has been involved as a production accountant in many independent film productions. He is also a member of the Financial Advisory Group for AustraliaÕs leading indigenous theatre company, Yirra Yaakin, and is keen for arts organisations to become financially secure and achieve world best practice in every part of their endeavours.
VINNIE MOLINA Vinnie has been actively involved in community organisations since his arrival to Perth in 1996. He has held a number of executive positions during his ten year involvement with the Australia-Cuba Friendship Society (ACFS) and has been in the position of Chair since 2006. He is also involved in community theatre as part of the Latin American Cultural Association (LACA) theatre group and has performed in several plays over the years. Through his involvement in these various activities, Vinnie has become an experienced event organiser and fundraiser. Vinnie is currently a volunteer broadcaster in the Spanish program Frecuencia Latina sponsored by the Latin American Cultural Association, at the multicultural radio World Radio 95.3FM. Through his work in the ACFS and LACA Vinnie has been able to work with the Latin American community in Perth and bring part of the Latin culture to the broader community. In his general life, Vinnie works as an organiser for the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union of workers and is currently enrolled as a part-time student in the Law school at Murdoch University. As a board member, Vinnie's main area of interest is to strengthen KULCHAÕs work and its relationship with the community.
MARIA MADEIRA Maria Madeira was born in the Ermera region of East Timor. She was evacuated from Timor by the Portuguese Air Force in 1976 during the Indonesian invasion. She spent most of the subsequent eight years in the grinding poverty of an International Red Cross refugee camp on the outskirts of Lisbon, Portugal. She immigrated to Australia with her family in August 1983. Maria holds a B.A. Fine Arts (Visual Arts) Degree from Curtin University, a Graduate Diploma of Education (Major in Art) from Curtin University, and a B.A. in Political Science from Murdoch University. Maria has worked in Western Australia as a high school art teacher and for several arts and culture organisations, including Merredin Senior High School, Kambalda High School, West Coast College of TAFE, Lockridge Primary School, Deckchair Theatre, and KULCHA. Maria returned to East Timor between 2000 and 2004 to play her part in East TimorÕs recovery, rebuilding and development of the worldÕs newest nation. She was employed in 2001 and 2002 as interpreter and translator for the AUSAID-sponsored ÔAlliance Planning and Consultancy (APAC) Health SystemsÕ project to procure and distribute ambulances throughout East Timor. Maria was employed as an interpreter, translator and cultural adviser by the United NationsÕ Serious Crimes Unit investigating Crimes Against Humanity committed in 1999 and 2000. To date, Maria has held over fifteen solo or group exhibitions of her paintings, sculptures, drawings, mixed media collages and installation pieces, across Australia, Portugal and East Timor. Her main concern as an artist, teacher and cultural adviser is to convey East TimorÕs culture and traditions to other societies - and vice-versa. It is her strong belief that art and culture are the spirit and soul of a nation. She regards art and culture as a vehicle through which future generations can learn to appreciate the beauty and strength of their own culture - and, in this way, discover who they are in the world.
PAULA SILBERT Paula Silbert is an arts consultant who is currently consultant curator and arts advisor to St John of God Hospital Murdoch, and mentor to Katanning's Mungart Boodja Arts Centre for Noongar artists. She was inaugurating Director of Festival Fringe (aka the Artrage Festival), ran Crafts Council of WA and has consulted to the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the WA Museum, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Healthway and the Department for Culture and the Arts. She continues to advise and support established and emerging artists. Paula's popular radio programme 'Smart Arts' a weekly multi-arts round-up - was broadcast on MIX 94.5FM for a decade.
IAN SATCHWELL Ian Satchwell is a Director of economic consultancy ACIL Tasman with responsibility for operations in Northern and Western Australia, and for Asian business development. Ian consults to business and government in the fields of resources development, infrastructure, and regional and Indigenous development. From early in his career, Ian has worked closely with the arts sector and with closely associated industries. In the late 1970s, he organised Musica Viva concerts in Rockhampton, Queensland. Between 1979 and 1984, Ian held the position of manager of the Pilbeam Theatre in Rockhampton. Ian was a founder and director of the Central and North Queensland Theatre Company (New Moon), which pioneered local touring theatre in regional Australia. In 1984, Ian moved to Tasmania to administer performing arts venues and programs there. In 1986, Ian took up a representative role with the mining industry. He has since held senior positions in a number of state and federal industry bodies. Ian has extensive experience in industry policy, operating at the business-government interface. In recent times, Ian has re-established his arts involvement, advising Yirra Yaakin and KULCHA on their business engagement strategies.
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