Rupert Myer is one of Australia’s most respected corporate and art sector leaders. In addition to chairing the Contemporary Visual Arts and Craft Inquiry, Rupert has served as a Chair of both the National Gallery of Australia and Australia Council for the Arts. He has also served in a number of roles for visual and performing arts organisations and serves as President of the Myer Foundation.

Sue Cato has worked on business-critical issues and corporate activity for Australian and international corporations and entities for almost three decades. Amongst other roles she is on the board of the National Gallery Australia Foundation, is an advisory board member of Sydney Contemporary and is an Ambassador of Women for Election Australia.

Independent artist Genevieve Lacey is commissioned inter/nationally as creator, performer and artistic director, making music-centred works in a huge array of contexts. She also works as an advisor, mentor and leader for a range of individuals, communities and cultural institutions.

Catherine Liddle is an Arrernte Luritja woman and the CEO of SNAICC – National Voice for Our Children, the national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Previously she was CEO of First Nations Media Australia, the peak body representing Indigenous media organisations around the country and Regional Director of Jawun Indigenous Corporate Partnerships, Central Australia Regions. She has also held senior roles within the Northern Territory Education Department, the ABC, and NITV/SBS.

Craig Limkin is Secretary of the Tasmanian Department of State Growth and CEO of the Tasmanian Development Board. He has over 20 years’ experience in large-scale, complex organisations including government agencies, and has established a strong record in providing strategic leadership, delivering results, and leading significant change. Prior to being appointed Secretary, Craig was Associate Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Tasmania. Recently, Craig developed the vision for and led Create Infrastructure, dedicated to planning and delivering cultural infrastructure in NSW. He currently sits on the Board of the Theatre Royal Hobart is the co-Chair of the Hobart City Deal Implementation Board.

Cass O’Connor has over 30 years’ experience as a board director of ASX listed companies, Federal and State government entities, and unlisted entities, many of which are For-Purpose. With a long career in finance and investment, she translates business models and opportunities across sectors. She currently chairs Carriageworks in Redfern, Sydney, and was previously a Director of The Bundanon Trust and an inaugural Director of the then Federal Government’s Creative Nation entity Australian Multimedia Enterprises.

Merlynn Tong is an actor and playwright who often creates works that stem from her autobiographical experience of growing up in Singapore and harness the themes of transformation, legacy, inheritance and hope. Her work Blue Bones (Playlab Theatre) won six Matilda Awards including the Lord Mayor Award for Best New Australian Work, Best Mainstage Production and Best Female Actor in a Leading Role. Her work Golden Blood (Griffin Theatre) was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award (Drama), Sydney Theatre Awards (Best New Australian Work) and Green Room Award (Outstanding New Australian Writing). Merlynn will debut two new plays in 2025, Congratulations, Get Rich! (La Boite Theatre, Singapore Repertory Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company) and Legends (of the Golden Arches) (Performing Lines WA, co-written with Joe Paradise Lui). Merlynn is based in Brisbane, Queensland.

April Phillips is a Wiradjuri-Scottish woman of the Galari/Kalari peoples, residing on the Yuin nation on the NSW South Coast. As a professional artist and arts worker, April leverages digital tools with experimental processes, futurism and human rights in mind. She was awarded the Women in Digital Rising Star of the Year in 2023, attributed to innovation and social impact. April is currently a curator at the National Portrait Gallery, and has worked in creative and advisory roles with the Australian Children’s Television Foundation, Telstra Foundation, National Gallery of Australia, Australian Parliament House, Big hART, National Association of the Visual Arts, The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, Museum of Australian Democracy, and the Australian Museum.

Independent artist Genevieve Lacey is commissioned inter/nationally as creator, performer and artistic director, making music-centred works in a huge array of contexts. She also works as an advisor, mentor and leader for a range of individuals, communities and cultural institutions.

Ben Au has spent the last 18 years working within and alongside the government sector and is a digital policy specialist. Ben currently leads public policy across Australia and New Zealand for Snap Inc, the developer of Snapchat, and formerly led public policy for IGEA, the peak body representing the Australian and New Zealand video games industry. During his public service career, Ben held a range of roles in the Australian Government where he advised on diverse issues including screen content funding, classification and censorship, and cyber policies.

Jane Curry​ has spent over 25 years in book publishing, including as Managing Director of Weldon Publishing, Lansdowne Publishing, Macquarie Library and National Book Distributors. Jane published her own list at Pan Macmillan Australia prior to establishing her own trade-publishing house, Ventura Press in 2002. Ventura was shortlisted in the ABIA small publisher award in 2015. Jane was instrumental in establishing the APA’s Australian stand at the Beijing International Book Fair in 2017 and followed up with visits in 2018 and 2019. Jane is a director of the Australian Publishers Association, a convenor of the APA’s Independent Publishers Committee and has been a director of Copyright Agency Limited since 2015. She was a winner in the 2014 Westpac/AFR 100 Women of Influence awards.

John Daley is one of Australia’s leading policy thinkers. He was Chief Executive of the Grattan Institute for its first 11 years and now provides independent strategy and policy advice to government, not-for-profit and commercial clients. Previously he worked in academic, government and corporate roles, including at EY Port Jackson Partners, McKinsey and Co, and ANZ Bank. He is the current Chair of the Australian National Academy of Music, and has previously served as Deputy Chair of the Malthouse Theatre; Deputy Chair of the Next Wave Festival; and Chair of the Strategy and Research Panel of the Australia Council for the Arts. John’s landmark report, Performing Arts Advocacy in Australia, outlines long-term trends in performing arts attendance and finances, discusses illuminating case studies of advocacy success and failure over the past decade, and identifies how advocacy can be improved.

Shuba Kishnan is a highly respected journalist, presenter and communications specialist with more than a decade’s experience in Australian and international media. She covered the height of the pandemic from the Canberra press gallery, reporting nightly on federal politics and the change of government at the 2022 federal election. She has worked for the ABC, Nine News, SBS and the BBC in London, while also mentoring aspiring journalists through Media Diversity Australia and hosting major public events. Shuba is based in Victoria where she is Head of Communications for the Australia India Institute, a leading think tank dedicated to enhancing Australia-India relations.

Damien Miller​ is a Gangulu man, whose ancestral lands are in Central Queensland. He is currently Executive Director of the Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity program, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, Māori and Pacific leadership and social impact program based at the University of Melbourne. He spent 25 years at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, working primarily on foreign policy, soft power and strategic communications issues. He served overseas in Washington DC, Copenhagen, Berlin and Kuala Lumpur. From May 2013 to May 2017, he was Australia’s Ambassador to Denmark, with non-resident accreditation to Norway and Iceland. He was the first Indigenous Australian to be appointed head of an overseas mission. He is also a non-executive director of the Aurora Education Foundation.

Rupert Myer is one of Australia’s most respected corporate and art sector leaders. In addition to chairing the Contemporary Visual Arts and Craft Inquiry, Rupert has served as a Chair of both the National Gallery of Australia and Australia Council for the Arts. He has also served in a number of roles for visual and performing arts organisations and has recently been appointed as President of the Myer Foundation.

Alison Page is a Walbanga and Wadi Wadi woman and is an award-winning Artist, Designer and Filmmaker whose career spanning 22 years links Indigenous stories and traditional knowledge with contemporary design. She appeared for eight years as a regular panellist on the ABC TV show, The New Inventors and in 2015, was inducted into the Design Institute of Australia’s Hall of Fame. She is an Adjunct Associate at the University of Technology’s Design School, founder of the National Aboriginal Design Agency and a Councillor with the Australian National Maritime Museum. In 2020 she was appointed to the Australia Day Council Board, the Federal Government’s Creative Economy Taskforce and the Senior Advisory Group for the Indigenous Voice.

Mat Trinca is Professor of Museum Practice at the Australian National University, Chair of Blue Shield Australia and a Commissioner for Culture and Olympic Heritage advising the International Olympic Committee. He also serves on the boards of the UKARIA Cultural Centre and the Canberra Symphony Orchestra. He was formerly the Director of the National Museum of Australia, from 2014 to 2024. Under Mat’s leadership, the National Museum developed strongly engaged national and international programs that focused on bringing alive the stories of Australia for audiences around the country and overseas. The Museum forged partnerships and programs with a range of cultural institutions abroad, including organisations in Singapore, China, Japan, Vietnam, France, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Julian Canny is an adaptive and innovative leader from regional Western Australia, committed to developing a more impactful regional arts sector. In his role as director of social enterprise Euphorium, Julian leads a passionate team in developing sustainable industry practices and building platforms for artists to create meaningful work with impact in their communities.

Kate Fielding has led A New Approach (ANA) since its inception in 2018, drawing together a unique alliance of people across the country in governance, advisory, philanthropy and staffing roles to create a foundation on which ANA could grow and thrive. In this time, ANA has been credited with contributing to a distinct shift in cultural policy and knowledge about arts and culture in Australia. Prior to her role with ANA, Kate was the Chair of the Goldfields-Esperance Development Commission in Kalgoorlie, and a member of the Board of the Australia Council for the Arts. She has been the Chair of Regional Arts Australia and of Country Arts WA, and was named a 40Under40 WA Business Leader in 2017. Kate is a member of the Council of the National Museum of Australia.

Paul MacPhail joined ANA as Chief Operating Officer in 2022. He has previously been providing leadership and direction to companies and projects big and small in Western Australia for forty years. Working primarily in the fields of Youth, Regional and First Nations arts and culture, Paul was instrumental in setting up both Southern Edge Arts (Albany) and Yirra Yaakin Aboriginal Corporation (Perth). As a practicing artist in his own right, he has written and directed theatre for young people including AMY’S MONSTER, THE MIDNIGHT GANG and STARLIGHT STARBRIGHT (for the Festival of Perth). Paul ran his own arts consultancy, Get Art Done for 3 years before returning in 2015 to Regional Arts WA where he had previously worked as General Manager. As CEO, he initiated and delivered a Ten-Year Vision, including an overhaul of the Governance structure, a major rebrand, a redesign of programming aligned with Peak Service delivery and the introduction of a major cultural infrastructure project – the Regional Arts Network.

Alexandra Nichols joined ANA in 2021. With a background in strategic communications, Alexandra’s work has been focused on the intersection of research and policy. Previously Alexandra was the Director of Communications and Engagement at the Australian National University College of Asia and the Pacific, the leading centre for research on Australia and its region. Prior to this, she worked as the Head of Communications and Engagement at the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge responsible for enhancing opportunities for knowledge exchange and research impact. Before joining the university sector, Alexandra worked in government for close to a decade leading communications for major reform projects.

Angie Vivian joined ANA in 2022 with five years’ experience working in the public service, including on local and global gender equality initiatives. Formerly a researcher and project officer in universities and non-profit organisations, Angie holds a PhD in criminology and expertise in qualitative research methods. Angie champions ethical and innovative research approaches to addressing complex policy problems. She is currently undertaking a Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care.

Sarah-Jane Bennett joined ANA in 2025 after more than a decade working in Queensland and the UK across human rights, legal services, justice, ethics and compliance public policy. Working for the Queensland Government, Sarah-Jane led the team responsible for the implementation of Queensland’s Human Rights Act. Outside of government, Sarah-Jane worked at Logan Together on systems change, connecting community members with government and service system decision-makers. Sarah-Jane is a lifelong and eager participant in the arts, particularly across music performance, amateur theatre and craft creation. She is passionate about the role of arts and culture in building connected communities.

Aakanksha Sidhu joined ANA in 2021 as Manager of Operations. Aakanksha has experience across various creative industries, such as contemporary fashion, music, performing arts, and arts education. Working and studying across regions in South, East and West Asia, Europe, and now a foothold in Australia, Aakanksha holds a unique cultural perspective that has cultivated her passion for independent artistry, cultural belonging, design thinking, and socio-cultural equity. She holds a Master of Arts and Cultural Management from the University of Melbourne, and a Bachelors in Fashion Media and Industries from Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore, and brings with her the experience of an artist manager working across music, visual arts, film and dance. Aakanksha is also a Board Director at MusicACT in Canberra and GUTS Dance in the Northern Territory.

Sari Rossi Sari joined A New Approach (ANA) in 2022 as a researcher, bringing over 20 years’ experience in arts and culture. She holds a PhD examining federal government arts support, complemented by qualifications in business, accounting, fine arts and performance studies. Her research expertise spans quantitative, qualitative and practice-led approaches. As a professional artist and arts worker specialising in contemporary art, Sari has exhibited and performed extensively. In 2013, she received recognition through the Multilingualism and Art program financed by Finland’s Kone Foundation. Sari has also sat on various boards and, between 2011 and 2014, was a director of the curatorial platform Ptarmigan, which bridged artistic communities in Helsinki and Tallinn. A published writer and speaker, Sari is dedicated to sharing her expertise in creative practice, business and accounting through research, presentations, workshops and publications.

Camilla Gregg joined ANA in 2023 after eight years working as a freelance writer, content creator, web producer and digital marketer. Prior to this, Camilla was employed within various communications teams for government departments, non-profits and corporations in both Sydney and London. Camilla has diverse experience within the creative industries, having worked in film and TV production, as a private saxophone teacher and at major cultural institutions. She studied for a degree in Music before completing an MA in Journalism, and has always been a keen participant in the performing arts, including amateur theatre and music ensembles. Now residing in regional NSW, Camilla is particularly passionate about the benefits of making sure all children can access enriching cultural experiences, no matter where they live.

Sunny Toua joined ANA in 2023. Growing up engaging in dance, music and art in Canberra, Sunny is a keen participant in the arts and cultural scenes of Australia and overseas, especially music and dance, and an advocate for accessibility and diversity in these spaces. With an academic background in linguistics and study in records management and archives, they are passionate about culturally sensitive knowledge-sharing and ethical preservation approaches. Sunny is interested in using this experience to promote the understanding of less-visible cultures within Australia and internationally through working in policy, research and archives.