Arts Advisory Committee
This Committee provides an avenue for community participation in the planning and development of arts and cultural activities in Yarra.
YAARTS was established in 1997 as a community advisory committee to Council to provide advice on arts and cultural development in the City of Yarra. It is comprised of representatives from Yarra-based arts and community organisations, local artists and cultural industries.
The Committee provides a formal mechanism for Council to consult with key stakeholders, seek specialist advice and enable community participation in arts and cultural planning and development.
The key role of the Committee is to:
- provide advice on the implementation of the Arts and Cultural plan 2011-2015
- provide comment on relevant Council policies and strategies
- make recommendations to Council on the arts streams of the Community Grants Program
- facilitate formal and informal communication and consultation processes with local arts and cultural industries, practitioners, organisations and residents
- provide advice to Council on issues related to the City of Yarra Art and Heritage Collection through the Collection Management Advisory Committee (CMAC) as a sub-committee to YAARTS.
Here is the 
YAARTS Terms of Reference (58.56kB)
Members of the committee
Yarra Councillors Dale Smedley and Sam Gaylard are members of the committee. In early 2011, Council announced the community memberss of YARRTS for the next two years. They are:
Name: Maggie Maguire
Position: CEO,the Abbotsford Convent
(YAARTS member since 2002)
Area of Expertise: Festivals and arts management, venue management.
Maggie is one of Australia’s most distinguished festival and event managers, including Senior Manager of the festivals program of Arts Victoria, Executive Producer of the Centenary of Federation’s “Our Nation on Parade” and General Manager of the Melbourne Moomba.
Name: Clare Carmody
Position: Arts and Cultural Development Officer, Banyule City Council
Area of Expertise: Community cultural development, business administration, arts management, local government
Clare has eight years experience working in arts and community development as a program and project manager, including time at Auckland City Council leading their annual Arts Agenda Forums.
Clare is up to date on current state and federal policy in relation to the arts, as well as having an understanding of local activities and good local networks across councils and organisations.
Name: Neal Harvey
Position: Creative Producer, Melbourne Fringe Festival
Area of Expertise: arts management, festivals and events, performing arts, visual arts, new media arts, community arts
Neal is currently a Creative Producer at Melbourne Fringe and has an active knowledge of the Melbourne arts scene, including emerging and established artists and art forms. He has also produced events for the Adelaide Fringe Festival, Brisbane Festival, Sydney Fringe Festival and has a PHD in Cultural Studies with which he has won a number of awards for his academic and producing work.
Name: Crusader Hills
Position: Director Gasworks Arts Park
Area of Expertise: Arts venue management, arts festivals and event programming, arts marketing and communications, publishing, queer culture and writing.
Crusader is currently the Director of Gasworks, a not-for-profit community arts centre, and the co-owner of Hares & Hyenas, a queer bookshop in Fitzroy.
Crusader was the co-founder of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival and has been actively engaged with Melbourne’s writing scene through writing, programming and board memberships.
Name: Jenny Port
Position: Director, Red Gallery and Jenny Port Gallery.
Area of Expertise: Collection management, heritage and local history of Yarra, public art, contemporary art, memorials and monuments
Jenny is the director of two galleries which specialise in contemporary visual art and commercial art. She has close links with collectors, curators and artists, both established and emerging. Jenny has almost a decade of experience as a gallery director and has been involved in large scale commissions and public art projects.
Collection Management Advisory Committee (CMAC)
The City of Yarra Collection Management Advisory Committee is a sub-committee of YAARTS.
The Committee provides a formal mechanism for Council to seek specialist advice on the management of the collection of indoor and outdoor artworks and cultural artefacts which were inherited when the cities of Collingwood, Richmond and Fitzroy amalgamated in 1994.
Council will acquire, collect, preserve, research, document, exhibit, interpret and make accessible to the public the original artworks, objects and information that best illustrate the physical, artistic, cultural, social and political history and development of the City of Yarra.
The Collection Management Policy guides all decisions related to Council’s management of the collection and role as cultural custodian of this collection.
Here is the CMAC Terms of Reference (111.33kB)
In March 2011, Lyndel Wischer was chosen to be part of the CMAC for 2011-2013.
Name: Lyndel Wischer
Position: Freelance theatre director and writer
Area of Expertise: Arts management and visual arts
Lyndel is a trained curator with experience in the management of local government owned moveable heritage and outdoor sites. She has a diverse background in the museum and gallery sectors and was the inaugural Cultural Heritage Officer/Curator at the City of Boroondara where she drafted the City’s first collection management policy.
YAARTS committee members Jenny Port and Maggie Maguire will also sit on the CMAC.
Further information
Kirsty Baird
Arts and Cultural Services Officer
9205 5038
Kirsty.Baird@yarracity.vic.gov.au
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