Janine Collins, Chair
Team
Meet the PSpace family.
Jamaica performing as part of Day for Night, 2019. Part of Liveworks Festival of Experimental Art presented by Performance Space. Photograph by Joseph Mayers.
Vanessa Lloyd, CEO
Vanessa has worked across government and the private arts sector; most recently managing Anna Schwartz Gallery in Sydney, one of the premier commercial galleries in Australia. Before this she worked at the Australia Council with roles in arts administration, applicant relations and grants management. Working with the then Visual Arts Board to facilitate grants she worked closely with key organisations both here and internationally to present Australian artists’ work. Vanessa has a strong understanding of the visual and experimental arts and holds a Visual Arts and Sociology (hons) degree from the University of Wollongong.
Rosie Dennis, Guest Co-Artistic Director, 2023
A well-respected arts leader who is best known for curating and delivering large-scale cultural experiences connected to place. Rosie is the current Artistic Director and CEO of Placemakers* Gold Coast, one of south-east Queensland’s leading contemporary arts organisations who is best known for delivering the annual BLEACH* and BIG CITY LIGHTS festivals. Prior to joining Placemakers*Rosie was the Artistic Director and CEO of Urban Theatre Projects (UTP). During her tenure with UTP Rosie curated the award winning BANKSTOWN:LIVE, conceived and directed the theatrical triptych, Home Country and directed two documentaries, Bre & Back and One Day for Peace which have screened on SBS and ABC respectively. Rosie was the inaugural Creative Director of Hobart Current: Liberty From Here to Here (2021) which commissioned ten new works for the Tasmanian Museum and Gallery and City of Hobart. Rosie’s solo performance work has been presented at more than 25 festivals across Central Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Rosie’s first work at Performance Space was part of unBecomings, curated by Fiona Winning, for Mardi Gras, 2000.
Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Guest Co-Artistic Director, 2023
An independent curator and critic renowned for his work with contemporary Australian artists and collections. He is also an artist whose work over three decades is the subject of a survey exhibition at Wollongong Art Gallery in mid 2023. Recently, he was appointed the Curator of Cementa24. Previously, he was the Director of Programs and Senior Curator at Carriageworks from 2017–2022, where he worked with Performance Space, most notably on Cherine Fahd’s Ecdysis as co-curator with Jeff Khan in 2021. He has also held leadership and curatorial roles at Artbank and Hazelhurst Arts Centre, and teaching and research positions at Western Sydney University, where he completed a BA Honours (First Class) in Art History and Criticism in 1997 and a PhD in Cultural Studies in 2004. Notable recent work includes projects with Reko Rennie, Mel O'Callaghan, Karla Dickens, Dean Cross and Tina Havelock Stevens, among others; curating The National 2019: New Australian Art; and initiating Suspended Moment: The Katthy Cavaliere Fellowship which partnered Carriageworks with ACCA and Mona by commissioning major new works by Frances Barrett, Sally Rees and Giselle Stanborough. Suspended Moment was adapted as an exhibition that is touring to eight venues from 2022–2023 through Museums and Galleries of NSW.
Kate Britton, Acting Head of Programming
Kate is a curator and arts manager with more than 10 years experience in festivals, experimental and interdisciplinary performance, and visual and public art. Before returning to Performance Space, she developed, curated and produced Newcastle’s inaugural city-wide arts festival New Annual, which launched in early 2021 to sold-out crowds and local acclaim. She has held Artistic and Festival Director positions with Art Month Sydney and This is Not Art Festival, and curatorial, programming, and producing roles with Sydney Opera House, Campbelltown Arts Centre, FBi Radio, Underbelly Arts, UNSW, and Kaldor Public Art Projects. Kate is a widely published arts writer, consultant, and has curated exhibitions and public artworks around Australia. From 2014 - 15 she was a director at Firstdraft Gallery, working with her co-directors to move the gallery to its new premises in Woolloomooloo and launching a revitalised program. She has a PhD in aesthetics and participatory art, drawing on her work alongside a team of researchers on a major community filmmaking project with UTS and the University of Goroka in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.
Sean Landis, Marketing Manager
Sean (he/him) is a Marketing and Communications professional with a diverse array of experience across the performing arts. He joins Performance Space having worked as the Marketing and Distribution Manager at Australian Theatre Live, and completing a Bachelor of Arts (Media Studies) and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney. Outside of Performance Space, Sean is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Fruit Box Theatre; a company dedicated to developing and staging original LGBTQIA+ theatre. Sean is passionate about promoting the work of artists in authentic and creative ways, helping them share their practice with audiences who resonate with their work.
Jimi Rawlings, Production Manager
Jimi (He/Him) is an emerging multi-disciplinary practitioner with experience across a variety of events, venues, and performances. Joining the industry with a passion for lighting design, Jimi developed an interest in production management working at Carriageworks as an operator and senior technician. He has freelanced for companies and venues big and small across Warrane (Sydney), with diverse experience in event lighting, sound, video systems, staging, set building, production design, and stage management. Jimi holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Technical Theatre and Stage Management from the National Institute of Dramatic Art.
Rhanda, Finance Officer
Rhanda joined Performance Space in 2008 as Finance Officer, beginning her involvement with the arts community. She can now be found in arts offices across the city including Moogahlin Performing Arts, Force Majeure, Branch Nebula and Erth. Prior to this she had worked in the private sector in accounting and taxation for over ten years and continues to do so. Rhanda graduated with a business degree from the University of Technology, with a major in Accounting and sub-major in Small Business. She is also a Certified Practicing Accountant.
Katie Winten, Producer
Katie Winten is a creative producer and curator living and working on Gadigal land. Across the last eight years Katie has worked in directorial, curatorial and producing roles in visual art, contemporary dance, theatre and experimental performance at Sydney Opera House, the Powerhouse Museum, Performance Space, Carriageworks, FBi Radio, Firstdraft and the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Yousr Ben Salem, Development Manager
Yousr is an arts production and development manager working for nearly a decade on the delivery of engaging and ambitious artistic programs in Tunisia and France. Following her master’s degree in Sociology specializing in film reception at the University Lyon 2, she has held multiple positions working at the service of creative and transdisciplinary projects that have an emphasis on social impact. She collaborated closely with a variety of independent arts organizations including the Tunisian arthouse production company APA: Artistes Producteurs Associés, Association Démocr’Art and the French association 1000 Visages Production. Passionate about visual and performing arts and dedicated to the promotion of innovative and creative work, Yousr has joined the Performance Space team as development manager, currently living and working on Gadigal land.
Sidney McMahon, Program Coordinator
Sidney (they/them) is an artist and arts worker with skills in curation, production and marketing. They join Performance Space having worked as the Programs Officer/Curator and Artist Development at Parramatta Artists' Studios. They completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) at Sydney College of the Arts (USYD) in 2010, a Master of Art Curatorship at USYD in 2011 and a Master of Fine Arts at Sydney College of the Arts at USYD in 2015. Outside of this work, Sidney is a professionally practicing artist and exhibits their work nationally.
Board
Donna Lawler, Deputy Chair
Thomas Thoma
Fenella Kernebone
Julie Robb
Agatha Gothe-Snape
Brian Fuata