DIANE MCARTHUR (CHAIR)

Diane is a nationally accredited facilitator, mediator, conflict coach, trainer and assessor, and human resource specialist. She has extensive experience in interpersonal communications, dispute resolution, organisational behaviour, and adult education.   Diane has worked as a trainer with Academy New Zealand, Skill Share Australia, News Limited, Universal Software Solutions and the Department of Defence. She served as an Officer in the Royal Australian Navy for eleven years, during which, she was responsible for managing workplace behaviour and unacceptable behaviour complaints for the whole of Navy. She worked with the Fairness & Resolution branch, in developing and implementing psycho-social training programs and assisted in developing, implementing, and facilitating, cultural change programs throughout Defence, including Making the Change and Navigating the Change.  Diane was subsequently employed by the Department of Defence as a Mediator, Interactive Problem-Solving Facilitator, Conflict Management Coach, Trainer and Assessor, and worked with Australian Public Servants (APS), and military personnel.

ALAN FLOWER (DEPUTY CHAIR)

Alan has worked for 35 years in the performing arts as an actor, writer, script editor, director, artistic director, and a teacher, Alan Flower is an actor who has dabbled in writing, directing, teaching and running a theatre company. Alans work has spanned (2) centuries working for most of Sydney’s best-known theatre companies. Television and Film are also great passions, and he has popped up in many Australian shows over the past thirty years. Including Chasing Milat, Hiding, Home and Away, All Saints, The Secret She Keeps and many more. His connection with Orana Arts is a long one having previously worked on our small plays festival and youth drama program.

RUTH CARNEY

Narromine Elder, Ruth Carney is an advocate for community and heritage, integral in formalising a partnership with Narromine Council and the Ngarru Mayin Corporation for the development of the Narromine Museum. In partnership with Narromine Historical Society, Narromine Museum operated from 2011-2018.

Working alongside Orana Arts on various projects, Aunty Ruth Carney, with her late husband Uncle Dick, supported Orana Arts’ initiative Staging Stories - a storytelling workshop initiative for Aboriginal youth. Their life story inspired the Orana Arts team, in 2016 the stage production, A Little Piece of Heaven was developed. It was directed by John Harvey, whose vision was to see the two Elders perform and share their life in a contemporary setting, creating a regional theatre production written, performed, and directed by First Nations people. The production toured regionally to sold out shows in NSW, and was one of the most successful events at the 2019 Yirramboi Festival in Melbourne.  

MATT POLL

Matt Poll has been the Manager of Indigenous Programs at the Australian National Maritime Museum since September 2021. He was previously Assistant Curator of Indigenous Heritage collections, at Chau Chak Wing Museum. For more than a decade, Matt has also worked as a repatriation project officer at the University of Sydney. Previously Matt has worked as Artistic director of Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative gallery and has published widely on south east Australian Aboriginal art. As well as having been chair of Orana Arts, he has been a long term member of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Advisory Board member for Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

VIRGINIA HANDMER

Virginia has extensive local government and community services experience, having worked across art forms and in youth engagement for many years. She is an artist and curator at Number 47 Gallery in Rylstone and has a strong track record of volunteering for community cultural events. Virginia lends her expertise to cultural committees, including the Rylstone Sculptures Inc, Mudgee Readers’ Festival and the MWRC Cultural Development Committee.

I have always worked arts communities from the point of view of the artist, the gallery, the festival, the demonstration; you name it. Presently I work in Community Development and in the community, I try to find common ground, celebrate skills and activities, and build communication. I have a BA with a major in Peace Studies and have always worked around equality and social justice. I am a print maker and painter and writer. I try to have a small footprint.mber for Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

FIONA MACDONALD

Fiona MacDonald is an artist from Ilford, known for her installations of bodies of work that draw on local cultural traditions, social and natural history. She’s been a curator at the Kandos Museum since 2014. She brings knowledge of the creative and professional opportunities regionally-based artists seek in their practices, along with the challenges they face. Prior to her appointment to the board, Fiona was one of the first Volunteers. Artists. Museums. Program (VAMP) artists in residence, working with the Henry Lawson Centre at Gulgong.

ALICIA RODRIGUEZ LEGGETT
(EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Born in Cuba, Alicia lived much of her life in New York City before moving to Australia 16 years ago. Alicia’s interest in fine art developed when studying Art History as an undergraduate at Rutgers University, before a few years of working as an investment banker sent her back to school for her Masters in 17th Century Spanish Art at Syracuse University. Alicia then went on to fill several creative industry roles: as manager of a commercial arts publication, an art dealer, and commercial gallery director (Arcadia Gallery of Fine Arts in New York). A few moves and flights later, Alicia and her family established themselves in Wellington NSW. Her focus is brokering opportunities through strategic partnerships and projects; enriching and supporting regional communities through the arts; and growing audiences for all artforms.