Current Board Members

• Professor Clare Martin (Chairperson)

• Professor Clare Martin is currently a Fellow at the Northern Institute of the Charles Darwin University. Before taking up that appointment in August 2010, Clare was for two years the CEO of the Australian Council for Social Service, the peak body for the community services sector and national voice for Australians on low incomes. Between 1995 and 2008, Clare was the Labor member for Fannie Bay in the Northern Territory Parliament. In 1999, she became the leader of the Labor Opposition and in 2001 the first ever Labor Chief Minister. Over her time in Government, Clare held a number of ministries, ranging from Treasury to Police, Arts, Tourism, Indigenous Policy and Asian Relations and Trade. Clare stood down as Chief Minister in November 2007. Before entering politics, Clare was a broadcaster and journalist with the ABC in Sydney, Canberra and Darwin.

• Simon Cooper (Secretary)

• Simon is a multi-disciplinary artist who works primarily in sculpture. Since 1997 he has been involved in over fifty exhibitions in Australia and abroad and participated in residencies in Thailand, Taiwan, India and Vietnam. Simon completed his Masters at the College of Fine Art, Sydney, in 2007 and currently teaches in the School of Creative Art and Humanities, Charles Darwin University.

• David Blair (Treasurer)

• Originally from the UK, David has lived in Australia for almost 15 years, punctuated with a brief time living in Hong Kong and moved to Darwin in 2007. David is a qualified Accountant, and currently Chief Operating Officer at Menzies School of Health Research. Other community related activities include being the Chair of Life Line Top End and a public member on the NT Physiotherapists Registration Board.

• Joanna Best (Public Officer)

• Joanna graduated from RMIT in 2003 and has since worked in Darwin as a registered architect. Her practice of architecture is closely linked with the visual arts and a cross-discipline design approach has seen her work with local and interstate artists on several projects.

• Tom Gray (General Member)

• Tom Gray has a Masters of Arts (Art in Public Space) through RMIT. The study of public space and public art has engaged him for many years. It is the intersection of design and art with built and natural environments that he has enjoyed studying and will continue to research.
  The focus of his master’s was to explore the concept of wilderness as public space and the difference between biocentric and anthropocentric understandings of the environment. He completed his master’s degree with high distinction in 2008. This research was informed through his experience designing for urban and natural environments as well as personal interests in wilderness protection.
  Tom currently teaches in architecture at Charles Darwin University and continues to consult and practice in public art and design projects throughout Darwin.

• Gloria Richards (General Member)

• Gloria is the Senior Exhibition Designer at the Museum and Art Gallery of the NT. Gloria graduated from University of Canberra with a Bachelor of Graphic Design and was awarded Most Creative Student and Designer of the Year of the 1994 Graduates. Since then she has worked in both the public and private sector alike as a consultant and in a freelance capacity. She is particularly interested in the blurring of boundaries between contemporary art and design and the influences of new technologies and materials.

• Colvin Crowe (General Member)

• Colvin is currently working for the NT Government as a community development officer for remote housing on the Tiwi Islands. He has worked with Aboriginal community groups in the NT over the last 25 years in a variety of positions, from setting up and running community art centres, to managing enterprise development and labour market programs, as well as stints in politics and doing the occasional consultancy. Colvin has always considered himself to be a community development practitioner, and in the last few years has been able to “sort out in my head how to go about this properly”. Colvin has been interested in art forever, and studied fine art in the early 80’s in Darwin majoring in printmaking (etching), and drawing, and has taught printmaking in remote areas of the NT. He reckons it's an exciting time to be involved in the arts in the NT!

• Jamie Gallacher (General Member)

• Jamie Gallacher is a lifelong Territory resident, growing up in Central Australia and the Top End. Following stints at the Australian National University and working in Darwin, London and San Francisco as a journalist he returned to the Territory in the 1980's. Jamie has also worked in senior positions with several key Indigenous organisations including the Northern Land Council and the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the NT. He has an ongoing interest in and commitment to promoting the arts in the Territory.

• Paul Johnstone (General Member)

• Director, Cross Cultural Art Exchange Gallery, Darwin

• In 2002 I accepted the position of Indigenous Art Manager at Framed – The Darwin Gallery. Over the 4 years of my employment with this gallery I built strong relationships with Indigenous Art Centres and curated many exhibitions. In 2005 I started Cross Cultural Art Exchange (CCAE) and together with Warmun Art Centre hosted an exhibition of Warmun art at Pucci International in New York. In 2006 CCAE took over the space that was originally Gallery Philip Neville and in 2007 began a full time gallery space. In 2008 I became a licensed valuer under the Auctioneers and Valuers Association of Australia and in 2009 I began a Graduate Certificate of Museum Studies with Deakin University in Victoria.

• Colin McDonald QC (General Member)

• BA, LLB (Hons) . Inaugural President of the Northern Territory Criminal Lawyer's Association, 1982; appointed by the Australian Foreign Affairs Minister the Honourable Gareth Evans QC to the Board of the Australian-Indonesia Institute, 1984; Life member of the Northern Territory Criminal Lawyers Association, President of the Northern Territory Bar Association – 1997 to 2000, Member of the Executive Committee of the Australian Bar Association – 1997 to 2000, President Northern Territory Branch of the International Commission of Jurists – 2000 to present, Member of the Board of the Australian-Indonesia Institute – 1989 to 1994 in the Hawke and Keating Governments, Member of the Board of Directors to the Cambodian Legal Resource Development Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia – 1999 to present, Member of the Royal Darwin Hospital Management Board – 2002 – 2003, Chairman of the Royal Darwin Hospital Management Board 2003 to present, Chairman of the Royal Darwin Hospital Ethics Committee 2003 to present, Continuing member of the Advisory Committee of the Asian law Journal, University of Melbourne, Chairman Northern Territory Museums and Art Galleries Board 1997 to 2000 and 2003 to 2006, Chairman of the Visiting Committee of the School of Humanities, Psychology and Social Sciences at the Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Member of the Panel of Chairs of the NT Police Promotions Appeals Board 2000 to present, Member of the Panel of Chairs of the NT Police Inability and Disciplinary Appeals Board 2005 and continuing, Member of the Board of the Institute of Legal Studies at the Australian Catholic University, North Sydney, Head of Chambers at William Forster Chambers 1998 to present.