Three new members join Performing Lines board

We are pleased to announce the appointment of three new board members – David Doyle, Vernon Guest and Margaret Ross.

David is based in Fremantle, Western Australia, and is the Executive Director of DADAA, a leading arts and health organisation that creates access to cultural activities for people with disability or a mental illness across metro, regional and remote WA.

Vernon is based regionally in Burnie, Tasmania, as the Executive Producer for international arts festival Ten Days on the Island, a biennial festival staged across the island state.

Margaret is a Dhungutti/Gumbangirr woman from Northern NSW and is the Executive Producer at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s ABC Indigenous unit. Margaret is responsible for the management of the digital strategy for ABC Indigenous, as well as identifying, developing and managing new content for the ABC Indigenous slate across all platforms and genres.

Together they bring a wealth of experience from across the arts, disability, First Nations, health and media sectors.

“As Performing Lines continues to look to the future of arts and cultural practice in Australia, I am thrilled to welcome Margaret, Vernon and David to the Board,” said Bill Harris, Chair of Performing Lines.

“Their combined expertise, experience, wisdom and vision ensures Performing Lines will continue to be at the forefront of Australia’s artistic and cultural landscape for many years to come.”

Performing Lines maintains a strong national network ensuring we have the flexibility to provide strategic opportunities for artists based on local knowledge, while having national and international impact and currency. These appointments will strengthen that network.

Click here for more info on our board

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Performing Lines is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body; the NSW Government through Create NSW; the Tasmanian Government through Arts Tasmania; and the WA Government through the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries.

Biographies

David Doyle

David is currently the Executive Director of DADAA LTD. Over the past 30 years, he has produced large-scale Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD) and arts and health projects internationally and across Western Australia. Since the 1990s, in tandem with his project roles, David has played the lead role in building DADAA to be an internationally significant arts and disability organisation. Communities and people are central to his practice. Using Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD) and arts and health practises, David works to actively contribute to the wellbeing of the arts and health sectors and to the WA community as a whole. His strength is a capacity to bring disparate structures together around active responses to population and placed based, complex social issues. David has worked in disability arts practice, and arts and health, across Western Australian, the Northern Territory, Ireland, Hong Kong, Kenya and South Africa, and is dedicated to furthering access to arts and culture for all people.

Vernon Guest

As a senior producer, programmer and arts manager, Vernon has curated festivals, venues and events across Australia. After graduating from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, his early career included stage managing the opening and closing ceremonies of the Sydney Paralympics, and production management for the Adelaide and Perth festivals. Vernon later held the post of Program Manager for the Perth International Arts Festival, Star Shell Manager for the Darwin Festival, Special Project Manager at Sydney Festival, Program Manager at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts and 8 years as Producer of Major Outdoor Events for the Sydney Festival. With more than 19 years experience in the performing arts, Vernon has implemented strategic change in complex not-for-profit structures and led many innovative cultural projects across Australia. He also lectures and advises on international programming and artist management to a variety of organisations.

Margaret Ross

Margaret is a Dhungutti/Gumbangirr woman from Northern NSW with over 10 years’ experience in the Indigenous media sector, starting out in print and currently working in web, digital content, social and broadcast media. Crossing the bridge from SBS/NITV in 2014, Margaret has been a Producer within the ABC’s Indigenous department since. During this time spearheading online, brand and social media development, strategy, content and editorial as well as focusing on audience engagement and building and sustaining an ABC Indigenous online community. A productive five years at ABC Indigenous has seen Margaret work in various capacities on titles such as Redfern Now: Promise Me, Gods of Wheat Street, Cleverman, Black Comedy, Black As, Aussie Rangers, KGB, Wrong Kind of Black (social), Will We Ever Have a Black PM? and Blue Water Empire among other titles. In her new role as Executive Producer, Margaret is responsible for the management of the digital strategy for ABC Indigenous, as well as identifying, developing and managing new content for the ABC Indigenous slate across all platforms and genres.