Minister's Creative Council


About the Minister's Creative Council

The Minister’s Creative Council (MCC) is a positive, solutions focused, Ministerial advisory body for the arts in Canberra. The MCC is a two-way conduit of information and provides strategic advice to the ACT Government on the arts and sector issues. The MCC assists the Government to develop arts policies in order to promote and advance the arts across government and community, reflecting the importance of the arts to all.

The Minister for the Arts uses the MCC in its capacity as an advisory body to explore and test ideas. The MCC provides advice on matters referred to the Council directly by the Minister.

The MCC is a diverse group of creative people who use their unique perspective and expertise to contribute to positive discussion and practical advice on the arts in Canberra, focusing on new ways to work together to generate interesting ideas.

Terms are staggered to ensure continuity of the work plan during the rotation of its membership on a biennial basis.

The ACT Government understands that a diversity of views leads to innovation in the arts. Therefore, we actively encourage representation from a wide range of community members, including but not limited to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, those from multicultural backgrounds, representatives from LGBTQI communities, and people who identify as a person with a disability or have lived experience of mental illness.

If you want to know more about the Council or want to make contact, email CreativeCouncil@act.gov.au

Terms of Reference

You can download the full versions of the Terms of Reference here:

Current Members

As at January 2024

Ketura Budd (Chair)

Ketura is the Creative Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Canberra based, independent arts organisation, You Are Here.  Ketura has worked in a variety of creative and management roles in the arts for over 10 years. Ketura also brings their multi-art form experience and networks to the role. Ketura has demonstrated leadership skills having served as Deputy Chair in their first term on the Minister’s Creative Council (2022-2023).

Julie Nichols (Deputy Chair)

Julie is the Founder and Director of the Handmade Market Canberra. Starting in 2008, Julie grew the market from 36 stalls to now over 260 stalls and 20,000 customers per event in 2023. Julie has won awards including the 2022 Canberra Region Tourism’s Resilience and Innovation award and the 2023 Chief Minsters Inclusion Award. Julie brings her experience and networks from working with many Canberra designers and creatives to her role as Deputy Chair in her first term on the Minister’s Creative Council (2024-2025).

AJ America (Member)

AJ is a performer and creative producer. As a singer, AJ appears regularly as a recitalist and a concert musician in Canberra, and she is the Artistic Director and founder of Luminescence Chamber Singers. At Luminescence, she has overseen significant growth, producing more than 30 concert programmes and performing more than 100 concerts over 5 years, as well as working with the Luminescence Children’s Choir. AJ also has experience as a researcher and teacher and has published with Cambridge University Press.  AJ served as Chair of the Minister’s Creative Council during her first term (2022-2023).

Emma Batchelor (Member)

Emma is a writer and author from Canberra. From 2016-2019 she edited and wrote for online publication Leiden, and in 2017 published ‘Building a Conscious Wardrobe (and other fun things)’ a book championing conscious consumerism. In May 2021, her first novel ‘Now that I see you’ won the Australian/Vogel Literary Award and was released into the United States in January 2023. As a dancer, Emma has performed for QL2 in both regional and international tours as well as for brother, choreographer James Batchelor. Emma is currently the Chair of Marion ACT (formerly ACT Writers Centre), board member of the Stellar Company and an ambassador for the ACT Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge. This is her first term.

Leah Blankendaal (Member)

Leah is ACT Manager and National Public Affairs Manager for Musica Viva Australia. She is a multi-award winning musician. Leah has held a number of arts and music roles in organisations in Canberra, Adelaide, Melbourne and Western Australia. She has been a Peer Assessor for numerous organisations including artsACT and Creative Australia. This is her first term on the Minister’s Creative Council.

Christopher Samuel Carroll (Member)

Christopher is an actor, writer, director and theatre-maker from Ireland, trained at Trinity College Dublin, and Ecole Jacques Lecoq, Paris. Since moving to Canberra in 2016, he has become one of the city’s most prolific and celebrated performers, making 'theatre that matters' with his company, Bare Witness. He is the lead artist for Canberra Youth Theatre’s Emerge Company, and brings his perspective as a practising artist, educator, and a diverse background working in cultural organisations at home and abroad.

Sophie Edwards (Member)

Canberra singer-songwriter Sophie has returned from the United States, completing a Masters of Creative Media and Technology, specialising in songwriting and production. Sophie was a nominee for the 2024 ACT Young Australian of the Year awards, acknowledging her as a gender equality advocate and her project, ‘She’s on the Bill’ launched on International Day in 2021 to tackle sexism in the music industry. Sophie’s music performance highlights include Split Milk Festival Canberra 2023, Front Yard Fest, the Groovin the Moo Official Warmup Party, and support slots for Odette, Jaguar Jonze (tour), John Floreani (tour), and Alice Skye. Sophie has worked as a studio assistant and tutor at the ANU. This is her first term.

Hannah de Feyter (Member)

Hannah de Feyter is a filmmaker, musician, and curator. She is the programmer of Third Run Cinema and the Stronger than Fiction Documentary Film Festival, and her first feature film as writer/director is currently in development. As a musician, Hannah performs solo with her experimental viola project ALPHAMALE. Her work includes sound design for both film and theatre, as well as a series of live scores for silent films designed to highlight the under-remembered contributions of women to the early film industry. This is her second term.

Jazida (Rachel Reid) (Member)

Jazida is a queer and culturally diverse dancer, choreographer, teacher, and producer who is recognised as one of Australia’s key burlesque industry figures. Her production company, Jazida Productions regularly puts on sold out shows and her alternate performing arts hub, Flazéda, runs artist development programs, and provides scholarship opportunities.She was vote #32 top most influential people in the burlesque industry globally in 2020 and her production company (Jazida Productions) won the Canberra Local Business Awards for Outstanding Performing Arts.

Marissa McDowell (Member)

Marissa is a Wiradyuri woman who has 20 years’ experience working in the First Nation multi-media storytelling space as a filmmaker, photographer, and writer.  Marissa is currently employed by SBS as the Head of Commissions for NITV, her documentaries have been commissioned by SBS/NITV and other First Nation organisations, art galleries and museums.  She is the Chair of Us Mob Writers, a member of First Nations Australia Writers Network, Gender Matters Taskforce, Australian International Documentary Conference Advisory Committee, and a member of artsACT’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander Arts Network and on the. This is her first term.

Ashley Zmijewski (Member)

Ashley is a passionate creative marketing professional. He is currently the Director of Marketing at the University of Canberra, formerly the Head of Marketing & Communications at National Gallery of Australia, an award-winning creative consultant, an interior design series author of Home Stories on HerCanberra, a podcast host of Behind The Bio, as well as a recording artist under the alias Magnifik. Ashley’s key areas of expertise include branding evolution, creative design and production, marketing strategy and execution, content generation and communications. He has qualifications in Psychology and a Masters in Marketing. This is his first term.

Daniel O’Malley (Appointment will commence on 1 July 2024)

Daniel is an international author working on his fourth book. With the television adaption of his novel ‘The Rook’ his experience lends to an understanding of the creative industries and developing IP. He has solid connections with the literature sector in Canberra and internationally. He has also worked in public sector departments in communications and media roles. This is his first term on the Minister’s Creative Council.

Updates from the Council

The Council held their first meeting in December 2018. Since forming the Council discussed issues that could form their ongoing work plan and devised decision making processes to ensure efficiency. The Council also devised ways to engage with the arts sector to ensure their work focuses on issues important to the sector.

A meeting summary will be published here after each meeting to inform the community of what the Council has discussed.

Friday 25 August 2023

The Minister’s Creative Council met on 25 August. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Network provided members with an update of recent activities including a NAIDOC week exhibition at Belconnen Arts Centre and an open-mic night at Tuggeranong Arts Centre (in conjunction with Gugan Gulwan). Members noted the launch by Us Mob Writing in Alice Springs of the publication “Kurracca”, an anthology of writing by Canberra based First Nations women.

The Canberra Theatre Redevelopment Project Team gave a presentation to members outlining development plans and the timeline for the project. Members indicated they would like to be involved through further consultation with the project team.

Three Working Parties on Canberra as a City of Design, Role Sharing and Artform Specific Spaces provided members with an update of their work, opportunities for input and next steps.

Friday 16 June 2023

The Minister’s Creative Council met on 16 June. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Network members commended the successful activities that will be funded through the new Cultural Arts program and noted that $127,565 will be delivered to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.

A presentation from the Better Regulation Taskforce on the night-time economy was delivered to members and members discussed some of the challenges of hosting a night-time event. The Taskforce is consulting widely with all relevant stakeholders in early July and welcomes feedback from members and the community.

Members discussed the range of opportunities that have made the biggest impact to their networks. Members continued their work on positioning Canberra as a City of Design, audience development and accessing government venues. The issue of dance specific rehearsal spaces was introduced, and this discussion will be continued at the next meeting in August.

Friday 21 April 2023

The Minister’s Creative Council met on 21 April. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Network members provided a summary of the Network’s activities including the recent addition of two new members, Hollie Gill and Aiden Hartshorn.

Members discussed concrete and defined changes that would benefit their career experiences as artists in Canberra. A working party was formed to explore role sharing in arts organisations as a continuation of the discussion of Imagining Funding Models from the February meeting.

There was discussion on the barriers and solutions to accessing government-funded venues. Audience development as a sustained action was also discussed. Members formed a working group to consider the 2024-25 ACT Budget submission process and the possibility of lodging a future submission from MCC members. A working group was formed to explore Canberra’s ambition to position itself as a City of Design.

Friday 24 February 2023

The Minister’s Creative Council met on 24 February and agreed on its working framework before discussing strengths and weaknesses in the ACT arts sector and alternate funding approaches.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Network members provided a summary of the Network’s activities including updates to their Terms of Reference and membership.

Members discussed funding models, including the pros and cons of spreading available funding across a few applicants or more widely across the sector. This discussion noted the potential value of approaches taken elsewhere, such as working with corporate partners and resource sharing.

Members also discussed potential topics for Collaboration Labs to be facilitated by Canberra Business and Innovation Network (CBRIN) to create linkages between the arts and business sectors.

Thursday 24 November 2022

The Minister’s Creative Council met on 24 November and discussed its priorities for 2023. This included MCC’s role in gathering community feedback on the Arts, Culture and Creative Policy 2022-26 to deliver to the Minister for the Arts.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Network members provided a summary of the Network meeting held on 21 November which focused on feedback from those who attended Purrumpa, First Nations Arts and Culture National Gathering 2022, and discussions about how to work with the arts sector ahead of the Voice referendum and NAIDOC week, including opportunities for Elders through storytelling, weaving and other cultural practices.

Members welcomed Yolande Norris, Director, Innovation Festival, Events ACT who gave an overview of the Innovation Festival, which will run from 7-16 July 2023.

Members were also updated on the Arts Organisations Investment Program funding outcomes and the new Arts Activities Funding guidelines.

Thursday 25 August 2022

The Minister’s Creative Council welcomed six new members, Emma Batchelor, Christopher Carroll, Ian RT Colless, Sophie Edwards, Marissa McDowell, Rachel Reid and Ashley Zmijewski.

Members were updated about the release of Canberra: Australia’s Arts Capital – Arts, Culture and Creative Policy 2022-2026 on 28 July 2022 and ACT Government 2022-23 Budget.

The MCC also discussed proposed changes to its Terms of Reference and identified themes for future discussion including seeking feedback to the Arts, Culture and Creative Policy 2022-2023, strategic partnerships, considering national and international markets, COVID-19 and low confidence for audiences and screen and interactive games development policy. The MCC formed working groups to discuss community engagement, communications and idea generation.

Thursday 16 June 2022

Minister for the Arts, Tara Cheyne MLA attended the meeting and set priorities for the Council centred around the Statement of Ambition for the Arts, and plans for a new arts policy and arts organisation funding framework. The Minister requested that Council consider how it could specifically engage with the Promote strategy of the Ambition, which aims to position Canberra as the Arts Capital.

The Council discussed how it will re-examine its work plan and Terms of Reference with regard to the Statement of Ambition for the Arts and reiterated that it will continue to engage closely with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Network.

Departing members were farewelled and thanked for their contribution since the Council began meeting in 2019. Original Council members reflected on their work and the intentions for Council to be a strategically focussed body that provides vigorous two way communication between the Minister for the Arts and the arts sector.

Thursday 17 March 2022

MCC welcomed six new members, Deputy Chair, Ms AJ America, Ketura Budd, Ian RT Colless, Hannah De Feyter, Ngaio Fitzpatrick and Ruth O’Brien and discussed the development and consultation process for the new Arts Policy and Funding Model. Council agreed to respond to all consultation themes proposed by artsACT and formed working groups to provide its own input.

Thursday 14 October 2021

Council met informally while inquorate. Therefore there is no available summary for this meeting.

Thursday 24 June 2021

The MCC welcomed a presentation from the University of Canberra about a report it is writing about Canberra’s creative industries, and noted its own role in advocating for Creative Industries during the emergence of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The MCC also responded to the Minister’s questions about representation in the ACT in the realm of public art, as well as discussing strategies for attracting greater diversity in the arts and increasing support for a diversity of artists including those from a culturally and linguistically diverse background, LGBTQI+ community, First Nations, those living with a disability and marginalised communities. The MCC noted its intention to provide input to the Minister’s new vision statement. The MCC also reflected on the success of its cultural awareness training day and was updated on the review of its Terms of Reference and future recruitment processes.

Thursday 21 April 2021

The Minister’s Creative Council met on 21 April and considered questions posed by Minister Cheyne about the information that is provided to the sector from arts ACT and what information could be provided differently. Council agreed that artsACT provides sufficient information but recommended upgrades to the website and changes to the peer registration process. Council also discussed a need in the sector for a clear vision and policy from the Minister for the Arts and discussed the ACT’s Wellbeing indicators. Council responded to questions about art in the public realm and how diversity could be better represented in the collection. Council discussed the importance of diversity, cross disciplinary works and encouraged support of more experimental works (including ephemeral artworks). Council advocated for the need for a clear curatorial framework. Future works should consider local stories and local artists. Council also noted its need to create a post-covid workplan.

Thursday 11 March 2021
The Minister’s Creative Council met on the 11th of March and considered questions posed by Minister Cheyne to provide advice to her in regards to the Arts portfolio. Two working groups presented reports that addressed the questions ‘What is the ACT’s comparative advantage for the arts/creative industries’, and ‘What are the barriers to being an artist in Canberra’.  The Council considered a range of factors including: the challenges of employment; access to facilities; regulation in public spaces; cross-portfolio investment in ACT Artists, including Events; the richness of an interconnected arts scene; and how to best champion ACT art. The Council also recognised the contribution of Adelaide Rief whose time on the council has recently ended.

Thursday 4 February 2021
The Minister's Creative Council had a productive and energising meeting with new arts minister, Tara Cheyne. The Minister has asked Council to work on a series of questions that will inform her policy on a regular basis in addition to the Council’s existing program of work.
This follows successful Council work advising previous Minister Gordon Ramsay on urgent questions, in particular the HOMEFRONT program and its subsequent expansion.

Chair Genevieve Jacobs: "As an advisory council, we'll bring our collective experience to bear and use our networks to seek input from the arts and creative industries communities across Canberra. This should be a robust process that enables the Council to give useful advice but also ask the Minister to reconsider her direction from time to time. We've asked for the process to be transparent and will be happy to discuss our processes and outcomes as we move to this new working model."

Thursday 17 December 2020
The Council had its first in-person meeting since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The focus of the meeting was progress. This included developing a plan for cultural awareness training for Council members. Meeting our new arts minister. Noting artsACT would be seeking new Council members (as membership terms expire). And working to expand and improve communication channels. About communication, the Council is looking at lessons learned from our survey undertaken in response to Covid-19 which informed artsACT’s HOMEFRONT.

The Council is working toward building engagement with community members. Additionally, artsACT is examining the Council’s Terms of Reference and we will help with this. The Council will give advice on artsACT’s Creative Recovery and Resilience Program. Finally, the Council is contributing to artsACT understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the Council so we can develop and focus the Council’s capabilities.

Thursday 9 July 2020
In our July meeting we welcomed two new members onto the Council:  Richie Allan of the Ngunnawal and Gamillaraay Nations and Torres Strait Islander and Samantha Faulkner from the Wuthuthi/Yadhaigana peoples, Cape York Peninsula and Badu and Moa Islands, Torres Strait. Richie and Sam have brought valuable new perspectives and insights.  Ongoing work is planned to ensure that the Minister is informed from a First Nation and culturally diverse perspective, ensuring that it includes “not just the arts that exists within four walls, but the arts and culture that’s out there, outside”.  The Council also formulated recommendations to the Minister based on a survey where we heard about the impact of COVID 19 from 300 Canberra creatives.  These recommendations ensure that short-term needs can be responded to before the caretaker period of government commences later this year, whilst identifying long-term opportunities that can be acted upon in the future.  We also congratulated the work of the Where You Are Festival in celebrating everyday creativity and supporting ACT-region Artists

Thursday 11 June 2020
In its June meeting, the Council discussed how the ACT Government could best support the creative community to understand how it could preserve careers and practice, and recover quickly. The Council discussed what forms of arts-specific guidance could be provided by the Government in order to offer the sector clear guidelines under which it could operate, as social distancing restrictions are rolled back. The Council resolved to consider further potential case studies or scenarios that could be useful to address in a public FAQ document.

The Council discussed the recent survey of the ACT arts sector. Members gave their impressions of general themes and recurring comments, and new ideas that had been raised by the submissions. The Council resolved to continue to review the findings and progress towards recommendations to the Minister regarding further action that could be taken to support the arts sector.
The meeting concluded with a discussion of what steps could be taken to show and not tell that the ACT is a place of great creativity, and how the Members could be culturally aware within the Council and in their connection with community.

Thursday 14 May 2020
The Minister’s Creative Council is looking forward, to the changes in our broad community and in the Arts catalysed by Covid-19. We are looking at ways to safeguard against Arts funding reductions while pursuing proactive advocacy promoting the far-reaching aspects of Arts in the community both during the pandemic and in defining the Australian Capital Territory’s post-Covid-19 future. The recently concluded community consultation, opened up to a diverse array of voices through our survey, was a direct effort at this. We have been discussing the Arts as community care and the need to care for Arts practitioners and continue to consider new ways to engage the Arts sector in developing a safe transition. The lack of rules pertaining to safety in the Arts makes it harder to open back up, both from a practical perspective with venues, but also in the more esoteric sense of how artists are going to engage in their practices going forward. The Council also continues the initiative of developing questions to pose for free-ranging discussion at our meetings. Our most recent was: What if we had more ways of talking about the potential of art in people’s lives? We encourage all members of our community to offer responses to this question via CreativeCouncil@act.gov.au.

Thursday 16 April 2020
At our April meeting, we farewelled valued Council member Jilda Andrews, thanking her for her contribution to the Council in 2019. artsACT provided an update to the Council on the current ACT Government responses to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the local arts and cultural sector. The Council thanked the Minister for the swift response, notably the nation-leading HOMEFRONT grant program. To ensure the Council is able to be an active conduit between the Minister and the community at this time, we resolved to develop a survey to identify impact and current gaps in support for the arts and cultural community. Finally we engaged in a generative conversation around the question “How do we build on what is happening” – discussing how we as a Council can support and build on work already being done by our creative, resilient arts sector to adapt in this crisis.

Thursday 5 March 2020
The MCC heard an update about the Wellbeing Indicator Project. The Council reinforced the importance of the need for indicators relating to arts and culture, and thanked the ACT Government for their work in incorporating these measures. The Council also reviewed the outcomes of the planning meeting held in December 2019, including the Generative Conversation Model which the Council agreed to use in future meetings. artsACT updated the Council on the work it is currently doing around updates to organisational funding. 2 proposals identified at the precvious meeting for advice to the Minister were further discussed; on a creative sector awards program and listening mechanisms the Council can use to consult with the sector. Finally the Council noted the need for a creative recovery process after recent bushfires and the intention to ensure greater communication with the sector about its work.

Thursday 7 December 2019
Members who attended the MCC and Cultural Facilities Corporation lunch with Professor David Throsby spoke on the value of the conversation particularly in relation to wellbeing and the value of the arts across the community. It was noted that opportunities for networking with the arts community should be encouraged with feedback and sharing of information highlighted. The Council is working on implementing a Communications Strategy. The Council discussed key achievements including provision of advice on the Arts Biennial and about cultural mapping. The Council is mindful of considering what gaps it can fill, maintaining trust, building profile of the Council in the community is important and working groups.

Members who attended the MCC and Cultural Facilities Corporation lunch with Professor David Throsby spoke on the value of the conversation particularly in relation to wellbeing and the value of the arts across the community. The Council discussed a sector listening framework - creating mechanisms for the Council to listen to the community and form a conduit to the Minister. The Council also discussed the value of a new creative awards to recognise engagement with the arts as a positive incentive for growing arts community engagement in the community.

Thursday 3 October 2019
The theme of the meeting was communication, with the Minister, the community, artists, each other and with artsACT. We discussed understanding the Arts in our Territory and strategies to engage people in shaping a creative, inclusive, and caring society. What does this mean? There will be more opportunities for you to engage with members of the Council and you will hear from us on topics impacting the Arts in the short term, as well as on upcoming areas that have longer term implications for creativity where we live. In getting communication right we will influence change to benefit the community and its creativity.