Welcoming Appointments To First Nations Board

Franchesca Cubillo, Executive Director of First Nations Arts and Culture, has welcomed the appointments announced today by the Honourable Tony Burke, MP, Minister for the Arts, to the inaugural First Nations Board.

The appointments are:

  • Mr Philip Watkins, Co-Chair 
  • Ms Rachael Maza AM, Co-Chair 
  • Prof. Clint Bracknell 
  • Ms Pauline Clague 
  • Ms Jeanette James 
  • Ms Deborah Mailman AM 
  • Mr Daniel Riley 
  • Ms Rhoda Roberts AO 
  • Mr Dennis Stokes 
  • Dr Jared Thomas 

Franchesca Cubillo, Executive Director of First Nations Arts and Culture said,

“We are very excited to welcome the recent appointment of the First Nations Board: this important milestone builds on the 50-year legacy of First Nations arts and cultural leadership and investment at Creative Australia – formerly the Australia Council for the Arts. We thank all those who have come before, their vision and advocacy has provided a strong foundation, and we congratulate and look forward to working closely with all these newly appointed remarkable First Nations leaders to elevate and showcase the rich diversity of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander arts and culture across this vast continent.”

First Nations First  is pillar one of the Australian Government’s National Cultural Policy,  Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place. 

Revive  establishes a dedicated  First Nations-led Board to: 

  • invest in, create, and produce First Nations works of scale, with priorities and funding decisions determined by First Nations leaders 
  • develop a First Nations Creative Workforce Development Strategy 
  • promote best practice cultural protocols, self-determination and cultural safety training across arts and cultural organisations. 

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