Our Organisation

Next Wave is a biennial festival and artist development organisation, presenting genre-busting new work by the next wave of Australian artists.

Next Wave is Australia’s leading festival for young emerging artists and arts workers. Established in 1984, Next Wave has remained at the forefront of presenting a broad range of contemporary art practices to a national audience. The most recent Next Wave Festival ran in May 2010.

Next Wave is an innovative organisation that stands alone in its dedication to supporting young artists. With a consistently changing audience and artist make-up, the Next Wave Festival remains responsive to critical issues in contemporary culture. It is one of the few organisations in Australia that gives young people the opportunity to critique their culture, giving their ideas a public face and audible voice.

Next Wave’s vision is of a world where all young people are empowered to express themselves and engage with creative activities. Our plan is to empower young artists aged 16 to 30, art-workers and audiences to develop ideas and create works that engage, change and shape the culture around them through a development and festival cycle.

(IMAGE: And Then Something Fell On My Head. Photo by Gareth Hart.)

Our vision & mission

Vision

Spanning all art forms and encouraging interdisciplinary practice, Next Wave fosters new work which is challenging, critically engaged and provides a forum for new encounters between artists and audiences.

Mission

To empower communities of young artists, art-workers and audiences to develop ideas and create works that engage, change and shape the culture around them through a development and festival cycle.

Next Wave Staff

Jeff Khan, Artistic Director

jeff (at) nextwave.org.au

Jeff Khan is a curator, writer and arts administrator, and Next Wave’s Artistic Director. As Artistic Director of the 2008 Next Wave Festival, Jeff oversaw the development and delivery of a multidisciplinary Festival program which included 61 projects and nearly 400 artists from diverse backgrounds and artforms, from around Australia and internationally.

Originally from Western Australia, Jeff moved to Melbourne in 2003 to take up the role of Communications Manager at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces. Prior to this, he held positions at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) and the John Curtin Gallery, and in 2002 undertook a six month internship at the Guggenheim R. Museum in New York. Over the course of his career thus far, Jeff has curated and developed numerous projects including exhibitions, publications, performances and special events with galleries and museums, performance spaces, artist-run initiatives, and unconventional spaces such as nightclubs, laneways and public spaces of varying description.

Jeff was a Curatorial Advisor for Rapt!, a major cultural exchange project between Australia and Japan in 2005-6. He is also a founding Board member of unProjects, and an editorial committee member of unMagazine. He was a member of the Midsumma Festival’s Visual Arts Working group from 2003 – 2006 and currently sits on the City of Yarra’s Arts Advisory Committee. As a writer he has contributed to numerous magazines and journals including Artlink, Photofile, RealTime and un Magazine as well as catalogue essays for the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art and numerous other galleries and artists’ projects.

Paul Gurney, Executive Director

paul.gurney (at) nextwave.org.au

Paul Gurney joined Next Wave in January 2009 as Operations Manager, and helped manage accounts and finance, program management, risk management and overall administration in the lead up to the 2010 Festival.

Paul relocated from Perth to Melbourne in 2004 to undertake an internship at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) as part of his degree in Arts Management (BA) from the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts. After graduating, Paul became part of the Exhibition Management Team at the NGV and was employed full-time at the Gallery up until January 2009. During his time at the Gallery Paul worked on many large and small scale exhibitions including the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series.

In addition to the NGV, Paul volunteered as a board member for Seventh Gallery Inc, Fitzroy from 2005 to 2007. During this time Paul contributed to the Making Space publication and was also responsible for the Gallery’s Media and Communications strategies.

Prior to arriving in Melbourne Paul worked at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA) as an administrator, Front of House and installation team member.

Paul has taken the helm as Executive Director in an acting role for 6 months as of July 2010.

Ulanda Blair, Artistic Program Manager

ulanda (at) nextwave.org.au

Ulanda Blair is a curator, arts project manager and arts writer. At Next Wave Ulanda manages the Next Wave Festival’s keynote projects, as well as the organisation’s professional development program for artists, Kickstart. For the 2008 Next Wave Festival she oversaw the development and presentation of seven large-scale curated projects.

Prior to Next Wave Ulanda was Gallery Coordinator at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, where she worked from 2004 – 2007. During this time she was Curator of GCAS’s 2006 Melbourne Art Fair project space; Assistant Editor of GCAS’s 20-year anniversary publication A Short Ride in a Fast Machine: Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces 1985 – 2005; Curator of the 2005 exhibition Otherworld (with Jeff Khan); and Conference Coordinator of the 2004 international Res Artis Conference. In 2005 she worked as an Exhibition Attendant in the Australian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in Italy, and in 2006 she was invited to help write and produce The Artreader: an APT5 Companion, a critical response to the Fifth Asia Pacific Triennial.

Ulanda has had over 30 catalogue essays, articles and reviews published for local and international exhibitions, and her writing has appeared in Art & Australia, Art World, Artlink, Eyeline, Flash, Green Pages and un Magazine. In 2008 she undertook a curatorial research trip to Japan, China and Singapore, which was supported through the Australia Council’s RUN_WAY program and the Harold Mitchell Foundation. Ulanda is also a current member of the National Gallery of Victoria’s Youth Access Advisory Committee.

Paul Davis, Marketing & Communications Manager

paul (at) nextwave.org.au

Paul Davis is an arts worker and illustrator, with more than ten years experience working in various arts environments.

Paul previously worked at the University of Melbourne with Asialink, and in 2004 he assisted in the set up and promotion of the arts precinct at the Abbotsford Convent Foundation in Melbourne. Paul trained as a teacher and taught for a number of years in Australia before working as a theatre manager/director in Ahmadabad, India. He returned to Australia and completed his Graduate Diploma in Arts Management at the University of South Australia.

Paul was Communications Coordinator as part of an AusAID-funded aid project in Vietnam and in 2000 and 2001 was Cultural Affairs Manager at the Australian Embassy in Hanoi, VIetnam. Paul worked as a freelance illustrator in Tokyo before returning to Australia in 2004. In early 2007 Paul joined Next Wave, and he continues to work as an illustrator for magazines and newspapers worldwide.

Meg Hale, Acting Marketing & Program Manager

meg (at) nextwave.org.au

Meg Hale is an artist, project coordinator and arts producer. After graduating with a Bachelor of Design (Multimedia Design) from Monash University in 2003, she performed extensively as a video artist in venues such as the North Melbourne Town Hall, Revolver Upstairs and LooP Bar, where she had a yearlong residency with Jarod Pak and sound artist Jonathan Pak. During this time, Meg helped to establish Electundra, an audio-visual festival which was launched in 2004 and is now an annual Melbourne event. She also joined the committee at TCB art inc., an Artist Run Initiative in Melbourne’s CBD, where she was Gallery Coordinator from 2006 to 2008. Meg returned to university in 2005 to complete a Postgraduate Diploma of Arts (Cinema Studies) at the University of Melbourne.

Meg has worked extensively in both the festival and emerging arts sectors. She was Associate Producer for New Media and Visual Arts for both the 2008 and 2010 Next Wave Festivals and Associate Producer for the 2008 Melbourne Fringe Festival, where she produced the keynote project, Looking Up. In early 2009 she completed a Curatorial Mentorship with Pablo de Ocampo, Artistic Director of the Images Festival in Toronto, Canada, and undertook a 6-week research trip throughout North America and Europe. She continues to produce several independent exhibitions and events, and further develop her arts practice, which now includes photographic, print, drawing and sculptural works. She was a member of the artist collective DAMP from 2007 to 2009.

Meg is the Acting Marketing & Program Manager at Next Wave from July – October 2010.

Next Wave Board

Christopher Bell (Chair) – Member since December 2004

Christopher Bell is CEO of The Leadership Consortium. Founded in 1992 The Leadership Consortium brings together 18 of Australia’s premier organisations from both the private and public sectors to develop and promote the principles and practice of executive leadership. Chris has a history in corporate employee relations and training services, and worked within the Arts Industry as a writer, director and manager for a variety of theatre and opera companies. He has directed over 30 productions and worked with the Adelaide Festival of Arts, The State Opera of South Australia, South Australian Arts Trust and the Adelaide Fringe Festival, among others.

Robert Brown (Treasurer) – Member since August 2005

Robert currently works within the Private Equity division at ANZ bank. ANZ private equity takes ownership interests in private profitable businesses with a view to growing value through strategic expansion, operational improvement and leverage reduction. The division takes an active interest in the management of it’s portfolio businesses providing support in terms of strategic advice, attendance at board meetings and transactional support.

Prior to his role at ANZ, Robert completed over nine years with PricewaterhouseCoopers in several different roles including five years as an auditor and four years as a management consult delivering advice on finance, operations and project management. Robert has a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Accounting and is a qualified charted accountant.

Rebecca Burdon – Member since November 2009

Rebecca is the Principal Economist at the Australia Communications and Media Authority. Prior to this role, she worked for eight years as a consultant for Frontier Economics where she led the firm’s telecommunications practice in Australia. Before moving to Melbourne, Rebecca worked in London for a number of years advising governments, regulators and multilateral donor agencies on issues associated with regulatory reform of water and sanitation services in the Caribbean and West Africa.

Rebecca has a strong interest in the arts and has assisted visual artists and artist run initiatives with budgeting, project management, and funding models. She is a founding member of Field Theory, a Melbourne based organisation established to support live art. Rebecca has a Masters of Science in Economics.

Claire Hatch – Member since November 2009

Claire Hatch is founding Director of Cultural Value, a values-led consultancy that works with organisations and communities to facilitate strategic decision-making and explore cultural perspectives. She has a history of working in the cultural sector holding senior management positions with state arts funding bodies in WA and Victoria, not for profit organisations and the private sector. She has provided strategic business advice to over 150 arts and cultural organisations, a number of cultural institutions of state and national significance and artists across art forms during her time in government and now as part of Cultural Value. A Myer Foundation, Cranlana Program Alumni, Claire has a Master of Arts and is actively involved in cultural leadership initiatives. Claire is affiliated with the Urban Interior research group and Art in Public Spaces program at RMIT.

Kath Papas – Member since 2007

Kath Papas is a freelance creative producer and consultant specialising in dance, but also working across and outside the arts. Kath was Director of Ausdance Victoria – the Victorian state office of Australia’s dance support and advocacy network – from 2003 to June 2009, having previously been Administrator. Kath has strong skills in strategy and organisational management, and an understanding of issues and practices across the Victorian dance sector including dance in education and accredited training contexts. During her directorship Kath led the move of the Australian Dance Awards to Melbourne for 2008-10 from their first home in Sydney and was executive producer of the 2008 and 2009 events. She pioneered, produced and curated major projects and programs in the areas of youth dance, Indigenous dance, cultural diversity, and regional dance, areas in which she maintains a special interest. Kath has a movement improvisation practice and collaborates as a deviser/performer of original physical work.

Malena Roufos – Member since December 2007

Malena Roufos is Director of Human Resources with the Melbourne Business School, one of Australia’s pre-eminent provider’s of business education and management development. Malena brings to Next Wave a solid background in Human Resources having held various senior leadership positions within the corporate arena. Malena provides Next Wave with experience in performance management, change management, strategy development and leadership development and holds a Bachelor of Business majoring in Human Resource Management and Finance.

Kate Sulan – Member since August 2005

Kate is the founder of Rawcus Theatre Company, which develops new work with actors with disabilities. In 2002 Rawcus was awarded the department of Human Services Inclusion Award for Arts and Culture and has produced several acclaimed works including Flight, and Designer Child.

Sarah Tutton – Member since August 2007

Sarah Tutton is an independent curator, writer and project manager. She has held positions in numerous arts organisations in Melbourne including Visual Arts Program Manager at Asialink, Acting Artistic Director and Visual Arts Program Manager at the Next Wave Festival, Project Curator at Experimenta, Assistant Curator at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and sessional lecturer in the Sculpture Department at RMIT. In 2004 Sarah edited Mesh#14, Experimenta’s annual online journal, and convened the Floating Worlds forum at the Sidney Myer Asia Centre. Sarah travelled to Bangkok in 2001 on an Asialink Arts Management Residency and in 2004 she was awarded a Gordon Darling Travel Grant to undertake research in regional Queensland. Some of her curatorial projects include I thought I knew but I was wrong: New Video Art from Australia (Asialink / ACMI touring exhibition), No Worries/Mai Pen Rai: Art from Australia and Thailand (Monash University Museum of Art), and Useby: Asia Pacific Artists’ Initiatives Project (Centre for Contemporary Photography / Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces / Melbourne Festival).

Frances Wheelahan (Deputy Chair) Member since December 2003

Frances Wheelahan is a senior associate at Corrs Chambers Westgarth Lawyers. Frances works in the field of intellectual property and technology and is a volunteer lawyer with the Arts Law Centre of Australia, the St Kilda Legal Service and the Victorian Assocation for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (VACRO). She has also worked in a volunteer capacity with the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service and the Public Defender’s Office in Bethel, Alaska. While studying her law degree Frances worked at the Performing Arts Museum and the Alfred Brash Soundhouse at the Victoria Arts Centre. Frances is a keen supporter of the arts and a practicing cellist.

Janenne Willis – Member since December 2007

Janenne is currently Founder and Managing Director of Undercurrent, a boutique company specialising in strategy, change and communications. She has an impressive corporate track record in both industrial and consumer environments based on strategic marketing and an ability to successfully drive change in teams facing uncertain conditions.

Janenne is an avid learner with a bank of formal qualifications including an MBA and awards in International Marketing and Business Planning. She is also a fellow of the exclusive Leadership Victoria’s Williamson Community Leadership Program, an intense course in community leadership that explores the issues facing Victoria in the next ten years.

TRADEMARK NOTICE

‘Next Wave’ is a registered trade mark, and is property of Next Wave. For any questions relating to using the term ‘Next Wave’ please send us an email.