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Staff Profiles

Introduction

The staff at the Burnie Arts & Function Centre and the Burnie Regional Art Gallery are a team of dedicated professionals who understand that an arts centre can offer untold benefits to a community which cannot be measured by financial results alone.

Front Row - Gaylene Wright, Gaylene Fidler, Natisha Dawkins, Greg Leong, Margaret Englund, Ros Jones
Back Row - Stacey Lowe, Andrew Wylie, Ben Turnbull, Leanne Beswick, Martyn Fishwick, Stephen Hite, Kaye Chadwick, Toni Sushames (not in picture: Abbey Voss)

Communities that support the arts recognize the value of cultural activity and how it can define the community. If usage of the facility is anything to go by, the Burnie Arts & Function Centre has truly fulfilled its purpose, providing a cultural hub, a community focal point. In these pages, please meet some of the staff, the people you are likely to encounter first, as you walk into the building, or if you are planning an activity.

These are people who love to make you feel welcome. And there are more behind the scenes…

Some of the people you will meet at the Burnie Arts & Function Centre & the Burnie Regional Art Gallery

Greg Leong

Director Burnie Arts & Function Centre and Burnie Regional Art Gallery

Greg is qualified in English literature & drama, visual arts and arts management and has worked in the UK, Hong Kong and Australia. He has worked in radio, music management, arts marketing, government arts funding, venue management, performing arts programming & touring. He also lectured at the Academy of the Arts, University of Tasmania. He is a visual artist with works in the collections of many national and state art galleries. He is also a performer, with one of his two cabarets produced all over Australia. He was the consultant for the Tasmanian State Government Report on Theatre in Northern Tasmania which resulted in the formation of Theatre North in Launceston.

The box office team: Leanne Beswick, Kaye Chadwick & Toni Sushames

Leanne is in charge of the Burnie Arts & Function Centre Box Office and the administration of the performing arts program. She has been with the Centre since 1999. Prior to that she worked in retail, banking and administration . Her role in the organisation has developed and she now also has responsibility for the new software and online developments at the box office as well as actively assisting the Director in programming.

Kaye and Toni have worked (since 2000 and 1996 respectively) in just about every department of the Burnie City Council – the main offices, the Pioneer Village Museum, Portside, the Depot and so on! They both came to the Arts & Function Centre in 2006 and are the smiling faces that greet you as you walk through the door.

Booking your function or event with Margaret Englund

Margaret has been with the organization since 1998, and in her current position as Events Co-ordinator since 2000. It would be true to say that the everyday logistics of running a busy arts and function centre would be impossible without someone as efficient and knowledgeable as Margaret about the Centre’s many hirers.

Ever helpful and patient, she is someone who will sort out your application and be unfailing in making sure that all your requests are met.

The technical team: Andrew Wylie & Ben Turnbull

Senior Venue Technician Andrew Wylie has been in the job since 1989. Over the years, he has gleaned a wealth of knowledge on all things technical in performing arts production and more broadly, on event management. Prior to working for the Burnie City Council, he worked in retail but since coming here, has learned all he knows on the job. He works closely with Margaret to ensure that all the logistics of running a multi-venue arts centre go like clockwork. His particular interest in the technical side of theatre is lightning and his private preference in the arts is music.

Ben Turnbull, Technician, comes with fine credentials in the sound department, having worked as a sound engineer with a P.A. company for 12 years. He does private professional recordings for artists in his spare time and not surprisingly music is his preferred art form. He has been with the Centre since 2006.

Gaylene Fidler

Once you’ve bought your theatre ticket or arrived for your dinner function, the first person to serve and greet you is Night Supervisor Gaylene Fidler who has Front of House duties, mans the bar or serves you your meals. The longest-serving member of staff at the Centre, she started in 1984 waitressing and has also done stints in the box office and manning the kiosk. Prior to this she worked in retail.

Key people at the Burnie Regional Art Gallery: Randolph Wylie & Mary Watt

Exhibitions Co-ordinator Randolph Wylie joined the Burnie Regional Art Gallery as assistant exhibitions officer in 1991, having worked previously in mining and the paper mill in Burnie. Over the years, he has amassed an enviable knowledge of Australian art and equally important, has developed fine exhibition design skills. He is in charge of the gallery’s collection and has taken on curatorial duties, selecting works from the collection for special displays. Since his promotion to his current position in 2009, he has increasingly played a part in the overall programming. He has also supervised post-secondary and tertiary student secondments in the gallery.

Mary Watt hails from Scotland and first started in 1991 as a weekend gallery attendant. She had worked previously at the Advocate Newspaper. She has been in her current role as Secretary/Receptionist since 1994, but her duties far exceed those suggested by her title as she has responsibility for all administrative tasks in the gallery. In her spare time she plays badminton and enjoys reading, gardening and dabbles in textiles.

Education Liaison, Public Programs & Promotion: Birgitta Magnusson-Reid & Michael Cannon

A new position at the Burnie Regional Art Gallery started in 2009. The Project Officer’s role extends to public programs including especially education liaison. The officer also prepares materials to promote the programs of the gallery.

Birgitta Magnusson-Reid first trained in art in her native Sweden as a ceramicist. She has a degree in art history, a TAFE Diploma in Art Craft and Design as well as a Certificate IV in Arts Administration. She ran both the venue and the workshop program at the Serpentine Gallery in Burnie prior to her current stint at the Arts & Function Centre. In addition to artist and community liaison, her special responsibility is managing education projects. She also has research and archival duties in relation to the permanent collection and other special projects.

Job-sharing the Project Officer’s position is Michael Cannon. A seasoned professional graphic designer and commercial illustrator, he assists with all facets of visual communication including the design of invitations, posters, press ads and the upcoming promotional videos at the Arts & Function Centre’s Box Office. Michael is also a digital artist and since settling in Burnie has had several exhibitions in and around NW Tasmania. He is also a fine singer and made his north west debut as a performer in a Friends of the Gallery fund-raiser, singing with his colleagues. He has released a CD of his own compositions.