Penrith Performing & Visual Arts has announced the appointment of Dr Lee-Anne Hall as the new Director for the Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest.
Commencing 10 September, 2012 Dr. Hall comes to the position of Director, following a career in Arts management, curatorial practice and the tertiary education sector. Between 1983 and 1990 Lee-Anne Hall worked in arts management and creative leadership positions in visual and community arts organisations in regional and urban South Australia and NSW. Her previous positions included: Community Arts Officer (Port Lincoln, SA), Program Director (CoMedia, Adelaide), Coordinator, Garage Graffix Community Arts Workshop (Mount Druitt), Training Officer (NSW) Community Arts Association), and Community Artist (Wentworthville Housing Estate).
Dr. Hall’s practical arts industry knowledge led to appointments with the University of Western Sydney (1990) and University of Technology, Sydney (1991- 2001) where she taught under-graduate and post-graduate programs in Visual Art, Leisure Studies and Arts Management. Deepening her theoretical understanding of contemporary art and cultural practices Lee-Anne completed postgraduate studies in Art Theory at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales (1995). Following this, she undertook and completed Doctoral studies at the Centre for Cross Cultural Research at the Australian National University (2008).
Immediate to her appointment to the Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest Dr. Lee-Anne Hall taught and coordinated post-graduate programs in Arts Management at the University of Technology, Sydney (2011-2012) and Museum Studies at Sydney University (2010). Attendant to her academic work Lee-Anne has kept abreast of developments and activity in the visual arts field through active participation in artist projects, and related curatorship, research and writing. Her research interests and involvements traverse Indigenous art and culture, reconciliation, museums and Indigenous representation, cross-cultural history, public art, and leisure and refugees.
Dr. Lee-Anne Hall looks forward to working in Penrith with PP&VA, the Gallery staff, our audiences and communities, and believes art is an essential part of society in that it gives voice, creates dialogue and exposes the public to fresh ideas; and that the Gallery Director acts as mediator between artist and audience and facilitates this vital discussion.
Penrith Performing & Visual Arts CEO John Kirkman states: “I am delighted by this appointment. I feel sure Dr. Hall will continue the Gallery’s reputation for excellence, innovation, access and equity by adding energy, management skills, academic rigor and a shrewd curatorial eye to the brilliant cultural resource that is the Penrith Regional Gallery. Watch that space.”
