Myles Russell-Cook
Artistic Director & CEO
Myles commenced in the role of Artistic Director & CEO of ACCA in 2024 and was formerly Senior Curator of Australian and First Nations Art at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). Myles has a long-standing interest in cultural, gender and sexual diversity within both Australian and International contemporary practice, and has worked across a broad range of exhibitions and projects. For over eight years Myles was one of a team of curators who oversaw major contemporary art exhibitions at the National Gallery of Victoria, including NGV Triennial, and Melbourne Now.
Myles has curated a number of significant exhibitions and programs at NGV including Colony: Frontier Wars (2017), From Bark to Neon (2019), DESTINY (2020), Maree Clarke: Ancestral Memories (2021), Found and Gathered: Rosalie Gascoigne I Lorraine Connelly Northey (2021), Bark Ladies: Eleven artists from Yirrkala (2021), Queer: Stories from the NGV Collection (2022), Wurrdha Marra (2023), and REKOSPECTIVE: The Art of Reko Rennie (2024).
Internationally, Myles has curated several exhibitions, including a series of shows in collaboration with the Australian Embassy in Paris: DESTIN: l’art de Destiny Deacon (2022), Rituel et Cérémonie: extrait de Mémoires ancestral (2022), Blak Rainbow: L’Art de Dylan Mooney (2023) and La terre est bleue: l’art de Dhambit Munuggurr (2024).
Myles is the curator of the upcoming touring show, The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art, presented in partnership with the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. This exhibition is the largest exhibition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art ever presented internationally.
Claire Richardson
Executive Director
Claire has spent the last 20+ years contributing to our cultural community and collaborating with renowned artists, curators, festivals and organisations to scope, develop and deliver a diverse range of ambitious, internationally renowned contemporary arts projects.
As Executive Director at ACCA, she has overseen all financial, HR and governance matters, and has worked closely with ACCA’s Executive and Board to develop ACCA’s strategic vision and nurture an inclusive and supportive workplace culture. Claire is committed to continuous improvement at ACCA and has navigated the pandemic years, led the development of ACCA’s Equity Action Plan in 2020, and in 2023 worked with MEAA towards the establishment of the first Enterprise Bargaining Agreement in the small to medium arts sector, between ACCA and MEAA. She has recently been appointed Chair of ACCA’s Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group, and is working with First Nations colleagues Jessica Clark and Sarah Lynn Rees to deliver ACCA’s Innovate RAP.
Prior to her commencement as Executive Director at ACCA in 2019, Claire held the position of Exhibitions Manager at TarraWarra Museum of Art; oversaw the visual arts program for the City of Stonnington; and spent almost eight years in Exhibition Management at the National Gallery of Victoria. Claire also served on the board of SEVENTH Gallery, a space committed to supporting diverse and emerging art practices, worked for a number of years in the commercial sector including at Anna Schwartz Gallery, and in 2019, was seconded to the Australian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
At NGV, Claire coordinated major blockbusters including Andy Warhol: Ai Weiwei 2015-16; Masterpieces of the Hermitage: The Legacy of Catherine the Great 2015; major exhibitions including Brook Andrew: The Right to Offend is Sacred 2017; William Eggleston: Portraits 2017; A Golden Age of China: Qianlong Emperor, 1736-1795 2015; Pedro Reyes: Disarm 2013; Shifting Gear: Design, Innovation & the Australian Car 2014; 200 Years of Australian Fashion 2016; and managed the careful planning and implementation of rehangs, refurbishment projects and regular changeovers of the NGV Collection displays across two major sites.
At TarraWarra Museum of Art, Claire led the delivery of a number of major exhibitions, including the 2018 TarraWarra Biennial: From Will to Form; Patricia Piccinini & Joy Hester: Through Love 2018-19; and All that is Solid 2017. She also managed the permanent installation and ongoing activation of Callum Morton’s Valhalla in the public realm.
Claire holds a Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Arts Curatorship from the University of Melbourne.
Laura De Neefe
Director, Development & Engagement
Shelley McSpedden
Senior Curator
Jessica Clark
Curator
Elyse Goldfinch
Curator
Samantha Vawdrey
Exhibitions Manager
Shae Nagorcka
Exhibition Project Manager
Badra Aji
Visitor Experience Manager
Felicia Pinchen-Hogg
Education Manager
Lauren Simmonds
Artist Educator
Freya Alexander
Acting Education & Access Coordinator
Minna Lappalainen
Education & Access Coordinator (currently on parental leave)
Xuan Wei Yap
Development & Marketing Coordinator
Alice Fairweather
Grants & Marketing Coordinator
Katrina Hall
Publicist
Matt Hinkley
Designer
Board of Directors
Dr Terry Wu, Chair
Dr Terry Wu is a long-standing arts advocate and supporter, and a leading plastic surgeon specialising in facial reconstruction. He is also a Board Member of Science Gallery International (Dublin) and serves as a Member of Creative Australia’s Venice Biennale Ambassadors Council. He was formerly a Board Director of ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image), Heide Museum of Modern Art, and the National Association of Visual Arts, and a member of the International Council of Tate (UK). As the son of an artist and writer, Terry is passionate about arts, culture and philanthropy and in 2019 was awarded the Emerging Philanthropy Leadership Award by Creative Partnerships Australia.
Terry has served on the ACCA Board since 2019 and was appointed Chair in 2024.
Sarah Lynn Rees
Sarah Lynn Rees is an associate and Lead Indigenous Advisor at Jackson Clements Burrows Architects, is a Lecturer at Monash University and program advisor and curator of the BLAKitecture series for MPavilion. She is Director of Parlour: Women, Equity, Architecture, a member of the Victorian Design Review Panel for the Office of the Victorian Government Architect, and Co-Chair of the Australian Institute of Architects First Nations Advisory Working Group.
Andrew Taylor, Chair, Development Committee
Andrew Taylor is an artist and a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts (1987) who has recently returned to Melbourne after a decade based in the United States. He has exhibited for over 25 years in galleries throughout Australia, Asia and the USA and is represented in both private and public national collections including Artbank and the National Gallery of Victoria.
Gordon Thomson, Chair, Finance Audit and Risk Committee
Gordon is a partner in PwC’s Accounting Advisory Group. He has over 20 years’ experience in accounting and finance and specialises in a range of industries with a particular focus on the Government and Not for Profit sectors. Gordon is passionate about the arts, with a particular interest in the visual arts.
John Tuck
John is a specialist in complex and contentious workplace matters and litigation, and a trusted adviser to state and federal governments, boards, major Australian businesses and institutions on the issues that affect their operations and reputations. John is also one of Australia’s leading advisers on Royal Commissions, Judicial Inquiries, regulatory and integrity commissions and whistle-blower laws.
John is a Vincent Fairfax Fellow on Ethics. He is the Australian Representative for lus Laboris the Chambers Elite Global Employment Alliance, a member of the University of Melbourne Law School Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law Advisory Board, and a board member of RMIT University Law School Juris Doctor Advisory Board.
Lisa Fox
Lisa is a philanthropist and dedicated advocate for contemporary art and artists. Having driven several major artist commissions, her passion for supporting Australian First Nations art and work by women has been transformative in the Melbourne landscape. Lisa divides her time between Melbourne, Paris, and New York, and has facilitated several exchange programs for Australian artists in France. As the Chair of the Musée Picasso Foundation and a board member of the Fox Family Foundation, Lisa plays a key role in the philanthropic efforts of both organisations and her own initiatives.
Charlotte Day
Charlotte is Director of Art Museums at the University of Melbourne, with oversight of Buxton Contemporary and The Potter Museum of Art. Previously Director of Monash University Museum of Art, Charlotte has more than twenty-five years’ experience as a curator and arts manager. She was formerly an Associate Curator at ACCA, a Director for Centre for Contemporary Photography and has held positions on several arts boards and local, state and federal government arts and funding panels.
Yalingwa Directions Circle
Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin AO (Chair)
Kylie Belling
Belinda Briggs
Hetti Perkins
Stacie Piper
Hannah Presley
Associate Elders
N’arweet Carolyn Briggs AM