PGAV Event Archive

Session 3:
First Nations Cultural Safety 

Session three, First Nations Cultural Safety, brings together First Nations perspectives in a candid discussion aiming to shift curatorial approaches for the better. The session delves into important questions including, how do we as institutions ensure that First Nations cultural safety is embedded in our institutions? Whose job is it? And, when it comes to ensuring the safe interpretation of art through education, children’s labels and didactics, who should write and approve this content? Who should be consulted? Join Chair Bec Cole, Director Creative Arts, Latrobe City Council and presenters, Clothilde Bullen, Senior Curator Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Collections and Exhibitions, MCA; and Belinda Briggs, Community Engagement – Indigenous, Shepparton Art Museum, for an important discussion on bringing First Nations art into the spotlight while ensuring safe spaces, considered approaches and accountability.
 
Chair: 
Bec Cole (she/her), Director, Creative Arts, Latrobe City Council 

Presenters: 
Belinda Briggs (she/her), Community Engagement – Indigenous, Shepparton Art Museum
Clothilde Bullen (she/her), Senior Curator Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Collections and Exhibitions, MCA
Stacie Piper (she/her), First Nations Curator, TarraWarra Museum of Art

BIOGRAPHIES

Belinda Briggs
She/her
Yorta Yorta and Wemba Wemba

Belinda Briggs is a Yorta Yorta and Wemba Wemba woman, living and working in the Dungala Kaiela (Murray Goulburn) Region in Northern Victoria. A writer and curator, she holds community engagement roles in arts and culture for both Kaiela Institute and the Shepparton Art Museum (SAM). She volunteers with the Rumbalara Football Netball Club and is a board member of local Aboriginal art centre, Kaiela Arts. Career highlights include curating the Indigenous Ceramic Award  in 2016 and 2018 at SAM, First Languages of the Monash University Collection in 2017 at MUMA and Ever-Present: Recent works from the SAM Collection in 2018.

Clothilde Bullen
She/her
Wardandi (Nyoongar) and Badimaya (Yamatji)

Clothilde Bullen is the Senior Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Collections and Exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and is a Wardandi (Nyoongar) and Badimaya (Yamatji) Aboriginal curator. Clothilde was previously the Curator of Indigenous Art at the Art Gallery of Western Australia for over a decade. Clothilde has curated a number of shows independently including Darkness on the Edge of Town in 2016 at Artbank, Sydney, and When the Sky Fell: Legacies of the 1967 Referendum at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art in 2017. Clothilde is on the international selection panel for the British Council’s Intersect program. Clothilde is a Museums and Histories Board member for Create NSW and is an Alumni member of the British Council Accelerate Scholarship for Indigenous Leadership in the Arts.

Bec Cole
palawa
she/her

Bec Cole is Director Creative Arts at Latrobe City Council. This role encompasses the direction of Latrobe Regional Gallery and Latrobe Performing Arts Centre. She is also a board member of NETS Victoria. Bec is a champion of creating access to quality contemporary art and has led the establishment of public art programs, creative industry development initiatives and public programming in gallery, major events and activity centre settings. Previous to commencing at Latrobe in early 2020, Bec led the Arts & Culture program at Wyndham City Council. Here she implemented a bold exhibition program at Wyndham Art Gallery, establishing a curatorial model of practice that supports a diversity of perspectives and raised the profile of the gallery to national presence. Bec holds a Master of Commerce with specialities in business, economics and marketing; winning the prestigious RMIT Master of Commerce Prize in 2018. She also holds a Master of Community Cultural Development from the Victorian College of the Arts. Bec regularly writes articles on culture, creativity and community, and has an extensive background in community engagement and policy.

Stacie Piper
(she/her)
Wurundjeri, Djadjawurrung and Ngurai Illum-Wurrung

Stacie is a proud Wurundjeri, Djadjawurrung and Ngurai Illum-Wurrung woman, a Djirri Djirri Dancer, and the current Chairperson of the Victorian NAIDOC Committee. Stacie holds the position of First Nations Curator at TarraWarra Museum of Art in Healesville, and Curator for Museums Victoria, accountable for engaging with the Victorian First Peoples community and develops a program of exhibitions and events to tell their stories. Stacie has a great love for community, a desire to support and witness the progress of First Peoples, and a drive in protecting and healing Country.

The 2020 Curatorial Intensive is presented by NETS Victoria in collaboration with the Public Galleries Association of Victoria (PGAV) and supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.