Steering Committee
The Supported Studio Network (SSN) was founded in 2011 and comprised an experienced collective of representatives that developed the SSN vision and objectives.
In 2013, Accessible Arts held the Supported Studios: Possibility and Potential Forum at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA). The first of its kind in Australia, the forum connected with the broader arts + disability sector, including representatives from the supported studio community to discuss strengths and challenges, and different perspectives around this area of practice.
A clear recommendation from the forum, was to see the SSN steering committee representation broadened nationally across the visual arts + disability sector.
In 2014, the committee extended its national reach to include members from the Northern Territory, Western Australia, Victoria and Queensland. It is currently looking at membership from the ACT, Tasmania and South Australia and looks forward to engaging these states in the coming years.
Steering Committee Representatives
Anne Kwasner
Artist/Studio Manager
Anne is a multi-disciplinary artist who has worked in the arts and disability sector for many years. She is currently president of Roomies Arts Inc. Anne has managed the Big Blue supported studio at Campbelltown Arts Centre. Anne has studied Fine Arts with Honors at the National Art School.
Debbie Chilton
ArtISability Manager
My passion is to see people living with disabilities and mental illness participating in all aspect of their local community. I am currently supporting visual artists in the City of Ipswich as the ArtISability Manager. “May our work stand out, not our differences.”
Sarah McEwan
Artist/Producer
Sarah McEwan is an artist, musician and curator from the Riverina. Sarah is the Creative Producer at The Cad Factory; an artist led organisation creating an international program of new, immersive and experimental work guided by authentic exchange, ethical principles, people and place. She is also the Artistic Manager of The Art Factory, a supported studio in Wagga Wagga.
Sim Littin
Gallery Manager/Curator Arts Project Australia (APA)
Sim joined APA in 2008 and is responsible for APA’s internal and external exhibitions program, artwork leasing, licensing, marketing and communications. Sim has over 15 years experience working in galleries as an arts and communications manager, curator and practitioner. Sim has studied fine arts at Indiana University, University of SA and RMIT.
Kirstin Sillitoe
Co-CEO, Arts Access Australia
Kirstin has a background in arts management and administration. Since arriving in Australia from the UK in 2012, Kirstin has worked across the arts, disability and community sectors, including with the Australian Red Cross, Queensland Museum and Access Arts Inc (QLD). Kirstin identifies as a person with disability.
Kieren Sanderson
Producer/Curator
Kieren is a creative producer who lives and works in remote and regional Australia. She generates interdisciplinary projects that explore the nexus between context and content, inspired by history, human ecology, storytelling and cultural knowledge. Kieren is passionate about creating new ways to view, access, create and share contemporary art and creative practice.
Susie Waller
As We Are Coordinator
Susie coordinates As We Are, an important community initiative in WA that aims to bring joy and wellbeing to the lives of artists who have an intellectual disability and those who are part of the experience. Susie also supports an Aboriginal artist with disability in his arts, music and cultural practice.
Aliey Ball
Artist/Arts Development
Aliey is a practicing artist and has worked within the community arts sector for over a decade as arts manager, curator, facilitator and arts mentor, delivering public outcomes, including festival events, performances, public art and exhibitions. Aliey is Arts Development Officer at Arts Access Victoria for the SRS Studios Program.
Evan Hughes
Gallery Director
Evan is the director of The Hughes Gallery in Sydney that holds regular exhibitions of outsider and art brut painters and sculptors alongside its regular program of Australian and International contemporary art. Evan works with various institutions in the USA and collects and exhibits work of outsiders such as Lee Godie and C.J. Pyle.
Gabrielle Mordy
Artistic Director
Gabrielle has been an arts worker, researcher and curator within the art and disability sector since 2006. She is currently Artistic Director at Studio ARTES. Gabrielle’s passion for progressing the supported studio sector was recognised through her award of a Churchill Fellowship and Australia Council career development grant in 2014.
Josie Callavero
Artist/Facilitator
Josie oscillates between making objects and facilitating projects that enable art to be made and experienced through diverse perspectives.
Josie generates projects that aim to extend social and artistic frameworks for contemporary art. She is the co-founder and co-director of the Belmore Institute for Try-hard Ceramicists and Handicrafters, a residency program that supports both artists and people from non-arts fields to develop new cultural and/or material applications to ceramics.
Suzanne Boccalatte
Designer/Writer/Artist
Suzanne completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts (First Class Hons) at the University of Sydney and founded Boccalatte Ltd in 1990—an agency that uses design to bring together people, business and culture. Suzanne has qualifications in communications management and copywriting and over 20 years’ experience in creative direction, design and strategy.
Professor Colin Rhodes
Dean, Sydney College of the Arts
Colin is an academic and artist. He has written widely on modern and contemporary art and exhibits internationally. He is an advocate for inclusion, especially in the visual arts sector. He is a board member of Studio Artes and also led the formulation of the University of Sydney’s Disability Action Plan.
Kristina Tito
Arts/Project Development
Kristina is the Arts Development Manager at Accessible Arts NSW (AARTS). Kristina previously managed a supported studio, Project Insideout, at Macquarie Hospital, in North Ryde and has worked on a variety of arts projects.
Sancha Donald
Accessible Arts CEO
Sancha took up the role of CEO of Accessible Arts in 2005. Prior to her current role she was the CEO of Technical Aid to the Disabled. She brings broad general management skills, knowledge of the disability sector and the not-for-profit sector to the role.