NAVA welcomes two new Board Directors
Jamie Lewis and Liz Nowell have been welcomed as the newest Directors to the NAVA Board.
Chair of the NAVA Board, Clothilde Bullen, is pleased to announce the appointment of Jamie Lewis (Vic) and Liz Nowell (Vic) as new Directors of the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA). NAVA, which brings together the many voices of the contemporary arts sector to improve fundamental conditions of work and practice, welcomes Jamie as Artist Representative Director and Liz Nowell as a Co-Opted Director.
"I am sincerely delighted to welcome esteemed arts leaders Liz Nowell and Jamie Lewis to the NAVA Board,” said Clothilde Bullen. “Their strategic thinking, understanding of the current issues within our arts sector and genuine impassioned commitment to artists everywhere will be an asset going forward. The NAVA Board should aspire to reflect the complexity of our sector - its concerns and ambitions - and the engagement of Liz and Jamie support the Board in that aspiration."
Jamie Lewis, Artist Representative Director, is a Singaporean-Australian artist, curator, dramaturg and facilitator. She creates and curates site-responsive performances that engage audiences as participants, and communities as artists; often through autobiographical stories, conversation and food. She is currently also on the Board of VicHealth and has previously been CEO / Executive Director at Next Wave, Program Manager at Theatre Network Australia (TNA), on the Board of Multicultural Arts Victoria (MAV), and was in the 2018 cohort of Creative Australia’s Future Leaders program.
“As an artist and arts worker, and a long-time member of NAVA, I have benefited from the organisation’s work. It is a privilege to now contribute to this work alongside the leadership of Penelope, Clothilde and the Board,” said Jamie Lewis. “The sector is changing fast amidst urgent crises, and NAVA’s work, especially the Code of Practice, has been crucial grounds to lean on.”
Liz Nowell, appointed Co-Opted Director, is a curator and cultural leader whose practice is informed by collaboration, relationality, and care ethics. Currently, she serves as the Executive Director of Arts Project Australia, an internationally renowned visual arts organisation that supports artists with intellectual disabilities and champions their inclusion in contemporary art practice. Across her two-decade career, which spans both Australian and international contemporary art, Liz has led preeminent public galleries including the Institute of Modern Art (IMA), Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE), and the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia (CACSA).
"I'm honoured to join the NAVA Board to advocate for and foster a more inclusive, equitable arts sector,” said Liz Nowell. “NAVA plays an essential role in shaping the future of Australia's visual arts industry, and I'm excited to support its crucial work in championing artists, arts workers and cultural policy."
The tenures of Liz Nowell and Jamie Lewis began as of 16 October 2024.
Image credit
Image: L-R: Jamie Lewis, photo by Leah Jing McIntosh and Liz Nowell, photo by Natalie Piserchio.
ID: Side-by-side portraits of Jamie Lewis on the left and Liz Nowell on the right. Jamie is looking slightly past the camera with their head turned. She has short, dark hair and is wearing a light blue, collared shirt. They are outdoors, with a softly blurred background featuring a large tree and a building. Liz is leaning with her arms crossed against a window sill, wearing a bright blue shirt with black pants. She has shoulder-length wavy brown hair and is wearing red lipstick.
