Talks & lectures

My public speaking experience includes lectures, panel talks and in-conversations on everything from peer-led learning to digital rights and contemporary arts practice.

Audiences have included art sector peers, university students, young people and the general public.

Australian Museums & Galleries Association National Conference, Newcastle, NSW - 16 May 2023

Panel talk (chair): “Speaking Up: Reflecting on the National Gallery of Australia’s pilot program supporting critical young voices.”

A NEW APPROACH WEBINAR: Enduring Foundations, Bold Ambitions - 19 October 2021

For more about A New Approach and this webinar, see my post.

Clockwise from top left: Kate Fielding, CEO, A New Approach; Cara Kirkwood, Head of Indigenous Engagement & Strategy, National Gallery of Australia; Professor John Daley AM; me.

ART COLLECTOR: Pull focus Interview. Abdul Abdullah & Abdul-Rahman Abdullah - 24 August, 2021

I couldn’t say no to the opportunity to talk with Abdul Abdullah & Abdul-Rahman Abdullah for Art Collector’s Pull Focus series.

These are two artists whose work I hugely admire and respect but it was their friendship and brotherly love - and their creative relationship - that was the biggest joy to learn more about. Their exhibition Peripheries was held at Moore Contemporary in Perth in August-September 2021.

CHURCHILL CHAT: Equity, Inclusion & the impact of COVID on the Arts Sector - 30 August 2021

For more information about this Churchill Chat with Morwenna Collett and Trish Adjei, see my post.

Australian Museums & Galleries Association National Conference 2021

On 9 June 2021 I was a guest speaker at the AMaGA National Conference in Canberra (7-10 June), which was themed “Creating the Future: Trust, Diversity & Imagination.”

My talk reflected on the findings in my Churchill Fellowship and the MCA GENEXT impact report. It was titled: “Trusting the leaders of tomorrow, today: on the importance of youth-led arts learning programs.”

SAMAG PANEL TALK - 15 JUNE 2020

In June 2020 I was invited by Sydney Arts Management Group (SAMAG) to reflect on my Churchill Fellowship experience as part of the panel talk, Bringing it home: Innovation & ideas from the Churchill Fellowship, which was held via Zoom during the COVID-19 lockdown in Sydney (my presentation begins at 29:45).

I was joined by my fellow Fellows Morwenna Collett and Patricia Adjei, who also received arts-related Fellowships in 2018.

TE TUHI TALKS, 2 August 2017

In August 2017 I spoke at Te Tuhi in Auckland as part of their annual Talks Series. This hour-long talk about peer-led learning and partnership projects reflected on my experiences working on the Louis Vuitton Young Arts Project in London; piloting Kaldor Public Art Project’s Regional Youth Engagement Program; and my current role as Young Creatives Coordinator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.

The talk was followed by a workshop with youth educators and public programmers from across New Zealand.

KALDOR PUBLIC ART PROJECT 30 - Marina Abramovic: In Residence, 3 July 2015

How do audiences engage with performance art? Kent Buchanan, Curator, Western Plains Cultural Centre, explores the increasing role of performance art within art programs and institutions across Australia, with particular reference to the regional context. He is joined by Jo Higgins, Kaldor Public Art Projects Regional Engagement Coordinator, and a selection of the young adults who have participated in our pilot regional engagement program, developed and presented in collaboration with key Western Plains Cultural groups. Their reflections on the informal, immersive three-month learning experience, on performance art and on Marina Abramović’s pioneering approach form the basis of a lively discussion.

ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES: Fresh Faces - New thinking on portraiture Symposium, 9 August 2014

A symposium presented as part of the public program accompanying the Art Gallery of New South Wales’s Archibald Prize exhibition.

My paper, 'This book is not what I’m looking for in a book of portraits!’: reflections on 21st Century Portraits’ reflected on the institutional and theoretical concerns that informed the development and publication of 21st Century Portraits.

As a book produced by the National Portrait Gallery London, what were some of the political and curatorial considerations that shaped its making? As a survey of contemporary art made since the year 2000, what were some of the significant social, geo-political and art historical developments that had to be addressed?

In researching, considering, debating and ultimately writing about this diverse collection of portraits, I suggest that 21st-century portraits – the publication and the art – are ultimately studies, not of the sitter, but of this particular 21st-century moment and its viewer.