The Board

Chair - Olwyn Williams

Until recently, Olwyn was Advisor to the Minister for Culture and the Arts in the West Australian government. She took on this role in 2005 after spending six years as General Manager of Spare Parts Puppet Theatre. Prior to this, she was the Marketing Manager with West Australian Ballet (1994 - 1998). Olwyn's early days were spent as a radio producer, a role that led to various producer and marketing roles with independent artists and organisations. Right now interests in the retail sector are at the fore. Along the way there have also been various Board positions. Olwyn holds a Masters of Business Adminsitration from the University of Western Australia and loves contemporary dance.

Steve North

Steve is a Director at Veev Group, a Management Consultancy owned and operated in WA. Steve has a background in business and technical consulting specialising in strategic planning, project management, business process improvement, risk and business continuity. Steve has significant experience in business planning and improvement, managing major projects and combines a strong business background with versatile IT skills and experience. Prior to forming Veev Group, Steve was the General Manager of the Advisory and Consulting Division of one of WA's fastest growing companies, L7 Solutions. Steve holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours from the University of Staffordshire in the UK. Veev Group

Liesbeth Goedhart

Born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands Liesbeth traveled extensively in Europe and the United States before immigrating to the West Coast of Australia at age 23 where she settled working in tourism, events management and marketing. In her mid thirties, Liesbeth went back to study and completed a fine arts degree majoring in painting. Subsequently, her professional life focused on the arts in various roles including Director Marketing and Development for the Perth International Arts Festival and campaign manager for an Aboriginal art museum project. Most recently, Liesbeth has mentored artists and arts organisations and, as the Western Australian representative of the Australia Council for the Arts, worked towards growing cultural philanthropy in Australia. Liesbeth's interests are eclectic: Indigenous cultures, visual art, photography, textiles (especially the weavings of South East Asia), music, theatre, contemporary dance, literature, architecture, design, the natural environment and always - people. Her journeys in recent years have included visits to Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Europe and a three-month sabbatical travelling around the Top End and remote interior of Australia visiting Indigenous art centres.

Bianca Martin

Bianca has just finished working with Buzz Dance Theatre on Colourwheel. In Europe she has performed dance theatre work for Compagnie Abyla, (Amiens, France) and Company Bettina Owczarek (Rheinsberg, Germany). She has also presented her own dance theatre work as a part of Lucky Trimmer Festival (Berlin, Germany).After graduating from the WA Academy of Performing Arts with a BA in Dance, Bianca performed with Co Loaded in Didy Veldman's See Blue Through, for Strut Dance Collective, Tall Concrete Collective, as miburist for musician Lindsay Vickery, and for the Artrage Festival. She has been a grant recipient of the Strut Young Dancers Foundation and ArtsWA. As a student she worked with choreographers Chrissie Parrott, Sue Peacock, and Jon Burtt, and performed at the World Dance Alliance Festival in Düsseldorf, Germany, 2002. She has also completed 2 years of Bachelor of Laws at the University of Western Australia.

Aimee Smith

Aimee strives to be an artist, dancer, choreographer, lover, helper, fast runner, world changer, big smiler, sharp thinker, deep feeler, and a good cook. Since graduating from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (Bachelor of Arts Honours 2004), dancing has been taking up most of her time. As a performer Aimee has worked with international choreographers Paul Gazzola (Berlin/ Australia), Didier Theron (France), she engaged Melbounre choreographers Gideon Obarzanek (Melbourne), Gerard Van Dyke (Melbourne), and Phillip Adams (Melbourne) for her own '3 solos' project, and works regularly with local Perth choreographers including Sue Peacock, Deb Robertson, Bianca Martin and Sam Fox/ hydra poesis. As a choreographer Aimee is an active member of STRUT; has been commissioned to create works for BUZZ Dance Theatre (Refund Policy), and WAAPA (waiting for the revolution..., Alpha.Beta, A Lesson in Falling and Crease); has independently choreographed performance and installation works including Breakings(2010), Accidental Monsters of Meaning (2009), Courageously Heroic Gallantry (2007), fragments of a fracture (2007), Press Play (2006) and 53 (2006); received the 2007 WA Dance Award for Emerging Artist, carried out a 2008 Asialink artist residency in India, and in 2010 was selected as an artist to voyage to the Arctic Circle . Aimee is interested in bringing dance back into the world, endeavouring to do this through her community arts practice. Aimee participated in the World Urban EARTH Festival (Canada, 2006), worked as Lead Artist for AWESOME Arts 2007 regional arts program, has undergone numerous artist residencies in regional WA communities, and most recently directed TranscenDANCE, a community dance festival in Esperance.

Justin Rutzou

A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts and The Australian Ballet School Justin has worked with main house dance companies including The Sydney Dance Company, The Queensland Ballet Company, Leigh Warren and dancers, Expressions Dance Company and various independent works by Clare Dyson, Sue Peacock, Olivia Millard as well as commercial and corporate productions both nationally and internationally. As a choreographer he has been commissioned by Queensland Theatre Company, Queensland Performing Arts Trust, Expressions Dance Company, West Australian Academy of Performing Arts and Queensland University of Technology. As a lecturer he has taught at Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, Technikon Pretoria, QUT, WAAPA, UNITECH Auckland and has taught for Chunky Move Dance Company, Sydney Dance Company, Buzz Dance Theatre, State Theatre Dance Company, South Africa, Tanz Theatre Cathy Sharpe, Switzerland, Footnote Dance Company, New Zealand. From 2001-2005 Justin was a member of the dance department faculty of the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts and Coordinator of the LINK program from 2004-2005. During 2006-2007 he directed Expressions Dance Company, Brisbane while the Artistic Director undertook a two year sabbatical. During this period the company toured to Stanford University, Washington, Miami, Hawaii and Hong Kong as well as state and national touring with great critical success. The company was awarded two Drovers Awards in 2007 for touring management and Innovation and excellence. From 2008 to mid 2009 he was a lecturer for the dance department of the Queensland University of Technology. Currently he is the Coordinator for Contemporary Dance at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts.

Serena Chalker