Our team

To contact one of our team please email bundoorahomestead@darebin.vic.gov.au or call (03) 9496 1060

Art and Collections Coordinator

Leah Crossman 

Leah has worked in Melbourne’s vivacious arts scene for over 15 years, across local council, private galleries, community spaces and fine art auction houses. She's a passionate arts manager with expertise in curation, marketing, and public programming.

In her role as Art & Collections Coordinator at Darebin Council she oversees the strategic and creative direction of Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, and the management of public art across the municipality.

Leah holds a Master of Art Curatorship from University of Melbourne, and prior to joining Darebin Council worked across a range of visual arts organisations including Alcaston Gallery, Deutscher and Hackett, Brunswick Street Gallery, Art Afficionado Tours, Alison Kelly Gallery, and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. She has served on the Banyule Council Arts Advisory Committee since 2021 and has sat on a number of public art commissioning panels. 

Leah has two small children and is passionate about contemporary textile art.

Curator

Sarah Werkmeister

Sarah Werkmeister is a curator, writer and researcher based in Narrm Melbourne. She has worked with RMIT Culture Galleries, QUT Art Museum, Shepparton Art Museum, Public Art Melbourne, Next Wave, YIRRAMBOI Festival, Blak & Bright First Nations Literature Festival, BIRRARANGGA Film Festival, The Thousands, 4ZZZ and many more. She has written extensively on art and worked with L'Internationale Online to develop publications around the environment (Ecologising Museums, 2016) and feminism (Feminisms, 2018), and has co-edited a chapter on the 13th Istanbul Biennial in I Can't Work Like This: A reader on recent boycotts and contemporary art (2017).

Her curated exhibitions include On Earth (QUT Art Museum, 2021), Lol (Metro Arts, 2021) The Number You Have Reached (Success, with Tim Woodward, 2016), and The Impossibility of Possibility (Bus Projects, 2012). She has served on the Darebin Art & Heritage Advisory Committee, the Outer Space board, and the Bus Projects Artistic Advisory Committee. She holds a Masters of Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne.

Exhibitions & Collections Assistant

Shae Nagorcka

Shae has over a decade’s experience working in some of Victoria’s leading art organisations such as the Centre for Contemporary Photography, NETS Victoria, Abbotsford Convent, Gertrude Contemporary and Blindside ARI.

His diverse experience includes curating and producing exhibition programs, developing and installing artworks and public art projects, artist liaison and relationship management, and managing/operating contemporary art spaces. He has excellent collections management expertise including assessing and remediating the correct storage, display and travel of all kinds of artworks, ranging from contemporary video and sound art to fragile works of antiquity.

Operations Team Leader

Maia McDonald 

Maia is the Operations Team Leader at Bundoora Homestead Art Centre. She has worked in various creative spaces in both Australia and Aotearoa, including The Koorie Heritage Trust, Puke Ariki Museum, Govett Brewster and Len Lye Centre and City Gallery Wellington. Her work in these sectors has focused on arts administration, management and curation.

She is also a practicing artist, with her ceramic artworks held in public and private collections, her artwork explores her Māori cultural heritage and traditional patterns and motifs.

Marketing and Development Officer

Lauren Holmwood

Lauren has extensive experience working in arts organisations in marketing, membership & audience engagement, and public programs.

Most recently Lauren has worked as the Marketing & Membership Coordinator at Art Education Victoria, as well as Memberships Officer and Public Programs Representative at the NGV. Lauren also has local council experience, having worked at Counihan Gallery in Merri-Bek for over five years.

She is a marketing and communications extraordinaire who is passionate about meaningful audience engagement and development.

Venue Services Officers

Mark McCarthy

Mark McCarthy is a Melbourne-based artist with a career spanning more than 20 years.  Since graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts, he has gained a reputation for his unique approaches to painting, holding multiple solo and group exhibitions throughout Victoria. He has extensive experience in management, customer service and gallery work. 

Vincent Agostino

Vincent is a practicing Children's book illustrator, Graphic Designer, Photographer and lecturer at Melbourne Polytechnics Illustration degree course. He has experience across branding, design, art installation, curation, retail sales and hospitality. Vincent has a passion for all arts, cultures and travel.

Jule Small

Café Officer

Catherine Dando

Café and Gallery Assistants (casual)

Stephanie Kyriakopoulos

Fiona DiBerardino

Ariane Pietrzak

Anita Kazmierczak

Banner image: Stained glass ceiling at Bundoora Homestead Art Centre by Auguste Fischer