Co-Chair

Kirsten Mason is the General Manager of Orchestra Wellington. A proud Wellingtonian, after she graduated from Victoria University, Kirsten spent many years overseas in arts roles in Europe and the US and most recently four and a half years in Shanghai, China. In Shanghai she set up her own company and toured New Zealand performers around China, as well as creating and running a New Zealand Music Festival in Shanghai.

Prior roles include General Manager for Streetwise Opera in London, Development Manager for the Chamber Music Society of Detroit in Detroit, Michigan, and project roles for UNESCO in Turin, Italy. Kirsten returned home in 2015 to join Chamber Music New Zealand and took up the position of General Manager of Orchestra Wellington in early 2016.

Co-Chair

Lucy Marinkovich is a Pōneke based contemporary dancer, choreographer and Artistic Director of dance-theatre company Borderline Arts Ensemble, whose choreographic works have been performed across Aotearoa and internationally. A former Footnote Dance Company member and Dance Educator for the Royal New Zealand Ballet, Lucy has performed as a Guest Artist with The New Zealand Dance Company, Movement of the Human, & Good Company Arts. Lucy received The Arts Foundation of New Zealand's prestigious Harriet Friedlander New York Residency, Creative NZ's Tup Lang Choreographic Award, and was a University of Otago Arts Fellow. Lucy is the founder of InMotion, a community dance programme for people with Parkinson's disease. 

Lucy is passionate about supporting the local arts ecology and emerging artists, she has supported Aotearoa's network of Creative Spaces as a Funding Advisor for Arts Access Aotearoa, served as the Chair of the Wellington City Council's Creative Communities Scheme panel, and currently sits on the Board of Directors of BATS Theatre.

Trustee

Since graduating from Toi Whakaari: The New Zealand Drama School in 2000, Heather has worked as an actor, director and producer across Aotearoa. In 2016, Heather directed the New Zealand Premiere of Fleabag, the stage play the hit UK TV show of the same name is based on, at Centrepoint Theatre.

In 2008 Heather joined the New Zealand Festival team and worked in a variety of marketing and audience development roles, most recently as Audience Engagement Advisor in 2022. In 2014 Heather worked in the Marketing team at Assembly Festival as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. From 2016 - 2018, she was the Programme Manager at BATS Theatre and from 2019 to 2021, the Marketing and Audience Development Manager at PANNZ.

Trustee

Herbert ‘Herbee’ Bartley is a freelance cultural producer, project manager and strategic advisor. He is of Tokelauan and Samoan heritage, with ancestral connections to Tuvalu and the Cook Islands. Herbee is currently engaged as a strategic consultant for Urban Dream Brokerage and was a co-producer for Asia Aotearoa Arts 2024. Herbee was formerly the inaugural Creative Director Pacific at Toi Rauwhārangi, The College of Creative Arts, Massey University for almost 8 years where he served as the Pacific executive on the college board.

With over two decades of experience in the GLAM sector, Herbee has held significant roles at The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and The Dowse Art Museum. His governance experience includes positions on Wellington City Council's Pacific Advisory Committee and Enjoy Contemporary Arts.

Trustee

Prabha is a very experienced art practitioner and administrator. She is the Founder and Creative Director of Natraj Dance School, a well-established and reputed Indian classical dance school specialising in Bharatanatyam, an ancient art form dating back to over 3000 years, for over 20 years.

She is an independent director, facilitator, coach, mentor, assessor, presenter, panel speaker and an experienced governor. She sits on various Not- for- Profit arts, sports, community, health and regional council boards bringing the much-needed diversity, representation and thinking to the boards. Apart from the Arts Wellington boards, she also is a board member of Bats Theatre, Aotearoa Kapa haka Limited- Business Advisory Group, Arohanui Strings, Hutt Community Radio Trust.

She is currently an assessor for Creative NZ, Ethnic Communities Development Fund at MEC and Hutt City Council Creative Communities Scheme.

Apart from being a Justice of Peace, Prabha’s work and contribution to dance and the ethnic community has been well recognised in NZ through several national, regional and community awards during the past decade including the Queen Services Medal and Hutt City Mayoral Civic Honour Awards. She was also a Finalist for Wellingtonian of the Year Award in 2016 for Education.

She has held many senior management roles in both public and private organisations. She is a management consultant and is the founder and Director of Grow Consultancy Limited. As a consultant she helps businesses and organisations with governance training, strategy development, implementation, business planning and growth.

Trustee

Lisa is Pākehā, a white New Zealander with English and Scottish heritage. She grew up in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington.

Lisa has been working in the creative sector of Aotearoa since the 1990's where she started as a theatre technician. In her formative years she worked at Taki Rua Theatre, with Red Mole and the women's theatre network Magdalena Aotearoa. She is an award-winning lighting designer and most of her career has been an independent practitioner working as a designer and organiser in theatre, dance and events.

Lisa was on staff at Toi Whakaari: The New Zealand Drama School for nine years and became the Head of Production in 2010. She has also taught lighting and design at Weltec and Victoria University of Wellington. Lisa's undergraduate degrees are in Art History and Interior Design and in 2018 she graduated from the School of Government (Victoria University of Wellington) with a Master of Public Management.

In 2022 Lisa started working in the role of Kaiwhakahaere Kauapapa with the Māori theatre company Te Rākau Hua o Te Wao Tapu, and her appointment to this board is endorsed by her Te Rākau colleagues Jim Moriarty and Helen Pearse-Otene. In addition to serving on the Toi o Taraika Arts Wellington board, Lisa is also a board member of Theatre Archives New Zealand, Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand and the Magdalena Aotearoa Trust.

Trustee Ex Officio

Vicki is a Wellington based Stage, Production, Technical and Company Manager contracting to various companies, festivals and councils including G&T Productions, NZ Opera, Auckland & Tauranga Arts Festivals, Auckland Writers Festival, RNZB, and Wētā Workshop since graduating from Toi Whakaari in 2001. In 2011 she co-founded Wellington based company Entertainment Production Services with Andrew Gibson, providing management and technical support to productions throughout New Zealand.

Vicki is involved in the development of the next generation as a senior assessor mentor and industry advisor for the NZ Entertainment and Event Technology Qualifications.

Outside of work Vicki is President of Entertainment Technology NZ (ETNZ). In 2021 Vicki was the recipient of a Nga Whakarākei O Whātatai Wellington Theatre Award.

Trustee

Courtney Johnston was born in 1979 and raised on a dairy farm in Taranaki. She started her career in museums as a visitor host at Te Papa, while studying at Victoria University of Wellington.

Johnston has lived and worked in Wellington since, with roles at a variety of galleries and cultural institutions, including the Adam Art Gallery, City Gallery Wellington, and as director of the Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt, and the Petone Settlers Museum. She also has a strong digital background. During five years at the National Library she was part of the ground-breaking DigitalNZ project to open up New Zealand cultural heritage.

Johnston is a writer and commentator on New Zealand art and digital trends, including being the visual arts correspondent for RNZ’s Nine to Noon programme since 2010. She is the Chair of the Pantograph Punch, and a board member of Arts Wellington and the Wellington Performing Arts Trust. She is a previous board member of the National Digital Forum and Tohatoha (Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand), and was a member of MBIE’s Tourism Growth Partnership Fund Independent Expert Panel.