OUR BOARD (2024)

Diane McArthur (CHAIR)

Diane is a nationally accredited facilitator, mediator, conflict coach, trainer and assessor, and human resource specialist. She has extensive experience in interpersonal communications, dispute resolution, organisational behaviour, and adult education.   Diane has worked as a trainer with Academy New Zealand, Skill Share Australia, News Limited, Universal Software Solutions and the Department of Defence. She served as an Officer in the Royal Australian Navy for eleven years, during which, she was responsible for managing workplace behaviour and unacceptable behaviour complaints for the whole of Navy. She worked with the Fairness & Resolution branch, in developing and implementing psycho-social training programs and assisted in developing, implementing, and facilitating, cultural change programs throughout Defence, including Making the Change and Navigating the Change.  Diane was subsequently employed by the Department of Defence as a Mediator, Interactive Problem-Solving Facilitator, Conflict Management Coach, Trainer and Assessor, and worked with Australian Public Servants (APS), and military personnel.

Alan Flower (DEPUTY CHAIR)

Alan has worked for 35 years in the performing arts as an actor, writer, script editor, director, artistic director, and a teacher, Alan Flower is an actor who has dabbled in writing, directing, teaching and running a theatre company. Alans work has spanned (2) centuries working for most of Sydney’s best-known theatre companies. Television and Film are also great passions, and he has popped up in many Australian shows over the past thirty years. Including Chasing Milat, Hiding, Home and Away, All Saints, The Secret She Keeps and many more. His connection with Orana Arts is a long one having previously worked on our small plays festival and youth drama program.

Fiona MacDonald (TREASURER)

Fiona MacDonald is an artist from Ilford, known for her installations of bodies of work that draw on local cultural traditions, social and natural history. She’s been a curator at the Kandos Museum since 2014. She brings knowledge of the creative and professional opportunities regionally-based artists seek in their practices, along with the challenges they face. Prior to her appointment to the board, Fiona was one of the first Volunteers. Artists. Museums. Program (VAMP) artists in residence, working with the Henry Lawson Centre at Gulgong.

Kate Gaul

Kate has established herself as a distinctive and inventive director, with directing credits including plays, opera, physical theatre, devised works, and classics for theatre companies across Australia. She is Artistic Director of Siren Theatre Co where her passion for text-based drama challenges artists and audiences to have bold imaginative experiences. She has also directed all kinds of festivals from new Australian work to female-led productions and even a Sydney Mardi Gras Parade. WEBSITE

Nicola Chandler

Nicola is a proactive, creative, and astute strategic executive with 30 years’ experience in commercial business, destination marketing, grant management along with cultural and tourism product development across private enterprise, local, state and federal state government sectors. Collaborative, persuasive, and a solutions-focused communicator with visionary ideas that influence commitment to innovation and change, her work has been recognized by industry peers both nationally and internationally. Nicola has worked with boards and advisory groups across industry and cultures to deliver effective and timely projects through tailored engagement and empowering high performing teams; her perceptive analytical and critical thinking capabilities highlight opportunities and optimisation of business effectiveness.

Greg Hall

Greg is a seasoned media professional and project manager with extensive experience in journalism, documentary filmmaking, and digital communications. As a board member of Orana Arts, he leverages his expertise in engaging diverse communities and advancing regional arts. Greg is passionately committed to innovation and inclusive collaboration, fostering a vibrant arts culture in Central West NSW, and beyond.

Aunty Ruth Carney (CO-OPTED CULTURAL ADVISOR + ELDER-IN-RESIDENCE)

Narromine Elder, Ruth Carney is an advocate for community and heritage, integral in formalising a partnership with Narromine Council and the Ngarru Mayin Corporation for the development of the Narromine Museum. In partnership with Narromine Historical Society, Narromine Museum operated from 2011-2018. Working alongside Orana Arts on various projects, Aunty Ruth Carney, with her late husband Uncle Dick, supported Orana Arts’ initiative Staging Stories - a storytelling workshop initiative for Aboriginal youth. Their life story inspired the Orana Arts team, in 2016 the stage production, A Little Piece of Heaven was developed. It was directed by John Harvey, whose vision was to see the two Elders perform and share their life in a contemporary setting, creating a regional theatre production written, performed, and directed by First Nations people. The production toured regionally to sold out shows in NSW, and was one of the most successful events at the 2019 Yirramboi Festival in Melbourne.  

Alicia Rodriguez Leggett (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Born in Cuba,  Alicia lived much of her life in New York City before moving to Australia nearly 20 years ago. Alicia’s interest in fine art developed when studying Art History as an undergraduate at Rutgers University, before a few years of working as an investment banker sent her back to school for her Masters in 17th Century Spanish Art at Syracuse University. Alicia then went on to fill several creative industry roles: as manager of a commercial arts publication, an art dealer, and commercial gallery director (Arcadia Gallery of Fine Arts in New York). A few moves and flights later, Alicia and her family established themselves in Wellington NSW. Her focus is brokering opportunities through strategic partnerships and projects; enriching and supporting regional communities through the arts; and growing audiences for all artforms.