Cultural Advisory Committee

Tim Walker is a current City of Launceston Councillor and is a Chairperson of the Committee.

Learn more about the City of Launceston Council here.

Alex Britton is a current City of Launceston Councillor.

Learn more about the City of Launceston Council here.

Clementine Blackman (BA/BAdvStudies, University of Sydney) is the Founder and Director of Worlds End, a consulting agency specialising in positive social disruption through business development and communications strategies art, design and for-purpose organisations.

With over 15 years' experience in business and art communications strategy in Australia and the USA, Clementine provides communication advice, media training and support to CEOs, Chairpersons, Directors and stakeholders. She also proactively manages multiple press campaigns and issues through global media and locally in Australia, in particular for the arts sector and not-for-profits.

Helene brings her perspective as a long time northern Tasmanian resident to the work of the City of Launceston's Cultural Advisory Committee. With degrees in teaching and arts education, she had a thirty five year career as an educator including leading school communities as Principal. Simultaneously, Helene acted and directed in local theatre and formed Gambit Theatre Co. whilst facilitating arts projects and festivals, developing Performing Arts courses and also mentoring artists across northern Tasmania.

As a visual artist, Helene’s sculptural glass work has been exhibited nationally and internationally; she understands the challenges and opportunities for cultural practitioners working in our regional city. Helene is passionate about celebrating Launceston’s arts, hospitality, history and sporting cultures, about gaining an outreach Community Arts program for Launceston and accessible commercial exhibition space for local artists, about Public Art and also about building mutually beneficial relationships between K-tertiary (Kindergarten to Tertiary) education and community-based cultural practitioners.

Dr Kim Lehman is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Liverpool Business School, Liverpool John Moores University, UK. Prior to June 2021 he was Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Discipline Leader (Marketing) at the Tasmanian School of Business and Economics, University of Tasmania. He has a multi-disciplinary background, with an undergraduate degree in English literature, an Honours degree in politics and a PhD in marketing. Dr Lehman’s research interests focus on the arts and cultural sectors, with streams investigating development, marketing, management, and tourism issues. 

He is Lead-Editor of the book Exploring Cultural Value: Contemporary issues for theory and practice, published by Emerald UK in 2021. Dr Lehman also has a focus on bridging the gap between industry, business and the arts and cultural sectors and is currently Chair of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery Governance Advisory Board in Launceston, Tasmania.

Dr Abbey MacDonald is a Senior Lecturer in Arts Education at the University of Tasmania. She brings a combination of Visual Arts, Media Arts, and Subject English professional practice and classroom teaching experience to her delivery of teacher education and professional learning. As a teacher educator, she develops content and evaluates curriculum and education resources for schools, museums, galleries and social transformation organisations.

As a researcher, she partners with environmental conservation and social change organisations, teachers, artists, scientists and education technologists to tackle the most pressing challenges facing educators today. Abbey is a committed community volunteer and leader of Arts, Culture and Education initiatives and organisations locally and nationally. She is President of Art Education Australia and contributor to the National Advocates for Arts Education. Abbey was born and raised on the north west coast of Tasmania and has called Launceston home for fifteen years.

Amanda has over 25 years’ experience in arts and media. Since the late 1990s she has held key leadership roles with Theatre North Inc., manager of the Princess Theatre and Earl Arts Centre, where she is the current General Manager.

Amanda was nationally recognised for her former career as a local radio professional and enjoyed several years working as a classroom teacher in northern Tasmanian primary schools. Amanda is a Sydney Institute of Education and UTAS graduate (Dip.Teach, B.Ed), an Australian Institute of Company Directors graduate, a member of Performing Arts Connections (PAC) Australia’s National Performing Arts Reference Group (NPARG) and a board member of Natural Resource Management (NRM) North.