Meet our valued staff members who help with the everyday running of Access2Arts.
Rebecca (Bec) Young is an experienced and passionate leader, ally and advocate in the for-purpose sector. Prior to finding her passion and taking up work in disability and social services over 12 years ago, Rebecca gained a wealth of experience across a variety of roles in marketing, advertising, media and communications in a range of industries.
Rebecca completed her MBA in 2014 and the Governors Leadership Foundation program in 2016, she also has a Certificate II in Auslan, a forklift licence and suite of less useful certificates.
She contributes a strong focus on developing young leaders, increasing diversity and inclusion, accessible communications, strategy and sustainable organisational development.
In addition to her role as Chief Executive at Access2Arts Rebecca volunteers as a mentor for several leadership development programs and is the chair of inclusive social circus school Lolly Jar Circus.
Meg Riley is a disabled and autistic artist, educator and audio describer, with a strong record of facilitating disability access in the arts sector. She has worked in museums and galleries creating accessible and educational programs, as well as creative digital resources such as podcasts and videos.
Read moreJude is a spirited Arts Administrator with 20 years of Festival and large-scale music and sporting event experience.
Identifying as a disabled woman, Jude is dedicated to using her lived experience to advocate for change and better accessibility for her community.
She is a qualified Visual Artist, completing her Advanced Diploma of Applied and Visual Arts, majoring in Jewellery at North Adelaide School of Art.
She has successfully staged exhibitions around Australia.
As a founding member of Adelaide Roller Derby, she has skated her way around Australia, New Zealand and North America.
In her downtime, she is an avid gardener, maker of dumplings and baker of treats.
Georgina has a strong passion for and background in the arts, completing a Graduate Diploma in Art History from the University of Adelaide, working in Marketing at the Adelaide Fringe, volunteering at The David Roche Foundation and assisting the RSASA. She is passionate about helping the arts in South Australia, and the country, to become increasingly accessible to those living with varying disabilities, and to help artists with disability to have success in their creative careers.
Read moreJody is a long-time patron of the arts with a background in law, advocacy and access. After many years advocating for blind or low vision people in many areas, Jody joined Access2Arts in 2015 to work on audio description for theatre audiences, one of her many passions.
Read moreAccess2Arts is a not-for-profit incorporated association governed by volunteer Board of Management (at least 51% of which must identify as Deaf or disabled people).
Lachlan (Loki) Rickus has been performing in Adelaide, Australia and Internationally for over 20 years. Loki performed and worked with Cirkidz Youth Circus School graduating in 2003 and then has worked, trained and coached around Australia and overseas. Since breaking his neck in 2006 in a training accident Loki has taken back to the stage mixing his genres to create his own Cabaret Identity, writing and performing in acclaimed shows. Loki is one of The Fair Ground Project's founding members, TFGP was founded to create a safe and accessible professional training platform for Circus and Physical Theatre artists with a disability to work in an integrated setting.
Off stage Loki works as a Disability and Accessibility advocate and consultant in both the Arts and wider sectors and is passionate about accessibility in all art forms for both participants and audiences.
Tass has a wealth of commercial management expertise from a diverse range of industries including telecommunications, banking, media, food production and distribution, tourism, major cultural events, China/Australia trade, and fundraising. She is dedicated to constantly expanding her learning, pushing into the challenges of commercialisation and innovation, and contributing to the more balanced diversity ratios at leadership levels through organisations and boards.
Boo Hooi has many years of experience in the computing industry with hardware and software design, software development, manufacturing, retail and customer services. He has previously delivered embedded computing solutions in the defence, health, education and construction sectors. In his current role he is responsible for the administration, eLearning content creation, project management, and providing high level leadership for the development and delivery of corporate work health and safety programs.
Boo Hooi’s diverse international work experience and cultural background coupled with his passion in connecting with people has allowed him to collaborate with others in a professional and personal capacity.
His lived experience also provides an opportunity to be an advocate for workplace accessibility and inclusion.
Benjamin is outcomes driven and focused on stakeholders and their problems. He is passionate about learning and developing people both internal and external to his organisations. He is experienced in training system analysis and evaluation, and developing Training Requirements Specifications and Learning Management Packages.
Benjamin’s career began as an Officer in the Royal Australian Air Force where he operated and instructed on multiple platforms including the E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft. Benjamin spent three years embedded in the Defence Science and Technology Group’s Aerospace Division – Human Factors Group where I focussed on Live, Virtual, and Constructive (LVC) systems and future training systems.
Benjamin co-founded Coherics to deliver innovative training system solutions and strategies for the Defence Force, Government, and Commercial clients to train operators faster, and more efficiently.
In his current role as Executive Director of Coherics, he has built a team of industry experts that share his passion for producing staff and workers for clients that are highly capable and are developed faster and cheaper.
The people who work at Access2Arts have a lot of experience working in the arts and disability.
We think that the work Access2Arts does can make the arts more inclusive.
Gaelle Mellis is the Creative Director.
At Access2Arts it is her job to create great projects
and improve access in the arts.
Martin Sawtell is the Business Director.
At Access2Arts it is his job to support artists
and make sure Access2Arts pays bills.
Jody Holdback coordinates the Audio Description service.
Laura Smans coordinates the 30 X 30 Project.
Other awesome people work with us doing workshops and projects.