Kate O'Hara

Director
(she / her / hers)

Kate O'Hara is a dedicated arts professional with over 20 years of experience across institutional, not-for-profit, commercial, and independent arts sectors. Kate takes an innovative and thoughtful approach to her work, thriving in dynamic, multifaceted environments.

Daniel Qualischefski

Deputy Director
(he / him / his)

Daniel Qualischefski is a curator, arts professional and artist who has worked in regional and contemporary galleries across eastern Australia. His roles have encompassed exhibition and project management, including budgeting and successfully applying for grants, design, public programs, marketing and collection management.

Daniel has delivered a number of significant projects at Umbrella, including co-curating with Kate O'Hara the nationally touring POSTWORLD exhibition, and curating the NAFA-commissioned FORCED PERSPECTIVE. In partnership with Townsville City Galleries, Daniel has also managed four years of the Transitions program, providing mentorship, critique and development for emerging North Queensland visual artists. Daniel was the 2023 recipient of a Museums and Galleries Queensland funded mentorship at the National Gallery of Australia and a participant in the 2021 QAGOMA Art as Exchange program on Girramay Country / Cardwell, North Queensland.

Daniel holds a Master of Arts and Cultural Management from the University of Melbourne, a Bachelor of Visual Arts and a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Creative Arts), Honours from the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ). He was the inaugural 2023 UniSQ School of Creative Arts Alumni Fellow.

Daniel also creates multidisciplinary work under the artist pseudonym of Danish Quapoor. He has had work, reviews and writing published in the Journal of Australian Ceramics, Art Guide, Imprint and Lemonade Letters.

Amanda Galea

Business Manager
(she / her)

Amanda Galea has been a pivotal force at Umbrella since joining the team in 2020.  With a strong foundation and accreditation in visual arts and business, Amanda has successfully managed various projects and initiatives. Her tenure as Festival Administrator for Pop Up North Queensland (PUNQ) showcased her ability to coordinate complex events. As Arts Administrator (2022), she demonstrated her expertise in supporting artists and cultural programs through curation, marketing, administration and financial management.

Beyond her formal roles, Amanda has actively contributed to the arts community through volunteer work and guest judging at prestigious awards. Her passion for photography has been invaluable in capturing the essence of Umbrella's exhibitions and events, ensuring their effective dissemination across all communication channels.

Erin Ricardo

Arts Program Manager
(she / her / hers)

Erin Ricardo leads Umbrella’s diverse schedule of public and private workshops, education programs and residencies. She manages the Studio Access Group and has coordinated major projects such as Umbrella's recent First Nations weaving conference Woven Together.

With a background in both visual arts and arts education, Erin has extensive experience delivering arts programs and community projects of diverse scales. She is committed to fostering creative engagement within the community and supporting artists to develop and share their practice.

Before stepping into her current role, Erin has worked in part-time and casual positions at Umbrella, facilitating public programs and coordinating shop consignments. Erin holds a Master of Teaching (Visual Arts) from the University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of Visual Arts with Honours from La Trobe University, Bendigo. She is a printmaker who exhibits her work and enjoys being an active member of the Gurambilbarra / Townsville arts community.

Rikaela Rusch

Marketing and Communications Manager
(she / her / hers)

Rikaela brings a diversity of marketing expertise to Umbrella. From the world of music and art festivals such as Splendour in the Grass and Island Vibe Festival, Rikaela has a proven track record of orchestrating successful marketing and communications strategies for grassroots organisations through to major corporations.

Fortified by a dual degree in Advertising and Creative Industries, Rikaela's journey led her from Brisbane to North Queensland, where she has engaged with a range of initiatives in the arts and cultural sphere. Beyond professional pursuits, Rikaela is a dedicated champion for her local community, actively contributing her time and energy to various projects across the region. Working alongside the likes of Djabuganydji/Western Yalanji singer-songwriter Djawarray, hip-hop group Water Streets, Saibai Island independent artist Moses Warusam, the community-run venue Kuranda Amphitheatre, and Papua New Guinean visual artist MerkAbart (Sharmaine Drieberg) and more.

Sabrina Toby

Arts Officer
(she / her / hers)

Sabrina Toby is a Gangulu woman from Central QLD who has resided in Gurambilbarra / Townsville for over 9 years. She has roots in the visual arts, initially learning arts practice from her aunty (mum) later complimented by her Honours Degree in Visual Arts.

Sabrina has actively participated in executive committees of several Aboriginal organisations across two decades. Additionally, she has founded and managed a sporting organisation for five years. Operating a micro-Aboriginal art business named Bara Bidyiri, Sabrina's passion lies in exploring various art forms and integrating new mediums into her portfolio and was recently named a finalist in the 2024 Queensland Regional Art Awards (QRAA) in the First Nations category.

Volunteering with Big Eye Theatre Inc., an Aboriginal arts organisation since 2019, Sabrina has facilitated art and jewellery workshops and is also a member of their dance group, Mala Jina Jalbu. She serves as the Blak Art Market TSV coordinator, overseeing over 25 stallholders.

Furthermore, Sabrina contributes to Regional Arts Services Network North Queensland (RASNNQ) as an Arts Officer for the Gulf Region and has just recently wrapped up her PUNQ Festival Creative Producer role with Umbrella to take on a permanent staff position. 

As a practicing artist, her work serves as a bridge—a connection between our culture and the complex legacy of colonialism, exploring the narrative of cultural identity and a call to honour our shared history.

Margaret Robertson

Public Programs & Retail Assistant
Volunteer Studio Facilitator
(she / her / hers)

Margaret Robertson coordinates Umbrella's shop consignments and facilitates some of the weekend public programs. She is an active artist, longstanding Umbrella member and a leader in the Umbrella Studio Access Group (USAG). Margaret and Lynn Scott-Cumming have been appointed by Umbrella to supervise The Studio downstairs (in conjunction with the Arts Program Manager), particularly with regards to the printmaking presses and processes.

Staff photos courtesy Amber Haines: Kate, Alan, Daniel, Erin and Amanda. 
Staff photos courtesy Amanda Galea: Rikaela and Sabrina.

Lynn Scott-Cumming

Volunteer Studio Facilitator
(she / her / hers)

Lynn Scott-Cumming is an active artist, longstanding Umbrella member and volunteer, and a leader in the Umbrella Studio Access Group (USAG). Lynn and Margaret Robertson have been appointed by Umbrella to supervise The Studio downstairs (in conjunction with the Arts Program Manager), particularly with regards to the printmaking presses and processes.

Wing Hong Leung

Volunteer Studio Facilitator (darkroom)
(he / him / his)

Wing Hong Leung is a self-taught analogue photographer and a longstanding member of the local film photography community. His efforts were crucial in the set-up of Umbrella's darkroom, and he has been appointed by Umbrella to supervise the darkroom in conjunction with the Arts Program Manager. He enjoys sharing his knowledge about photographic processing and collaborating with the printmakers and other members of The Studio.

Volunteers

Reception Assistants, Gallery Assistants, Exhibition Install Assistants and Interns

Umbrella acknowledges the support of our amazing volunteers, particularly given our relocation and larger footprint (requiring more reception assistance). During 2021 we have been assisted by 27 volunteers for regular shifts. Alison Nicholas, Althea Harding, Belen Diaz, Chantal Oxenham, Evie Hanlon, Gail Pearson, Jan Hynes, Jasmine Blackman, Jemima Krzyzanski, Jonathan Stigter, Kaz Hauser, Karen Williams, Kate Osborne, Lynette Marlowe, Lynn Scott-Cumming, Margaret Robertson, Marion Gaemers, Matilda Davies, Michelle McGuinn, Nichola Borellini, Nicola Inskip, Poppy Schembri, Sascha Millard, Sandi Hook, Sharron Condren, Wren Moore, Yvonne Dutton and 15 other volunteers.

We also occasionally facilitate internships and work experience for those interested in the gallery world to gain valuable skills and insights. During 2021 we have had support from the following work experience students: Lacey Watson from Ryan Catholic College and Nykee Kynuna from Burdekin Catholic High School. 

If you are interested in volunteering or completing an internship with Umbrella Studio, see here: Volunteer

Alan Carpenter

Chairperson
(he / him / his)

Alan’s career has been characterised by leading complex projects transforming corporate vision to reality. After an early career as an engineering surveyor, Alan moved into project management in increasingly complex tasks culminating in leading development of a town in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.  This required management of a complex array of disciplines, including, finance and administration, engineering, sociology, town and regional planning and economics and commerce. 

More recently, at James Cook University (JCU), Alan led capital planning and development towards reconceiving and reshaping of the Townsville Campus from an isolated and institutional campus into an integrated university town with a thriving knowledge community.  Alan led the project known as Discovery Rise from the germ of an idea to its current conception as a blended community of interests encompassing practitioners, researchers, learners and commercial interests.  More recently he was employed by JCU as a strategist assisting JCU in enlarging the concept by partnering with Townsville University Hospital in creating a unified and seamless health and knowledge precinct, now called TropiQ. Alan also initiated and directed an energy and water conservation project at JCU which has as its flagship project a large district cooling initiative which ranked as the largest in Australia in terms of thermal energy storage and load shifting. The project has won several national awards. 

Alan is now a freelance strategist, Treasurer for Townsville Multicultural Support Group and is nurturing a late career as a 3D artist practitioner.

Ineke Dane

Vice Chairperson
(she / her / hers)

Ineke Dane is an award-winning curator with a background in contemporary art theory, law, policy, photography and journalism, specialising in cross-disciplinary commissions with artists and architects. She has lived and worked in cities across the globe and currently resides in Meanjin Brisbane, Australia, for her role as Associate Curator, International Art at Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art QAGOMA. Prior to her role with QAGOMA Ineke was Associate | Senior Curator with UAP from 2018 to 2023, where she worked on numerous significant strategies and public art commissions including for the adaptive reuse of the iconic Sirius and AMP Capital Quay Quarter buildings (Sydney), for the redevelopment of Waterfront Place (Brisbane), and for new commercial and educational developments in Melbourne, Sydney, Townsville and Darwin. She also wrote and edited a monograph publication centred on integrated art for Ithra Cultural Centre in Saudi Arabia.

Before moving to Brisbane, Ineke worked with renowned arts philanthropist John Kaldor AO under Kaldor Public Art Projects, and independent public art curator Barbara Flynn, while living in Sydney from 2015 to 2018. In 2021 Ineke was awarded major Australia Council and Arts Queensland grants for her independent curatorial initiative Conversations on Shadow Architecture 2021-2022, a group exhibition which explored the cultural, social and political potential of space and architecture with new commissions from Australian and international artists and architects. Ineke regularly contributes written editorial pieces to art journals and features on panels in conversation with artists.

Brian Tucker CPA

Treasurer
(he / him / his)

Brian is a CPA accountant, recently retired after forty years practice as Brian Tucker Accounting, a firm specialising in the provision of accounting, taxation and auditing services to the arts community. That community included individual practitioners, small arts companies, both commercial and not-for-profit, and Indigenous Art Centres from Mornington Island to the Mornington Peninsula, many in very remote communities – such as Tjuntjuntjara in the Great Victoria Desert, a 1270km drive from Alice Springs – in the Central and Western Deserts, the Kimberley, Arnhem Land and the Tiwi Islands. He also has wide experience as a board or committee member of over forty organisations such as Umbrella, from the large (Queensland Performing Arts Centre) to the tiny (Queensland Poets Society), usually, of course, as the Treasurer. He also has a large collection of art.

Professor Stephen Naylor

Secretary
(he / him / his)

Currently the Chair of the Academic Board at James Cook University, Professor Stephen Naylor has had more than 35 years working in the visual arts and higher education. He has an understanding of contemporary art practice from a practitioners perspective (as an artist with 20 years of practice), an arts educator (having taught art history and sculpture in Universities for more than 25 years) and as an international arts reviewer for national arts journals (over the past 20 years).

Lydia Rigano

Board Member
(she / her / hers)

Lydia is a clinical psychologist and small business owner who has called Townsville home for around 20-years. She contributes strong skills in governance and communication to the board, having previously been on non-profit boards.