ACE People – Staff
About ACE People
ACE Staff
Our team of five Producers head up each program pillar, and is complemented by a Graphic Designer. Our Operations Team, comprising a Venue and Reception Officer, an IT Support Officer and a Book keeper, is headed up by our Finance and Administration Manager. The entire team is overseen by our Executive Director.
Executive Director
Anne Loxley is an award-winning curator who specialises in collaborating with artists and communities to creatively address significant issues. In 2020 she joined ACE as Executive Director. Previously Anne was Senior Curator, C3West, for Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, (2011-2019) where she developed innovative ways for artists to collaborate with communities, businesses and non-arts organisations, to address important concerns. 2017 – 2019 she was program associate, visual arts, Perth Festivals. Anne is an alumna of the Australia Council’s 2019 Leadership Program. In 2014, Anne was featured in Jess Scully’s 20 Influential Creative Women list for 2SER’s celebration of International Women’s Day. In 2011 she was named by the Sydney Morning Herald as one of Sydney’s 100 most influential people. Anne is Deputy Chair of the City of Sydney’s Public Art Advisory Panel, and a member of these organisations: Western Sydney Arts Alliance Working Group, Western Sydney Women’s Leadership Network – Art and Culture and the Sydney Cultural Network council. A former Sydney Morning Herald art critic, she has published numerous essays and spoken at conferences nationally and internationally. With Blair French, she co-edited Civic Actions: Artists’ Practices Beyond the Museum (2017). She has a depth of media experience including her I 2011 role as resident art expert of ABC TV’s Photo Finish, hosted by Osher Günsberg.
Manager, Finance & Administration
Kayur Shrestha joined ACE as Manager, Finance and Administration in 2014. He has worked in the not-for-profit sector since 1998. His professional experience includes working as Finance Officer with the World Health Organization (Polio Eradication Project), Admin and Finance Analyst with Boston Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program Inc., Boston, MA, USA, Finance and Administration Manager with Restless Development Nepal (a UK Based Charity). He is a Fulbright Alumni from Nepal and holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (Not-for-Profit Concentration) from Suffolk University, Boston, MA, USA. He is a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society and a member of CPA Australia.
02 8821 9153
Producer, Multicultural Women's Hub
Yamane Fayed is a trilingual creative producer specialising in community and cultural development. Yamane holds a Masters in French Literature and taught French Literature in Lebanon. Since coming to Australia in 2005, she has worked as a freelance facilitator of digital and traditional storytelling across Western Sydney. Her love for children’s literature enabled to develop her expertise as an educator in multicultural playgroups and a librarian facilitating storytelling and story extension programs for children. In 2013, she became a food tour guide with Taste Cultural Food Tour running cultural food tours throughout Sydney, connecting food and people to promote cross-cultural understanding.
Since 2016, Yamane has worked as producer of ACE’s Multicultural Women’s Hub program, up-skilling and supporting women to set up their own creative enterprises. She is passionate about engaging with diverse communities in Western Sydney, utilising arts and creativity as tools for social change.
02 8821 9155
Producer, Screen Cultures
Barry Gamba has 25 years’ experience as a freelance screen producer and community arts and cultural development worker. He has developed arts and media-based projects for agencies including the Ethnic Communities Council of NSW, South West Sydney Legal Centre, NSW Refugee Health Service and the Australian Human Rights Commission, and produced language versions of resources in community languages including Arabic, Turkish, Dinka, Swahili, Tibetic and Vietnamese.
Between 2008 and 2016, his short films were screened in official selections in film festivals in New York, Chicago, Missouri, Toronto and Milan, and in 2018 was producer of ‘Carla & Lisa’s Countdown’ produced in association with ACE for ABC Arts iView. Before joining ACE in 2016 as Producer, Screen Cultures Programs, he worked as a freelance script editor, an on-site script editor for Metro Screen, external reader for Screen NSW (formerly the NSW Film & Television Office), and in 1999 he was a recipient of a Fellowship from the Community Cultural Development Board of the Australia Council for the Arts.
02 8821 9158
Producer, Special Projects
Victoria Harbutt is a producer and curator whose interdisciplinary expertise facilitates expansive creative projects.
Victoria has a BA Communications from NSW Institute of Technology (now UTS) and worked extensively as a dancer, choreographer and specialist dance teacher for Dance Camp Collective, Caliente Afro Latin Dance Company, The Performance Space, Margaret Walker Folk Dance Centre and The Rockmelons and was a member of experimental band, Love Party and the Pan 2000 Steel Pan Band.
For ACE her projects include Treasure Islands (2021-22), a web series featuring intergenerational Pacific cultural knowledge holders; Club Weld (2017 – ongoing) career development for neuro-diverse musicians; Motel Sisters In Care (2018) & Creativity Village (2019 – 21), residential aged care activations and research partnerships; Renaissance Scholars (2018), experiential learning for marginalised high school students and, the online war memorial, Johnnies and Mehmets: a Gallipoli Honour Roll (2015), a collaboration with Turkish and Anglo Celtic descendants of soldiers who fought at Gallipoli.
Victoria’s curatorial projects include Tracksuits of St Marys (2007); Class.Classy.Classic (2010); UV3D: Vernon Treweeke (2010); Gathered Up (2011); In League (2012); More Than All The Little Pearly Shells (2012); NOISE (2013) & Crowning Glory (2013) for Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest, and archival research project, Your Most Obedient Servant (2014) for the Australian Museum.
02 8821 9165
First Nation Program Advisor
Akala Newman is a Wiradjuri/Gadigal multi-disciplined performer, songwriter, educator and cultural producer whose experience includes cultural care practices and Intimacy Coordination. In 2021 Akala graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons First Class) from the University of Sydney. The crux of her thesis is a study into the power of performance which she believes can permeate a sense of identity and wellbeing for First Nations people. After this she began her producing career at Moogahlin Performing Arts (Carriageworks) whilst following her passions. 2022 was an immense year for Akala, she wrote and performed the opening song for the New Years Eve Fireworks at Sydney Opera House, ‘Calling Country’. She won the inaugural Indigitube song contest where she flew to Darwin to perform at the National Indigenous Music Awards and opened the Women’s World Cup draw in Aotearoa with Gawura Dance Company. Akala also starred in brook Andrew’s GABAN for the opening season of the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ Sydney Modern, previously performing at the Art Gallery of New South Wales 23rd Biennale of Sydney, rīvus opening event sharing her poetry and songs in language which was composed as part of the Soundtrack to the Immersive Guided Walk Experience ‘From the Water’.
When she’s not performing, she is a freelance artists and educator, First Nations Producer at Arts and Cultural exchange in Parramatta, teaches Indigenous Art at the National Art School, an Artist Educator at Museum of Contemporary Arts, Research Assistant at University of New South Wales and Intimacy Coordinator with Key Intimate Scenes Australia, where she’s most proud to have worked on Whitefella Yella Tree (Griffin Theatre) and While The Men are Away (Arcadia/ SBS). In 2023, Akala received both the Koori Radio Artist Residency and The Red Rattler Artist Residency where she looks forward to continuing her art practises and working with the community to inspire, uplift and celebrate First People’s Voices.
Producer, Youth Engagement
Leila el Rayes is a multi disciplinary artist from South West Sydney with extensive experience producing exhibitions, workshops and events. She has a passion for championing her community through empowerment and creativity.
Leila has exhibited across Australia across many mediums including performance, sculpture, video and sound works. She also is part of Western Sydney collective, ‘Say Swear’.
She has worked with many galleries and museums across the greater Western Sydney area producing workshops for young people, with organisations such as Art Month, Brightside (PCYC), Blacktown Arts Centre and Casula Powerhouse.
02 8821 9174
First Nations Associate Producer
Tannika Keaton is a Ngarabal woman living in Western Sydney. Tannika is passionate about working with people and communities, and started at ACE in 2018 as an Administration Assistant while completing a Certificate III in Business through an ArtsReady Traineeship. In 2019 she took on the role of Venue and Reception Officer, her colleagues often describe her as having innate comprehensive abilities and empathetic attitude being the first point of contact for any visitors to the space. Tannika manages all venue bookings, and supports programs across the organisation. She is currently studying for a Certificate IV in Community Services and is looking forward to solidifying a permanent role as Associate Producer with ACE as a strong asset to the community.
Her most memorable achievements include the work she did as a Co-Producer at MAYI Festival which included a week-long artist residency in Bourke community spaces followed by the music festival. As a young leader herself, Tannika believes in the positive value of youth workshops to train and upskill the next generation. She has facilitated and production managed workshops and youth developments including making Terrariums at Epping Youth Week and Y pop up space in parramatta, as well as ACE’s First Nations Still Growing Youth Collective Artist in Residence Development Presentation, ‘The World of Liminas’ by Bria McCarthy. Tannika is also proud to have been Assistant Producer for Jannawi Dance Clan’s Garrigarrang Badu, which is the first-ever full-length dance work in Dharug language, which invites audiences to bear witness to the strength, resilience, and power of the Dharug Matriarch. Collectively choreographed by Peta Strachan who Tannika worked closely with to support and present the work at The City of Parramatta and Sydney Festival‘s Dyin Nura (women’s place) in January 2023.
02 9897 5744
Bookkeeper
Kannaki Nadesan has worked as a bookkeeper for small and large organisations for over 30 years, working with the finance departments for Australia Council for the Arts, British Council and many smaller not-for-profits and businesses. She has been working with ACE since 2011 and is CIMA qualified.
Associate Producer, Youth Engagement
Tammy Dang is a creative producer and multidisciplinary artist with experience in events, film, photography and theatre. She is graduating in 2024 with degrees in Law and Media (Screen and Sound Production). In 2023, she was awarded the winner of the Fairfield Mayor’s Award for Creative Arts as a recognition of her commitment in the field.
Aside from video and photography projects, Tammy has also dipped her toes in theatre. She is currently co-writing and directing her first musical project, ‘Little Big Dreams’, as part of her residency at PYT Fairfield. She’s also devised multiple full-length shows including ‘Khair: A Blessing, A Message, An Omen’ (2022), and ‘Tuan’s Party’ (2023).
