Team

Project Leader: Brydie-Leigh Bartleet

Professor Brydie-Leigh Bartleet is known worldwide for her research in community music and community engagement and has led many projects that explore the social impact of the arts. Brydie has worked in partnership with a wide range of NGOs, arts and community organizations, and colleagues across Australia and internationally to design, drive and deliver innovative and highly complex projects. This work has led to new and interdisciplinary approaches to music research that intersect with health and wellbeing, corrections and criminology, First Nations arts practices and cultural policy, social justice and regional arts development, and most recently human rights. She has worked on five nationally competitive grants, five research consultancies and three prestigious fellowships (totalling over $1.2 million), as well as 140 research outputs in high-level national and international publications, and keynotes in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Japan, Germany and Ireland. In 2014, she was awarded the Australian University Teacher of the Year, in 2018 was awarded an Arts for Good Fellowship from the Singapore International Foundation. She currently serves as Director, Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre, Griffith University.

Chief Investigator: Sandy O’Sullivan

Associate Professor Sandy O’Sullivan is a member of the Wiradjuri Nation. Sandy is an Associate Professor and Deputy Head in the School of Creative Industries, University of the Sunshine Coast. Sandy’s work focuses on representation of, and by, First Nations’ Peoples with a specific focus on arts, performance and identity. Sandy recently carried out a multi-year review of 470 nationally-prominent museums examining the capacity of these spaces to represent and engage First Nations’ Peoples. 

Chief Investigator: Naomi Sunderland

Associate Professor Naomi Sunderland is a proud descendant of the Wiradjuri First People. Naomi’s international research portfolio prioritises work in: arts and health promotion; music and the social determinants of health; and social inclusion in health and social policy. Naomi has collaborated on many arts and health research projects including: the 1000 Voices Disability Life Stories Project; a social determinants of health evaluation of the Scattered People asylum seekers and refugee music group; and trauma informed songwriting in Australia, Vanuatu, and Finland. Naomi teaches in the First Australians and Social Justice team at Griffith University and specialises in topics around transformative intercultural and immersive education, equity, and diversity. Naomi has a PhD in applied ethics and human rights from the Queensland University of Technology. She has worked in government and non-government organisations and universities in Canada and Australia. She has published widely on the topics of health promotion partnerships, music and wellbeing, disability and happiness, and transformative ethics. Naomi is also an active singer, songwriter, and performer and has released several albums of work internationally.

Research Fellow: Sarah Woodland

Dr Sarah Woodland is a researcher, practitioner and educator specialising in arts, theatre and performance. She has over 20 years experience in the arts and cultural sectors in Australia and the UK, with a particular focus on engaging communities from diverse social and cultural backgrounds. Sarah has spent over 10 years at Griffith undertaking arts research, teaching theatre, and leading university-industry partnerships and placements.

Project Partner Barkly Regional Arts: Alan Murn

Alan Murn is Executive Office for Barkly Regional Arts (BRA). He has had a 14-year association with BRA and been EO since 2009 when he accepted the challenge of guiding BRA from a small project driven arts company into a larger long-term program driven one. Previously he had been Manager of Julalikari Arts in Tennant Creek from 2003 – 2009 and so was deeply involved in the Community, Arts and Cultural Development (CACD) trajectory of the Barkly region. As manager of an Australia Council for the Arts’ Key Producer, Alan’s remit is to adopt a local arts leadership role to lobby and advocate for the creative industries. To that end, Alan has taken on a number of local community roles including Tennant Creek Art Gallery Management Committee, former Board member of ArtbackNT, Darwin (Deputy Chair 2011 and 2012), Board Member of Barkly Region Alcohol and Drug Abuse Advisory Committee (BRADAAG), member of Regional Economic Development Committee (REDC), Barkly, (Department of Chief Minister appointment), member of Local Tourism Advisory Committee (LTAC) Barkly to mention a few. Alan has a B Visual Arts (Printmaking), SA School of Art, has worked in the Visual Arts Department, The Flinders University of SA and as Artist-in-residence and Printer-in-residence at The Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide.

Project Partner Regional Development Australia NT: Robin Gregory

Dr Robin Gregory has worked for Regional Development Australia NT for over five years. In this role, and in her previous employment with the Northern Territory (NT) Government, Centre for Appropriate Technology, and as a private consultant, she has worked with individuals and communities throughout the NT on a range of projects including those that focussed on heritage conservation and tourism, arts and culture, and digital inclusion.