I am responsible for the leadership and management of North Metro TAFE's Media and Music Portfolio, encompassing Film and Television, Music Performance, Sound Production, Music Business, Photography, Animation, Digital Gaming, Visual Effects, Screen and Media Makeup and Radio. I've been working in the portfolio since 1996 as a lecturer, course coordinator and most recently as a Principal Lecturer, with 7 years working elsewhere in the college. I am very happy to now be leading our skilled and experienced team of lecturers and support staff through operations, planning, strategy, growth, industry engagement and academic outcomes for the remainder of 2024.

In my role I provide leadership, program consultation and administrative support to vocational lecturing staff. My academic areas of responsibility cover courses in Events, Hospitality, Travel, Tourism and Library Studies, spanning Certificate II (including VET in Schools) through to Advanced Diploma.

Academic Leader and compliance manager for lecturing staff in Travel, Tourism, Events, Hospitality, Library Studies, Auslan and other Languages.

I commenced employment at the Central Institute of Technology in 1996 to train performance students in music business units. In 2008 I started WA's first certificate course specifically for music business. Today I coordinate a team of 4 to deliver and assess the Certificate IV, Diploma and Advanced Diploma of Music Business. This role includes curriculum development, financial administration, managing training regulation compliance, team leadership, project management of students and staff, mentoring, training and assessment.

Clients: Ruby Boots; The Morning Night; New Rules For Boats; The Panda Band; Moriarty; Matt dela Hunty; Desert Child; Lynn Hazelton; Natalie Ripepi; Millennium; No Flowers No Wedding Dress; Botticelli’s Angel.As an artist manager, I coordinate all aspects of an artist's career including but not exclusive to strategic business planning, financial management, network building, negotiation, booking, touring, distribution, marketing, and licensing. I secure funding and diversify income streams. I manage the teams of specialised people around the artist who all contribute to the market development, quality, administration, profile, and overall career growth of the artist.I oversee multi-faceted, simultaneous projects that incorporate touring, festival performances, video clips, radio singles, digital and physical releases, online presence, promotional materials, product launches, merchandising, and audience development. I have broad experience in conflict resolution and mediation between musicians and other parties.Achievements:Managing the release of 17 albums and EPs, across state, national and international markets;Managing all marketing and logistics for a month of performances at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in The Famous Spiegeltent;Managing all marketing and logistics for 18 national tours, involving over 40 artists;Managing all marketing and logistics for two tours to the USA (including SXSW and CMJ) and the UK (including In The City); Raising over $150,000 in funding from ArtsWA, DCA, and the Australia Council; Establishing a relationship with Austrade’s Australian Music Office, and passing 2 financial audits to receive $70,000 in retrospective funding through Austrade’s Export Market Development Grant scheme;Securing national high-rotation radio airplay on Triple J for seven radio singles;Securing a North American recording contract through Los Angeles based label Filter Records, distribution through Fontana and publicity through Planetary Group.

Through Qstik, I was responsible for the management of the complete marketing process of many great WA songwriting artists, from advising on the initial creation of the work through to its manufacture national distribution and promotion. I specialised in creative business development and marketing the releases of artist recordings with a holistic approach to media, industry, touring, digital and audience strategy. Qstik employed administration staff, graphic designers, photographers and publicists to fulfil its commitment to music artists in WA, signed to the label or otherwise.

In 1996, my colleague Vicki Caulfield and I started up the Healthway funded Next Big Thing statewide band competition under the auspices of the Perth Theatre Trust. I was responsible for budget management, booking, sponsorship, event coordination, leadership of the regional coordinators, administration, record keeping, publicity amongst other things. The Next Big Thing moved to the Musician's Guild (WA) and then RTRFM before eventually becoming an Incorporated Association itself, a move I had championed since the beginning. The next big thing was responsible for providing a voice for hundreds of bands over the years. Most importantly it developed a richer awareness of songwriting artists in regional towns and cities including Derby, Broome, Karratha, Geraldton, Northam, Kalgoorie, Bunbury, Margaret River, Albany, Denmark and Esperance.After finishing work at the Next Big Thing as Project Manager, I joined the board, provided guidance and leadership and contributed to the key decision making processes.

During this period, I was the entertainment management consultant for the Lone Star Hotel, the Chelsea Tavern and the Swanbourne Hotel. Duties: Booking music performers and other entertainers; Coordinating competitions and private functions; Negotiating and finalising contracts; Securing promotional funding, merchandise, and product from alcohol distributors; Communicating and negotiating with tour promoters, artist managers, and national booking agents; Selecting and managing staff for production and front of house; Ticketing and general event administration; Managing weekly entertainment budgets; Financial administration including invoicing and paying artists and production staff; Coordinating all marketing and promotional activities including graphic design, printing, print and radio ad-bookings, poster and flyer distribution, writing copy and distributing media releases, radio and press interviews, promotional street banners, and mailing list management.

During this time, I worked at WAMIA in a number of areas. I promoted a multicultural music fundraiser event at the Fremantle Arts Centre, raising money for the severe bushfire devastation in regional NSW. I was also involved in the planning discussions to bring Ausmusic's accredited certificate training program Basic Music Industry Skills to TAFEWA. I reported to Director Vicki Caulfield and Youth officer Eric Ericsson.

The West was my first job out of school, working in the old 125 St Georges Tce building (now The Print Hall Bar) and the atmosphere was like something out of an old black-and-white movie. Mechanical printing presses in the basement crunching away under the floorboards of ad sales, journalists, cartoonists, photographers, compositors, and copy runners...it was an amazing experience. It was where I learned about the importance of deadlines, focused meetings, teamwork, and departmental operations all working together in synch to produce a daily paper. It was also where I developed the inquisitiveness, observation, communication, networking skills, and tenacity required to find, pursue, research, and write a news story.Cadet training included writing for media, shorthand, interviewing techniques, layout, and composition, photography, politics, research, and sub-editing. My training extended to writing stories covering rounds such as music, sport, health, education, police, courts, finance, computing, environment, politics, real estate, regional issues, television, and features. One of the more unusual roles was creating the rhyming slogans for Constable Care on the information pages.This was the time of the WA Inc scandal where media luminaries such as Paul Murray, Peter Kennedy, Tim Treadgold, and John McGlue all worked as regular newsroom journalists. I was also fortunate to work alongside another cadet journalist, Gina Williams. Gina and I would later cross paths as colleagues and friends at TAFE and in the music industry.