President

Trevor Heldt

Trevor is an experienced executive who has worked in a range of State and Federal agencies, most recently CSIRO. He has worked with Chief Executives, Boards and senior leadership teams on the leadership of strategic, inclusive, safe and people focussed organisations. Trevor has lead and managed small and large teams and budgets and has extensive experience with governance and accountability frameworks.  

Trevor left CSIRO in early 2022 to spend more time teaching and supporting mindfulness in the community and has returned to ceramics (after a very long break) and attends programs at Canberra Pottery Society and Laughing Frog. 

Trevor is a member of the Bush Heritage Safety and Operations Committee advising the Board and Management on people and safety and operations matters.

Trevor believes that artists make a huge contribution to the Canberra region and aspires to grow Strathnairn to become a leading arts organisation. 

Vice-President

Joanne Searle

Joanne Searle has worked as an artist and educator in the Canberra region since graduating from the Canberra School of Art in 1999 with a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Ceramics) with First Class Honours. 

Joanne operates within a diverse practise that encompasses exhibitions, product design and production and education. Her exhibition work has been shown widely, both within Australia and internationally. It explores the intersection of printmaking and ceramics, and the evocative qualities of mark-making on clay.  Joanne’s research themes include how sound data can represent narratives of place.

Joanne is passionate about skill-sharing and the role of bringing creative practice to a broader audience. Joanne held a lecturing position in the ANU School of Art Ceramics workshop for 20 years. After leaving the tertiary sector, Joanne co-founded Clay Studio Canberra, a community-based teaching studio.

Treasurer

Mayuri Kain

Mayuri Kain is a qualified accountant and public finance specialist, and a lover of the arts. She has been working with large scale organisations and public sector agencies for almost two decades, and has deep experience in driving organisational transformation programs and helping entities achieve financial sustainability. She is a Fellow of CPA Australia.

May is passionate about bringing together financial techniques with qualitative benefits, such as the cultural and social benefits that the arts contribute to society.

As Treasurer, May is looking forward to helping Strathnairn Board to further achieve its vision of cultivating a vibrant, inclusive and sustainable creative precinct for all, in its unique facility setting.

Secretary

Trenna Langdon

Trenna works as a consultant to commonwealth and state government departments and agencies and has many years of experience across diverse business domains. She has provided expertise in planning and support of strategic programs of work including service delivery reform.

Trenna has a strong background in cultural heritage management and has previously worked for a national collecting institution. She has worked on cultural development projects and has an interest in community capacity building as a way of supporting sustainable development.

General Members

Craig Edwards

Craig Edwards is an experienced school leader, educator, and artist. Passionate about art education, and Public Education more broadly, he has been teaching and working in secondary schools for over 29 years, including being Principal at Dickson College for 7 of those years. Craig currently holds the position of Senior Director of School Planning and Review in the ACT Education Directorate. Craig Edwards completed a Bachelor of Education (Visual Art) at the University of Newcastle in 1992. Craig commenced his Masters degree mid-year 2007 and studied part-time in the Ceramics workshop at the ANU School of Art under the supervision of Janet DeBoos and Greg Daley. Since 2007 he has been exhibiting artwork in solo and group shows in the ACT. He had his first solo exhibition Student of the Red-Brown Earth in July 2012. He completed his Master of Arts (Visual Arts) in November 2012.

Shannon Wilson-McClinton

Producer, Shannon Wilson-McClinton, has genuine passion for her work which has seen her fill production roles in government, corporate, advertising and broadcast television spaces as well as feature film.

She was Line Producer on the Canberra filmed feature Joe Cinque’s Consolation. She produced the interstitial series Australian by Degree, for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade which was filmed on three continents and broadcast internationally. She co-produced the feature film Hearts and Bones, starring Hugo Weaving, which had its world premiere at the prestigious 2019 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and most recently produced Macario De Souza’s feature film 6 FESTIVALS which was released in Australian cinemas and on streamer Paramount+ in August 2022. 

Shannon believes that public access and education to arts practice, is essential to growing the ACT’s cultural economy. She hopes to see Strathnairn further achieve its vision of cultivating contemporary visual art for local, national and international audiences in a sustainable creative precinct.