As the honour lists roll around each year, I always bemoan the lack of inclusions from the visual arts sector, whether that be practising artists or arts professionals. The level of commitment and contribution should be greater recognised. With the release of the co-authored report, ‘Visual Arts Work: Key Research Findings, Implications and Proposed Actions‘ (RMIT University with The University of Melbourne) last week, the women working in our sector need a boost, and a sense of affirmation that they are indeed valued. Especially as the sector is in constant demand to deliver more on less.
We have focused on female/female identifying professionals because the pay gap is staggeringly greater. Last week’s report found that there was a 47% gender pay gap for artists in 2024, whereas among roles like curators, gallery staff and educators, the gap was 23%. This figure is alarmingly higher than Australia’s gender pay gap more broadly, which was 11.5% in 2024, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Read: Shortfall in incomes draining visual arts sector, says new report
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How we complied this list
Seven women working in the visual arts sector, across four states and territories, generously assisted with compiling this list. A total of 160 names were collectively put forward as contenders. This list represents the names that most overlapped. The first 25 names are those who received five or more nods of recognition from our panel, as our leading professionals in the sector. They are listed in alphabetical order. The remaining 25 names were celebrated in common across the nominees, and again are listed in alphabetical order. The nominees had to be Australian women, but could also be contributing to the sector abroad.
Women leading the visual arts sector
Hoda Afshar (Vic) – Artist.
Penelope Benton (NSW) – Executive Director, National Association for Visual Artists (NAVA).
Clothilde Bullen OAM (WA) – Manager Art, Culture and Collections, Edith Cowan University and First Nations curator. A Wardandi (Nyoongar) and Badimaya (Yamatji) Aboriginal woman.
Ellie Buttrose (Qld) – Curator, Australia Pavilion, 2024 Venice Biennale Golden Lion-winning pavilion, and Curator, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA).
Rebecca Coates (Vic) – Director, Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA).
Suzanne Cotter (NSW) – Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) and Chair of CIMAM (International Committee for Modern and Contemporary Art Museums) 2023 – 2025.
Nici Cumpston OAM (US/SA) – Director of Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection at the University of Virginia, Artist Director of the 2025 Tarnanthi Festival, Art Gallery of South Australia and First Nations artist (Barkindji people).
Alexie Glass Kantor (UAE/NSW) – Executive Director, Curatorial at Art Dubai Group and Art Basel Hong Kong’s Encounters. Former Artspace Sydney Executive Director.
Deborah Hart (ACT) – National Gallery of Australia’s Head Curator, Australian Art.
Lindy Lee AO (NSW) – Top earning female artist in Australia.
Amanda Love (NSW) – Principal at LoveArt Advisory and Art Basel VIP Representative Australia and New Zealand.
Victoria Lynn (Vic) – Director and curator, TarraWarra Museum of Art.
Elizabeth Anne MacGregor (NSW) – Former Director Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.
Kimberley Moulton (Vic) – Adjunct Curator Indigenous Art Tate Modern | Curator Emeritus Museums Victoria and 2025 TarraWarra Biennial: We Are Eagles. Moulton is a Yorta Yorta woman.
Judith Neilson AM (NSW) – Philanthropist and Founder of Phoenix Central and White Rabbit Gallery.
Maud Page (NSW) – Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Patricia Piccinini (Vic) – Successful artist exhibiting internationally.
Bree Pickering (ACT) – Director, National Portrait Gallery.
Suhanya Raffel (Hong Kong) – Museum Director M+, Hong Kong.
Rhoda Roberts AO (NSW) – Parrtjima Curator, producer, broadcaster and Aboriginal art advocate. A Bundjalung woman.
Yhonnie Scarce (Vic) – First Nations installation artist (Kokatha and Nukunu people).
Anna Schwartz (Vic) – Gallerist and publisher.
Katrina Sedgwick (Vic) – Director and Chief Executive Officer, Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation.
Lisa Slade (Vic) – Hugh Ramsay Chair in Australian Art History at the University of Melbourne.
Kaylene Whiskey (NT) – First Nations artist (Yankunytjatjara) and 2018 Sir John Sulman Prize-winner.
Women who are also making an impact
Jessica Clark (Vic) – First Nations Curator Australian Centre of Contemporary Art (ACCA), Curatorial Manager Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair and Ursula Hoff Fellow (2024-2026) University of Melbourne. A palawa/pallawah woman.
Melissa Chiu (US) – Director of the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC.
Charlotte Day (Vic) – Director, Potter Museum of Art and Buxton Contemporary, University of Melbourne.
Kathryn del Barton (NSW) – Archibald Prize-winning artist, and top commercially successful Australian artist.
Rhana Devenport – Independent curator and writer, and former Director, Art Gallery of South Australia (2018-2024)
Kim Elphinstone (NSW) – Principal Articulate, arts publicists.
Angela Goddard (Qld) – Director, Griffith University Art, Board member Sheila Foundation for women visual artists, former chair University Art Museums Australia (2020-2024).
Lisa Havilah (NSW) – Chief Executive Officer, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS), including Powerhouse Ultimo and Parramatta.
Rachel Kent (NSW) – Chief Executive Officer, Bundanon Trust.
Natalie King OAM (Vic) – co-Artistic Director of next Kathmandu Triennale 2026, former Venice Biennale curator (2017, 2022 and 2024), author and academic.
Fenella Kernebone (NSW) – Head of Conference Programming, SXSW Sydney.
Cara Kirkwood (NSW) – Independent Cultural Strategist First Nations (Mandandanji/Mithaka peoples).
Kim McKay AO (NSW) – Director and Chief Executive Officer, Australian Museum.
Kathryn McMahon (ACT) – Director, National Museum of Australia
Naomi Milgrom (Vic) – Patron, philanthropist and Founder MPavilion.
Barbara Moore (NSW) – Chief Executive Officer, Biennale of Sydney. Moore is additionally Vice President of the Board of the International Biennale Association (UAE).
Liz Nowell (Vic) – Executive Director, Arts Project Australia.
Roslyn Oxley (NSW) – Gallerist.
Zoe Paulsen (NSW) – Director, Sydney Contemporary.
Hetti Kemerre Perkins (NSW) – First Nations Curator, and a Eastern Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman.
Dr Gene Sherman (NSW) – Collector, patron and former gallerist.
Natasha Smith (Qld) – Director curatorial, Urban Art Projects (UAP).
Ursula Sullivan and Joana Strumpf (NSW) – Gallerists.
Mikala Tai (NSW) – Former, Head of Visual Arts at Creative Australia.
Judy Watson (Qld) – Waanyi multimedia artist.
