OUR TEAM
SOPHIA CAI 蔡晨昕 (she/her)
Artistic Director + CEO
director@canberracontemporary.com.au
Sophia joined the team as Artistic Director + CEO in 2025. A graduate of the ANU, she returned to Canberra after more than a decade working in the arts in Sydney, Melbourne and London. As an experienced curator, writer, and arts leader, Sophia has worked across a range of contexts including artist-run spaces, local council galleries, public museums and libraries, universities, and independent organisations. Her ongoing research interests include Asian art histories, the intersections between contemporary art and craft, and building communities of practice rooted in feminist and anti-racist work. From 2023 to 2024, she was the Artistic Director of Bus Projects, one of Australia’s longest running artist-run organisations. She is the Deputy Chair of NAVA.
HESTER LYON (she/her)
Curator + Program Manager
hester@canberracontemporary.com.au
Hester joins Canbera Contemporary from Broken Hill on Wilyakali Country. Hester brings experience from across artist-run spaces, public galleries, and art centres in both remote and urban contexts. Her curatorial practice is interested in hyper-specific relationships to place, DIY thinking and relationality. From 2020-2022, Hester was Curator at Broken Hill City Art Gallery. In 2023, she co-founded Slag Heap Projects, an artist-run initiative in Broken Hill which aims to understand complex cultural frictions by facilitating experimentation and place-based research.
SOPHIE MCDONALD (she/her)
Communications + Engagement Coordinator
sophie@canberracontemporary.com.au
Sophie joined the team as Administration Coordinator in 2024. She is a University of Sydney Graduate with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Art History and Anthropology. In addition to her extensive customer service experience, Sophie has worked closely with artists, clients, and galleries as an Art Valuations Assistant in Sydney at Stella Downer Fine Art Gallery. Sophie is committed to her continuous support of the Canberra arts community in this role.
Eliott June O’Dowd (he/they)
Administration Coordinator
info@canberracontemporary.com.au
Eliott first joined Canberra Contemporary as a casual in early 2026. He is a recent graduate of the Canberra Institute of Technology (Dip. in Visual Arts) and is a practising artist working with sculpture, painting and textiles - focusing on memory, identity and material language. A passionate participant in the local Kamberri/Canberra arts scene, they bring experience from many niches of the arts landscape including work as a gallery attendant, exhibitions installer and arts educator.
Bookeeper
Peter Bayliss
Installation
Dan Maginnity
Jackson Taylor
Beau Palmer
Gallery Attendants
April Widdup
Charley Barnes
Florence Steel
India Fletcher
Jackson Taylor
Julia Higgs
Leah Walter
Liliana Austin
Sunny Toua