In October 2024 I was convicted of misappropriating just over $34,000 in ticket revenue while I was director of the South East Centre for Contemporary Art (SECCA) in Bega. I pleaded guilty. I have repaid the money in full, am completing a three year Community Corrections Order, served 200 hours of community service, and am undertaking ongoing counselling.
I said at the time, and it's still true, that there is no excuse for what I did. I was under serious pressure to deliver a five-year capital project, I was managing untreated depression, and I was drinking more than I should have. Instead of dealing with any of that honestly, I made a series of dishonest decisions over several months. I own that fully.
Some people looking into my history will also find reporting from 2013, when I owed a number of artists money from consignment sales through a gallery I ran on Oxford Street. That was real, and it should have been a warning sign I took seriously at the time. I didn't. I want to be upfront about it rather than hope it goes unnoticed, because pretending otherwise would make everything else in this statement worthless.
What's different now: I've done the clinical work to understand why I made these decisions, not just the legal work to answer for them. I'm structuring my return to the sector deliberately starting in roles where I'm not the person holding the money, so trust gets rebuilt through track record, not through my say-so. If you're considering working with me, I'm glad to answer any question directly, including ones harder than the ones above.
