CEO REPORT
For me personally, 2023 began on March 13th - my first day on the job as the new CEO of CuriousWorks, following the long and dynamic (10!) years on the job of my predecessor, Vanessa Hyde. Congratulations go to Vanessa for all that she achieved in the role and for the many strengths that she helped nurture in CuriousWorks as a company: a committed, knowledgeable and hard working staff embedded within the communities we serve; a network of artists, collaborators, contractors, partners and funders with whom we enjoy strong, long-running relationships; a sound financial position; and a legacy of innovative art-making and impactful sector development. It’s a privilege to step into this role.
The memories of my first day are still vivid. I was let into the building by Elias Nohra, long-time CuriousWorks team member (one of the OGs), brilliant creative, and senior mentor to staff, who was holding the fort, so to speak, and stewarding the organisation while the Management Committee recruited for the position of CEO. I’m grateful to Elias for his welcome that day and for supporting my transition into the role. I’m equally grateful to the staff for making space for me to join them in their good work and for being open to all the inevitable changes, big and small, that my appointment would bring. I’m grateful too for the trust placed in me by the Management Committee and appreciative of their “at arm’s length” supportive and collaborative approach to governance and strategy.
We achieved a lot together in 2023 across important areas of work including: artistic vibrancy in socially-engaged art-making, community wellbeing and cohesion, pathways and sector development, team wellbeing and professional development, long-term visioning, strategic planning and organisational sustainability. Below is a summary of our areas of impact and some important shout outs.
ARTISTIC VIBRANCY AND SECTOR DEVELOPMENT
ACCESSIBLE SOCIALLY AND COMMUNITY ENGAGED ART-MAKING:
Financially, CuriousWorks remains in a strong position. Again in 2023, our fee for service Social Enterprise activities proved to be a healthy earned income stream, significantly contributing to core operational expenses and enabling us to sustain the organisation at its current size and capacity. Overall the results for the 2023 financial year were: total revenue $677,479; surplus for the year was $20,813, with total retained earnings at years’ end of $343,916. (View our Audited Financial Statements for the year ending 31 December 2023 here).
Most importantly, CuriousWorks is looking towards a sound and sustainable future with the assurance of multi-year core funding from Creative Australia continuing through to 31 December to 2028. We are grateful to the peers and assessors for seeing the value, impact and importance of our work and supporting the future vision we articulated in our 2024-2028 Strategic Plan. We’re also grateful to our funders and partners for their ongoing support of our work and look forward to even more generative and vibrant collaborations to come. The future is bright!
Kiriaki Zakinthinos
CEO, CuriousWorks
The memories of my first day are still vivid. I was let into the building by Elias Nohra, long-time CuriousWorks team member (one of the OGs), brilliant creative, and senior mentor to staff, who was holding the fort, so to speak, and stewarding the organisation while the Management Committee recruited for the position of CEO. I’m grateful to Elias for his welcome that day and for supporting my transition into the role. I’m equally grateful to the staff for making space for me to join them in their good work and for being open to all the inevitable changes, big and small, that my appointment would bring. I’m grateful too for the trust placed in me by the Management Committee and appreciative of their “at arm’s length” supportive and collaborative approach to governance and strategy.
We achieved a lot together in 2023 across important areas of work including: artistic vibrancy in socially-engaged art-making, community wellbeing and cohesion, pathways and sector development, team wellbeing and professional development, long-term visioning, strategic planning and organisational sustainability. Below is a summary of our areas of impact and some important shout outs.
ARTISTIC VIBRANCY AND SECTOR DEVELOPMENT
- We played our part in nurturing a healthy local creative sector - engaging 82 artists, including 36 early career artists, with a total collective income of $188,335 earned across all projects, including through our Social Enterprise fee for service activities.
- We supported 4 emerging artists as part of Curious360 in the creative development of new video documentary and extended reality works that speak to their lived experiences as Western Sydney based creatives. We secured two presentation outcomes for their work in 2024. Thanks especially to Creative Producer, Samantha Barahona for her careful and adept management of movable timelines and budgets as projects evolve and take shape.
- We delivered 69 creative workshops both in and out of schools, many of these supported by Diego Murillo either as Creative Lead of the Curiously West Film Club or in his capacity as Social Enterprise Manager, working with community groups and clients to support their creative engagement aims.
- We supported 16 creatives with intensive, bespoke mentoring and career development opportunities through Testing Grounds, Refugee Artist Development Program and Stories of Welcome. I’m particularly proud of the care, expertise and individualised approach that our Creative Producers on these projects were able to offer. Thanks go to Miranda Aguilar, Andrea Lim and Mark Taylor.
- We facilitated 8 creative developments of new work across Testing Grounds, Curious360 and Curiously West Film Club.
- We supported 4 artists as part of the Refugee Artist Development Program to tour new work to new audiences across 4 cities. Great thanks go to our presenting partner Settlement Services International.
- We hosted two internships for undergraduate students through our partnership with Western Sydney University and their Work Integrated Learning initiatives.
ACCESSIBLE SOCIALLY AND COMMUNITY ENGAGED ART-MAKING:
- We welcomed 81 excited year 7 students from Miller Tech to our Creative Exploration Day for a series of rotating workshops in dance, green screen and photography and music technology. Thanks go to Andrea Nealy for project managing this epic day.
- We worked with teachers and students at Liverpool Girls and Boys High school to provide 20 young people with an opportunity to explore concepts of creative citizenship and wellbeing, while being supported to learn new skills and create new artworks as part of the Utopia project, also securing an exhibition opportunity in 2024. Thanks to our project partner Western Sydney University for funding this work on the ground and to lead artist Emmanuel Asante.
- We continued to support FunPark's Youth Leadership Committee (YLC) to build skills in community care and development. Thanks to Daisy Montalvo and Robyn Harge-Scott, who have deep connections within Mt Druitt and the Bidwill community in particular, for their work in leading the YLC. Thanks also go to Neda Taha for supporting the YLC where needed and for coordinating FunPark’s Strength in Stories calendar photoshoot, highlighting the work of the many great organisations in the community. Thanks also to Bidwill Uniting and Blacktown Arts Centre for hosting FunPark activities.
- We worked with 22 community clients across a range of projects to meet their video production and community engagement needs. Thanks to Diego Murillo for leading on our social enterprise services.
ADVOCACY
- Our team showed up as advocates for a vibrant and equitable local creative sector at various forums and events across the year, including Saarah Hanif and Diego Murillo speaking at the Codebreakers Youth Summit; Diego and Miranda attending a forum for Western Sydney creatives with Dai Le, local MP. Personally, I’m grateful for opportunities to participate in peer sharing and knowledge exchange and to be invited to speak at Samag’s Transforming Working in the Arts panel; Western Sydney University’s Creative and Cultural Wellbeing forums; The Smith Family’s Career Pathways Speed Mentoring program; and Accessible Arts and Diversity Arts Australia’s Ripples mentorship program.
FUTURE-FOCUSED – TEAM WELLBEING AND ORGANISATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY:
- We ideated together, wrote and adopted our 2024-2028 Strategic Plan with staff and the Management Committee, which resulted in us securing multi-year core funding from Creative Australia through to December 31, 2028. Huge thanks to our partners and collaborators who provided support letters that spoke to our work and the nature of our long-running embedded relationships in our communities of focus.
- We invested in an Employee Assistance Program for staff and key contractors to access free counselling sessions and online wellbeing resources.
- We invested in workplace safety and professional development of our staff and contractors by providing training in accidental counselling and working with young people displaying challenging behaviours.
- We moved offices and established ourselves in our new co-working space, Fairfield City HQ, which increased our accessibility and connectivity to the community. Huge thanks to Andrea Nealy for coordinating the move and decluttering like a pro, and to Diego Murillo for his pain-staking equipment audit.
Financially, CuriousWorks remains in a strong position. Again in 2023, our fee for service Social Enterprise activities proved to be a healthy earned income stream, significantly contributing to core operational expenses and enabling us to sustain the organisation at its current size and capacity. Overall the results for the 2023 financial year were: total revenue $677,479; surplus for the year was $20,813, with total retained earnings at years’ end of $343,916. (View our Audited Financial Statements for the year ending 31 December 2023 here).
Most importantly, CuriousWorks is looking towards a sound and sustainable future with the assurance of multi-year core funding from Creative Australia continuing through to 31 December to 2028. We are grateful to the peers and assessors for seeing the value, impact and importance of our work and supporting the future vision we articulated in our 2024-2028 Strategic Plan. We’re also grateful to our funders and partners for their ongoing support of our work and look forward to even more generative and vibrant collaborations to come. The future is bright!
Kiriaki Zakinthinos
CEO, CuriousWorks