The Ausdance Queensland Management Committee has announced their new executive director, Kate Usher. Kate is a vibrant and tenacious leader who brings to Ausdance Queensland a wealth of international and national connections to continue the growth, diversity and outstanding reputation of dance in Queensland.
Straight out of the second edition of the highly successful Supercell: Festival of Contemporary Dance Brisbane and a 10-year legacy working with dance in Queensland, Kate is primed and ready to step into Ausdance as the organisation looks ahead to the future and shaping the role of advocacy in the arts.
Kate said ‘Supporting artists in their making process and development of aesthetic, fund procurement for opportunities and acting as a conduit for networks and collaborators is going to be one of the key elements to my work at Ausdance’.
‘I am thrilled to be able to ‘come home’ to Ausdance in this leadership role. The confluence of my producing experience, indie arts practice and sheer love for dance in this role is incredibly exciting’ said Ms Usher. ‘I love problem solving and strategy and opening up the possibilities of dance and its role in civic engagement. This position with Ausdance Queensland is a wonderful opportunity I whole heartedly cannot wait to get stuck into!’
Ausdance Queensland is the peak body for dance working with Ausdance National and the Ausdance network organisations across each state.
Ausdance Queensland’s mission is to advocate, support, inform, connect and develop dance practice, artists, educators and audiences by inspiring, engaging and enriching participation through diverse opportunities in dance.
Ausdance Queensland is a membership organisation, providing advocacy and industry development for Queensland dance through strong local, regional, national and international networks. It works to bring recognition to the many roles that dance plays in the cultural life of Queensland and to maximise opportunities for professional practitioners. Its services and programs are genre-blind and address the needs of dance artists at any stage of their careers, community dance practitioners, educators and the broader community in relation to dance. It is the state dance industry's primary advocate and advisory representative in regards to government policy, sector planning and industry initiatives.
Ausdance Queensland is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland and current project funding from the Australian Government through the Australia Council.
For further enquiries please contact The Management Committee by email.
Kate Usher Bio
Kate Usher is a Brisbane-based producer and curator. She graduated from the Queensland University of Technology in 2008 with a Bachelor of Creative Industries (Dance), a Graduate Certificate in Arts Administration in 2009 and a Masters in Creative Production and Arts Management in 2011, where her thesis 'The Business of Dance: Identifying the Skills and Knowledge for becoming a Self Producer' was awarded the grade of High Distinction. Kate is currently enrolled in a MBA (Non Profit Studies) at Queensland University of Technology.
Kate is the co-founder and current curator of Supercell: Festival of Contemporary Dance Brisbane—a fledgling international dance festival growing in strength working in tandem with the dance community and industry friends. Kate’s most recent position was with the World Science Festival as the Producer for Street Science! Prior to that Kate was at Metro Arts as their associate producer working across all art forms in contemporary performance.
Kate’s formative professional years were at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in the Arts Programming team, where she worked on numerous projects such as in-theatre performance, commercial projects, large scale events and bespoke festivals. With her freelance producing practice, Kate has also worked for Woodford Folk Festival, La Boite Theatre Company, Brisbane City Council and Artslink. Kate is a keen advocate for independent dance and was a member of the Ausdance Queensland management committee 2010 – 2016. Furthermore, Kate still enjoys rolling and flying in a good contemporary class.