As an incorporated association, Youth Arts Queensland is controlled by a Management Committee, which is elected at the annual general meeting (AGM) and meets on a regular basis throughout the year.

The YAQ Management Committee, with the support of the YAQ management team and staff, strives for best practise in governance and employs independent auditors and consultants to evaluate and review the organisation, its programs and operations as required.

YAQ management committee (2010/2011)

Chair
Associate Professor Janet McDonald

Secretary
Elliott Bledsoe

Treasurer
Brian Tucker

Ordinary Members
Hilary Martin
Associate Professor Helen Klaebe
Steven Maxwell

Associate Professor Janet McDonald

Associate Professor Janet McDonald is currently the Head of School (Creative Arts) at the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba and has served as Chair of the Youth Arts Queensland Management Committee since 2008.  Her contribution to the tertiary teaching sector was nationally recognised in 2009 when she was co-recipient of an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning.  Janet has worked in developing strategies for the enablement of emerging artists since completing her PhD at Arizona State University in 1999; she has worked as a high school drama teaching in primary, secondary and tertiary contexts both in Australia and the United States.

Elliott Bledsoe

Elliott Bledsoe has served on the Management Committee of Youth Arts Queensland since late 2008 and currently holds the position of Secretary. He is a Research Assistant with the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, researching issues related to the internet, digital technologies and copyright law. In this role he is the Project Officer of Creative Commons Australia, the organisation that administers the Australian CC licences and supports Australian licence users.

Brian Tucker

Brian Tucker has been the Treasurer of Youth Arts Queensland since Collette Brennan was the EO, however long that might be. He is an accountant who works exclusively in the arts and is possibly the only accountant in Australia to drive into the Gibson Desert for work, in a sarong. He wants to be a writer of something more gripping than an audit report.

Hilary Martin

Since graduating from university with a BA (Drama) and Assoc Dip (Education), Hilary Martin has spent her professional life working with children and young people in the areas of art and cultural education. She is currently the Artistic and Executive Director of North Queensland’s longest running youth arts organisation, La Luna Youth Arts, a position she has held since 2004. She first began working for the company in 1996 and since then has gone on to install many programs that are still running today. As well as her tireless work with La Luna Youth Arts, Hilary has worked in the community as a festival coordinator, stage manager and visual artist, and has held committee membership on the Townsville RADF Committee, Professional Arts North Queensland, Townsville’s Community Cultural Steering Committee and Youth Arts Queensland. Hilary’s commitment to children and young people and their access and involvement in the arts is unwavering. She is a formidable advocate for them and an asset to all arts organisations.

Associate Professor Helen Klaebe

Dr Helen Klaebe is Head of Postgraduate Coursework Studies at the Creative Industries Faculty, QUT, which encompasses Animation, Interactive and Visual Design, Creative Advertising, Creative Partnerships, Creative Writing, Creative Production and Arts Management, Dance, Music and Sound, Journalism, and Professional Communication. She has served as a member of the Youth Arts Queensland Management Committee since 2009. Helen is an author and also a Chief Investigator on a Research Council Linkage project, Remembering the Past, Imagining the Future: Embedding Narrative and New Media in Urban Planning (LP0882274). Her public history work pioneered new multi artform storytelling strategies to engage the community with their local history, including digital storytelling, as part of a socially sustainable approach to urban development.  Helen regularly consults as a public historian, particularly focusing on engaging communities, and regularly designs and manages co-creative media workshops for a range of commercial and public sector organisations.

Steven Maxwell

Steven Maxwell is the Creative Producer for Markwell Presents, Cinematic Theatre for Young People. Since 2002, the company writes and produces new theatre performances for young people as well as working with hundreds of students every year through schools and government projects. Steven’s primary role is to oversee the business direction of the company, creative development and management of productions and workshop facilitator. He has also worked as a cinematic theatre producer and visual designer for La Boite Theatre Company on Sex:Cubed and Strings under my Fingers, Sally McKenzie’s Episodes, and Zen Zen Zo’s Sub-Con Warrior 2.0. His co-writing credits include Loose Ends, What Simon Said, Of Love and Separation and Advanced Screening.