Grace McQuilten

Grace McQuilten is a published art historian, curator and artist with expertise in contemporary art and design, public art, social practice, social enterprise and community development.

Grace is Associate Dean of Research and Innovation in the School of Art at RMIT University. Her research champions inclusive models of curatorship and art history. Her work explores new approaches to the visual arts economy, including arts-based social enterprise, and explores questions of social justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in contemporary art, craft and design.

Grace's book publications include Variations: A More Diverse Picture of Contemporary Art, with co-authors Tristen Harwood and Anthony White (Monash University Publishing, 2023), Dystopian & Utopian Impulses in Artmaking with co-editor Daniel Palmer (Intellect, 2023), Art-based Social Enterprise, Young Creatives & the Forces of Marginalization with co-authors Amy Spiers, Kim Humphery and Peter Kelly (Palgrave, 2022), Art as Enterprise: Social and Economic Engagement in Contemporary Art, with co-author Anthony White (IB Tauris, 2015) and Art in Consumer Culture (Routledge, 2011). Grace has published widely across refereed and unrefereed publications, including creative works in literary journals, authored exhibition catalogues, working as an editor on local newspapers and engaging widely with local and national media.

Grace's curatorial research makes a significant contribution to models of community engagement, particularly by collaborating with emerging artists from diverse communities and social and cultural backgrounds as co-curators and co-producers. Through this work, she has supported cross-cultural exchange between Australian and Vietnamese artists and makers; and new migrant and refugee communities including Horn of Africa communities, Burmese and Afghani communities and Pasifika communities. Her exhibitions have been presented across large, medium and small institutions and independent public spaces. Collectively, the exhibitions have reached audiences of 10,000+ and generated media coverage including in The Age, The Daily Review, ABC Radio and numerous online media outlets.

Grace is the recipient of multiple prizes and awards, including Australian Research Council funding. She is Lead Investigator on ARC Linkage Project 'Ambitious & Fair: Sustainable Strategies for the Australian Visual Arts Sector' with Marnie Badham, Kate MacNeill and Jenny Lye and industry partners the National Association of the Visual Arts and Australian Museums and Galleries Association. She is also Chief Investigator on the ARC Discovery Project 'Care and Repair: Rethinking Contemporary Curation for Conditions of Crisis' with Tara Macdowell, Michelle Antoinette and Rimi Khan. Previous ARC grants include 'Recentring Australian Art' (DP180103920, 2019-2023) and 'Art Based Social Enterprises and Marginalised Young People's Transitions' (DP170100547, 2017-2022).

Industry experience:
Grace has a strong background in industry, particularly as the founding CEO & a current Board Director of The Social Studio, a fashion and art based social enterprise working with young people from humanitarian migrant backgrounds in Melbourne. Through this work she has supported the start-up of eight art-based social enterprises across Australia and continues to advise community and industry partners on community development and social enterprise leadership.

Professional Experiences:
CEO, The Social Studio (2009-2014)
Arts Project Australia, Contemporary Outsider Art: The Global Context Conference Coordinator, 2014
Melbourne School of Government Project Manager 2013
The Ian Potter Museum of Art – Guest Curator, University of Melbourne, 2010-11 & 2006
The Ambassador Newspaper Editor and Graphic Designer, Adult Migrant Education and Settlement Service (AMES), Melbourne (from 2007)
Al Muhajir / The Migrant Newspaper Co-editor, Melbourne 2006
Dan Flavin Archive Research Assistant, Dia Centre for the Arts, New York, USA 2004
Research Officer, Kamcorp Industrial Relations, 2000-2002

Industry Advisory Roles:
A New Approach, Financial inflows in arts, culture and creativity - report reviewer, 2023
Inner North Community Foundation - Baker’s Dozen Social Justice Fund Advisory Group (2021-22)
Frankie Good Stuff Awards Judge (2019)
Melbourne Business School Compass program Advisory Group (2015-16)
Gertrude Contemporary Art Emerging Writers Program Mentor (2016)
Social Enterprise Advisor, Melbourne Business School Compass program (2015)
National Association for the Visual Arts (Industry advisor) (2013)
Victorian Training Awards (Judge, Enterprise of the Year) (2013)
AuSud Media Project, Centre for Advanced Journalism, the University of Melbourne (2011)

Awards:
2022 DSC Teaching & Learning Award for Socially Engaged Curriculum (with Dr Kelly Hussey-Smith, Dr Fleur Summers, Dr Mark Edgoose and Dr Ruth DeSouza)
2020 ACUADS Distinguished Research Award
2019 RMIT Research Award for Impact - Enterprise
2013 Ian Potter Foundation Travel Scholarship
2012 Churchill Fellowship
2011 NAVA Emerging Curator Award
2011 Vodafone World of Difference Award