Lenine Bourke

Lenine Bourke (BA Hons, BED) is currently a freelance artist and consultant. She was with the Australia Council for the Arts as Director of Community Partnerships from 2014 - 2016. Prior to this she was the Artistic Director of Contact Inc an arts and cultural organisation committed to social change, more recently she was known for her work as Executive Director of Young People and the Arts Australia, the national peak body for youth arts.

She has a broad range of professional experiences in the arts and cultural sectors, which have taken her throughout Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. She has led various arts organisations and projects, and worked for peak bodies, local and state government, statutory authorities, educational institutions, galleries, festivals and artists groups. Including, Youth Arts Queensland, Brisbane City Council, Stylin’UP Regional, Ideas Festival, Backbone Youth Arts, Tafe NSW, Office for Youth Affairs, Qld University of Technology, The Roadside Room (ARI), Public Art Agency, Transit Lounge, Queens Public Girls School (Dunedin).

She is currently engaged in various projects with Mammalian Diving Reflex (Canada) in the creation of new performance based works made in collaboration with children for adults. She is a skilled practitioner and arts executive who has deliberately developed a career across a wide variety of art forms, research, policy development, writing and service delivery.

She has focused the majority of her work in engaging children and young people, as well as diverse communities. She was recognised as a young leader in 2006 when she was awarded the inaugural Kirk Robson award from the Australia Council for the Arts and again in 2009 when she received the Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor’s creative fellowship to undertake research in the area of Social Practice and completed a 1 year Fellowship from the Australia Council on the intersection of community engaged and socially engaged arts practices.