Our Team

Mr Le was born in Central Vietnam in 1954, where he attended school before studying Economics at the Dalat University in the Highlands.

Mr Le, and his wife, Lan, arrived in Australia in 1977 and settled in Adelaide, starting with three months at the Pennington Migrant Hostel.

Mr Le returned to study at the University of Adelaide, where he earned a degree in Economics and Accounting.  In 2001, Mr Le’s further study earned him a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the same university.

Mr Le gained Certified Practising Accountant accreditation, and from 1991 worked at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, where he led many high-profile matters. Upon his retirement from the Commission in March 2009, he held the position of Senior Manager – Financial Services Regulation.

Mr Le has served on many community boards and committees, in particular those relating to cultural and linguistic diversity, the arts and education.

In 1995 Mr Le was appointed a member of the SA Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission, and was appointed Deputy Chairman in 2001.  When Mr Le became Chairman in 2007, he was the first person of Asian background to be Chairman in South Australia.

In August 2007, Mr Le was sworn in as the Lieutenant Governor of South Australia.  Over the next seven years in this role, Mr Le served as the Patron or Honorary member of many organisations.

On 1 September 2014, Mr Le was sworn in as Governor of South Australia.  He concluded his term on 31 August 2021.

It is understood that Mr Le is the first Vietnamese-born person who has ever been appointed to a Vice-Regal position in the world.

Mr Le was awarded the Australia Day Medal in 1996 for outstanding service to Australian Securities and Investment Commission, and has been awarded the Centenary of Federation Medal for service to the advancement of multiculturalism.

In 2010 Mr Le was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for outstanding service to community, social inclusion and international engagements. In June 2016, Mr Le was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) for service to the community in South Australia.  He has also been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from both Adelaide University and Flinders University.

Mr Le is married to Mrs Lan Le, with whom he has two adult sons, Don and Kim.

Lan Le was born in Da Nang, Vietnam, and arrived in Australia with her husband Hieu Van Le in 1977.

Lan attended the South Australian Institute of Technology and in 1985 graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work.  For 30 years, she worked as a Social Worker and Rehabilitation Consultant in various Commonwealth Government departments.

Within these positions, Lan have received several Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service National Awards for her outstanding and consistent contribution to client services and team leadership

Currently Lan is patron of St Andrew’s Hospital Foundation
Lan has been awarded Life Membership of Palliative Care SA and Cystic Fibrosis SA.

She is also an Honorary Member of Rose Society SA and Ambassador for Grandparents for Grandchildren, South Australian Women’s Memorial Playing Field Trust Inc. and The Memorial Hospital’s Centenary Celebration.
Lan is a recipient of Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary Foundation in 2021
Lan has a strong interest in arts and crafts, she enjoys cooking and gardening

Lan Le was born in Da Nang, Vietnam, and arrived in Australia with her husband Hieu Van Le in 1977.

Lan attended the South Australian Institute of Technology and in 1985 graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work.  For 30 years, she worked as a Social Worker and Rehabilitation Consultant in various Commonwealth Government departments.

Within these positions, Lan have received several Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service National Awards for her outstanding and consistent contribution to client services and team leadership

Currently Lan is patron of St Andrew’s Hospital Foundation
Lan has been awarded Life Membership of Palliative Care SA and Cystic Fibrosis SA.

She is also an Honorary Member of Rose Society SA and Ambassador for Grandparents for Grandchildren, South Australian Women’s Memorial Playing Field Trust Inc. and The Memorial Hospital’s Centenary Celebration.
Lan is a recipient of Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary Foundation in 2021
Lan has a strong interest in arts and crafts, she enjoys cooking and gardening

Terri is a passionate and committed Arts administrator and producer with over 15 years’ experience across the planning, management and delivery of a broad cross section of programs, events and festivals. Her previous roles have been with WOMADelaide, the Commonwealth Games Performing Arts Program in Melbourne 2006, Adelaide Film Festival, Adelaide Fringe, Windmill Theatre, AAPPAC (Association of Asia Pacific Performing Arts Centers), Country Arts SA and the Adelaide Festival Centre across various programming/producing roles.

Terri has a strong commitment to promoting social cohesion and creating opportunities for arts and culture to genuinely reflect and represent diverse voices in our contemporary culture and society. Terri also has a deep connection with her own Italian cultural background.

Terri has been a long standing supporter of Nexus Arts, and acknowledges and values its vital role as a leader in culturally diverse and intercultural artistic practice. She equally shares Nexus Arts’ passion and advocacy for expanding the opportunities and platforms for culturally and linguistically diverse, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.

Boram is a Senior Lecturer in Arts and Cultural Management at the University of South Australia. She is specialised in the field of accounting and finance with an emphasis on behavioural studies based on psychological approaches. Boram also has a wide range of research interests in cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary studies, covering the valuation of arts and culture, creative fundraising, arts governance and accountability, artists’ labour markets, well-being and entrepreneurship.

Prior to her academic life, Boram managed international tours of highly respected theatre companies, worked as a producer at arts festivals, and participated in many visual arts projects. Her professional involvement and life-long interest in theatre and the visual arts sectors led her to her current active research interests.

BA (Hons), MA, PhD, Dip Ed. Diana is currently Professor Emerita of Italian and formerly Dean of the School of Humanities and Creative Arts at Flinders University. A recipient of national teaching awards, she has published numerous scholarly works on Dante, migration and oral history.

Diana serves as a Chair of the Fellowships Judging Panel for the biennial Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature (2020). She previously served on the Arts SA Literature Advisory Committee and chaired the Multicultural Committee. Additionally, she is an external assessor for Arts Industry Development Programs & Mid-Career Fellowships. She is also a member of the Register of Peers, Australia Council. Diana is a Life Fellow of the Governor’s Leadership Foundation, Leaders Institute of SA, as well as a member of the Institute of Community Directors Australia.

Diana strongly supports the dedicated advocacy by Nexus Arts for promoting culturally diverse representation, inclusivity and intercultural creative practices. Her own cultural background is Italian-Australian.

Blythe Chandler enjoys a jigsaw puzzle career dedicated to arts management and academic pursuits. With a passion for art in all its forms, Blythe has previously held the position of General Manager at the renowned cinema journal Senses of Cinema, managed the Audience and Industry Development portfolio at Film Victoria and worked at the Barbican Centre, London, Europe’s largest visual and performing arts venue. The role at Nexus is somewhat of a homecoming for Blythe, who began her career next door to Nexus at the Media Resource Centre and Mercury Cinema.

The same interest in the intersections between art and society that compelled Blythe to work in art management, has found parallel outlet in academia. Blythe’s PhD research explored contemporary dystopian films produced all over the globe. She has taught Screen Studies and Literature, both at home and while living abroad in Hollywood (…Maryland…!), and received a Teaching Excellence Award for her work in the College of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences at Flinders University in 2019.

Makeda Duong is a visual artist working primarily in textiles. Her current practice attempts to unravel and represent aspects of her lived experience in relation to themes such as race, class, mental illness, and the social processes of stigmatisation and othering.

Since graduating from the South Australian School of Art in 2013, her work has been exhibited in local and interstate galleries including the Jam Factory, Craft Design Canberra, and as part of the Adelaide Festival and the Oz Asia Festival. In 2020, she was selected to take part in Nexus Arts’ studio residency for SALA, which culminated in her second solo exhibition and winning the Don Dunstan SALA Award.

Her most recent solo exhibition at Murray Bridge Regional Gallery showcased a celebration of 10 years of arts practice. Her piece ‘Personal Responsibility’ is currently touring nationally as part of the Tamworth Textiles Triennial. Her work has been acquired by the Adelaide Migration Museum, and she was the winner of the 2022 Gallery M Contemporary Art Prize.

Makeda has recently returned to work with Nexus Arts managing the visual arts program.

Raed Hanifie is a graphic designer based on Kaurna Yerta with Afghan roots.

Graduating from the University of South Australia with a Bachelor of Design (Communication Design) in 2023, Raed is interested in typography, photography, printed media, music, and fashion. Previous projects include styling and photography for Mr Choon and A Flat Shop’s (now known as Shop Pond) 2021 Winter Postcard Project.

Raed also works as the menswear buyer and social media manager at Miss Gladys Sym Choon.

Living with disability, Michèle is a multi-Award-winning writer and director for performance–stage, screen and poetry.

She is one of Screen Australia’s inaugural certified Screen Access Coordinators and a Board Member of the Australian Network of Art+Technology. She graduated in 2020 as a medico-neuroscientist and loves swimming in wild water places.

Kultar Ahluwalia is a hip hop artist from Southern Adelaide with Punjabi and Irish roots. At a young age coming to terms with his identity, Kultar found wisdom in the empowering words of revolutionary hip hop artists.  Kultar has been releasing and performing music over the last two decades under various pseudonyms and in the group, We Move Like Giants. More recently, Kultar began creating works under his birth name. 

In 2023, Kultar was selected as one of six artists in the Nexus Arts Interplay Program. During his time in the program, Kultar created a new stage show and accompanying EP “The Mixed-Race Tape”.  

In 2024, “The Mixed-Race Tape” was premiered at OzAsia Festival across two capacity shows at Nexus Arts with glowing reception. Kultar was invited for performances and media appearances on outlets such as ABC Radio National, SBS, Channel 9, themusic.com.auand Glam Adelaide.  

In 2025, Kultar will be taking “The Mixed-Race Tape” into new territories across Australia and, as always, hitting the home studio and sharing new music. 

And, in a full circle moment, he will be commencing a role at Nexus Arts supporting and mentoring the next cohort of Interplay artists. 

Jennifer Trijo is a Filipino singer, actor, and multi-instrumentalist living and working in Kaurna Yerta.

Her professional theatre credits include: Baruska in Once (Darlinghurst Theatre Company; Black Swan State Theatre Company; Comedy Theatre; HOTA); Janelle Woods and Shirelle in Beautiful – the Carole King Musical (Matt Ward Entertainment); Ms. Mendoza in The Deep North, the first African-Australian musical (South Australian Playwrights Theatre); Hua Mulan, Pocahontas, and Badroulbadour in Disenchanted (Mad About Theatre); and Kim in the Australian tour of Miss Saigon (LWAA | Michael Coppel).

Jennifer is a regular featured artist at the Oz Asia Festival and Adelaide Fringe Festival with credits including: Pinoy Street Party (2021); Someday – A Mindful Cabaret (2021-2022); Hyoshi in Counterpoint (2022-2024); Leslie & Anita: The Fallen Stars of Hong Kong (2024); the Jennifer Trijo Band (2024); and Typhoon for SAPT (2024).

Since releasing her debut self-titled EP, she has composed approximately 100 original songs. Recent career highlights include being named a 2024 Finalist in the APRA AMCOS Professional Development Awards in the Music Theatre category for her musical Dragonfly, and winning a 2024 Green Room Award for Best Artist Ensemble in Commercial Music Theatre with the multi-talented cast of Once.

Jennifer is an advocate for accessible arts education and works as a mentor for emerging First Nations and culturally diverse singer-songwriters through Nexus Arts, Adelaide. She is a voice faculty member of the Elder Conservatorium of Music (Music Theatre), a graduate of the Bachelor of Music & Bachelor of Education double degree at UNSW, a graduate of a Certificate IV in Fitness at AIPT, and a proud member of the MEAA.

She is thrilled to be one of the original Australian cast members of Hadestown (Opera Australia & Jones Theatrical Group).

Rebecca is a theatre maker, arts worker and mum. She’s held roles at Carclew, Adelaide Fringe, Metro Arts and the Australian Theatre Forum. She also works part time, teaching communications at the University of South Australia.

As an artist, Rebecca has had her work presented at the Adelaide Festival Centre, Theatreworks, This is Not Art, Metro Arts, Format Festival, Brisbane Festival, Queensland Theatre Company, Vitalstatistix, Rumpus, FELTspace Gallery and the Adelaide Fringe. Her work Drive is published by Australian Plays Transform and she’s been shortlisted for the Jill Blewett Playwright’s Award (2024) and the State Library SA Fellowship (2025).

Bolanle has a dynamic background in both the creative and business side of advertising and media production.

With extensive experience as an Advertising Agency producer and as a producer with Nigerian Idol, Bolanle has honed a unique blend of creative direction, project management, and strategic marketing expertise. She has always enjoyed the process of bringing stories to life and can always be found reading a good book with a cup of tea.

She currently works as our Marketing Manager, focusing on leveraging her experience to deliver results that elevate Nexus Arts.

Damien has extensive experience in Front of House and Venue Management for Arts Organisations in Australia including Belvoir St Theatre, Griffin Theatre Company, Darlinghurst Theatre Company, Seymour Centre Sound Lab and Adelaide Festival Centre. 

Damien is delighted to bring this experience to Nexus Arts and looks forward to hearing from artists wishing to perform at our venue. Please get in touch!

Kiera J. Simmons (She/They) is an emerging South Australian sound designer based on unceded Kaurna Land. Their creative work in Speculative Soundwalking and live electronic performance explores engagement with place through sound.

As a freelance sound designer, she works with local and global artists on creative projects focusing on queerness, ecology, neurodivergence and embodies theatrical experiences.

Since 2024, she has served as Head Technician at Nexus Arts and Chairperson of Creative Original Music Adelaide. In both roles, they enjoy supporting and collaborating with artists and community members on an exciting variety of shows and events.