Aanya Whitehead joined Western Riverina Arts in January 2020 as the Regional Arts and Development Officer and is in charge of all operations of the organisation.  Aanya Whitehead has been an active member of the Australian film and arts industry all of her working life, which commenced in 1985.  Her career has involved producing arts related films, as well as curating, distributing, promoting and producing film festivals and special events.  She has lived and travelled widely, and has been nominated twice for Best Film at the AACTA film awards (formerly AFI).  Her body of film work has been awarded and selected into international film festivals around the globe including Berlin, Toronto and Sundance.

Gemma Purcell brings with her a wealth of experience across arts, local government, business, the environment, renewable energy, community activation and placemaking. She has been writing for a living some way or another for most of her working life. Gemma is passionate about community empowerment, hyper local economies and repairing habitat. She chairs Murrumbidgee Landcare, and is on the advisory board of the Institute of Community Directors Australia.

Oumi Karenga-Hewitt has served on the Western Riverina Arts board since 2019 and has been an active member of the arts and culture community in Griffith. She is an actor, writer and producer but overall loves being involved in all things community. Oumi has worked in marketing, education, hospitality and economic development and has a passion for increasing the opportunities available for regional people. City-living shouldn't be a requirement to getting the most out of life - whether that's having a great career, nurturing your creativity, or creating meaningful networks. Arts and education are a particular interest for Oumi. She believes that access to arts from a young age can give people skills they can carry throughout life and really we could all do with a bit more art in our lives.

Melanie Toscan has been performing on stage since an early age. She has performed many roles locally ranging from the explosive ‘Tybolt’ in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ to the tenacious cheerleader ‘Serena’ in ‘Legally Blonde’ the musical. In more recent times Melanie has been playing the roles of producer and visual designer for local productions. In 2019 she was nominated for a Canberra Area Theatre Award (CAT award) for Best Leading Actress in a play for her role as ‘Hermia’ in the Griffith and Regional Association of the Performing Arts (GRAPA) ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.