Welcome

  The Barwon Heads Arts Council is located on The Bellarine in Victoria, Australia.  This beautiful peninsula is where the Barwon River winds its way from the Otway Ranges behind the Great Ocean Road through Geelong and the wetlands to arrive at the ocean between the townships of Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove.  We recognise the significance and richness of this coastal area, its environment and cultural history and we acknowledge its First Nations people, the Wadawurrung.

Our Story

In 2012, a community meeting was held to discuss whether the community saw the need for an arts organisation in Barwon Heads and The Bellarine. After a resounding yes, it led to the establishment in 2013, of the Barwon Heads Arts Council (BHAC) as a not-for-profit incorporated organisation.  Today the Barwon Heads Arts Council represents our local Bellarine artists, visual, literary and performing through the management of the Barwon Heads Arts & Community Hub, the coordination of arts programming and The Bellarine Arts Trail.  To find out more about our plan for managing the Arts Hub  VIEW OUR PLAN 

Now with the help of the community, state and local government the arts on The Bellarine has a new home.   The Barwon Heads Arts & Community Hub is now available for use and is home to a growing program of art exhibitions, creative workshops and events.  

Our Committee

CAROLINE WOODSPresident
Caroline has been in several roles with BHAC as treasurer, membership coordinator and now Vice President. She has been instrumental in offering Performing Arts events to the local community, as an Arts Council Annual Event. On behalf of the Arts Council, Caroline has also been fortunate enough to assist in the fruition and completion of many wonderful arts auspice projects.
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LOU WAKEFIELDCommittee
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VICKI STRACHANTreasurer
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SARA TAYLORSecretary
Sara lives in Ocean Grove having moved there from Ballarat during Covid. She is a retired teacher-librarian and VCE English, Literature and History teacher. Eager to become involved in the community once she became a member of the Arts Council in 2022 and expressed an interest in volunteering. In January 2024 she became the assistant Volunteer Coordinator along side Janice Nation. Sara is excited to take her volunteering to a new level as Council Secretary for 2024/5.
Sara’s interests are theatre, literature and the visual arts. She is a long term subscriber to the Melbourne Theatre Company and a member of the National Gallery of Victoria. She was also a member of the Ballarat Art Gallery whilst living there, and regularly visits galleries in Australia and overseas. She enjoys the many visual art works in her home. Sara is very keen to be part of promoting the arts, in all their manifestations, across the Bellarine.
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FIONA COLLIERCommittee
Both a scientist and an artist based on the Bellarine, Fiona Collier has explored creativity in both spaces. She has been a member of the Barwon Heads Arts Council and volunteer for some time and now brings her expertise and perspective as a new member of the Barwon Heads Arts Council Committee in 2024.
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VIVA PARTOSCommittee
Viva joined the Arts Council most recently in 2023. Her passion in Visual and creative arts has lead her into the role of Exhibition Co-ordinator at the New Arts Hub. Viva has grown-up, studied, worked, and been surrounded but the arts. Her academic training and diverse work experience – from Commercial Photography to Creative Director of a fashion label and, most recently, Gallery exhibition sales and management – has given her valuable skills and experience in the creative arts industry.
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NEALE FRISCHCommittee
Neale has lived in Barwon Heads since 1987. After working for 30 plus years as an Industrial/Occupational Hygienist for a large multi-national, he retired and decided to redirect his attention away from professional science to focus more on lifestyle and artistic endeavours. He started drawing at an early age but found during his professional career that there was no time for such pursuits. Since retiring, (and spurred on initially by the Victorian Covid restrictions), he has been able to enjoy getting reacquainted with his love of drawing. Having surfed in the region since his teens, his art now tends to focus mostly on surf and surf related topics.
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Creativity is contagious, pass it on

Albert Einstein

Every artist was first an amateur

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.

John Lennon

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.

Pablo Picasso

You don’t take a photograph, you make it

Ansell Adams

Imagination creates reality

Richard Wagner

Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.

Thomas Merton

I explained it when I danced it.

Margot Fonteyn

Once writing has become your major vice and greatest pleasure, only death can stop it.

Ernest Hemingway

Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do

Edgar Degas

Creativity is a drug I cannot live without

Cecil B. DeMille

If you can visualize it, if you can dream it, there’s some way to do it.

Walt Disney

Do or do not. There is no try.

Yoda

Don’t wait! Do it now!

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