
The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre
An innovative multi-arts hub in the heart of Blacktown City.
Bayadyinyang budyari Dharug yiyura Dharug Ngurra.
Bayady’u budyari Dharug Warunggadgu baranyiin barribugu.
Bayady’u budyari wagulgu yiyuragu Ngurra bimalgu Blacktown City. Flannel flowers dyurali bulbuwul.
Yanmannyang mudayi Dharug Ngurrawa. Walama ngyini budbud dali Dharug Ngurra Dharug yiyura baranyiin barribugu.
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of this Land, the Dharug people, and their continued connection to Country.
We pay our respects to Elders from yesterday to tomorrow.
We extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples of Blacktown City where the flannel flowers still grow proud and strong.
We will walk softly on this land and open our hearts to Country as the Dharug people have for tens of thousands of years.
Credit to: Dharug woman Rhiannon Wright, daughter of Leanne ‘Mulgo’ Watson Redpath and granddaughter of Aunty Edna Watson
Jenny Bisset, Manager Arts & Cultural Development at Blacktown City Council, is leaving our team after fourteen years. During her time with Blacktown Arts she has fostered many important relationships with communities and arts organisations from across Australia. Under Jenny’s generous leadership, Blacktown Arts has become a leading contemporary arts organisation in Australia.
Through the facilitation of partnerships and the management of the Arts and Cultural Development team at Blacktown City Council, Jenny has prioritised and driven great artistic projects across our region for over a decade.
Our recent collective achievements as an organisation under Jenny’s leadership include the Blacktown Native Institution Project in partnership with C3West (Museum of Contemporary Art Australia), Balik Bayan (Bayanihan Philippines Art Project), Broken Glass (with Moogahlin Performing Arts), Stitching the Sea (Oceania Rising) and ambitious projects in partnership with Urban Theatre Projects including Home Country and Right Here. Right Now.
Coordinator of Cultural Planning and Community Engagement, Monir Rowshan said, “It is hard to say good bye to Jenny or imagine Blacktown Arts without her voice, laughter, passion, and commitment to offering the best. Jenny’s commitments to community and artistic partnerships have taught us so much about her insight and deep understanding and conviction of the history of Blacktown’s First Nations communities and beyond. A legacy that I hold dear to my heart.”
Blacktown City Council CEO Kerry Robinson said, “On behalf of Blacktown City Council, I thank Jenny Bisset for the important contribution she has made to the arts in Blacktown. We will miss her creativity, optimism and energy and wish her the very best for her future endeavours.”
We wish Jenny all the best for her future endeavours and thank her for all her incredible work in Blacktown.