Carey Lai

Carey Lai trained and worked as a dancer in London in the late sixties and early seventies. Since immigrating to Australia, she started work as an arts administrator, initially as project officer with Arts Access.

With a deep commitment and belief in social justice and a particular understanding of the issues facing artists, she immersed herself in community arts and cultural development.

Carey became a founding member and administrator of Somebody’s Daughter Theatre - where she now maintains a role as a board member. She took Disability in the Arts Disadvantage in the Arts WA (DADAA) into a new phase, raising the issues of disability in the arts at a national level and, on her return to Melbourne, worked with Visionary Images to establish the organisation as an independent entity.

In 2004 Carey recieved a two-year fellowship from the Australia Council to undertake research into what it takes to be an effective community cultural development artist; to document why individuals choose to work with communities - as opposed to going into or staying in a personal practice - and to explore the special skills and values this requires. The overall objective was to find ways to better support artists working in the community arts and cultural sector.