Carmen Grostal

Carmen Grostal is an arts practitioner who started work at Footscray Community Arts Centre in 1985. Her mission to improve ethnic communities’ access to and participation in art activities quickly saw her become involved in policy development for ethnic and multicultural arts at local, state and national levels.

Some of Carmen’s most far-reaching initiatives came about through her realisation that there were already a significant number of skilled artists across art forms amongst resident and immigrant non-English speaking communities. Immigrant and refugee artists found it very hard to gain mainstream recognition and many talented artists discontinued practising for lack of support.

Carmen’s experience gave her a special insight into their situation. She was herself a prize-winning artist with qualifications in scenography, textiles and industrial design, who had studied and worked in both Spain and Poland before migrating to Australia with her family in 1982.

The exhibitions and projects that she curated were a stepping-stone for many artists from diverse cultures. She assisted artists to establish networks nationally and internationally and to improve their visibility and recognition for the culture they represented.

In 1996, Carmen’s status in the field of community-based arts development and in particular, her contribution to visual arts in a multicultural context, was recognised with the award of a fellowship from the Australia Council.

In 2003 her nearly twenty years of work at the Footscray Community Arts Centre concluded. Currently she is focusing on a new venture in the field of ceramics.