Our people
Developing quality artists with big impact
Adam Briggs
Chair
Briggs is a Yorta Yorta man and Australian rapper, lyricist, hip hop artist, writer, presenter, author and actor.
Briggs became well known as a solo rapper before co-founding the hip hop duo A.B. Original in 2016. In the live arena, he has supported international artists such as 50 Cent, Ice Cube, Ice-T and KRS-One and worked with The Hilltop Hoods, Midnight Oil, Paul Kelly and Henry Rollins. A.B. Original were recently crowned APRA’s 2018 Songwriters of the Year and in 2017 won the ARIAs for Best Independent Release and Best Urban Album and Triple J’s J Award for Album of the Year for their album Reclaim Australia.
Extending his career beyond music, Briggs has written on the Netflix animated series Disenchantment from the creators of The Simpsons and Futurama, wrote and performed in all three seasons of the sketch comedy series Black Comedy, played the role of Maliyan in the drama series Cleverman, was a regular on the Stan original series The Other Guy, appeared as a guest on Get Krack!n and is a regular on The Weekly with Charlie Pickering as well as The Yearly with Charlie Pickering.
In 2017, Briggs was named the GQ Agenda Setter of the Year.
Briggs released his first children’s book, Our Home, Our Heartbeat in 2020.
Mark Thomson
Deputy Chair
Mark Thomson is a Yorta Yorta and Woiwurrung filmmaker, artist, and photographer with Irish and Scottish heritage. For over 15 years, he has partnered with communities across Australia to ensure their stories are captured with dignity and cultural safety. Mark’s professional journey is defined by a unique intersection of creative excellence and high-level strategic leadership, having previously served as a Director at both the Yoorrook Justice Commission and the Treaty Authority.
On the Board, Mark brings a wealth of experience in navigating complex institutional landscapes and advocating for systemic self-determination. His background includes freelance consultancy for two global professional services firms, where he provided expert guidance on community engagement and cultural integrity. Whether leading production treatments or advising on treaty processes, Mark remains committed to a 'small footprint' methodology, prioritising a respectful, non-invasive presence that honours the strength and knowledge of future generations.
Inala Cooper
Director
Inala is a Yawuru woman (Rubibi/Broome, WA). She grew up in Southwest Victoria on Gunditjmara country and has lived in Narrm/Melbourne for over 30 years.
Inala has a Bachelor of Arts (Drama/Dance) and a Master of Human Rights Law, and is currently the Director of Murrup Barak, the Melbourne Institute for Indigenous Development, at University of Melbourne.
Inala is highly skilled in public speaking, artist support, policy, strategy and engagement, and brings a rights-based approach to her work. With a background in the Arts and Education, Inala understands the aspirations and needs of artists and arts workers, gained in part through performing on stage, film and television, and working on a range of festivals including Melbourne Fringe, St Kilda Festival Yaluk-ut Weelam Ngargee, and the Port Fairy Folk Festival.
Inala is a regular contributor on ABC News Breakfast (and The Drum), and at literary events including Adelaide Writers Week, Melbourne Writers Festival, and Sorrento Writers Festival. She is the author of Marrul: Aboriginal Identity and the Fight for Rights, and a chapter in Dhoombak Goobgoowana Vol 2, Voice.
Inala spent three years in the Victorian public sector and has been in higher education for over 16 years. In addition to the Adam Briggs Foundation, Inala is a director on a range of other not-for-profit boards including State Library Victoria and Emmanuel Foundation.
Kimberley Moulton
Director
Dr Kimberley Moulton is a Yorta Yorta woman, a curator and writer. She is the Senior Curator Exhibitions at RISING, the Melbourne international arts festival and most recently held tenure as the Adjunct Curator Indigenous Art Tate London (2023-2026). Prior to this she held curatorial roles at Museums Victoria (2008-2023) and was Senior Curator First Peoples Collections (2016-2023) . She has a PhD in curatorial practice from Monash University Melbourne and in 2023 was made Curator Emeritus at Museums Victoria. Her recent exhibitions include the Tarrawarra Biennial : We Are Eagles (2025), On Country: Photography from Australia (Les Rencontres d'Arles France, co-curated, 2025), Emily Kam Kngwarray (Tate Modern, curatorial team, 2025), The Blak Infinite (co-curated, RISING, 2024) and Shadow Spirit (RISING, 2023), More Than a Tarrang (tree): Memory, Material and Cultural Agency (co-curated Melbourne Museum, 2023). She has published extensively on contemporary Indigenous art, collections and curatorial practice globally and along with her board role at The Adam Briggs foundation she is Deputy Chair of the board Shepparton Arts Museum.
Kimberley is a respected international curator working across modern and contemporary art and historical collections. Leading research and curatorial practice in the field of connecting knowledge, histories and futures at the intersection of historical collections and contemporary art, her work centres regenerative re-worlding of art histories and ecological, cultural and relational Indigenous creative practices. Working with artists to amplify Indigenous art histories and futures her practice foregrounds connecting communities to collections, through rematriation and re-spiriting collections and place beyond the colonial past. This work has positioned Kimberley at the forefront of local and international curatorial and writing praxis which supports contemporary art across multidiscipline areas to re-frame a new dialogue between object, place and community. Kimberley’s research interests include Indigenous rematriation, Ancestral belongings and restitution, Indigenous time-space cosmologies and embodied knowledge in contemporary art practice.
Reko Rennie
Director
Reko Rennie is a interdisciplinary artist who explores his Aboriginal identity through contemporary media. Through his art, Rennie provokes discussion surrounding Indigenous culture and identity in contemporary urban environments. Largely autobiographical, his commanding works combine the iconography of his Kamilaroi heritage with stylistic elements of graffiti.
Merging traditional diamond-shaped designs, hand-drawn symbols and repetitive patterning to subvert romantic ideologies of Aboriginal identity. Reko has exhibited extensively over the last two decades and his work is collected in major art institutions nationally and internationally. His most recent exhibition of work includes Station Gallery Sydney, Over The Influence Gallery, Miami, USA, National Gallery Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Basel Hong Kong and 57th Venice Biennale, Venice Italy.
Reko is a leading voice in contemporary First Nations art in Australia and globally and along with his arts practice he is passionate in mentoring next generation of artists in the sector.
Steve Rothfield
Director
Steven Rothfield is committed to social justice for First Nations peoples. Since his retirement from a long career in general management, management consultancy, IT and finance, he has worked as a volunteer with Indigenous leaders on over 30 projects covering a range of community development areas including economic development, employment, education, governance, arts, sports and cultural development.
He is currently on the Boards of the Kaiela Institute and the Dungala Kaiela Foundation which operate on Yorta Yorta country.
He has a Commerce degree, an MBA (University of Melbourne) and is a CPA. He is also passionate about the environment, especially all marine life and enjoys sharing it through underwater videography.