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Graduate Profile: Vaughan O'Connor

Article released: Wednesday, 01 April, 2009

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Student Name: Vaughan O'Connor
Graduated: Graduated from COFA, UNSW, with a Master by coursework degree in Art Administration


Vaughan O'Connor is a COFA graduate who is currently working at the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre. After completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts, O’Connor received a combined College of Fine Arts/ UWS/ Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre Scholarship to study Master of Arts Administration at COFA in 2007.  The Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre/ UWS scholarship was created as a way of building local professional expertise for students from Western Sydney and is awarded to a student who has the tools to take leadership positions within the community.  The awarded scholarship included tuition fee sponsorship from COFA and also offered a paid internship with Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, which provided a practical application for the theories and concepts of Arts Administration being learnt through the COFA sponsored Masters degree.  O’Connor started out as an intern and has since become more and more involved with the operations of the centre.  One of the first tasks O’Connor undertook during his internship was assisting with the relocation of the Casula Powerhouse's Collection in late 2007/ early 2008, as the gallery had recently had a $13 million dollar makeover after a 22 month closure. When the Casula Powerhouse re opened, it did so with a grand scale exhibition entitled Australian, which O’Connor also worked on, featuring artists and COFA graduates Sean Codeiro & Claire Healy, Shaun Gladwell and David Griggs. O’Connor has since been the leading hand on the restaging of Vietnam Voices at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.  More recently, O’Connor has coordinated the international, interstate & local freight and logistics for Casula Powerhouses’ current show 'Nam Bang!', featuring artists Peter Daly, Dinh Q. Le, Kelly Manning, Liza Nguyen, William Short, My Le Thi, Le Thua Tien, Dennis Trew, and Tran Trong Vu.
At present O’Connor has taken on the role of his mentor and supervisor, Georgia Connolly, also a COFA Art Administration graduate who has moved on to the National Gallery of Australia, and is now Collections Assistant/ Exhibitions Registrar at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.
O’Connor has contributed to Artlink Magazine with a review of the 2008 Campbelltown Arts Centre exhibition Without Borders: Outsider Art in an Antipodean Context curated by Glenn Barkley and Peter Fay.
Also, in the traditional COFA style of students growing into staff, O’Connor has also guest lectured in the Master of Arts Administration Registration and Handling unit.

For more information on Casual Powerhouse Arts Centre exhibitions and events please visit: http://www.casulapowerhouse.com/
For more information on COFA offered masters degrees, including the Master of Art Administration, refer to: http://www.cofa.unsw.edu.au/futurestudents/postgradcoursework/
For more information on scholarships on offer at COFA please visit: http://www.cofa.unsw.edu.au/futurestudents/scholarships/