Cootamundra Creative Arts and Cultural Centre (CCACC) Committee
A S355 Committee of the Cootamundra Gundagai Regional Council.
Responsible for the direction of programming and activities at TACC.

The AGM of the S355 Cootamundra Creative Arts and Cultural Centre (CCACC) Committee was held on Thursday 17th July 2025 at TACC.

The committee for 2024/25 are;

  • Chairperson: Natalie Cowled

  • Vice Chairperson: Julie Cowell

  • Treasurer: Rosie Fowler-Sullivan

  • Secretary: Eric Steinke

  • Visual Arts Coordinator: Sarah Hughes

  • Performing Arts Coordinator: MacKenzie Bird

  • General Members: Denise Bradley, Hannah Northey, Lyn Cameron, Dotti Le Sage

  • Council Representative: TBC

A big congratulations and thank you to all!

Pictured L-R: Sarah Hughes, Denise Bradley, Eric Steinke, Lyn Cameron, Hannah Northey, Rosie Fowler-Sullivan, MacKenzie Bird, Julie Cowell and Natalie Cowled. Absent: Dotti Le Sage.

AGM Report from TACC Chairperson for 2024/25, Natalie Cowled

Dear Members, Volunteers, and Stakeholders, 

Thank you everyone for attending our 2025 Annual General Meeting. It has been my pleasure to serve as The Arts Centre Cootamundra’s chair for the 2024-25 period. I’ve been involved with the committee now for 4 years and like all creative community organisations we’re still struggling to get back to pre-covid numbers, but I’ve personally seen us go from strength to strength with many little steps forward.

Over the past year, we’ve seen our membership numbers slowly grow alongside our friendship groups, with Mudlarks (Pottery) on Thursdays with Lyn and After Hours Art and the Community Choir on Wednesdays all well attended.

We have hosted multiple performers such as musicians Fanny Lumsden and Ash Grunwald, as well as the recent ‘OK Boomer’ comedy show. We aim to continue to bring great talent to town, with the upcoming John Denver show starring Darren Coggan.

As a member of the Eastern Riverina Arts Alliance, we have worked with them to present special performances like ‘Banjo’ and partnered with Cinema Live to screen filmed versions of musicals like ‘Billy Elliot’.

Our movie screenings are still the backbone of what we offer to the community. Run by volunteers, we regularly screen movies twice a week and put on extra kids movies during the school holidays.

While the performing arts are coming back stronger than ever, the visual arts seems to be a little slower. We were grateful to host a visual arts exhibition with Ivy Hill Arts Gallery bringing works for display and sale from their artists on the south coast.

Local photographers, David James, Sarah Hughes and Scott Kelleher, held their first photography exhibition ‘Parallels & Contrasts: Chapter 1’. We look forward to hosting them again for Chapter 2!

Each year we host a number of special events such as this years 4th annual Fibre Fest and we are incredibly grateful to work with our local dance schools for their end of year performances.

The committee and our hardworking volunteers and supporters consistently and continually work hard to improve the centre.

We continue to work to upgrade the technology in the centre such as installing this fabulous sound system in the exhibition room and new equipment in the theatre. We have great support from the staff and work hand in hand with Cootamundra-Gundagai Local Council to address compliance & WHS issues around the centre.

Financially we are doing well thanks to a consistent effort from our committee to minimise expenses while prioritising activities that even if they don’t make a profit, at least don’t loose us money!

In striving to be a true community driven arts centre, this year we will be introducing a type of grant where we will place 5% of all profits towards a community chest that will be made available to people hiring the centre for a community driven purpose.

I’d like to thank the outgoing committee – Julie Cowell, Eric Steinke, Rosie Fowler-Sullivan, Isabel Scott, Lyn Cameron, Denise Bradley, Hannah Northey, Mackenzie Bird & Rachael McGrath – for all the hard work they’ve put into the centre this year and in previous years!

I’d also like to give a special shout out to our Communications superstar Lucy Main who always goes above and beyond for us.

Thank you also goes to our fabulous cohort of volunteers and supporters. In particular I would like to thank our unofficial ambassador Anne Steinke who spends more time than almost anyone at TACC and gives tours to anyone who drops in out of office hours!

I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge one individual whose big heart and driving passion are the reason Cootamundra has such a wonderful and diverse creative arts centre – Isabel Scott. It’s likely that without her, we wouldn’t even have The Arts Centre Cootamundra. On behalf of the committee, I am incredibly proud to confer upon Isabel the inaugural lifetime membership. Thank you, Isabel and congratulations.

Finally, I’d like to take a minute to comment on the importance of the arts and how significant a centre like ours is. We live in a town and wider region that is heavily focused on the sport side of sports and recreation. A small town like ours is incredibly privileged to have a place like this, a place that is open to anyone and everyone for just about anything and everything. As an arts centre we still struggle at times to be recognised for what we are, for what we could be, but we continue to work to get the word out there and build our reputation in the community. It is widely acknowledged how important creative pursuits are for our mental health, so we continue to push forward as a committee as part of the community because we understand that importance and because we love the arts.

Thank you.

Natalie Cowled
Chair, The Arts Centre Cootamundra 

For any feedback, suggestions, comments or questions email info@theartscentrecootamundra.org.au