MAV Board
Meet the people that guide MAV in the areas of compliance, long-term direction, and strategy.
Linda Catalano
CHAIR
Linda is an Independent Producer with Australian and international experience as a programmer and manager that spans both live performance, film and television.
She is currently Creative Director/Executive Producer and founder of Quiet Riot Creative; an independent production house, booking agency & consultancy built on the values of innovation, representation, community & social justice. Community connection and professional development are a key part of her practice.
Linda has produced, programmed and invested in numerous local and international tours throughout the UK, Europe, Nth America and Australia where she has presented work in a range of venues including Southbank Centre London, Sydney Opera House, Arts Centre Melbourne, SOHO Theatre, Roundhouse London, The Famous Spiegeltent and many more. Her experience also spans major festivals including Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Sydney International Festival, Brisbane International Festival, Women of the World and Glastonbury Festival to name a few. Linda has worked collaboratively with a range of artists to achieve their ambitions notably Global First Nations superstars Hot Brown Honey and champions of equity in music sector Women of Soul.
Linda’s work in the sector was acknowledged with a Green Room Award for Outstanding Contribution to Cabaret in 2019.
Term: 2022 – 2025
Neda Rahmani
DEPUTY CHAIROver a 20 year history, Neda has established herself as a cultural leader whose practice embodies inclusion, equity and justice. Whether it is through her directorial experiences bringing to life critical performances and events, her investment in capacity building with diverse young people to build the next generation of culture makers or her skilled facilitation of intercultural dialogue, Neda’s work is the nexus of transformation.
Neda’s work is the site of resistance, artfully presented to engage audiences in a profound conversation about what it means to live in a multicultural society. By virtue of commanding the stage in concert with artists of colour from across our diverse community Neda challenges preconceptions of who is an artist and what is art, demanding from audiences a deep appreciation of our pluralism. Through courageous artistic risk-taking Neda enables participation that transcends barriers and builds new forms of engagement.
An entrepreneur, one half of Goodworthy, a social impact media company putting people and planet first. She is an artist, composer, director, storyteller, facilitator, mentor, media commentator and all round raconteur.
Drumming culture, collaboration and costuming are integral to her expressions as an artist. With a passion for body art, body extension, audience interaction, fashion and costume design, Neda draws on her university studies of performance to deliver some of the most decadent concerts and roving musical entrances. Her practice is a melding of contemporary and hereditary cultural practices that are 1000s of years old.
Term: 2021 - 2024
Ursula Dyer Lepporoli
DEPUTY VICE CHAIR
Ursula Lepporoli is a partner at KPMG. She has 17 years of extensive experience as a strategic global mobility tax expert providing a full suite of tax services to companies, expatriates and high net worth individuals. She was awarded Global Mobility Champion of the Year award due to her commitment to the movement of talent across borders through tax.
She is passionate about creating communities where people thrive. She co-chairs the Cultural Diversity pillar within one of KPMG’s Inclusion and Diversity committees where she is working to create increased organisational impact on those experiencing intersectionality. She is the partner sponsor for the employee led resource group Money Matters where she aims to reduce the gap in accumulated retirement funds and increase wealth for women. She also volunteers as a mastermind for the Australian Professionals of Colour community.
Ursula is a keen amateur photographer.
Term Dates: 2022 – 2023
Sandeep Agrawal
TREASURER 
Sandeep Agrawal is passionate about making regulatory compliance a key strength and differentiator for his clients by helping them design ‘fit for purpose’ and ‘meaningful’ compliance arrangements.
As a regulatory compliance expert and auditor with 20+ years of experience, he helps clients and adds value by providing actionable insights, benchmarking and industry best-practice ideas.
With his deep knowledge of the regulatory requirements for financial services, he often works with the regulator and the industry to shape new regulations. More recently, he has worked on RG132 Funds Management: Compliance and Oversight that has a wide impact on the funds management industry.
Sandeep leads the Financial Services Regulatory Assurance Team ('FS Reg CoE'), which provides compliance assurance services for AFS licenses, compliance plans of registered schemes, APRA requirements etc. Passionate about transformation, Sandeep has also led firm-wide initiatives to improve the quality and effectiveness of the audits making them future ready.
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Term: 2022 - 2023
Michael van Vliet
SECRETARYMichael has extensive experience in the multicultural sector. In 2001 he was employed by the Victorian Government in the Multicultural Affairs portfolio. He was the grant manager at the Victorian Multicultural Commission from 2003-2011. After two years as communications manager at Spectrum Migrant Resource Centre, he now works in local government as the City of Yarra’s grants manager.
Michael comes from an immigrant family and realises the importance of maintaining cultural heritage through creative cultural expression. The stories of immigrants not only tell us where they have come from, but point to where Australia as a nation is going.
He has strong affiliation with the migrant communities of Victoria, especially the new arrived and refugee communities, and has worked closely with many migrant communities, helping them to develop and realise their projects. He has worked as a journalist and has a wide experience of government grants. He studied visual arts at Monash University and has a BA in Journalism from RMIT and plays piano and guitar.
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Term: 2019 - 2024
BOARD DIRECTORAmarantha Robinson
Amarantha is a writer and performer from Kingston, Jamaica. As a recent immigrant to Australia, she is enlivened by finding and creating community spaces for people of colour to share their voice and connect.
She founded women's groups in Sydney and the Northern Rivers region of NSW, and ran regular events for Caribbean folk to gather.
Having performed with numerous dance companies in Jamaica, she is transitioning into producing and creating her own original theatre works. Professionally, her path has been fashioned by a love for media and the use of language and images to tell stories.
With a Bachelors in Media and Communication and a Masters in Film and TV Production, Amarantha works on a freelance basis in a myriad of production spaces from broadcasting to production management to being on-camera talent. She believes the arts is the pathway for healing, joy and finding your purpose and is committed to supporting the prolific freedom of artistic expression any way she can.
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Term: 2022 - 2024
Chidambaram Srinivasan
BOARD DIRECTOR
Chidambaram Srinivasan (Srini) has been a longstanding supporter of cultural activities in the communities in Melbourne for over 3 decades. As Commissioner at Victorian Multicultural Commission, for 6 years, he has had extensive community engagement and consultation.
He is a passionate advocate for expanding the opportunities and platforms for performing arts groups and artists from multicultural communities. With his experience, he is able to provide cultural leadership to promote inclusive diversity and productive community and arts collaborations.
Srini has had a successful career spanning 32 years in the IT industry, having worked for IBM Corporation in Australia, India, U.S.A. and Japan in senior Management roles. He brings a variety of management skills, empathy, knowledge and experience in the areas of technology, business and community engagement. He has also been working in a voluntary capacity for over 12 years in areas of governance, policy review and fundraising.
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Term: 2021 - 2024
Emiliano Zucchi
BOARD DIRECTOR
Emiliano is currently the CEO of VITS Language Loop, a Victorian Government Enterprise which provides interpreting and translation services to Government and corporate clients. Prior to working at LanguageLoop, Emiliano was the CEO of the Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria (ECCV).
In the past, Emiliano was the Director of the Transcultural & Language Services (TALS) department and the Narrun Wilip-giin Aboriginal Support Unit (ASU) at Northern Health where he led the organisation’s first ever Reconciliation Action Plan, as well as various iterations of the Cultural Responsiveness and Disability Action plans.
Before commencing at Northern Health, Emiliano worked 10 years as a university lecturer. Since 2014 he has held positions as Adjunct Research Fellow and Adjunct Research Associate in the School of Languages, Literature, Cultures & Linguistics at Monash University. He has published articles and book chapters, and presented over 30 conference papers nationally and internationally on language services and their impact on the health outcomes of people with limited English proficiency.
Emiliano is passionate about the arts, traveling and learning about different cultures; he is an advocate for equitable access to services and promotion of intersecting forms of diversity.
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Term: 2023 - 2026
Kylie Crane
BOARD DIRECTOR
Kylie Crane is a HR professional with over 20 years of experience in the creative industries, including The Arts Centre Melbourne, and Madman Entertainment.
Kylie is passionate about the role art can play in shaping mindsets and communities. Culture-first and collaboration is her approach when initiating strategy, and champions designing people-centric programs, frameworks, and solutions.
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Term: 2023 - 2026
Siu Chan
BOARD DIRECTOR
With over 20 years of experience, Siu Chan has played a critical role in shaping the cultural life of Yarra and has championed the arts as an everyday experience.
Siu began her career in the arts at the North Richmond Community Health Centre, one of the early promoters of arts and culture as central to health and wellbeing. She has gone on to work for community organisations, Next Wave Festival, Melbourne International Arts Festival, 3MBS Classic FM and has had extensive experience in local government.
As Unit Manager of Arts Culture and Venues at the City of Yarra Siu has driven many innovative initiatives introduced to support the creative sector in a changing city. These include targeted programs such as Room to Create, dedicated to maintaining and growing the availability of creative spaces, programs to grow and celebrate arts and culture such as the Leaps and Bounds Music Festival, Lunar Festival, Johnston Street Fiesta, as well as a place making integrated public art program.
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Term: 2022 - 2025
Aditi Razdan
BOARD DIRECTOR
Aditi Razdan (she/her) is a political staffer with a background in government, law and academia.
She is a member of the Kashmiri diaspora, born and raised in Melbourne by Kashmiri parents and grandparents. As a Kashmiri, Aditi inhabits a space between nostalgia and dispersal, between home and memory. This has made her sensitive to the histories of others, both written and spoken.
Aditi has been published in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Kashmir Times and previously worked at the Department of Justice and Community Safety, Attorney-General’s Department, National Gallery of Australia and East Asian Bureau of Economic Research in Canberra.
Aditi is committed to progressive politics, social justice and improving the law for all Australians, as well as contributing to a thriving cultural landscape through writing and advocacy.
Alaa Karrar
BOARD DIRECTORAlaa is an emerging corporate leader with over a decade of experience in financial services and banking, covering treasury, payments, product, digital, and project delivery.
Currently serving as a Senior Consultant and Product Owner at NAB, she oversees the management of unsecured lending digital experiences, dedicated to delivering best in market customer solutions and creating immersive and meaningful experience to customers. Alaa played a pivotal role in the launch and management of the New Payments Platform (NPP), PayID and OSKO across NAB's digital platforms.
As a woman of colour, Alaa is deeply committed to intersectional inclusion and equity and is currently leading the executive leadership and engagement stream within NAB's employee-led cultural Inclusion committee, her mission is to foster diverse representation in senior leadership roles.
Beyond her corporate endeavours, Alaa has served on Eastweb, a philanthropic board with a focus on bridging the gap between philanthropy and community sectors. She actively supported grassroots projects in Victoria, collaborating with Indigenous, Asylum Seeker, and Refugee communities in healthcare, employment, education, and cultural heritage. Her dedication to social equality led her to join the Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights board in 2023, where she contributes her expertise in sponsorship, project management, and inclusive leadership.
With a background of East African descent, Alaa's lived experience spans three countries, and she is fluent in three languages. As a co-host and founder of the Trajectory Podcast, she is reshaping the narrative of success for young women of colour in the diaspora by providing a platform for sharing lived experiences, fostering authentic connections within the community and facilitating the exchange of ideas, passions, resources, and support.
Justice, Integrity and sense of mission are the core values that underpin her ethics and leadership approach.
