I pay my respects to the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung, Turrbal and Yuggera Peoples, their Ancestors and Elders, on whose unceded lands my practice has unfolded. I recognise the care, knowledge and community that First Nations People have nurtured across generations, lands and waterways, and continue to sustain today. Sovereignty was never ceded. Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.
Dr Jacina Leong 梁玉明 is a collaborative practitioner, strategic leader and transdisciplinary researcher working across cultural, education and social impact spaces. With 18 years’ experience spanning organisational leadership, creative practice and applied research, her work focuses on how people and institutions navigate periods of transition, complexity and change.
Jacina works with organisations and communities to explore questions of purpose, ethics and responsibility in the context of converging social, political and ecological crises. Her interests include the intersections of climate crisis, burnout and work; organisational culture and care ethics; and the conditions needed to support early-career practitioners and young people over the long term.
Selected Work.
From 2023 to 2024, Jacina was Acting CEO/Director of Next Wave, where she led organisational strategy, partnerships and long-term planning for a not-for-profit organisation with longstanding commitment to supporting early-career practitioners. Her work included developing cross-sector collaborations with A Climate for Art and CAST RMIT, and securing long-term organisational infrastructure to support sustainable practice and growth.
Her earlier roles span governance, leadership, program design and public engagement across a range of cultural and educational contexts, alongside sustained work in higher education as a researcher, educator and postgraduate supervisor.
Selected Partnerships and Collaborators.
Jacina currently serves as Chair of RMIT University’s School of Art Industry Advisory Committee, is a member of the Darebin Council Art and Heritage Advisory Panel, and is a research associate on the ARC Linkage Project Museum Digital Social Futures. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Visual Arts) and Masters by Research from QUT, and PhD from RMIT University, and is based in Narrm/Melbourne.
Pay the rent.
Jacina works with organisations and communities to explore questions of purpose, ethics and responsibility in the context of converging social, political and ecological crises. Her interests include the intersections of climate crisis, burnout and work; organisational culture and care ethics; and the conditions needed to support early-career practitioners and young people over the long term.
Selected Work.
From 2023 to 2024, Jacina was Acting CEO/Director of Next Wave, where she led organisational strategy, partnerships and long-term planning for a not-for-profit organisation with longstanding commitment to supporting early-career practitioners. Her work included developing cross-sector collaborations with A Climate for Art and CAST RMIT, and securing long-term organisational infrastructure to support sustainable practice and growth.
Her earlier roles span governance, leadership, program design and public engagement across a range of cultural and educational contexts, alongside sustained work in higher education as a researcher, educator and postgraduate supervisor.
Selected Partnerships and Collaborators.
Jacina currently serves as Chair of RMIT University’s School of Art Industry Advisory Committee, is a member of the Darebin Council Art and Heritage Advisory Panel, and is a research associate on the ARC Linkage Project Museum Digital Social Futures. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Visual Arts) and Masters by Research from QUT, and PhD from RMIT University, and is based in Narrm/Melbourne.
Pay the rent.