Meet the Committee

Office Bearers

Chair – Helen Munt (Sydney Opera House)
Deputy Chair – Paul Bentley (Wolanski Foundation Project)
Treasurer – Mark St Leon (Independent Researcher)
Secretary – Paul Bentley (Wolanski Foundation Project)

Paul Bentley – Secretary

Paul’s job list includes UNSW (Performance Memories Project, 2017+), NIDA (2005-2008), Australian Museums and Galleries Association (2006-2012), Wolanski Foundation Project (2000+), Sydney Opera House (1973-1997), State Library of NSW (1971-1973), Lake Mac Libraries (1967-1969), and Newcastle Libraries (1963-1967). He is an Associate of the Australian Library and Information Association, holds a Certificate IV in Small Business Management, and studied at Newcastle Conservatorium and National Art School. In the late1960s, he performed in 20 theatre productions. His writings include articles and book chapters for Australians a Historical Library, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Companion to Theatre in Australia, Online Currents, Museums Australia Magazine, and Museum Matters. His monograph, A Brief History of the NSW Branch of the Australian Museums and Galleries Association, written with Dr Andrew Simpson, was published by AMAGA in 2019.  

Claudia Funder – committee member

Claudia has worked with museum collections for more than 20 years. She has held roles in collection management, acquisitions, copyright clearance and curatorial story telling both online and in physical displays. She is currently research coordinator for the Australian Performing Arts Collection at Arts Centre Melbourne. She has managed digital content development projects such as the original collections database implementation at ACM and later the AusStage Project in 2016.  Claudia also implemented and project manages the Frank Van Straten Fellowship at Arts Centre Melbourne. 

Helen Munt – Chair

Helen is an experienced performer, writer and producer in the performing arts and also a professional historian, heritage and cultural collections consultant. Helen is currently working at the Sydney Opera House as part of the heritage team. Prior to that she was Manager of the Callaway Centre at UWA Conservatorium of Music. Bringing together her passions for theatre and history, Helen has written, produced and performed in site-specific productions and immersive tours. She has also worked in and consulted to a number of museums, archives, arts groups and collections including the Museum of Performing Arts and Pickle District.

Helen Sims – committee member

Helen is the Collection Manager for the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in Brisbane, focussing on protecting, documenting and sharing Queensland’s performing arts heritage with the broader community. She has worked with historical collections for many years, specialising in exhibition design, appraisals, software implementation and collection development for a range of unique collections and materials.

Mark St Leon – Treasurer

Mark, PhD is the author of the definitive history of circus in Australia, Circus: The Australian Story (Melbourne Books, 2011). He is currently a Councillor of the Royal Australian Historical Society and Treasurer of the Performing Arts Heritage Network. Mark’s website, The Penny Gaff, is dedicated to the history of Australia’s circus and travelling show people: www.pennygaff.com.au.

Helen Trepa – committee member

Helen is currently the Collection Coordinator for the Performing Arts Collection at the Adelaide Festival Centre. Previously she was the 20th century Immigration and Passenger Travel curator at the Australian National Maritime Museum and the assistant registrar cataloguing at the Historic Houses Trust of NSW.