Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG) is entering an exciting new phase with the appointment of Ms Virginia Rigney to the position of Senior Curator Visual Arts.

Canberra born and educated, Virginia comes to the role with extensive experience in museums and galleries at national, state and regional levels and internationally, including at the Powerhouse Museum, Art Gallery of NSW and Glasgow Museums.

Virginia was a driving force for innovation and community-engaged exhibitions and programming at Gold Coast City Gallery 2003-2016. Where a major element of her work included projects working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. As Senior Curator at the Gallery she co-curated Kuru Alala Eyes Open with Tjanpi Desert Weavers, which was awarded the inaugural Museums and Galleries National Award for an exhibition project. Rigney went on to co-curate, with Michael Aird, the celebrated exhibition Saltwater Country: New works from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists expressing their relationships to Queensland's coastal environments.

In 2016 Virginia was awarded the Queensland Government’s Smithsonian Fellowship to attend the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC where she worked with Dr Joshua Bell, Curator Globalisation.

In Canberra’s Centenary, in 2013, Virginia was commissioned to curate the exhibition Growing up Planned at Canberra Contemporary Art Space. 

Canberra Museum and Gallery Director, Shane Breynard said, ‘Virginia has worked on nationally and internationally significant projects from a regional base at the Gold Coast City Gallery. She has an outstanding record in developing innovative visual arts projects that engage powerfully with diverse audiences.’

'I am very excited to welcome Virginia back to Canberra to join the high achieving team at CMAG’, he added.

Virginia will commence at CMAG in July 2018.