Additionally, she holds a Master of Arts and Cultural Management, a Bachelor of Fine Arts in technical production, is an alumni of the Australia Council’s Emerging Leaders Development Program and co-convenor of the Arts Industry Council of Victoria.
Schinkel is based in Melbourne, which has a reputation as a world-class music city and is arguably the live heartbeat of Australia. That was pre-COVID. Melbourne has endured several setbacks during the pandemic and has only just emerged from a snap five-day lockdown, a so-called circuit-breaker intended to halt community transmissions of new, highly contagious variants of the coronavirus.
“In Simone we have found the person to lead our organization and sector through its next critical stage,” comments Sally Howland, chair of Music Victoria. “COVID 19 has decimated our industry and Simone is absolutely the right person to drive our sector back to growth. Her astute thinking and demonstrated abilities at capacity building gives the Music Victoria Board every confidence that she will be an ardent advocate on behalf of our membership, our stakeholders and our wider music community. We’re thrilled to have her at the helm.”
On the same day Schinkel slots into the top role, interim chief Dale Packard takes on the position of GM.
As CEO, Schinkel succeeds Patrick Donovan, the trade association’s inaugural leader who exited earlier this year to pursue other opportunities.
For the past decade, the independent, not-for-profit association has provided advocacy on behalf of the music sector and celebrates and promotes Victorian music, through its annual Music Victoria Awards and other initiatives.
Its members include Mushroom Music, We Are Unified and Milk! Records.
