Castlemaine Art Museum has announced the departure of its director Naomi Cass. Her energy and vision are a considerable loss, not just to the Museum, but also, for now, the Australian art world too, as her future occupation remains unknown.

Cass joined Castlemaine Art Museum as Director, Renewal, just before the 22 – 31 March 2019 Castlemaine State Festival, and quickly focused on combining the previously separate art and museum collections in exhibits in both spaces and engaging with the local and First Nations communities. She oversaw an audience survey, an audit and significance assessment of CAM’s collections, and upgraded the website with the inclusion of online access to newly digitised imagery of the collection. In partnership with local supporters and artists she attracted new audiences to the Museum through free public access, the Orbit exhibition series, exhibitions of local artists, and the Terrace Projections, which involved projecting commissioned works onto CAM’s heritage-listed facade nightly. The In Conversation series, included exhibitions with Janina Green (2019) and Melinda Harper (2021), in visual dialogue with CAM’s historical collections and contemporary artists.

In writing about Naomi in the context of this blog, it is her promotion of our medium, photography, that makes her work as a curator and arts administrator notable.

While at Castlemaine she has included in solo or group exhibitions—some that I have discussed here—with work by Piper Albrecht, Michael Corridore, Jesse Boylan, Jane Brown, Tara Gilbee, Janina Green, James Henry, Julie Millowick, Harry Nankin, Mitch Nivalis, Tashara Roberts, David Rosetzky, Felix Wilson, Michael Wolfe and others who were included in the Experimental Print Prizes. Photographs of artists, added to the Museum by Peter Perry, were included in shows of works from the collection. She organised a 2022 photographic forum at which I was invited to speak.

Cass is well known amongst those who have visited the Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP) where in 2004 she was appointed as Director, and in 2005, took the bold decision to relocate the CCP to purpose-designed premises after the lease expired at 205 Johnston Street Fitzroy, CCP’s home for 11 years.

Through 2009 she initiated and worked on the first National Indigenous Photographers’ Forum and a major survey Inland, of the work of Simryn Gill for the Melbourne Festival.

In Camera and In Public, a 2011 exhibition Cass curated, explored transgression and intrigue in ASIO de-classified photos and footage, and works by Denis Beaubois, Luc Delahaye, Cherine Fahd, Percy Grainger, Bill Henson, Sonia Leber and David Chesworth, Walid Raad, and Kohei Yoshiyuki, and was also presented as part of the Melbourne Festival, as was, in 2013, the show of Wendy Ewald’s collaborations with children.

Also in 2013 Cass co-curated the touring survey True Self: David Rosetzky Selected Works with Kyla McFarlane, with whom she also coordinated in 2014 The Sievers Project with Jane Brown, Cameron Clarke, Zoe Croggon, Therese Keogh, Phuong Ngo, Meredith Turnbull responding to works by Wolfgang Sievers.

On the same principle she curated Crossing Paths with Vivian Maier to juxtapose the works of mid-century American Maier with contemporary Australian photography, performance, and video.  Her direction of the CCP supported artists with open calls for exhibitions, and partnering with major festivals and organisations and incorporated educational experiences, research projects, and survey exhibitions for artists.

Cass was born in Melbourne in 1957, became involved in music and design projects, and after studying over 1978-1982 for her honours degree at the University of Melbourne, worked as a curator and writer for exhibitions and public programs for the Jewish Museum of Australia, the Caulfield Arts Centre, and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, and in the mid-eighties contributed museum criticism for the Herald-Sunand ABC radio.

Speaking to journalist Rita Erlich about her curatorship of Material Treasures at the Jewish Museum she candidly admits that:

“There’s not much that’s distinctively Jewish about the wedding dresses, or even in some of the ceremonial textiles that originated in the Ottoman Empire and that are embroidered with the imagery common in Islamic communities. Very often you can’t distinguish between Jewish and Muslim objects, because when you’re comfortable you don’t need to identify yourself or to be identified. There was a free flow of imagery and means between Jewish and Muslim communities.”

For the catalogue of another Jewish Museum exhibition that invited controversy with the title The Wandering Jew Cass, as if clairvoyant about the current Middle East disasters, wrote that “collective terror … is shared by many peoples.”

Those humanitarian sentiments spring from her parents Shirley Marion (née Shulman) and Dr Moss Cass who had served on the front bench in the Gough Whitlam government as one of the world’s first environment ministers. A commitment to social justice, especially for First Nations people, has motivated much of her work.

From 1984 Cass served in arts and administrative roles, first as curator of the University Gallery, University of Melbourne, and in association with the University’s George Paton Gallery for which she organised three public lectures by international visitors to the Sydney Biennale; ‘Critical Issues in Postmodernism’ by Sarah Kent, ‘Progress in Art’, by Thomas McEvilley and ‘Joseph Beuys’ by Johannes Cladders.

Her diverse career continued in 1989 when Cass became the Art Museums Association of Australia conference organiser and in 1990 she was a lecturer in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, University of Melbourne for a year while directing the art dealership Deutscher Brunswick Street, then over 1992-3 she coordinated the Masters Research Seminar at RMIT University while also serving as Cultural Affairs Officer, External Relations, University of Melbourne (1992–1995). Cass then joined the Bureau of Immigration, Multiculturalism and Population Research in the Department of Immigration as Public Affairs Officer (1995–1997).

Returning to the University of Melbourne Cass took the role of Cultural Development Officer from 1997 to 2001, during which time the National Gallery of Victoria made her one of the five selectors, with Edward Colless (UTas), SMH critic John McDonald, NGV curator Jason Smith, and Monash University Gallery assistant director, Zara Stanhope, for the second $100,000 Contempora5 biennial art prize. She produced two programs of contemporary art and music for the Melbourne International Festival from her work in the University’s Grainger Museum; The Many Faces of Percy Grainger (1997) and Electric-Eye (1998).

In 1999 working with the Grainger Museum and mothering two young daughters, and by then experienced and very well connected, Cass was then recruited for the role of Executive Officer, NETS Victoria (National Exhibitions Touring Support) 2001–2003 before serving an extraordinary fourteen years as Director of Melbourne’s Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP), Melbourne (2003–July 2018), then six years as Director (Renewal) at the Castlemaine Art Museum (CAM), 2019 until May 2025.

An interview conducted by James Button with Cass in 1986 about her Melbourne University Gallery exhibition Fears and Scruples shows that her choice for the role at Castlemaine was wise; she has a nuanced understanding of art, not only of photography. The show presented, as she explained  a “cross section of art in Melbourne from 1850 to 1986” presenting old and new paintings side by side in defiance of  the linear lock-step of traditional art histories, so that it could be seen how, counterintuitively, a newer work can throw light on an older;

“People are frightened of art, especially contemporary art. I want people to look at this exhibition and see the connections between the past and the present. Contemporary art does not spring out of a vacuum – I want people to enjoy the comparison between the old and the new.”

With the collaborative support of her brilliant curator Jenny Long this principle of  ‘conversation’ Cass has applied frequently in selecting works from the extensive Castlemaine Art Museum collection—to viewers’ benefit.

In February 2019, Naomi Cass was appointed Director, CAM Renewal, charged with overseeing the museum’s Recovery and Revitalisation phases, and under this new leadership, CAM staged major new exhibitions in 2019, including the Castlemaine State Festival projects, and held the biennial Len Fox Painting Prize, judged by Geoffrey Smith of Sotheby’s. Building improvements were completed (restoring gallery signs and floors, repainting walls, cleaning the glass ceilings), ensuring the Art Deco building regained much of its former glory. Naomi oversaw the launch of a major cataloguing project—supported by the Albert & Barbara Tucker Foundation, Sotheby’s Australia, and a Creative Victoria grant—to photograph and catalogue over 75 percent of the art collection and 10 percent of the museum collection by 2020, making the holdings searchable online .

Naomi’s “CAM Renewal” strategy resulted in the gallery’s reopening in November 2019 with six simultaneous exhibitions across the building. In December 2019 she launched the inaugural Experimental Print Prize (EPP), establishing a new benchmark for printmaking experimentation in regional Australia. The museum’s first full Strategic Plan under her direction was published at that time. Just as Cast Recast: Damon Moon was installed in early 2020, CAM closed due to the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Naomi’s cataloguing and digitisation was boosted by success in securing a National Library of Australia grant to complete a significance assessment of the museum collection by late 2022. With an AGA Regional Galleries Digitisation secondment (Feb–Aug 2020), CAM consolidated data, improved record‐keeping, and finalised digitisation (fewer than 100 artworks remained undigitised by mid 2021). She oversaw refurbishment of the museum storeroom and improved housing for First Nations Ancestor tools and adornments, prioritising culturally sensitive access and secured a Creative Victoria Masterplanning grant of $100,000 in early 2021  to engage John Wardle Architects for a CAM Facility Masterplan.

A Heritage Victoria Living Heritage grant ($85,000) enabled critical façade remediation in late 2020 and under her stewardship, CAM received $267,750 via the Federal RISE program to develop the “Future Beacon” project—commissioning façade projections, mounting exhibitions (including contemporary Indigenous art and David Rosetzky), and funding a part-time curator, a public programs coordinator, and an Indigenous curatorial role.

Releasing “Reasons to be Cheerful” in her Director’s Report Naomi reassured members that, despite COVID-19, CAM delivered a remarkably strong program with five new exhibitions for the Castlemaine State Festival, including a commissioned portrait series of the Jaara community, James Henry: 18 Families, and a rolling program of “Orbit” quick-turn exhibitions spotlighting local artists (e.g., David Frazer’s Wood Engravings). CAM’s new graphic identity, website, and an electronic donor board in the foyer were implemented and the restoration work on the heritage-listed façade (with Heritage Victoria support) began. Online videos and the “Reflections” series maintained audience engagement both in lockdown and reopening periods. Naomi secured funding from Creative Victoria’s Digitisation Roadshow program to finalise digitising by mid 2021.

In 2022 Naomi decided to continue the “Reflections” series (editorials, then weekly, showcasing local voices) due to their popularity, and with Jenny Long staged exhibitions including From the Land, There’s a Certain Slant of Light, and Reflections on the Castlemaine Art Museum Collection. CAM won a National Library of Australia grant to complete a full significance assessment of the museum collection by late 2022. With her partnering work alongside board members, CAM secured a $6 million Victorian State Budget allocation (2022–23) for Stage 1 minor capital works and design (subject to subsequent funding for Stage 2). This followed Naomi’s coordination of a detailed Business Case and John Wardle Architects’ Masterplan .

In 2023 Naomi reaffirmed CAM’s mission to “bring art of the past and present together” on Dja Dja Wurrung Country, presenting significant First Nations exhibitions (Ancestor Treasures: First Nations Tools and Adornment on Jaara Country) and thematic shows (Stonework, co-curated by Jenny Long and Clive Willman) that united historical collection items with contemporary First Nations artists and local geological expertise.

Naomi managed extensive fundraising: in the 2023–24 financial year she made two major operational wins: a $100,000/year grant from Mount Alexander Shire Council (for 2024–25 and 2025–26), nearly matching Creative Victoria’s annual support—an “invaluable vote of confidence” from CAM’s key local stakeholder; and $268,000 raised from donors in 2023–24 (up from $74,049 in 2021–22 and $173,173 in 2022–23). These multi-year pledges give CAM confidence in planning a sustainable future. Thus CAM reported a surplus for 2023–24 and expects another surplus in 2024–25. The Board specifically thanked her “for her outstanding work, not only in her artistic leadership … but also in her tireless work in meeting (indeed, exceeding) a very big fundraising target”.

Naomi oversaw the recruitment of a new Chief Operations Officer, Ella Hughes, who joined in May 2024, to build CAM’s business and management capacity, a new role noted as a direct outcome of years of work on revitalisation, reflecting the “wind beneath many a CAM wing” that Naomi’s leadership provided. Ella Hughes departs also with Naomi. Yes, as Cass has assured us, no-one is irreplaceable, but what is lost is the experience they bring, and they take with them lessons they learnt in an intellectual and emotional entanglement with the tasks at which they worked so hard, and their grasp of the identity of the institution—which none can understand so intimately.