Healthway appoints first Indigenous board member

Healthway (the Western Australian Health Promotion Foundation) provides grants to health and research organisations as well as sponsorships to sport, arts, racing and community groups which encourage healthy lifestyles and advance health promotion programs. Ms Carol Innes is the first Indigenous person to hold a Healthway Board position. She previously served on Healthway’s Arts Advisory Committee and was nominated by Arts Voice, an arts advocacy organisation. Her election follows the retirement of performing arts industry leader Leith Taylor, who served two three-year terms as a Healthway Board member.

Ms Innes assumed the role of Project Officer (Aboriginal Arts) with ArtsWA eight years ago, during which time her career has focused on arts administration. Prior to 1995 she was involved in management, advocacy and education roles in Indigenous and government organisations.

Ms Innes has expressed how pleased and excited she is to have the opportunity to work with Healthway on its various program areas, including health, sport, arts and racing. She stated that she ‘would like to see more Indigenous groups applying for Healthway grants and sponsorships across all program areas’. She anticipates that this could be achieved with a more targeted approach that considers new ways to promote what Healthway has to offer to Indigenous communities through marketing, community visits or other program initiatives. Highlighting Healthway’s achievements in the Indigenous arts area, she sees a need to encourage further collaboration between the Indigenous and the non-Indigenous arts communities.

Healthway’s Executive Director, Neil Guard, said that through the Arts Advisory Committee Ms Innes has already made an extremely positive contribution to expanding the involvement of Indigenous groups in the arts sponsorship program. As she is well known and respected by the Indigenous community throughout Western Australia, Ms Innes’ presence on Healthway’s Board should generate a higher level of interest and help forge new partnerships with Indigenous groups.