Sydney, Tuesday 31 March, 2026: Ms Kim McKay AO, Director & CEO of the Australian Museum (AM), has been appointed Chair of the Council of Australasian Museum Directors (CAMD), the peak body representing 24 major museums across Australia and New Zealand.
Ms McKay brings more than 14 years of leadership at the Australian Museum to the role, originally as a Trustee (2 years) and as Director and CEO (12 years). During her tenure she has helped transform the AM into one of the premier natural history and culture museums in the region.
"This is a critical time for museums in our region and around the world. We are operating in an environment of increasingly constrained funding resulting in the expectation to diversify revenue streams through philanthropic partnerships, corporate support and commercial activities,” Ms McKay said.
“We also have essential responsibilities to First Nations communities in Australia and NZ, including repatriation of ancestors and cultural materials; digitising collections and ensuring a deep engagement in how museum collections are interpreted and displayed.”
Museums and galleries have recently featured in international news due to a series of brazen thefts in European and American institutions, as well as several incidents related to the risk to collections due to ageing infrastructure and maintenance failures.
“Our institutions face greater public scrutiny while juggling budgets, audience attendance, engagement strategies and ageing building challenges which demand strong sector-wide collaboration to help solve these issues,” she said.
“I am looking forward to working closely with my CAMD colleagues to focus on these challenges ensuring the sector is able to deliver even greater social cohesion so we can thrive and meet the diverse needs of our communities in the future.
“Globally, museums are among the most trusted institutions in society and it’s imperative that the sector continues to uphold the public’s trust in the cultural and scientific work that we do,” Ms McKay said
Kim McKay thanked the former CAMD Chair Lynley Crosswell, Director and CEO of Museums Victoria, whose tenure helped to enhance cooperation and connectivity across the 24 CAMD institutions.
“We are very grateful for Lynley Crosswell’s contributions as Chair and as a museum sector leader. She has helped establish a collaborative and supportive culture across the sector, and I look forward to continuing this work to ensure solid growth and impact into the future,” Ms McKay said.
The appointment comes at a transformative time for the museum and gallery sector: The new WA Museum Boola Bardip has attracted more than 2.5 million visitors since opening in 2020; the new Powerhouse Parramatta, a billion dollar plus project, is set to open later this year as Western Sydney's first major cultural institution; in 2027, the Australian Museum, the nation’s first museum, will mark its 200th anniversary; while in Wellington, NZ, the Te Papa Tongarewa will sit at the centre of Te Manawataki o Te Papa, a cultural hub for the city.
“These landmark developments and milestones, alongside record-breaking exhibitions signal a period of unprecedented levels of public engagement for museums across Australia and New Zealand,” she said.
Ms McKay has served on CAMD's Executive Council for the past six years initiating a mentoring program for women in museums to help address gender imbalance in senior leadership roles and has now expanded this work with the continued assistance of McCarthy Mentoring to develop pathways for the next generation of museum leaders.
The CAMD office bearers for the next three years are:
Chair: Kim McKay, Director & CEO Australian Museum, Sydney
Deputy Chair: Courtney Johnston, CEO Te Papa, Wellington
Treasurer: Mary Mulcahy, Director Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery,
Executive Members: Seb Chan, Director & CEO ACMI, Melbourne
Jo White, Director Questacon, Canberra
Dr John Chappell, CEO Scitech, Perth
Lynley Crosswell, CEO Museums Victoria, Melbourne
Alex Coles, CEO Western Australian Museum, Perth
ENDS
For media interviews, contact Clare Patience 0408 846 224; to contact CAMD, email Leigh Russell, Administrative Officer at CAMD, [email protected].
About us:
About CAMD
The Council of Australasian Museum Directors (CAMD) was founded in 1967 and represents 24 major museums across Australia and New Zealand. The organisation provides strategic leadership and advocacy for the sector, contributes to national conversations around cultural heritage and science, and runs initiatives including a national mentoring program to develop the next generation of museum leaders and conducts an annual survey of museum attendances and trends across the region. Visit camd.org.au
Contact details:
For media interviews, contact Clare Patience 0408 846 224; to contact CAMD, email Leigh Russell, Administrative Officer at CAMD, [email protected].