Board
& team
The team and volunteer board are talented individuals who bring together a kete/basket of skillsets, knowledge and expertise to help guide and promote the creative sector.
We believe creativity, culture and heritage play an integral role in developing strong and prosperous towns, and cohesive and healthy communities.
We’re passionate about sharing the unique stories of our people and place, preserving our heritage, and celebrating our past and present to support community wellbeing and connect our visitors to our home.
By reflecting on the cultures of all who live here, including the unique perspective of mana whenua, we aim to foster better understanding, awareness, and a shared identity and vision for our community and the Queenstown Lakes District.
Together, we’re working towards a sustainable future that honours and celebrates our heritage, diversity, creativity, unique mix of cultures, and the special place we call home.
The name of the Trust reflects our deep connection to local tauka/treasure - the three lakes of Hāwea, Wānaka and Whakatipu - while the logo, visually represented through the traditional art of Tukutuku/ornamental latticework, depicts our vibrant arts communities being woven together with the Trust’s support and guidance.
Our board
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As a senior leadership professional with extensive leadership and governance experience, Ann Lockhart is passionate about improving and empowering communities. Ann has worked with Boards, Senior Management, Central and Local Government, SOEs, Government departments and industry for over 20 years.
Stakeholder engagement, community, and philanthropy are the foundations of her career. Ann has led some of Otago and Southland’s finest organisations including the Queenstown Chamber of Commerce, the Southland Economic Development Agency, and Destination Queenstown. At the core of her work, Ann’s real desire is to balance the heart and hard work of business with community endeavours.
Most recently she has been involved in the development of the Queenstown Lakes Regenerative Tourism plan, ‘Travel to a Thriving Future’. This plan outlines the steps needed for the tourism industry to become carbon-zero by 2023. Ann is also an internationally accredited Disputes Resolution Mediator.
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Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe, Kāi Tahu
Annis was appointed to the District Court in 2001 and was the first Māori Family Court Judge. She and her husband were also the first husband and wife judicial appointments.
In 2017 she retired as a full-time Judge but continues to sit as a part-time Judge.
Born in Lawrence she went to the local primary school, then Waitaki Girls High School and subsequently the University of Otago graduating with a BA, Dip Tch, and a LLB.
Prior to becoming a Judge she was a teacher, had a clothing business and a label, was a lawyer for 24 years running her own law firm for 14 of those years. She was a founding member and convenor of Otago Women Lawyers Society (OWLS) and is now an honorary life member. She was also a founding member and subsequent Chair of the Family Law Section of the New Zealand Law Society. She is a past President of the Otago District Law Society. She was on the Board of the Council of Knox College and Salmond Hall Inc for 20 plus years. She is now a Fellow of Knox College.
During her time as a Judge she was a founding member and President of the New Zealand Association of Women Judges (NZAWJ). She was the Chair of Ngāi Tahu ki Tauranga Moana Inc Soc and a founding member.
She is currently a trustee on the Festival of Colour Board and the Lake Wānaka Arts and Cultural Charitable Trust (WACT) Board.
Both Annis and her husband have long-standing holiday connections to Wānaka and Queenstown. They have settled permanently in Wānaka and continue to enjoy visits from their whānau including their seven grandchildren.
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Richard is qualified in telecommunications engineering and law. For much of his career he specialised in international submarine cables, working for the French telecommunications giant Alcatel where he held several senior management roles in Paris, Singapore and Wellington.
He is a classical musician and, alongside his career has played viola in various orchestras and ensembles in NZ and overseas. While with the Wellington Chamber Orchestra (WCO), he served as President of the Incorporated Society and Registered Charity for several years. During this time, he negotiated and concluded an Agreement with Orchestra Wellington aimed at strengthening WCO’s financial and artistic capacity.
Having recently retired to Wānaka, he is now playing with the Central Otago Regional Orchestra and several local chamber music ensembles. He is also a trustee of the ‘At The World’s Edge Foundation’ which promotes an annual spring chamber music festival in the Central Lakes region, with the first held in October 2021.
In addition to family, especially his two grandchildren, his interests include walking, tramping, cycling, bridge, all forms of the arts, and classic French cars.
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Gizelle became a Trustee in April 2021 and has played a pivotal role in marketing and communications across the district, contributing her expertise to both Destination Queenstown and Lake Wānaka Tourism.
Before moving to New Zealand, Gizelle built an impressive career in the arts and cultural sector in Australia. With over a decade of experience leading large-scale projects for Regional Arts Victoria (RAV), she also served as a Board Director, bringing valuable strategic insight to the organisation.
A passionate advocate for the arts, Gizelle’s extensive experience enriches both the Board and the operational team, offering a unique skill set and fresh perspectives.
Gizelle was Chair of TLCT from 2022 to 2024, and was instrumental in the development of the community led Te Muka Toi, Te Muka Tākata l The Creativity, Culture and Heritage Strategy for the district, endorsed in June 2024.
Gizelle is also the Editor-in-Chief of Playpen, a limited-edition independent print magazine based in Aotearoa. The publication has become a platform for creative minds to explore diversity through people, culture, art, and fashion.
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Councillor Matt Wong is elected to the Queenstown-Whakatipu Ward.
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Originally from Hawke's Bay, Victoria (Vic) Crockford has held senior leadership roles nationally in the energy and housing sectors, and is currently co-Director of communications and government relations consultancy, Heft.
Outside of this work, she is the Chair of Arts Access Aotearoa, playing a role in advocating for the arts to be accessible to all - especially our Deaf and disabled artists and audiences and people in Corrections. She is also a member of QLDC's Climate and Biodiversity Reference Group.
Her passion for the arts and for our local community is what drew her to the role as Trustee on the Three Lakes Cultural Trust.
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Dr. Leslie Van Gelder was a member of the early TLCT board in 2019-2020 and returned in 2026 to support work in the area of Heritage.
Leslie's academic background is in the field Place Studies and Experiential Education. She has been on the faculty of Walden University since 2002 where she supervises doctoral students in global and indigenous education.
Her own research focuses on Upper Paleolithic cave art and the lifeways of the people who made finger flutings, lines drawn on the walls of caves, in modern day France, Spain, and Australia. She is especially interested in the ways in which people of those time periods encountered and responded to periods of rapid climate change.
She has been the Chair of the Glenorchy Heritage and Museum Group since 2017 and been involved with the group since 2010.
She is very active in the arena of Dark Skies protection and chairs the Tāhuna Glenorchy Dark Skies Group who were successful in becoming an International Dark Sky Sanctuary in 2025. She also serves as a Trustee on Winterstellar, an arts based Dark Skies organisation looking to support Dark Skies initiatives across Otago, and consults for other regions on the development of their own Dark Skies places.
She chairs the QLDC Climate Reference Group, Co-Chairs the Southern Lakes Sanctuary, and serves as Co-Site Custodian for Tāhuna Glenorchy with Darren Rewi for the Preserving Legacies International Program which focuses on the intersection of climate change and heritage and is supported by National Geographic, ICOMOS, and the Center for Climate Change. She also serves on the governance group of the Upper Lakes Integrated Catchment Group and is Glenorchy's librarian.
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Abby McCormick O’Neil is a founding Trustee and active board member of the Harris Theater for Music and Dance located in Chicago‘s Millennium Park. Founded in 2003, the Harris is the only major performing arts facility build in Chicago in the past 100 years, joining the Lyric Opera and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as an internationally recognized performing arts venues. Along with her current board service, Abby has previously held the position of board chair.
As a longtime advocate of arts and culture and its importance to community life and wellbeing, Abby has championed arts education in primary and secondary schools, supported a wide range of programming and artistic mentorship in Chicago’s vibrant music and dance community, and sponsored fellowships in art leadership programs. She also has relationships with many of the leading cultural institutions in Chicago including The Art Institute of Chicago and the Field Museum.
She has championed a wide variety of other philanthropic activities as well, including advocating on behalf of and supporting research for people living with bi-polar illness, protecting victims of sex trafficking, and supporting initiatives in LGBTQ communities. As a life trustee of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, she is committed to removing obstacles of inequality and improving life for those living in Chicago’s distressed communities. She has a family foundation that is deeply involved in all aspects of her work. Abby makes her home in Chicago and Queenstown.
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Carroll Joynes is a senior fellow at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and co-founded the Cultural Policy Center and served as executive director for its first ten years. He received his doctorate at the University of Chicago in 1981, taught at the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York and at New York University, and returned to the University of Chicago as Associate Dean of Humanities in 1994.
In addition to establishing the CPC in 1999 and overseeing its development as co-director, he has served on the majority of its research projects, helping produce a comprehensive map of minority participation in Chicago cultural institutions, and contributing to Entering Cultural Communities: Diversity and Change in Nonprofit Arts.
He is co-principal investigator of Set in Stone, a large-scale study of cultural building in the United States. He also has served as a trustee of several cultural organizations in Chicago.
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Sir Eion Edgar (K.N.Z.M, C.N.Z.M) retired as Chairman of Forsyth Barr Group Ltd, a Dunedin-based firm of Sharebrokers and Investment Bankers, in 2018, transitioning to the role of Ambassador. In 2004, he was named the NBR New Zealander of the Year, inducted into the Business Hall of Fame, and was honoured with the Senior New Zealander of the Year award in 2010.
Until his passing in 2021, Sir Eion served as Chairman of the Winter Games NZ Charitable Trust and Queenstown Resort College. He also chaired the Sinclair Investment Group (the family holding company) and was a former Trustee of the Arts Foundation of New Zealand and The Foundation for Youth Development (formerly Project K). He was a Life Trustee of The Halberg Disability Foundation, The Rhododendrons for Dunedin Trust, and The Skeggs Foundation.
Together with his wife, Jan, Sir Eion made significant philanthropic contributions, including $1 million donations to the Edgar Centre in Dunedin, The Edgar National Centre for Diabetes and Obesity, the Edgar Olympic Foundation, and the NZ Dementia Prevention Trust. Their shared passions include family, sports, travel, the arts, and education.
Our team
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Samantha Kirk is a passionate arts and culture advocate who brings a wealth of experience to her role at Three Lakes Cultural Trust.
Alongside a Bachelor of Business from Southern Cross University, Sam’s previous senior corporate event project management experience allowed her to work with local musicians, production teams, and makers. Now, Sam brings her commitment to customer experience and her impressive practical and organisational skills to this role to deliver key projects efficiently and effectively.
A valuable addition to the team and dedicated supporter of bringing arts and culture to the heart of the community, you’ll find Sam working across a wide variety of roles within the Trust, including as curator of Te Wāhi Toi.
Contact Sam:
samantha@threelakesculturaltrust.co.nz
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With a professional background that spans marketing, events, and community initiatives, Laura brings both creativity and strong organisational skills to her role as Administration Assistant at the Three Lakes Cultural Trust.
Laura has worked closely with a wide variety of local organisations, businesses, and grassroots projects across the Queenstown Lakes District, building a career focused on communication, connection, and community. She is passionate about the role creativity and community initiatives play in shaping vibrant, connected places to live.
As a dedicated supporter of arts, culture, and multicultural initiatives within the region, Laura is excited to contribute to the Trust’s work fostering creativity, collaboration, and cultural experiences across the Three Lakes District.
Contact Laura:
Laura@threelakesculturaltrust.org.nz
“Please tell your team that when I grow up as a charity, I want to be like you ! So inspirational. Let’s get together in the future and see if we can collaborate and do something good for the community .
The effort of good , loving people like you can save the planet !"
Carol Morgan, Chairperson Latinos for New Zealand Charitable Trust
Three Lakes Cultural Trust Arts in Schools Programme
