Ms Charlotte Day
A renowned curator and art museum director, Ms Charlotte Day has worked for over thirty years with contemporary artists and art institutions in Australia and internationally. She is passionate about art-led education and bringing the art of established and lesser-known artists to the public eye and conversation. Ms Day is widely recognised for her mentorship of younger women working in the arts.
In 2023 Ms Day joined The University of Melbourne as Director, Art Museums, overseeing the reopening of the renovated Potter Museum of Art in 2025 with the landmark exhibition 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art.
During her previous tenure as Director of Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA) from 2013 to 2023, Ms Day built its reputation as a leading university art museum and educational partner, initiating curatorial and art projects with artists from around the globe, often in partnership with other institutions. She was integral to the planning and realisation of the University’s renowned campus-wide public art program, and diversified both MUMA’s exhibition program and the profile of the Monash University Art Collection, particularly its representation of women and Indigenous artists. Her focus on audience engagement built a strong sense of community and belonging with the museum. While at MUMA, she co-edited two books produced in association with Monash University Publishing, Let’s Go Outside: Art in Public (2022) and Earth Ethics (2025).
Ms Day has curated many solo artist exhibitions, among them Hany Armanious, Mutlu Çerkez, Fiona Connor, Marco Fusinato, Nicholas Mangan, Linda Marrinon, Stuart Ringholt, Renee So, Monika Sosnowska, Christian Thompson, Francis Upritchard and Samson Young. She is recognised for exhibitions exploring recent art history (Reinventing the Wheel: The Readymade Century and Art as a Verb), linking art and artists to current issues and engaging a wide range of audiences (Technologism and Unsettlement), and collaborative projects such as Tree Story (developed with Professor Brian Martin), an exhibition characteristically responsive to place and context.
Ms Day has made outstanding contributions to recurrent exhibitions showcasing Australian art, curating the TarraWarra Biennial 2008 and two of Australia’s representations at the Venice Biennale (Callum Morton in 2007 and Ricky Swallow in 2005), and co-curating the 2010 Adelaide Biennial.
In addition to holding senior roles in other public art galleries, such as the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and Gertrude Contemporary, Ms Day has managed art projects and collections in the private sector, working with Kaldor Public Art Projects, the Michael Buxton Collection of Contemporary Australian Art and the MECCA Collection. She is currently the Deputy Chair of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, and has previously held board and committee positions at Collingwood Yards, City of Melbourne, City of Stonnington, City of Yarra, NETS Victoria, and been a peer assessor for Creative Australia and Creative Victoria.