In other exciting news, longtime Selwyn volunteer & chair of our board Judy Darragh has been recognised in the Queen’s birthday awards. She is now not only our Queen of the Revolution but also an Officer of the NZ Order of Merit (ONZM).
Judy has been a part of our organisation since bringing her mum Grace to the Selwyn reading group. She is an inspirational leader, a generous colleague, a wonderful friend and a tireless advocate for artists. Judy embodies Reading Revolution manaakitanga and we are so proud of her and so happy that her work is recognised by NZ! Please join us in raising your glasses to Judy!
https://dpmc.govt.nz/honours/lists/qb2020-onzm
DARRAGH, Ms Judith Ann (Judy)
For services to the arts
Ms Judy Darragh has had more than 70 solo exhibitions in her 35-year career as an artist and is a teacher, mentor, advocate and champion of the arts.
Ms Darragh was a board member of Artspace Aotearoa for more than 15 years. She co-founded the Teststrip artist-run space in 1992 and the Cuckoo collective for artists in 2000. She has chaired Reading Revolution since 2018, an organisation that uses literature to alleviate loneliness and isolation in older people, new migrants, prisoners, and many others. She has been a board member of the Starving Artists Fund and the Auckland City Council’s Advisory Panel for Public Art from 2009 to 2013. She co-founded the journal Femisphere and has collaborated on award-winning documentary films. She has been Professional Teaching Fellow at the University of Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts and has had various teaching and lecturing roles over the past 40 years. Ms Darragh was appointed to Massey University’s College of Creative Arts Hall of Fame in 2007.
