Violet has long had a love affair with the Arts in its many forms. All her life, art has spoken to her. This passion was initially ignited at an early age when she visited the Kremlin in Moscow whilst escorting a Trans Siberian Railroad tour from Sydney to London. It was during this tour that she was fortunate to witness the incredible wall-sized Renaissance paintings on display at the Armoury in the Kremlin in Moscow. This gallery was only ever opened twice per year, and she has always remembered the impact these art works instilled on her memory. And so began her love of the Arts.
In 2018, her love of art was re-ignited through working with a local Indigenous artist, Stan Yarramunua as his Business Manager. It was after this stint and getting involved in the St Kilda Arts Community Art Crawl that she decided she wanted to make a contribution in supporting local artists. So, with a broad background in tourism and hospitality and a strong desire to go back to her tourism roots, she started St Kilda Art Tours in September 2018 – guided walks of galleries and studios in St Kilda.
Recognising that people connect more with paintings when they hear the stories behind the art, and meet the artists, she could see there was scope to better promote the unique artists in our midst by bringing people to St Kilda through Art Tours.
A returning resident of St Kilda after some 18 years, Violet wants to give local artists the exposure they deserved and are currently not receiving. Running two tours across 2 precincts, Violet also happily promotes all arts based local events including Live Art (painting workshops) and Art in Motion (performance based events) of all artists and galleries – not just the ones on her tours.
Violet is also the newly appointed Vice President of the St Kilda Arts Community Inc. She has had considerable experience in working with local communities in collaboration with Council and was on the Board of the Bendigo Bank, Seddon, for four years. In 2015-2017 she was Secretary of the Yarraville Traders Association, where she implemented numerous promotional campaigns, managed memberships and completed two comprehensive Community (Traders) Business / Marketing Plans for Yarraville (2016) and Seddon (2017), in collaboration with the City of Maribyrnong. She also worked tirelessly on the Yarraville Festival two years managing PR, Marketing, Sponsorship and Promotions in 2013-14.
Violet has an extensive background in sales, marketing, PR and tourism and previously ran her own marketing and Public Relations business Viacom Marketing Services for 15 years.
Violet also worked in the hospitality industry for Hyatt International for 5 years dealing with large multi-national corporates in the conference and events space, as well as in the tourism industry for over 20+ years, so is well versed in the Specialised Events and tourism marketing space.