Jack Wilkie-Jans

Since helping to establish and run the Artist Run Initiative, Cell Art Space. Jack's career has remained steady as an exhibiting artist with Umi Arts and has grown to freelance event management and to involve critical and review writing. In 2017 Jack was involved in securing grant funding for the Australia: Defending the Oceans which is, to date, the largest international touring showcase of contemporary Indigenous sculpture.

Despite being a self-described conservative, in 2015 Jack spoke up against the proposed forced closures of remote Aboriginal communities in Western Australia as alluded to under the then Liberal Party of Australia government lead by former Western Australian Premier, Colin Barnett. He drew comparisons to the proposed policy with the forced closure of his family's home town of Mapoon, on the Western Cape, Cape York Peninsula in 1963. Furthermore, Jack urged for greater economic develop in regional & remote areas, in Western Australia and Cape York Peninsula, in order for small towns & communities to become viable.

In 2014 Jack became one of the youngest board members to be elected to Cape York Sustainable Futures Inc. which is Cape York’s peak organisation for economic & community development. In 2018 Jack stood down as Deputy Chair of the organisation and resigned from the board. He remains a keen advocate for the economic advancement of the Cape York Peninsula region in his role as a freelance contributor to Australia's Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) National Indigenous Television's (NITV) online platform.

Born in Cairns, Tropical Far North Queensland, he is of mixed heritage (British, Danish and Indigenous Australian – Waanyi, Teppathiggi and Tjungundji tribes).

In 2013 Jack was a nominee for the Cairns Region Australia Day Awards for the Cultural Award, both for his work with supporting local charities and the arts. In 2015 he was named an Associate Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society. In 2017 he was named as one of the Queen's Baton Bearers for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Having an early start in a career in the arts, in October 2011 Jack was named an alumnus of, and was one of 10 indigenous Australian artists & arts-workers to travel to, the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra for the second Wesfarmer's Indigenous Arts Leadership Programme.

In 2011 the then Editor at Large of The Cairns Post and one time Member for Cairns, Gavin King, wrote an editorial calling Jack a "bizarre candidate". The article was published shortly after Jack had announced to the Cairns media that he intended to run for Local Government. The article mainly sited artistic photographs found on Jack's artists' website.