Since joining VCAM in November 2008, Professor Edmunds has overseen the initial phases of establishing the new School of Performing Arts providing strategic direction for the three formerly separate schools of Dance, Drama and Production - to maximize the synergies and advantages of these disciplines working more closely together.

As Deputy Dean, Professor Edmunds will work closely with the Dean, Professor Sharman Pretty, on a range of issues including strategic direction, communications, Faculty-wide programming initiatives, linkages with the professional arts sector, and fostering student mobility.

Professor Pretty says Professor Edmunds is a ‘natural fit’ for the position given her current broad role at the Faculty, her innate leadership skills and her international perspective towards the arts and education.   "Kristy is a strategic thinker and innovator who sees opportunity in every challenge.  She has a clear perspective and a contemporary understanding of what is required to empower and guide young artists towards professional arts practice, based on her international experience as an artist, curator and artistic director. She is a natural leader, collaborator and contributor and is widely respected by all who work with her."

A Masters graduate from Western Washington University in Theatre (Directing and Playwriting) with a Bachelors degree in Film Directing with a minor in visual art from Montana State University, Kristy Edmunds received high distinctions and scholarship awards. She has worked as an artist, filmmaker, theatre maker and (occasional) performer, choreographer, playwright, teacher and artist-in-residence. As a Curator and Artistic Director she has spear-headed numerous international initiatives through philanthropic foundation and/or government schemes in service to the arts and policies relevant to independent artists. Professor Edmunds is widely regarded internationally for her work with some of the world’s leading artists across numerous disciplines.

In 1995 she founded the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA), an international arts organisation in Portland, Oregon, dedicated to the advancement of contemporary arts practice across all performing, visual and media disciplines. She served as Artistic Director of PICA for 10 years and still serves as an Advisor. In 2003 she launched the TBA (Time-Based Art) Festival at PICA, critically acclaimed as a global contribution for arts programming.

Professor Edmunds came to Australia in 2004 to take up the post of Artistic Director for the prestigious Melbourne International Arts Festival (2005 - 2008). She serves on numerous boards, is a highly-sought after consultant for national and state-wide organisations and initiatives. She is also serving as the Consulting Artistic Director to the Park Avenue Armory in New York through which she continues her work with international artists and companies, and further grounds her research work into the models of non-profit structures in the arts.

As well as serving as Head of Performing Arts at VCAM,  Professor Edmunds brings  valuable experience in teaching and advisory positions in the higher education sector at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, the Northwest Film & Video Center, Montana State University. She also contributed to the creation of the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics, in Washington - a nationally-recognised and award-winning model for arts education reform in the United States.