TOUR LEADERS & LECTURERs
A World of Expertise
Limelight Arts Travel prides itself on the genuine expertise of its tour leaders. With solid postgraduate qualifications, extensive teaching experience at university level and a history of undertaking research, our tour leaders are thorough subject area experts. But they’re also very familiar with the destinations to which they lead tours, having lived, worked or travelled to those places for decades, and many of our tour leaders have significant second language expertise too.
Most importantly, our tour leaders are passionate communicators. They understand that the significance of a destination is more than a dusty collection of facts or statistics, and their subject area expertise means that they are sensitive to the cultural specificity and contemporary local experience of the places they travel. They know what you need to understand, and when you need to hear it – but they also appreciate that the most memorable parts of a trip can be unexpected and personal joys, so they’re also adept at stepping back when necessary.
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Jansson Antmann
Jansson Antmann is a music and performing arts specialist, and has written for Limelight magazine since 2018.
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Kate Bolton-Porciatti
Kate Bolton-Porciatti is a professor of music and cultural history in Florence and a music critic and broadcaster.
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Ben Churcher
Ben Churcher is a gifted public educator and an archaeologist with extensive field experience.
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Dr Nick Eckstein
Nick Eckstein is a historian with an international reputation for his innovative research into the society and culture of Renaissance Florence.
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Dr Penny Gay
Penny Gay is Professor Emerita at the University of Sydney, with expertise in theatrical performance history.
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Robert Gay
Robert Gay is one of Australia’s best known and most respected music tour leaders and educators.
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Dr Nick Gordon
Dr Nick Gordon is known for his design and leadership of contemporary art tours in Europe, Asia and Australasia.
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Dr Matthew Laing
Dr Matthew Laing is a historian and political scientist, with expertise as a tour leader to North America, Scandinavia and Western Europe.
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Dr Estelle Lazer
Dr Estelle Lazer is an Australian archaeologist and experienced tour leader, with an international reputation for her work on ancient Pompeii.
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Royna McNamara
Royna McNamara is a conductor and music educator with experience leading music tours to Western Europe.
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Dr Louise Marshall
Dr Louise Marshall is an art historian and lecturer who specialises in medieval and Renaissance Italian art.
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Jackie Menzies
Jackie Menzies OAM is an expert in the art and culture of Asia, and is a former Head of Asian Art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
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Freya Middleton
Freya Middleton is a well-known Australian art historian and qualified local guide, who has lived in Tuscany for over twenty years.
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Dr Kathleen Olive
Dr Kathleen Olive has significant expertise in Italy and is well known as a cultural tour leader.
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Clive Paget
Clive Paget is a highly-regarded arts writer and critic and Editor at Large for Limelight magazine.
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Dr Kathryn Welch
Dr Kathryn Welch has a PhD in Roman history and is an engaging communicator and experienced tour leader.