About Delegates

Mr. Philippe Bachman

Philippe Bachman is a French musician, artistic director and producer. He has worked for the Ministry of Culture and for Ircam in Paris. From 1997 to 2001, he was the C.E.O and artistic director of the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra; he then worked as the executive director of Accentus Choir until 2003. Since 2004, he is the artistic director and C.E.O. of La Comète, Scène Nationale de Châlons-en-Champagne, a national multi-arts venue.

Mr. Mark Ball

Mark Ball was appointed as Artistic Director and Chief Executive of LIFT in April 2009. He also holds posts at a number of arts organisations, including Trustee of Frantic Assembly. In 2012, Mark was named by Time Out and The Stage as one of the ten most influential people in British theatre.

Ms. Santha Bhaskar

Santha Bhaskar is the Artistic Director, Bhaskar’s Arts Academy (Singapore); Chief Choreographer, Centre for the Arts, National University of Singapore and Advisor, Nrityalaya Aesthetics Society (Singapore). Over the years in Singapore, Santha Bhaskar has become synonymous with unique choreographies and concepts. With her commitment to the sophistication of traditional Indian dance and her innovative spirit of cross-cultural explorations, her works speak for themselves and continuously raise the bar.

Mr. Sven Birkeland

Sven Birkeland is the artistic and managing director of Norway’s oldest and most prestigious international theatre BIT Teatergarasjen the dance biannual Oktoberdans and the theatre biannual Meteor. Birkeland curates art programs for festivals, theatres, museums and galleries in Norway and abroad, and is a member of a number of boards including Arts Council Norway and Bergen Academy of Art and Design.

Ms. Annina Blom

Annina Blom is the Communications Officer for the Baltic Circle Festival and Executive Producer for the DuvTeatern Theatre Company in Helsinki, Finland. Annina's interests lie within accessible arts and contemporary performing art. She has worked as a freelance producer, programmer and tour manager for various performing arts shows and events in Helsinki and Europe since 2007 and she has also spent a year in Australia working with the Melbourne Fringe Festival (2008) and the Adelaide Garden of Unearthly Delights (2009).

Mr. Roberto Casarotto

Since 2006, Robert has been director of the dance projects for the Centro per la Scena Contemporanea di Bassano del Grappa (CSC) and Operaestate Festival Veneto. Associate director of Aerowaves, he is a member with Comune di Bassano del Grappa (CSC) of EDN European Dancehouse Network.

Ms. Anna CY Chan

Anna CY Chan is a practicing administrator, producer, curator and arts educator. She is now the Head of Artistic Development (Dance) of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority. A former professional dancer, Anna continues her artistic contribution as producer and has strong interested in supporting innovative work and cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Ms. Anna Cheng

Anna Cheng is a versatile talent crossing the roles of a producer, performer and writer in performing arts field for 17 years. She is now working in the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority at the Performing Arts team (Artistic Development) as Manager, Performing Arts (Dance).

Ms. Karen Cheung

Karen Cheung is an active promoter of contemporary dance in China. She holds a master degree in cultural studies from Maastricht University, the Netherlands. She has worked at the Guangdong Modern Dance Company as Company Manager (2004-2006) and Administrative Director (2006-2011). During her tenure with the company, she has brought the company on tour at various international arts festivals and cultural exchange expeditions.

Ms. Carrie Rae Cunningham

Carrie Rae has been with Tempo Dance Festival since 2008, serving in a number of roles until this year's appointment as Artistic Director. Originally from the US, she has worked as a choreographer, performer and dance educator in schools, as well as an administrator, producer and choreographer for a number of arts organisations, including serving as the Artistic Director of the Crittenden Arts Council (now Delta Arts) in West Memphis, Arkansas for 3 years. She came to Auckland in 2003 to earn her Masters degree in Dance Studies from the University of Auckland, working with numerous local choreographers and performing in several dance, music and performance productions.

Mr. Lane Czaplinski

Lane Czaplinski is the Artistic Director of On the Boards – one of the leading centers for contemporary performance in the Western United States. In 2013, On the Boards received the William Dawson Award for Programmatic Excellence from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters for sustained achievement in programming. In January 2010, Czaplinski helped launch OntheBoards.tv, an online, pay-per-view platform for contemporary performance videos.

Mr. Paul Fahy

Paul Fahy is the Artistic Director & Producer of Galway International Arts Festival a position he has held since 2005. Prior to this he worked as a freelance arts consultant, publicist and producer from 2000-2005 working on contracts with Galway Arts Festival; Macnas Street Theatre & Spectacle Company; Baboró, Galway International Arts Festival for Children; Rough Magic Theatre Company; International Puppet Festival of Ireland; The National Theatre of Ireland, The Abbey Theatre; The Arts Council of Ireland and with the Irish actor Cillian Murphy.

Mr. Jörg Fischer

In 1999, Jörg Fischer was a founding member of the National Performance Network (NPN) in Germany and in 2005 he initiated the international choreography contest No Ballet in Ludwigshafen. Since 2005 he has also been the artistic director for the dance program of the Ludwigshafener Festspiele. For the Ludwigshafener Festspiele in October/November 2015 he will set the focus on Australian Contemporary Dance.

Ms. Emi Forster

Emi Forster is a curator, writer, producer and choreographer, currently Co-Curator of Dancemakers, Canada’s national centre for dance creation based in Toronto, Ontario. She holds a Master of Art Administration from University of New South Wales’ College of Fine Arts (Sydney, Australia), and a Bachelor of Dance from the Victorian College of the Arts (Melbourne, Australia).

Mr. Ruoyan Fu

Fu Ruoyan is a well known arts manager, director and producer. He graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing, majoring in film/management, then took up a deputy manager position at the Beijing N-Theatre. In 2008 he established the Jalent (Beijing) Culture Communication Co. Ltd.

Mr. Niels Gamm

Trained in various fields of the arts, philosophy and management Niels Gamm spent several years in classical repertoire theatre before joining the producing side of the arts as promoter, producer and advisor - specializing in dance and physical theatre. Since 2013 Niels Gamm is heading the division for Dance and Attractions for IMG Artists in Europe working with an international roster of companies from classical ballet to modern and contemporary dance as well as physical theatre.

Mr. Vallejo Gantner

Vallejo Gantner has been Artistic Director of Performance Space 122 since 2005, responsible primarily for all programming, strategic direction and supervising external affairs (fundraising, marketing). P.S. 122 is one of United States’ leading multi-disciplinary presenters of innovative contemporary performing arts.

Prior to this, he was Director of the Dublin Fringe Festival from 2002 – 2004, (CEO and artistic director of this semi-curated three week annual event), and Artistic Associate of the Melbourne Festival 2000/01 (responsible for programming the free and outdoor programs).

Ms. Marina Guo

Dr Marina Guo is the Head of Arts Management & Director of International Programs at School of Creative Studies, Shanghai Theatre Academy, Vice Director of John Howkins Research Centre on Creative Economy. She is sitting on the Board of Director, American Institute of Performing Arts and a member of China Arts Administration Education Association. Marina has years of experiences and networks in festival programing and international tour management, presenting performing arts for young audience in China and facilitated a number of Chinese cultural initiations in working internationally.

Mr. Bush Hartshorn

Until January 2015 Bush was the Artistic Director of Dansehallerne in Copenhagen Denmark, the largest building for Dance in Northern Europe. Throughout the nineties he was Artistic Director of the Green Room Manchester UK, one of a few venues in the UK to support innovative performance work at that time. Throughout the last thirty years he has formed and contributed to a number of international networks and various artistic juries and councils. He is regularly asked to contribute lectures, workshops and similar around the world.

Mr. Adam Hayward

Adam is the Artistic Director of the highly successful annual dance and performance festival called ‘The Body Festival’, presenting local, national and international performances each year alongside an extensive participatory dance workshop and community outreach programme. He is currently a board member of Arts Voice and the Christchurch Arts Audience Development Project

Ms. Emily Hoe

As General Manager of The Substation, Emily is responsible for operations, finance, governance, fundraising, marketing and communication, human resources and Board liaison. The Substation has a $1.2 million budget and 14 full time staff. She is a spokesperson for The Substation, has been on National Arts Council assessment panels and regularly represents at events and presents the organisation to visiting schools and international visitors.

Ms. Isabella Hreljanovic

Isabella Hreljanovic is a producer and performer based in Manhattan, New York. Isabella is currently the Producing Associate at New York Live Arts, assisting Tommy Kriegsmann, Director of Programs, on the planing and implementation of New York Live Arts' presenting season and yearly residency programs. Isabella has been working in Programming at New York Live Arts since 2012.

Mr. Sufri Juwahir

Mohamad Sufri Bin Juwahir began his dance career in street dance when he was 17 years old. Throughout the years of winning dance competitions and understanding the hiphop culture, Sufri grew an interest in the arts and searched to widen his dance vocabulary. In 2008, Sufri joined Maya Dance Theatre as Principal dancer where he learned Bharathanatyam. Through Maya’s productions, Sufri had the opportunity to work with international artists; Danang Pamungkas and Eko Supriyanto (Indonesia), Janis Brenner (USA) and Oberlin Dance Company (ODC, USA)

Mr. Yi-Wei Keng

Yi-Wei Keng is the artistic director of Taipei Arts Festival (2012-2017) and the visiting assistant professor of theatre arts at Nation Taiwan University of Arts and National Taipei University of Arts.

Mr. Paul King

Paul King, Co-Founder of White Bird, serves as President of the White Bird Board. White Bird, founded in 1997 by Walter Jaffe and Paul King in Portland, Oregon, is the sole dance-only dance presenter west of the Rockies. White Bird’s mission is to bring excellence in contemporary dance to Portland.

Mr. Daniel Kok

Daniel Kok [diskodanny] read BA (Honours) Fine Art & Critical Theory at Goldsmiths College (London). He was given the Young Artist Award from National Arts Council (Singapore) in 2008. In 2012, he received an MA (Distinction) in Solo/Dance/Authorship (SODA) at the Inter-University Centre for Dance (HZT, Berlin) and in 2014, completed the Advanced Performance and Scenography Studies (APASS, Brussels). His new creation, “PIIGS” is a team cheerleading project co-produced by Nationales Performance Netz (Germany), Maxim Gorki Theater (Berlin) and WorkSpaceBrussels within the “Life Long Burning” cultural initiative of the European Union. “Bunny”, a duet in collaboration with Luke George (Melbourne), is being co-produced by The Substation (Singapore) and Campbelltown Arts Centre (Sydney).

Mr. Swee Boon Kuik

Founder and Artistic Director of T.H.E Dance Company and the M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival in Singapore, Swee Boon Kuik was the first Asian principal male dancer with Spain’s Compañia Nacional de Danza (CND) from 2002 to 2007. With the M1 CONTACT Festival, Kuik looks to developing contemporary dance in the region through learning, creation and collaboration – underscored by its role as co-presenter of Malaysia’s d’MOTION International Dance Festival.

Mr. Aravinth Kumarasamy

Aravinth Kumarasamy is the creative director of Apsaras Arts. He is an Artistic Director, Composer, Choreographer, Musician, Arts Activist, Producer, Transcultural Collaborator, Researcher, Arts Presenter, Speaker and a Peace Ambassador. He is the proud recipient of several awards including the Singapore's Young Artiste Award by the National Arts Council of Singapore, "Bhartha Kala Mani" by Apsaras Arts, Singapore and "Nrithya Vaarithi" by Padmashri Vazhuvoor Ramaiya Pillai, Chennai, India. For his contributions to Indian Dance, he was honored by the Mayor of Croydon, UK in 2011 and was presented the “Kala Sadhana” award by AruSri Art Theater, Sri Lanka in 2014.

Mr. Harri Kuorelahti

Harri Kuorelahti graduated from Theatre Academy Helsinki in 1990. Since then he has worked as a dance artist, performer and choreographer in many freelance productions in Finland and abroad and as a one of the leading dancers at Helsinki Dance Company at Helsinki City Theater. He was the Artistic Director at Full Moon Dance Festival 2007-2009. He has been the Artistic Director at Zodiak – Center for New Dance and Side Step Festival since September 2009.

Ms. Bernice Lee

Bernice is a dance artist who recently started working closely with Maya Dance Theatre, touring in works by artists including Janis Brenner (USA) and Dr. Sun Ock Lee (Korea), and her solo "I Am The Strongest Shape In The World". In July 2014 she performed in "Retrospective" by Xavier Le Roy at 72-13 Theatreworks. She worked at Frontier Danceland on Byron Perry’s "One Show Only" (Australia), before joining as company artist from 2012-2014 where she created and performed roles internationally in works by guests, company artists and artistic director Low Mei Yoke.

Mr. Jong-Ho Lee

As well as being the Artistic Director and Founder of SIDance Festival (Seoul International Dance Festival), Mr LEE is also the President of Seoul Section of the Int'l Dance Council CID-UNESCO and Co-President of Association of Asia Pacific Arts Festivals (AAPAF). He established Seoul Section of the Int'l Dance Council CID (Conseil International de la Danse) in 1996 and his tireless devotion to this group led the success of the 13th CID-UNESCO General Assembly held in Seoul in 1998. And its related event, SIDance (Seoul International Dance Festival), has been an annual event ever since, held every autumn.

Ms. Lynn Lee

Lynn Lee is Programmes Manager at The Arts House in Singapore, an arts centre promoting and presenting multidisciplinary art programmes, which include literary art, films, performing and visual arts. In 2012 at the National Museum of Singapore, where she worked as assistant curator, she curated an exhibition on Kuo Pao Kun, father of modern Singapore theatre and mentor of a number of leading directors in the current theatre scene of Singapore.

Mr. Jereh Leung

Actively involved in the contemporary dance scene, Jereh wants to ignite emotions and imagination. He finds challenge in engaging himself in multi-disciplinary works. Recent involvement with local theatre companies, TheatreWorks and The Necessary Stage brought about such performance opportunities. He has also performed at the Festival d'Hivernale Avignon(France), Substation's Septfest (Singapore) and his works performed at Esplanade's dansfestival and the Arts Science Museum Singapore.

Mr. Christophe Martin

Christophe initiated the ADDP (Association for Dance Developement in Paris) in 2002 in order to produce the festival « Faits d’hiver - danses d’auteurs » of which he is artistic director.
In 2004, he joined micadanses as Director. Micadanses specializes in both research and production of artistic creations by professionals and amateurs alike. Regularly, he pursue editiorial projects.

Ms. Maki Miyakubo

Maki Miyakubo first worked at the gallery for contemporary arts in Spiral, a multi-purpose cultural center in Aoyama Tokyo in 1997, and became a producer for performing arts programs in 2004, as well as a producer of Dance New Air. Maki has been involved not only in contemporary dance, but also in contemporary arts, fashion and other events and outside Spiral.

Ms. Pirjetta Mulari

Pirjetta Mulari has been working as the manager for international affairs at Dance Info Finland since 2005. She has been developing Dance Info Finland’s international work and within that programmes such as Korea-Finland Connection, exchange, co-production and residence programmes between Japan and Finland, and Australia-Finland Dance Exchange. Mulari is active through her job in Nordic collaboration projects (kedja, ICE HOT), and also the Finnish partner for Aerowaves network in Europe.

Ms. Joavien Ng

Joavien Ng, an independent dancer choreographer from Singapore, graduated from LaSalle College of the Arts. Her works have since been presented locally and internationally with TheatreWorks (Singapore), Esplanade Theatre (Singapore), Singapore Arts Festival, Kampnagel (Hamburg), Contemporary Dance of Fort Worth (USA), Little Asia Dance Exchange Network (Taipei, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul and Singapore), Singapore Art Museum. She also served as Associate Artistic Director with Theatreworks in 2011, where she initiated a choreographic Lab - The Screw of Thought.

Mr. Norisham Osman

Norisham Osman is a dancer with a wealth of experience and is in a good position to educate others and advocate the traditional art form; something that is indeed hard to come by in the youths of today. Even with having been in the scene for more than a decade, Norisham still continuously makes it a point to refresh his foundations and delve deeper into his roots by having close exchanges with masters of the dance form.

Mr. Tomi Paasonen

Tomi Paasonen is currently the artistic director of ITAK - Regional Dance Centre of Eastern Finland, an organisation creating infrastructure for contemporary dance and performance art, based in Kuopio Finland. After dancing in Germany and the United States 1989-1997, Mr Paasonen co-founded KUNST-STOFF, a San Francisco based experimental inter-disciplinary physical theatre and arts-event production company. In 2002 he moved to Berlin, where he launched PAA (Public Artistic Affairs) and has since worked internationally as a choreographer, stage director and teacher.

Ms. Chiew Peishan

Peishan obtained her Master of Arts in Contemporary Dance (Distinction) from London Contemporary Dance School in 2013, with the support of National Arts Council Arts Scholarship (Overseas) 2011. As a performer, she has worked with local and international choreographers including Albert Tiong (Singapore), Low Mei Yoke (Singapore), Anthony Meh (Malaysia), Loretta Livingston (USA), John Mead (USA) and Sasha Roubicek (UK). Peishan was an artist with Frontier Danceland from 2007 to 2011.

Mr. Jarmo Penttila

Jarmo Penttila has been the program advisor for The National Theater of Chaillot in Paris, since September 2011.
It is the only National Theatre (there are 5 in France), which is dedicated for Dance.

Mr. Samme Raeymaekers

Samme is the Artistic Coordinator of Dance Concertgebouw and the Artistic Director of December Dance, an (inter)national dance programme for all the venues in Bruges (Cultural Centre and Concertgebouw)

Ms. Ása Richardsdóttir

Ása Richardsdóttir is currently the project leader of Wilderness dance, the largest every residency opportunity for dance in the Nordic/Baltic region and international coordinator of Ice Hot Nordic dance.

Ms. Kira Riikonen

Kira Riikonen, living in Kajaani, Finland, is the Choreographer and Artistic director of Routa Company. Her main artistic focus is to make work about issues in the surrounding world, including work that explores environmental, psychological and sociological topics. Her latest works dealt with issues of wolf poaching, humanity, wealth and global warming. Her choreographic style is a mixture of physical theatre and contemporary dance.

Ms. Sarah Rogers

Based in Montreal, Sarah Rogers has been working together with Menno Plukker Theatre Agent Inc since 2001. The agency currently represents 24 theatre and dance companies who are primarily based in Canada and Europe and facilitates tours of their work internationally as well as providing management and administrative support.

Mr. Janek Schergen

Janek Schergen is the Artistic Director of the Choo San Goh & H. Robert Magee Foundation and Chairman of The Choo San Goh Awards for Choreography. In 2008 he was appointed Artistic Director of Singapore Dance Theatre and has staged numerous full-length classical ballets, as well as 11 of Choo-San Goh’s ballets for the company. In addition, he has been involved with several arts committees and panels with the Singapore National Arts Council in Singapore.

Mr. Guillaume Soulard

Guillaume Soulard is the artistic director of the Tjibaou Cultural centre in New-Caledonia since 2012 but he has spent most of his career in New Caledonia and in the pacific region. With a performing arts management background, Guillaume has given a special place to dance in his program by creating a dance festival called WAAN DANSE. For 3 weeks in September, the festival produces performance and presents productions from the pacific region and the rest of the world. The program is oriented in the idea of promoting new ideas about dance. It can be a festival dedicated for “those who don’t like dance”.

Ms. Claire Sung

Details coming soon...

Ms. Chunfang (Angel) Tan

Angel Tan is the Director of Program Dept. Suzhou Arts Performance Co., Ltd. (SSCAC) and Director of Operation Dept. Suzhou Ballet Theatre. Suzhou Ballet Theatre was established and founded by Suzhou Arts Performace CO., Ltd. In June of 2007. It is the only professional ballet company in Jiangsu Province and one of six in China. The Theatre incorporates original works and aspires to produce new pieces while truing to develop each dancer to their fullest potential.

Mr. Sean Tobin

Sean Tobin is a Singapore-based Theatre-Maker and Educator from Australia, who has a passion for experimentation, engagement and education in the Arts.

2015 is Sean’s first year as Artistic Director of the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival. Sean's previous roles include Artistic Director of SOTA Festival of Arts (2011), The Necessary Community Festival (2001), M1 Youth Connection (2001 – 2003), M1 Theatre Connect (2004), On The Verge (1999) and Spoke ’98 (1998).

Ms. Johanna Tuukkanen

Johanna Tuukkanen is the Arts Program Manager of the Finnish House of Dance Association. The association aims at creating this new facility "The Dance House", in Helsinki, which is planned to open in 2020. The Dance House will be an accessible and welcoming gathering place for the public while providing amenities for high quality dance performances. The Dance House will also ease the decades-long, chronic shortage of rehearsal and performance space for dance artists in the metro area of Finland.

Ms. Norhayati Yusoff

Yati Yusoff has been working in the arts industry for the past 20 years, based mainly in Singapore and South Australia. I am now working with an Indonesian company in Jakarta, to help with its international profiling. Some of the experiences I gained from my career includes conceptualization, planning and successful execution of festivals, one-off events and other related programmes. To be able to do this I have developed a useful network of support locally and internationally within the industry and outside. Being sensitive to current arts environment and issues affecting it help me understand the needs of both the artist and audience. This in turn allows me to take calculated risks when organizing an event or advising a client. Although my interest is in SE Asian arts, I am keen to network beyond the region to look for platforms and opportunities.

Ms. Low Mei Yoke

LOW MEI YOKE is the co-founder and current artistic director of Frontier Danceland. Under her direction, Frontier Danceland gained professional status in 2011.

Low’s choreographic works have been performed with great success and favourable reviews. Her work Cloud was showcased at ‘2000 Feet – A Celebration of World Dance’, a dance festival held in Philadelphia, USA, to much acclaim. Dance critic, Brenda Dixion Gottschild, praised it as a first-rate performance in America’s foremost dance publication, Dance Magazine.

Mr. Chong Wang

Wang Chong, founder and artistic director of Beijing-based performance group Théâtre du Rêve Expérimental, is the leading force of Chinese experimental theatre. In 2008 Wang founded Théâtre du Rêve Expérimental. In 2012 he started the Chinese New Wave Theater Movement by presenting a series of new performances with innovative use of live video and sound.

Ms. Luli Wang

Luli Wang, works in the NCPA Programming Department. She joined NCPA in 2007 before its official opening. Over the past 8 years, she has been in charge of dance projects, drama projects, and now in charge of music projects. Luli Wang is the head of the music projects, leading an eight-person team in charge of all the music projects in NCPA. Also, she is in charge of special music festival and special “NCPA presents” or special events too. She especially focuses on world top orchestras’ touring projects and chamber concerts.

Ms. Yabin Wang

Wang Yabin is an dancer, choreographer and producer based in Beijing and Artistic Director of YabinStudio. In 2009, Yabin started her own production Yabin and Her Friends, creating full-length works commissioned from choreographers from US, Europe and China and winning high praises from critics as well as artists from the world of dance. She was named the “most promising and pioneering choreographer, dancer and producer of the new contemporary dance of China” by Guangming Daily.

Mr. Christian Watty

Christian Watty is the Co-Director of Internationale Tanzmesse, project manager of the international residency program, Dance Research / NRW KULTURsekretariat and an independent adviser for the international programs in different theaters and festivals in France and in Germany.

Mr. Alex Wu

In 2008, Alex Wu received a master degree from University of Science and Technology in Lille, France. From 2009, he has been the director of the marketing department of Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center (SDAC). Meanwhile, as an experienced producer, he is in charge of interactiviy with different programs from more than 20 countries. He is also the programing director of Shanghai Contemporary International Theatre Festival and the general manager of Shanghai Dramatic Arts Culture & Communication Co., Ltd, which is invested by SDAC.

Mr. Stephen Armstrong

Stephen is Creative Producer of the Asian Arts Program at Arts Centre Melbourne. Stephen’s primary focus is the commissioning, creation and presentation of new performance; facilitating artistic exchange and collaboration; and devising artist development initiatives. He is currently Chair of Theatre for the Australia Council, a Trustee of the Victorian Actors Benevolent Fund, a Board Director of NIDA, and a member of The Myer Foundation and Sidney Myer Fund Arts & Culture Committee.

Mr. Guy Boyce

Guy Boyce became Director of the Christchurch Arts Festival in 2000 and presented 5 biennial multi art form festivals up to 2009, plus two cabaret festivals and two writer’s festivals in the alternate years. In 2010 he undertook a 6 month contract to open the refurbished Nelson Regent Theatre before shifting to Mandurah in June 2010 to manage the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre in Western Australia. He is currently Chair of CircuitWest, the performing arts presenter association of WA. The Mandurah Performing Arts Centre was awarded the APACA Drover Award as Performing Arts Centre of the Year for 2013, and was one of three finalists in 2014.

Mr. Stephen Champion

Stephen Champion has been the Manager of the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre (BMEC) since 2003 and has worked professionally in the performing arts for thirty six years. As a performer Stephen has performed with many groups and individuals including Meryl Tankard, the Nimrod Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company.

Ms. Natalie De Vito

Natalie De Vito is the Executive Director/Creative Producer of the Junction Arts Festival and relocated to Tasmania from Toronto to establish the Junction Arts Festival in Launceston. Her curatorial focus is on site-specific and social-specific performances that engage audiences as active collaborators and create new ways of audience interaction.

Ms. Merindah Donnelly

Merindah Donnelly is the recently appointed Executive Producer for BlakDance, Australia’s national industry body for contemporary Indigenous dance. Through her work with the Australia Council of the Arts, she designed and developed strategies to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and companies to develop new markets nationally and internationally. She has worked as a creative producer for international festivals and art’s markets including International Symposium of Electronic Art (ISEA), the Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM) and the Talking Stick Festival: First Nations performance. Merindah is a 2015 global ISPA fellow.

Ms. Kelly Drummond Cawthon

Kelly's experiences as a professional in the worlds of music, art, dance and theatre span over two decades of art, performance, directing, producing, choreographing and teaching. She has worked internationally as a dance educator, performer and rehearsal director for companies including Outlet Dance, New Dance Group, Doris Humphrey Repertory Company, Joy Kellman, Hudson Vagabond Puppeteers, Motion Pictures Dance Theater Inc. and Shapiro & Smith Dance.

Dr. Ross Farnell

Ross Farnell is the Executive Director at Burrinja (Dandenong Ranges Community Cultural Centre Inc). He has taught both Arts Management at Deakin and Cultural Studies at Monash Universities, is a board member of Yarra Ranges Enterprise Centres and previous board member of Aboriginal Tourism Victoria and Dandenong Ranges Tourism.

Ms. Britt Guy

Britt is a Producer of Theatre and Dance at Artback NT as well as an Independent Producer. Her experience includes roles within not for profit organisations (Flying Arts, Youth Arts Qld, Metro Arts), festivals and events (Brisbane, Sydney, Darwin, Melbourne, Newcastle, Slovenia, Cambodia, Croatia) and local government (Brisbane, Logan and Darwin). Within these roles she has established and built upon programs and festivals that invest in the work and development of artists and their creative practices while creating high quality creative community programming.

Ms. Fiona Hallenan-Barker

Merrigong presents a diverse annual season of theatre, dance and children’s programming, including work sourced from Australia’s finest performing arts companies, self-produced work, acclaimed international productions, and innovative contemporary work from new companies.

Mr. Craig Harrison

Details coming soon...

Mr. Greg Hordacre

Greg Hordacre is currently Director, Drum Theatre in Melbourne’s south east, and has managed theatres in SA, NSW and Vic over the past twelve years. Prior to this Greg has had significant involvement in contemporary dance. From performing, producing and supporting, to advocacy, developing touring initiatives, sitting of funding boards, setting up presenting initiatives and involvement with Ausdance, dance has been a consistent theme.

Ms. Jade Lillie

ade Lillie is the Director & CEO of Footscray Community Arts Centre, Australia’s leading and longest running community engaged, contemporary arts centre. A passionate advocate for the arts and social justice, Jade is an experienced community cultural development practitioner, arts executive, educator and facilitator.

Mr. Julian Louis

Julian is a curator and theatre maker, currently the Artistic Director of NORPA (Northern Rivers Performing Arts), a theatre company based in Lismore NSW. He creates devised theatre works that engage communities with the creation and/or presentation of new Australian work. Julian has directed opera, circus and youth theatre as well as large-scale events. Julian has also worked extensively as a movement director and teacher of physical theatre and acting.

Ms. Wendy Martin

For the past four years Wendy was Head of Performance & Dance at Southbank Centre, London where her achievements include creating the disability arts festival Unlimited. She was recently appointed Artistic Director of Perth International Arts Festival 2016-19.

Ms. Rosemary Miller

Details coming soon...

Mr. Jerry Remkes

Jerry Remkes has been employed as Dance Programmer for Arts Centre Melbourne since 2012. Before coming to Australia, Jerry worked as Executive Producer for anoukvandijk dc, the dance company of Dutch choreographer Anouk van Dijk (currently Artistic Director of Australian contemporary dance company Chunky Move).

Ms. Tammy Ryan

Tammy is the Coordinator, Programming & Arts Development at Frankston Arts Centre. Tammy’s experience in the performing arts sector spans over 15 years with extensive experience delivering dynamic events, festivals and public programs with tertiary qualifications in Contemporary Arts (Dance) and Arts Management. Tammy’s current role encompasses a broad range of activities involving an array of artistic genres from managing small scale events to major arts projects from conceptualisation, programming and community engagement.

Ms. Georgie Sedgwick

Georgie Sedgwick has over a decade of experience working in Indonesia and Australia on various arts projects and exchange programs across the visual and preforming arts. Currently Senior Producer at the Darwin Festival, she has also worked as Program Manager at Kultour (2010-12); Program Manager at South Project (2009-10); Manager of the Visual Arts Residency program and the Indonesia-Australia Arts Management Program at Asialink, the University of Melbourne (2004-2007); Communications Coordinator at Regional Arts Victoria (2007-2009); and was a member of the South Project Board from 2010-2014. During this time she has also produced and curated several independent cross-cultural and cross-art form projects and contributed articles and reviews to numerous arts publications.

Mr. Dave Sleswick

Dave Sleswick is a performance maker and creative producer, and is the founder and director of Brisbane-based producing house Motherboard Productions (2011). Dave was an Associate Producer for Next Wave Festival (2013-14) is currently the Producer for Contemporary Performance at Brisbane Powerhouse and a selected participant of the Asia Producers Platform (2014 - 2017).

Ms. Lyn Wallis

Lyn Wallis commenced as Artistic Director of the regionally based Hothouse Theatre in January 2015. Across 25 years, she has worked as a director, producer, programmer, performer and teacher. Between 2009 and 2014, she was Director of Theatre for the Australia Council for the Arts, playing a key role in the development of national policy and strategic initiatives for the Australian theatre sector.

Mr. Charles Wiles

Details coming soon...