Positions
Managing Director : 2009-2011 (3 annual festivals)
Production Manager : 2007-2008 (2 annual festivals)
Chair & Management Committee Member: 2005-2007
Alice Desert Festival is Central Australia’s premier arts and cultural festival, celebrating the desert and its rich cultural landscape. Every September for the last 11 years, the festival has enlivened and transformed Alice Springs with a bold cultural celebration.
The Alice Desert Festival shares the stories, songs and the unique lifestyle of Central Australia’s arid region. Featuring a vibrant program borne out of the desert landscape, they celebrate the dynamic exchange between cultures in the heart of Australia. Artists, dancers and musicians from some of the remotest communities in Central Australia perform beside a selection of Australia’s hottest acts. Indigenous musicians drive hundreds of red dusty kilometres, Wild bush foods are harvested and cooked into succulent dishes and choirs sing amidst ancient desert landscapes of gorges and gaps.
The Alice Desert Festival attracts audiences of around 50,000 people from around Australia to over 50 events across its season. The festival presents an atmosphere not found anywhere else in Australia, where strong traditional cultures and a vibrant contemporary arts community, work together in presenting an amazing 10 days.
During my tenure as Managing Director over 3 festivals, I increased income by over $200k, secured multi-year funding agreements, negotiated new corporate sponsorships, brokered several key partnerships and increased attendances at many signature events.
Roles & Responsibilities:
- Budget & Financial Management
- Secure Income – including applying/acquitting grants, brokering sponsorships, developing revenue strategies, handling event income and cash flow.
- Curate all Artistic Programming across multiple artforms and event formats
- Produce signature projects and events
- Coordinate Media, Marketing, Branding and Public interface strategies and processes, both locally and nationally.
- Represent the Festival in the media and several Committees, including the Regional Tourism & Events Committee
- Staff Recruitment for all project coordinators and staff
- All Reporting to community, partners and stakeholders.
- a whole lot more!!!