Brad Rush

President, Stage Queensland
Service Manager Creative Arts, Redland City Council 

Brad is a Music/Arts/Business alumni from QUT and has balanced a business career along with a deep connection and passion for community arts practice. He is an established innovative cultural leader with extensive executive management level experience. Through the lens of Senior Management, Programming, Executive Producing and Artistic Cultural Leadership he has worked for Qld Arts Council, HOTA, Adelaide Fringe Festival and Geelong Arts Centre. After returning home to SE Qld in late 2020, he is now posted at Redland City Council and manages Redland Performing Arts Centre, Redland Art Galleries and the region’s Cultural Strategy, and is also proud to serve on the Board of Directors for The Empire Theatre Trust. At his core, is his spiritual home on a piano stool.

Heru Pinkasova

Singer, Independent

PNG-Australian soprano Heru Pinkasova was raised in Cairns, before studying classical singing in Brisbane and Czechia. In 2023 she created the role of Maria in Three Marys, an award-winning opera by composer Andree Greenwell & librettist Christine Evans.  A uniquely versatile talent, in 2022 Heru premiered Bilum Mamma, an autobiographical work, weaving her stories through reimagined Papuan folk songs, en route to the classical canon creating a soulful operatic cabaret. For Adelaide Fringe Festival & The Judith Wright Centre Heru performed with Hot Brown Honey Cabaret. She worked with Opera Queensland in mainstage productions, school residencies, new work developments and is Young Artist alumni. In 2021 she collaborated with award-winning beatboxer Dr Rhythm creating Songs My Aunties Taught Me, a convention-busting blend of opera and beats. Heru cherishes stories that shape us and new music. In March this year Heru charmed audiences with Pacific Harmonies, a solo recital for Opera Queensland.     

Jessica Lamb

Creative Producer — DARTS, JUTE Theatre Company

Jess Lamb is the Creative Producer of JUTE Theatre Company’s Driving and Activating the Regional Theatre Sector (DARTS) initiative. Fuelled by a passion for creating quality theatre experiences in regional and rural contexts, she joined the JUTE team as an industry placement in 2023, bringing a foundation of knowledge and skills developed through her experiences as a PhD Candidate (applied theatre), producer and educator.

In addition to her work with JUTE, Jess is a practicing playwright and co-Founder of Midpoint Theatre Company, a fledgling professional theatre company dedicated to developing and sharing new work with Central Queensland audiences.

www.jute.com.au/darts

Daryl Raven

Chief Executive Officer, Queensland Music Festival

Having amassed significant experience leading experiential businesses within the tourism and events industry Daryl brings a track record of strategic clarity, operational execution, and customer centric success. Leading some of Australia's biggest businesses globally, and now at home, his experience is invaluable in driving QMF’s future growth plans, including the expansion and enhancement of the industry leading cultural tourism initiative, the Queensland Music Trails.

www.qmf.org.au

Julie Beveridge

Senior Manager, Partnerships and Investment, Arts Queensland

Julie Beveridge is a Senior Investment and Partnership Manager at Arts Queensland. Julie has 20 years’ experience in Queensland’s arts, not for profit and public sectors.

Bradley Chatfield

Head of First Nations Programming, QPAC
Committee Member, Stage Queensland

Bradley’s roles over more than 36 years in the creative and performing arts industry include performing artist, rehearsal director, teacher, educator, mentor and arts advisor.  Bradley currently curates the First Nations Programming at Queensland Performing Arts Centre honouring our First Nations storytellers, and “Clancestry” - a celebration of arts and culture at QPAC. 

Born in Mordialloc, Victoria, Bradley is a descendant of the Kamilaroi people. Upon graduating from The Australian Ballet School, Bradley joined the Hong Kong Ballet. From 1991-2009 he danced with Sydney Dance Company.

Bradley has received numerous dance awards, including recognition for the lead dance role in a touring season of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats”,  and has been named in Sydney Morning Herald’s “Top 100 Most Influential People in Sydney”. He has served on the boards of Blakdance, Australasian dance Collective and the Supercell Dance Festival, as well as being a peer assessor for The Australian Council for the Arts.

www.qpac.com.au

Adam Tucker

Executive Producer, Opera Queensland

Raised in regional Queensland, Adam has over 20 years of experience in the for purpose and commercial performing arts industry in UK and Australia as an executive and creative leader, producer, educator, and artist, with demonstrated success working with boards in both small and large organisations. At Opera Queensland Adam supports strategic planning and is responsible for teams working across Music, Development, HR, and regional programming. In addition to his work at OQ, Adam is completing a full-time PhD at Queensland University of Technology investigating Creative Leadership during crisis and change, is a peer assessor for funding programs of Creative Australia and Arts Queensland, and is Chair of the Advisory Committee of The Little Red Company.

www.oq.com.au

Peter Hurren

Business Development & Technical Sales, Behind The Scenes

Peter brings an eclectic mix of skills and resources to Behind The Scenes. Having worked in commercial TV and Radio, both on air and in production before following an even more creative path. Turning his hand to design and operation of sound and lighting for live shows, while successfully adding published lyricist, author and producer to his credits. Now firmly ensconced as a part of the team, Peter is one of the valuable creative and technical resources available for clients of Behind The Scenes.

www.behindthescenes.com.au

Angela Chaplin

Director of Touring and Engagement, Stage Queensland

A proven industry leader Angela has had a distinguished career spanning over several decades that has embraced multi-arts forms and an array of senior industry roles. This has included serving as the CEO and Artistic Director of Arena Theatre, Magpie Theatre, and Deckchair Theatre as well as the Executive Director of Ausdance Queensland. Having had the privilege of collaborating extensively with First Nations artists, she is committed to creating systems that allow for culturally safe arts practice, including touring, for First Nations peoples. Most recently,her work as a Producer, managing and delivering an array of complex projects for QPAC, has further enriched her understanding of the complexities of touring and the communities it creates.

www.stagequeensland.com.au

Bill Owens

Managing Director, Veracity

Bill Owens is Managing Director of Veracity, a leading IT services company, and is a company director on a number of boards. He is chair of Relationships Australia (Qld), a member of the Gymnastic Australia Commercial Committee and a director of The Lady Musgrave Trust, Queensland’s oldest charity that houses vulnerable women and girls.

He works at the intersection of technology and governance so has a keen interest in all things data and data governance.

www.veracity.com.au

Lisa Summer-Hayes

Director, Audiences and Visitor Experience, Queensland Ballet

Joining Queensland Ballet just months before the global pandemic sent the sector into lockdown, Lisa has her feet firmly planted with our state’s ambitious ballet company. She brings diverse experience from education, government and not-for-profit into the Arts, and has built a commercially minded team that has proven success in growing audiences and building brand equity.

In her role, she oversees the Queensland Ballet brand, marketing and audience development, communications and publicity. Since the redevelopment of QB’s home, the Thomas Dixon Centre, Lisa also oversees the Visitor Experience team, which includes ticketing, box office and front of house.  A relative newbie in the Arts Management space, Lisa is interested in the role that ballet and movement-based artistic endeavour can play in building connected, engaged communities.

www.queenslandballet.com.au

Charles Wiles

Regional Arts Manager, RASN North Queensland

Deeply embedded in regional arts in the Far North, Charles managed and programmed the Centre of Contemporary Arts in Cairns from 2009 to 2017. He successfully championed the development and presentation of local contemporary and first nations works as well as presenting a unique program of national works. As part of this role Charles was Arts Queensland’s representative in the Far North and contributed greatly to the centre moving to its current indigenous focus as Bulmba-ja Arts Centre.

Charles has worked as a Producer, Production Manager and Lighting Designer across companies such as Sydney Dance Company, Force Majeure, Circa, Company 2, Dancenorth Australia and the Flying Fruit Fly Circus. As well as venues such as Brisbane Powerhouse and Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts and as a producer for Cluster Arts.

Currently Charles remains in the far north in his role as Regional Arts Manager for the Regional Arts Services Network North Queensland.

www.rasnnq.au

Lara Croyden

Independent

Lara Croydon is a proud Gudjala Kabulba woman, who was raised on Gubbi Gubbi country and has been based on Turrbal and Yuggera country for the last decade. She has performed for Flipside, Casus, Vulcana, Circus Oz and La Boite, been a producer at Cluster Arts, Queensland Theatre, Playlab and QPAC and MC’d for events such as APAM, Clancestry Festival and AACTA over her years in the industry.

Katherine Conner

Executive Director, PAC Australia

Katherine Connor has worked as a performing arts presenter, a producer and an arts planning consultant in Australia for 25 years.

Katherine has undertaken a variety of producing roles either in a lead or co-producer capacity, from large-scale commercial theatre to independent producing across multi-artform projects. She was previously a director at a venue management and consulting firm where she was also a venue manager and a project director, delivering business plans, feasibility studies and project briefs as well as establishing operations at venues across Australia. She was also Director of Theatre One Productions 2011-2018.

Katherine has produced the Australian Performing Arts Exchange since 2015 and is the Executive Director at PAC Australia, delivering the organisation’s sector development, capacity building and advocacy priorities.

www.paca.org.au

Criena Gehrke

Executive Director, Queensland Theatre

Criena is the Executive Director of Queensland Theatre. She has a diverse background in arts management and a passion for the role of arts and culture in building strong and connected communities. Criena previously worked with Circa, Australia’s Contemporary Circus Company as Group Executive – Strategy and Impact and spent five years as the inaugural CEO of HOTA Gold Coast where she led the development of the cultural precinct including $140 million of infrastructure projects and welcoming 700,000 visitors each year. Criena has also held the role of Executive Co-ordinator, Arts and Culture, City of Gold Coast, and worked in the youth arts and disability sectors in Victoria. She was instrumental in developing the Gold Coast’s cultural strategy and helped oversee the Arts and Cultural Program of the 2018 Commonwealth Games.  Criena is also the current Chair of PAC (Performing Arts Connections) Australia.

www.queenslandtheatre.com.au

Kate Schaffner

Director of Creative Workplaces, Creative Australia

Kate is a dedicated workplace relations professional and an experienced leader. Before joining Creative Australia in January 2024, she held a number of roles at the Fair Work Commission. Kate worked on the implementation of workplace relations policy reforms during the coronavirus pandemic and in response to the Respect@Work Recommendations, and has led national case management, information and engagement teams.

Kate is a strong advocate for plain language communications. She is a longstanding champion for clear and accessible information for workers and businesses.

Kate holds an Executive Master of Public Administration from the University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Tasmania. A former allied health professional, Kate also has Bachelor and Master qualifications in Health and Clinical Sciences.

https://creative.gov.au/creative-workplaces