Australian Festival Industry Conference 2023

A Widjabul woman from the Bundjalung territories, Rhoda Roberts AO and an experienced festival director and versatile indigenous arts executive. She holds over 25 years experience in international and national major event curation across commercial, community and non-profit organisations.

Rhoda’s celebrated career highlights include artistic director of the Festival of the Dreaming staged in the lead up to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. She was the creative director for the Awakening Segment Sydney Olympic Games 2000 Opening Ceremony.

Rhoda is the creative director of the Parrtjima Festival (NT) and festival director of Bluesfest's Boomerang Festival (NSW). 

Further hero events include: Rugby World Cup 2003, Athens handover ceremony, the opening ceremony of the Musee Du Quay Branley, Paris, Japan Expo, World youth Day events and Australia Day events, where she developed and directed the Woggan ma Gule annual ceremony for ten years. 

She was a co-founding member of Australia's first national Aboriginal theatre company, the Aboriginal National Theatre Trust (ANTT) and coined the term Welcome to Country, “establishing a focus on protocol manuals and welcomes by local custodians for the arts and media industries".

Rhoda is the co-founder the Aboriginal National Theater Trust. She was commissioned by Opera Australia to direct and write “Yarrabah the Musical”, following the success of her direction of the international Opera Miricoloa a Milanao by Italy’s Giorgio Battistelli for the Brisbane Festival 2009.

She is an experienced content producer, having written, directed and produced several documentaries, including In the Gutter No Way for SBS TV (1989) and was the first Aboriginal to host a national prime time current affairs program

Jason Holmes is a specialist in insurance for festivals, major events, entertainment, film, conference and exhibition industries. He began his insurance career with an international broker back in 1995, and over the last 27 years, has looked after insurance for all facets of the entertainment industry. In 2007, he founded H2 Insurance Solutions.

With a portfolio of national and international clients, including TEG, Frontier Touring, Regional Touring, Zaccaria Concerts & Touring, The Untitled Group, Chugg Entertainment, Bluesfest, Live Nation, Nitro Circus and many more, Jason has all the tools and experience to best represent his clients to insurers.

Jason is always looking for areas of improvement and prides himself on understanding the unique needs of his clients, to ensure their specifications are met and expectations are exceeded. Whether it be a local community event or a large festival or national/international tour, a local TV production or an international feature film, H2 Insurance Solutions have an experienced team throughout Australia and New Zealand and across the globe who are ready to provide insurance advice and solutions with service and integrity.

Alana Hay is the Founder and Managing Director of Milestone Creative Australia - a multi award-winning event marketing, digital, social and creative agency. Alana is an experienced marketing professional with 20+ years’ experience in operations and marketing for major events and festivals, business events, venues, hospitality, music, entertainment and tourism. She has previously served as a director of Meetings & Events Australia.

Alana has led hundreds of national and global event marketing campaigns and strategies for festivals and major events. Examples include SailGP, Bondi Festival, Very Short Film Festival, Naidoc Week celebrations, Pride and Joy Sydney, Cheeky Food Events, Park Sounds, and many more!

After spending 35 years working in senior positions in the banking and insurance industries, Greg fell into the events industry in 2013 when he decided to set up a 250km charity run in the Simpson Desert (QLD), called the Big Red Run.

After featuring some live music as part of the run, he realised there was an appetite to take it further. He took a $300k redundancy pay out and started the the Big Red Bash - the world's most remote music festival! The Big Red Bash has grown significantly over the past 10 years and now attracts crowds of over 10,000 annually. Watch Australian Story's recent documentary on Greg here.

With the successful Big Red Bash firmly established, in 2022 he established a sister event on the Mundi Mundi Plains near Broken Hill, called the Mundi Mundi Bash.

Berish Bilander is a composer, pianist and CEO of Green Music Australia, a globally recognised not-for-profit dedicated to helping the music industry reduce its environmental impact. He has toured extensively with his own ensembles and as a freelance musician for bands like Vika and Linda Bull, and dedicated his activist life to climate and social justice. With over two decades of experience in the music sector as both a performer and arts executive, Berish has played a pivotal role in leading sustainability initiatives, including spearheading the global #BYOBottle campaign and helping to launch Australia’s first green festival alliance - Party with the Planet.

Jeremy Fleming is an award-winning leader, entrepreneur, and founder of Stagekings, Australia's premier designer and fabricator of temporary event structures. Boasting over 28 years’ experience in scaffolding, Jeremy is renowned for expanding the horizons of temporary structures with Stagekings. 

In 2020, Jeremy navigated Stagekings through the challenging COVID landscape, establishing it as one of Australia's most remarkable pivot success stories. This transition projected the company onto the global stage and paved the way for the business to expand its reach and build upon its solid reputation for pioneering designs and creativity. 

Luke Trickett is the founder of the public equities fund, Blue Stamp Company, which he has led and managed for more than 13 years. Luke has also founded two other fintech startups, Marmalade and Backpocket. Backpocket is the first payment service in the world that allows customers to checkout and instantly share the cost. Group Organisers are able to book tickets without footing the bill and share a unique payment link instantly with other payers to settle up within a week. Since launch in late 2022, Backpocket has helped thousands of Aussies pay for group experiences and receives consistently strong customer reviews.

Andrew Stone is a veteran in the world of festivals and major events! With over 20 years of invaluable experience, Andrew has had the pleasure of working with renowned Global organisations such as SFX Sports Group, IMG, Supercars, and eps Australia.

With an impressive background in event management, his knowledge runs deep. Andrew’s professional attention now focuses on insights gathered from analysing consumer engagement and behaviour inside live event spaces, shining a spotlight on the transformative power of passive data collection.

Get ready as Andrew takes us on a journey into the future of event experiences and how passive, non first party data can shape them

Rob leads the Olinga Group of companies which includes Bold Futures and a leading event labour hire firm Casual Hands. For more than 20 years Rob has worked with large technology organisations aligning best of breed technology and innovative services to create outcomes for public sector customers.

Rob's primary focus is applying Olinga capability to common customer challenges in alignment with their operational and financial constraints.

Bold Futures' core business includes ESG strategy and competitive advantage; climate change, circular economy business models; traceability and transparency across the value chain; executing, embedding, and scaling complex sustainability transformation programs; and harnessing digital technologies and analytics to enable sustainability.

Dr Elmualim is a passionate sustainability leader with proven track record in architecture, engineering and construction for Sustainable Built Environment with acumen, drive and tenacity in project management, CSR and stakeholder engagement and management. Worked globally and travelled extensively with cultural sensitivity and diversity celebration resolve. Wide higher education and industrial experience, globally and in UK, Australia and the UAE. Thorough understanding of the sustainability trajectories driving the construction and built environment industries – across the supply chain – including sustainable facilities management and the Circular Economy.  Thorough understanding of current and future trends that impact the provision of education, training and employment such as sustainability, globalisation, and the gig-economy.

After spending 35 years working in senior positions in the banking and insurance industries, Greg fell into the events industry in 2013 when he decided to set up a 250km charity run in the Simpson Desert (QLD), called the Big Red Run.

After featuring some live music as part of the run, he realised there was an appetite to take it further. He took a $300k redundancy pay out and started the the Big Red Bash - the world's most remote music festival! The Big Red Bash has grown significantly over the past 10 years and now attracts crowds of over 10,000 annually. Watch Australian Story's recent documentary on Greg here.

With the successful Big Red Bash firmly established, in 2022 he established a sister event on the Mundi Mundi Plains near Broken Hill, called the Mundi Mundi Bash.

Jessica works across policy areas covering food and organic waste, single-use plastics, events waste management and packaging, to align policy outcomes to support strategic objectives for resource recovery, and promoting the circular economy in South Australia.

Jessica led the development of the 2022 Guidelines for Waste and Recycling at Events and Venues to support event and facilities managers to implement systems to reduce material impacts of South Australian events.

Andrew Macarthur is an Australian entrepreneur and the founder of Clean Vibes and City Return and Earn. Both companies provide sustainable event cleaning and waste management across Australia, as well as the City Earn and Return depot in Mascot.

Andrew has extensive experience in the events industry and has worked with some of Australia’s most prominent festivals and major events, such as Australian Fashion Festival, Lost Paradise, Oktoberfest Adelaide, The Sun Herald City2Surf Sydney, GABS Craft Beer and Cider Festival Brisbane, Ultra Music Festival Melbourne, plus many more across the country!

He is passionate about providing high-quality cleaning and sustainable event waste management services that are both eco-friendly and affordable. 

Andrew has worked his way up the ranks from a general cleaner to managing large retail commercial contracts with the world’s largest cleaning company. After noticing a gap in the market, Andrew conceived the idea of moving into the sustainable event market of the cleaning industry and thus Clean Vibes was born.

Under his leadership, Clean Vibes has grown to become one of the most reputable cleaning and waste management companies in Australia. Clean Vibes now has multi-year contracts in every state and territory across the country. Recently the company signed a multi-year contract with Northern Territory Major Events Company, along with a significant partnership with Major Events Gold Coast. 

Andrew’s commitment to excellence and sustainability has earned him a reputation as a leader in the event industry.

Rob leads the Olinga Group of companies which includes Bold Futures and a leading event labour hire firm Casual Hands. For more than 20 years Rob has worked with large technology organisations aligning best of breed technology and innovative services to create outcomes for public sector customers.

Rob's primary focus is applying Olinga capability to common customer challenges in alignment with their operational and financial constraints.

Bold Futures' core business includes ESG strategy and competitive advantage; climate change, circular economy business models; traceability and transparency across the value chain; executing, embedding, and scaling complex sustainability transformation programs; and harnessing digital technologies and analytics to enable sustainability.

Sally Porteous is Managing Director of event production company Red Lanyard, where she produces festivals, conferences, events and meetings.

She is also the creator of the Event Planners Workshop, a series of training, coaching and mentoring products to bridge the gap between accredited education and learn-by-doing.

Sally coordinates and facilitates The Event Managers Network, a membership organisation that connects, supports and networks suppliers and event managers. She also leads the EMN Collective - a three day conference that brings together, connects, trains and supports experienced event managers, one off planners and industry suppliers in a unique, vibrant and memorable event.

Sally Porteous is Managing Director of event production company Red Lanyard, where she produces festivals, conferences, events and meetings.

She is also the creator of the Event Planners Workshop, a series of training, coaching and mentoring products to bridge the gap between accredited education and learn-by-doing.

Sally coordinates and facilitates The Event Managers Network, a membership organisation that connects, supports and networks suppliers and event managers. She also leads the EMN Collective - a three day conference that brings together, connects, trains and supports experienced event managers, one off planners and industry suppliers in a unique, vibrant and memorable event.