Initial speaker line up announced for Australian Festival Industry Conference 2023

April 28, 2023

The organisers of the Australian Festival Industry Conference have announced the speakers who will address the 2023 event.

With its third edition being held on Wednesday 30th and Thursday 31st August at Luna Park Sydney, the key focus areas for the conference this year include sustainability and accessibility while its will also present a variety of new topics and discussions that haven’t been touched on before.

With the full program to be unveiled in the coming weeks, the current speaker line-up includes:

Keynote, Rhoda Roberts - Creative Director, Parrtjima Festival & First Nations Advisor, AGB Events
Keynote, Anthony Bastic - Chief Executive and Creative Director, AGB Events
Shannon Green - Senior Manager of Business Development, Sydney Showground
Liz Martin - Chief Executive, Accessible Arts NSW
Asheigh O’Gara - Event Manager, Ability Fest / Untitled Group
Jake Challenor - Chief Executive and co-founder, Sound Story
Andrew Macarthur - Managing Director, Clean Vibes & City Return and Earn
Jessica Wundke - Manager, Policy Reform - Green Industries SA
Lisa Dowsett - Head of Events and Partnerships, Northern Beaches Council
Greg Donavan - Managing Director, Outback Music Festival Group
Alana Hay - Founder and Managing Director, Milestone Creative
Sally Porteous - Managing Director, Red Lanyard, The Event Planners Workshop and the Event Managers Network
Jason Holmes - Managing Director, H2 Insurance Solutions
Badi Mahabat - Principle, Bold Futures & Casual Hands
Dr Abbas Elmualim - Partner, Bold Futures

Advising that she is thrilled to be welcoming another round of exceptional experts to this year’s event, Australian Festival Industry Conference (AFIC) founder and Event Director, Carlina Ericson stated “I’m proud to be announcing another round of speakers for this year’s event - from event producers, to industry representation bodies, to venues, Councils and consultancies, they each represent an important pocket of the industry.

“They will bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the discussion, drawing on their experience from working with some of the Australia’s biggest festivals, such as Australian Fashion Festival, Sydney Film Festival, Lost Paradise, Ability Fest, The Sun Herald City2Surf Sydney, GABS Craft Beer and Cider Festival Brisbane, Sydney Festival, St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, Sydney Writers’ Festival, Ultra Music Festival Melbourne, VIVID Sydney, plus many more across the country.”

AFIC is the Asia Pacific’s leading industry meeting place for festival management personnel and returns once again to present a range of industry-leading keynotes, presentations, panel discussions, workshops, trade show and evening networking events.

Early bird tickets are on sale now until 21st May, saving delegates 15% off the full registration price.

Click here for more information on AFIC in the Australasian Leisure Management calendar.

24th April 2023 - Adelaide Festival Centre 50th Anniversary concert to showcase all five festivals

23rd April 2023 - Parrtjima light festival wraps up its eighth successful year in Alice Springs

19th April 2023 - Kakadu festival spotlights indigenous bush foods and culture

6th April 2023 - Vivid Sydney 2023 to deliver most culturally relevant program in its event history

29th March 2023 - The Australian Heritage Festival returns with theme ‘Shared Stories’

28th March 2023 - Nine previous Artistic Directors curate 2023 Adelaide Cabaret Festival

25th March 2023 - Silent disco among offerings at Melbourne’s Ability Fest music festival

22nd March 2023 - New Chair and Board members for Perth Festival

22nd February 2023 - Parrtjima light festival returns in 2023 with exciting music program

17th March 2023 - Adelaide Fringe Festival aiming to be first event in Australia to sell one million tickets

6th September 2022 - Australian Festival Industry Conference charts key future directions

13th August 2022 - IRONMAN Group welcomes tomorrow’s return of Sydney City2Surf

9th June 2022 - Industry feedback sees Australian Festival Industry Conference add workforce skills and labour shortages discussion to program

30th August 2021 - AGB Events’ Anthony Bastic explains how events and cultural institutions will be reimagined post-COVID

13th April 2021 - AGB Events deliver Parrtjima Festival including travelling light installation

8th March 2021 - Australian Festival Industry Conference to return as a live event

13th January 2020 - Emergency Management and Fire Safety set to be key topics at 2020 Australian Festival Industry Conference

11th November 2019 - AGB Events to deliver Communicating the Arts conference

6th November 2019 - Inaugural Australian Festival Industry Conference deemed a success

12th October 2019 - Tamworth Country Music Festival executive to address inaugural Australian Festival Industry Conference

20th August 2019 - Australian Festival Industry Conference expands to two days

Support our industry news service
We hope that you value the news that we publish so while you're here can we ask for your support?

As an independent publisher, we need reader support for our industry news gathering so ask that - if you don't already do so - you back us by subscribing to the printed Australasian Leisure Management magazine and/or our online news.

Click here to view our subscription options.