Initial speaker line up announced for Australian Festival Industry Conference 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.