EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

President

Bronwyn Edinger

Bronwyn Edinger is the General Manager of the City Recital Hall Angel Place and has a background in venue management, touring and producing.

She was previously the General Manager of Arts On Tour NSW during which time she was the Blue Heeler and Australian Presenters Group Convenor. She is currently convenor of the Arts NSW Performing Arts panel.

Other roles Bronwyn has held include Director of Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, President of INAPAC (Incorporation of ACT and NSW Performing Arts Centres), Chair of the Arts NSW Theatre Committee and a member of the NSW Premier’s Arts Advisory Council. Bronwyn was also the General Manager of Black Swan Theatre Company and in the mid nineties created Perth Theatre Company with Alan Becher.

Bronwyn has also worked in the private sector as a market research consultant, a marketing manager and managed a theatre restaurant.

Vice President

David Lloyd

David Lloyd (Victoria) has been Manager of The Capital – Bendigo's Performing Arts Centre since October 2004. Prior to this David was Deputy Director of the Alice Springs Cultural Precinct, a centre comprising performing arts, visual arts, function and museum spaces. He has had over 20 years of experience in the performing arts, commencing his career in the technical field and moving to a management role whilst completing a business degree in 1995.

Whilst in the Northern Territory David spent 2 years as Vice-President of the Northern Australian Regional Performing Arts Centres Association (NARPACA) prior to migrating to Victoria with his partner and 3 children.

He has acted as General Manager at the Darwin Entertainment Centre and Director of the Strehlow Research Centre in Alice Springs.

Treasurer

Steve Saffell

Steve Saffell (South Australia) is Country Arts SA’s Director, Venues and Resources and is responsible for the operation of four State Government owned art centres in regional SA, namely the Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre in Mount Gambier, Chaffey Theatre in Renmark, Northern Festival Centre (incorporating the Keith Michell Theatre) in Port Pirie and the Middleback Theatre and Whyalla Cinema in Whyalla.

Steve has a strong background in finance and arts administration having held numerous positions with the South Australian Museum, Arts SA and Country Arts SA since 1976. His other responsibilities with Country Arts SA currently include Human Resources, Information Technology, Risk Management and Occupational Health and Safety.

Steve is a CPA and oversees the accounting functions for Regional Arts Australia and is currently Treasurer and Board Member of Come Out, the Australian Festival for Young People.

Secretary

Destry Puia

Destry is General Manager of Gold Coast Arts Centre and has extensive experience within the arts and government sector in Australia and New Zealand. Destry was previously General Manager of The Events Centre on the Sunshine Coast and Centre Director for Kingston Arts Centre in Melbourne.

Destry is the current President of the Northern Australian Regional Performing Arts Centres Association (NARPACA), Councillor on the Performing Arts Touring Alliance (PATA) and was a former committee member of the Arts Industry Council of Victoria and Arts Queensland's Touring Strategy Advisory Committee.

Destry comes from a technical background having worked for a variety of organisations as Technical Manager, Stage Manager, Lighting Designer and Sound Engineer.

Public Officer

Bruce Carmichael

Bruce started in the entertainment industry in the 1970's, working backstage across most of Sydney's venues.

He moved to Canberra in the early '80's and worked freelance, for Jigsaw Theatre Company and the Canberra Theatre Company, before becoming Head Mechanist at the CTC in 1991.

Bruce moved quickly into Production Management for the venue, with the National Festivals of Australia Theatre for Robyn Archer, as well as all musicals and drama produced by the Canberra Theatre Trust.

In the mid 1990's Bruce became Operations Manager for CTC, managing all major hirers business, within the venue.

In 2007 Bruce became Director of the Canberra Theatre Centre.

Committee Member

Tim Munro

Tim Munro (Tasmania) has lived and worked in Hobart for most of his life, primarily as a lighting designer, production manager and theatre technician. After a career in the public sector, he joined the Theatre Royal's technical crew in 1995 and became head of the lighting department in1998. Tim was Operations Manager of the Theatre Royal from 2000 – 2004 and was appointed to the position of CEO of the Theatre Royal in April 2004.

As a theatrical lighting designer he has toured theatre productions extensively to most states of, (and many festival in) Australia and also to the UK, Canada, Malaysia and many times to New Zealand.

Lighting credits include: For Terrapin Puppet Theatre, Frankenstein, Blueback, relighting for Alice and stage manager: The BFG. For Robert Jarman, The Prisoner of Love, The Spectre of the Rose, The Laramie Project For the Theatre Royal, A Christmas Carol, The Kid, West Side Story, Sweet Charity. For The One Extra Dance Company, Waiting for Michael. For Island Production, The Tank, The Eye Witness, Roundabout For Anthos Theatre, Lighting and stage manager: Odyssey. For SoftCore, The Chalice, Private Dancer and for Scape, Who The F**k Is Erica Price.

Tim sits on several Arts Tasmania panels and was formerly chair of the Australian Script Centre and a board member of is theatre ltd. He also teaches theatrical lighting and runs workshops for many primary, secondary and tertiary students and consults on theatre development.

Committee Member

Hamish McDonald

Hamish McDonald (Northern Territory) is the General Manager of the Darwin Entertainment Centre.

Prior to this he was General Manager at Performance Space in Sydney, and he has also worked in the fields of visual arts, literature and community arts.

Committee Member

Robert Housley

Robert is the manager of Don Russell Performing Arts Centre - a City of Gosnells venue in suburban Perth - a position he has held since 2001.

He has had more than 20 years experience in the performing arts commencing with a drama and media studies degree at Murdoch University, at which time he had an avid interest in experimental theatre.

He then worked in newspapers for many years principally as an arts journalist, a career beginning in regional WA, then on to Perth, the U.K., South Africa and The Netherlands.

He began working in venue management during the late 1990’s when he spent two years as the operations manager at arguably Perth’s most charismatic live music venue, The Fly By Night Musicians Club.

He has had a lengthy affiliation with the Perth International Arts Festival (formerly the Festival of Perth) covering it as a journalist and managing its club for three years.

In his current role, he has been engaged in presenting national touring shows for more than six years either through the Long Paddock/Playing Australia process or through the WA regional touring network CircuitWest and the state touring coordinator Country Arts WA.

Committee Member

Peter Owens

Peter Owens (Queensland) is Strategic Manager Venues and Events for Rockhampton Regional Council. Previously APACA President and formerly President Northern Australian Regional Performing Arts Centres Association (NARPACA), Peter has an extensive knowledge of performing arts touring in regional Queensland having also chaired the Arts Queensland Performing Arts Grants Committee. Peter is currently the Queensland APACA executive representative and is a member of the Playing Australia Committee.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Rick Heath

Rick has worked in the performing arts industry across Australia for some 20 years. He is the Director of Push Management Pty Ltd, which undertakes project management and consultancy for the arts industry.

In 2006 and 2007 Rick was General Manager of Buzz Dance Theatre. This followed his return to Perth from the Sydney Opera House where he held the position of Event Operations Manager. Rick’s professional involvement in the theatre industry began as a dresser for the touring production of the Australian Opera’s Don Giovanni in1988. That same year he graduated from the WA Academy of Performing Arts in Stage Management. He has since completed a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) and has worked extensively in both production and administration for many arts companies in WA and on the East Coast. He has co-produced work with Black Swan Theatre Co and held a variety of roles with companies such as WA Theatre Company, Buzz Dance Theatre, Dance North (Townsville), Chrissie Parrot Dance Company, Country Arts WA, Barking Gecko & Perth Theatre Company. Rick has been intimately involved in the development of national touring of the performing arts in Australia through his work as a ‘Blue Heeler’ and whilst Touring Consultant at Arts on Tour NSW.

Rick was Chair of Steps Youth Dance Company for eight years, he was also Chair of Ausdance WA, and since 2009, has been Project Facilitator for the Contemporary Dance Model Development project [Future Moves], a $1.6M state government initiative for the development of Contemporary Dance in Western Australia.

Rick works and lives in the Perth hills with his two young children and Molly the dog.

You can contact Rick directly at rick[at]pushmanagement.com.au