Australian Festival Industry Conference
8-9 September, 2025
Rivershed, Brisbane
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AFIC is the Asia Pacific’s leading industry meeting place for festival management personnel who deliver quality music, arts & culture, food & drink, ideas and sporting festivals. Learn more
Meet our first round of 2025 speakers
Keynote: John Rostron, CEO of the United Kingdom’s Association for Independent Festivals (AIF).
• Greg Cavanagh, CEO, Gympie Music Muster
• Charlie Cush, CEO, Brisbane Festival
• Vicky Lowry, General Manager, Deni Ute Muster
• Chris Woods, Head of Partnerships, APAC, Flicket
• Sylvie Maclean, Head of Commercial, Tixel
• Louise Bezzina, Artistic Director, Brisbane Festival
• Heidi Lenffer, Founder and Director, Feat.
• Alana Hay, Founder and Managing Director, Milestone Creative
• Jason Holmes, Managing Director of H2 Insurance Solutions
• Badi Noble, Founder and Director of Casual Hands
More to be announced, with our full program due to be unveiled in the coming weeks.
Early bird tickets are on sale NOW until 30 April, 2025.
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2025 Speakers
John Rostron
John Rostron CEO, Association for Independent Festivals (United Kingdom) John Rostron is the Chief Executive of the Association of Independent Festivals, the UK's festival representative body. AIF membership has grown rapidly in recent years and now supports around...
Greg Cavanagh
Greg Cavanagh CEO, Gympie Music Muster Greg joined the Apex Club of Gympie in 1999. During his time in the club, he held numerous positions on the Muster organising committee and contributed countless volunteer hours to the event. In 2016 Greg joined the board of...
Charlie Cush
Charlie Cush CEO, Brisbane Festival Charlie is the CEO of Brisbane Festival, one of the city’s most anticipated annual events, celebrating arts and culture. In 2020, it was among the first major live performance events during COVID-19, employing 1,000+ artists,...
Vicky Lowry
Vicky Lowry General Manager - Deni Play on the Plains Festival Ltd Vicky is the General Manager of Deni Play on the Plains Festival Ltd, overseeing the renowned Deni Ute Muster and other regional events. Deni Ute Muster is a nationally iconic event that celebrates...
Chris Woods
Chris Woods Head of Partnerships, APAC - Flicket Flicket is a leading global white-label ticketing and CRM platform with a built-in resale system and works with the likes of Woodford Folk Festival, Good Food & Wine Show and the Royal Toowoomba Show, to name a few....
Sylvie Maclean
Sylvie Maclean Head of Commercial - Tixel Sylvie is Head of Commercial at Tixel, Australia’s leading ticket resale marketplace, which has been safeguarding event access and driving incremental revenue for major festivals, promoters, and venues for over eight years....
Louise Bezzina
Louise Bezzina Artistic Director - Brisbane Festival Louise is the Artistic Director of Brisbane Festival - Queensland’s largest annual arts event. A visionary leader, she has significantly shaped the Queensland arts scene for over 20 years. In 2020, she delivered one...
Heidi Lenffer
Heidi Lenffer Founder - FEAT. (Future Energy Artists) Heidi is an award-winning recording artist and climate entrepreneur and the founder of FEAT. (Future Energy Artists) — a climate innovations agency that mobilises the cultural and financial power of live...
Alana Hay
Alana Hay Founder & Managing Director - Milestone Creative Australia Alana 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...
Jason Holmes
Jason Holmes Founder - H2 Insurance Solutions Jason 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...
Badi Noble
Badi Noble Founder & Director - Casual Hands Badi, along with his sister Shabnam, founded Casual Hands with the ambition to support the community, workforce and to drive change for good in the industry. Badi is a recognised expert in the field, having been...
Why attend AFIC?
AFIC is the Asia Pacific’s leading industry meeting place for festival management personnel.
It’s a rare and vital opportunity to:
Network with professionals from across Australia
- Meet like-minded professionals
- Expand your national client base and form new partnerships
- Acquire new staff
- Discover new suppliers and/or reinforce existing supplier relations
Educate yourself & your staff
- Gain valuable insights into the future of our industry
- Obtain timely and targeted information to ensure your business’s survival
- Engage in robust conversations and contribute to developing best-practice
- Reinforce your professional standing in the Australian festival community
What previous delegates and speakers say about AFIC…
It was a real pleasure and great to be involved in the event for the first time. You’re (Carlina Ericson) superb at organising events and the boat party was outstanding, you really nailed that one. The food was excellent, along with the whole crowd. Thanks again as I wouldn’t have ventured out here if it wasn’t for your event.
A wonderful conference for industry professionals from the festival landscape to share knowledge, learn about innovative developments, exchange information and discuss the key issues the industry faces. I was able to network and hear from some of the most experienced professionals on important topics. Being the only conference in Australia dedicated to servicing festival industry professionals I felt it was important to attend the inaugural Australian Festival Industry Conference.
Taking part in AFIC 2022 was such a memorable and enjoyable experience. As someone who has spent most of my career working in the music industry, it was so beneficial for me to meet the key players of the festival and events industry and hear about their challenges and triumphs through a series of panels, workshops and keynote speeches. There were inspiring take-aways and of course, some great networking and new friendships formed. Would highly recommend AFIC to anyone involved in any facet of both the festival and events industry (regional and metro) as well as the music industry in general.
Australia’s festival industry needs a place to collaborate, focus, share, and innovate together as a group. AFIC was everything the industry needs. This conference will become a critical piece of industry infrastructure in years to come.
I was recently a speaker at AFIC 2022. It was expertly run and Carlina was a great support in the lead-up to and during the event. The event itself was an excellent way to connect with festivals and events people across lots of different industries and build some fantastic new contacts and lots of new knowledge from the varied presentations. It was a nice way for like-minded folk to come together and learn from each other in a fun and friendly environment. Highly recommend this event and looking forward to coming back next year!
The Australian Festival Industry Conference is fast becoming the annual go to conference to better understand best practices in the event and festival space. It is a fantastic opportunity to network and learn from industry professionals across multiple disciplines. Discussions about emerging trends in events and festivals, including the use of technology, was most valuable.
All the speakers were relevant to events and it was a great way to network with other event people. The location was easy to travel to and the resort was perfect.
I attended AFIC for the first time in 2022. The speakers were very engaging and packed with knowledge. I came away with solid actions and practical content that I can share with my team and event organisers. The networking was invaluable – I made many new connections that I know we can build on in future. I look forward to 2023!
You did a brilliant job of curating relevant and useful presentations for the inaugural event. I wouldn’t have changed anything & I found it a very useful event for networking.
Latest news & updates
First round of speakers announced for 2025 event
The Australian Festival Industry Conference (AFIC) has released its first round of speakers who will appear at its fourth event, to be held across Monday 8 – Tuesday 9 September at Rivershed, Brisbane. AFIC – the Asia Pacific’s leading industry meeting place for...
2025 speaker EOIs now open
Speaker expressions of interest (EOIs) are now open for the Australian Festival Industry Conference (AFIC), which will be held across 8-9 September 2025 on Meanjin country, Brisbane, Queensland. EOIs are being welcomed from experts, practitioners, researchers and...
Australian Festival Industry Conference announces 2025 dates
The Australian Festival Industry Conference (AFIC) will return again in 2025 across 8-9 September at Rivershed in Brisbane.AFIC is the only conference in Australia dedicated exclusively to servicing the thousands of festival industry professionals that produce quality...