Anywhere People
Anywhere Festivals is a community passionate about making it possible for performance makers to create performances and audiences to experience story telling anywhere.
Over fifteen years, Anywhere Festival has worked with thousands of performance makers and talented people across many disciplines.
Over that time we have had many amazing board members and creatives who we continue to consult and take advice from after their formal term ends with Anywhere Festival.
Read about our immediate and extended team and staff alumni below.
Paul Osuch | Founder, CEO and Artistic Director of Anywhere Festivals
Paul created Anywhere Festival in 2011 to fill the limited opportunities for independent performance makers in Brisbane, with a festival that made it possible to present anywhere instead of within the expensive and restrictive confines of the small number of traditional live performance venues.
Since then, he has worked with 4,706 performance makers to create 3,829 performances of 917 productions including 712 World Premiere works to just under a million audience members with people from Little Match Productions to Tim Ross, Sui Ensemble to Imploding Fictions, Merlynn Tong to The Travelling Sisters, Access Arts to Queensland Ballet in spaces from the Spring Hill Baths and Reservoirs, to the HMS Diamantina, King George Square, backyards, podiatrists, car parks, hospitals and lounge rooms.
Just as importantly, he has demonstrated this can be done with a level of funding over 15 years less than the annual budget of the major orgs. It's all about partnerships with businesses, residential homes and councils that highlight what is already there instead of throwing cash into a glass edged shiny concrete monument.
Paul has always been focused on asking "Why?" along with "Why not?", challenging the status quo at every opportunity to make things better, or at least a hell of a lot more interesting.
Paul Osuch holds a Bachelor of Business from the Queensland University of Technology completed the NIDA Playwrights Studio and has worked up and down the east coast, London and Los Angeles. He was an Australia Council for the Arts Emerging Leader, and a Queensland Government Cultural Champion.
Kirsten Sealey | Moreton Bay Creative Producer
Kirsten is an experienced and passionate Creative Producer with significant experience within small to medium arts organisations.
Her key strengths lie in creative development, curation and event management, marketing, brand development, audience engagement and the development and nurturing of stakeholder relationships. Kirsten is thrilled to be working along the Anywhere Festival team as the Creative Producer for Anywhere Festival Moreton Bay in 2024.
Melissa Western | Cultural Programs Officer at Moreton Bay Regional Council and Moreton Bay Creative Producer 2021-23
Over the past twenty years Melissa Western has delivered critically acclaimed performances to audiences locally in Brisbane, nationally throughout Australia and internationally in the UK and France.
Her self-penned one-woman musical Ella, Marilyn, Marlene and Me was an official sell-out for two consecutive years at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, garnering five star reviews from ThreeWeeks, "absolutely brilliant… enthralling vocal talents wowed the audience" and four stars from The Scotsman, "Melissa Western is on fire… it's mainly about the eyes, the face and the voice." In 2013, Melissa's new original comedy-cabaret entitled Sweet, Sour and Saucy received critical and audience acclaim, Western being touted as a "force of nature" (Broadway Baby, 5 stars).
Mellissa Western is the Cultural Programs Officer at Moreton Bay Regional Council and leads the Anywhere Festival in the Moreton Bay Region with Creative Producer Kirsten Sealey
Board, Alumni & Advisors
Michael Peterson | Chair
Senior management executive with 20 years of high-level knowledge of, and experience in, the arts, cultural and creative sectors.
Proven expertise in the development and maintenance of professional relationships with multiple stakeholders; involving corporate, community and government agencies.
Advanced negotiation practice and customer service behaviour. Exemplary record of innovative strategic policy and planning. Extensive knowledge of local, national, and international cultural trends, issues, and opportunities in the arts and cultural sector.
Lisa Pollard | Treasurer
Lisa is a qualified accountant with a strong business, finance and governance background.
Lisa works in the Queensland Government, and until recently, was Director of outsourced program delivery (grants programs) in the Department of Housing.
Andrew Gillanders | Secretary
Andrew is a Meanjin playwright with an ecclectic skillset cut from an even stranger career path.
Growing up in rural Queensland he has worked across digital marketing, producing, and automation and loves working in high performing teams to push the envelope at every turn. Living with Bipolar-II his stories are often concerned with justice but keep an eye out for forms that tend to the experimental, interactive, and weird.
He loves meeting people, so if you can track him down, feel free to say hi.
Read more about our extended board and alumni below. Like to Join? Check Out All the Details on Our Join Our Board Page.
Trudy Gunston | Director '23 - '24
Trudy Gunston is a proud Kullilli woman, passionate about advocating for and driving the success of First Nations creators, particularly in the arts and contemporary dance.
Throughout her career, she has worked extensively in the independent theatre and arts and is currently the Operations Manager at BlakDance.
Zed Hopkins | Brisbane Producer '22 - '24 and Fringe Brisbane Artistic Director '22
Zed Hopkins is a multi-disciplinary artist and producer with a wide range of experience across performance, video, and installation mediums. Originally from Brisbane, Zed spent four years working and studying around the world before returning home in 2020.
His work explores the space between art forms and interrogates themes surrounding youth, identity, and community. As both an independent artist and co-founder of the emerging art collective 'The Crash Site' Zed is on a mission to connect, create and collaborate through innovative interdisciplinary projects.
Marina De Jager | Director '18 - '24
Businesswoman by trade, thespian by choice… From a young age, Marina realised her love for the creative industries and has been involved with all aspects of the performing arts ever since.
She is very proud to base herself of the vibrant Sunshine Coast where she has served as a Sunshine Coast Council Arts Ambassador through their Arts Plan development.
Marina is the Festival Director of the Imagineers Festival hosted by Montessori International College (MIC) where she holds the role of Events and Community Engagement Manager. With a passion for passing on her love of theatre, she teaches performing arts at BYTE (Buderim Youth Theatre of Excellence) and has directed and choreographed many of their shows.
Whilst also as being an independent producer working with creatives, facilitators and business owner. In 2018 she produced Likely Story, a show about books set in a bookstore as part of the Anywhere Festival, winning them an award.
Alex Podger | Director '16 - '17
Alex Podger grew up performing in large scale outdoor theatrical works across Australia and is the Artistic Director of Woodford Folk Festival’s flagship ‘Fire Event’ Closing Ceremony - a unique large-scale outdoor community project performed to an audience of 18,000.
Alex is a producer, director and designer of street, spectacle and outdoor theatre, often featuring complex pyrotechnic design, effects and puppets to tell simple stories on an epic scale. He works regularly with renowned Irish spectacle and street theatre company Macnas in Galway, Ireland as both a director and pyro designer. Previous works include 'The Gremlins' - an outdoor physical clown project, 'Little Boxes' performed in a massive bespoke set built in a carpark, and the Amphi Interludes - two large scale, site-specific works created for Woodford Folk Festival's Amphitheatre.
Alex has a Bachelor of Film and Screen Media Production, and occasionally design TV Commercials or creates props for film / TV.
Amanda Ralph | Secretary '17 - '24
Amanda is an Australian lawyer who achieved first class honours.
During the undertaking of her Bachelor of Laws (Hons) degree Amanda majored in corporate law and international finance and since then further studied a Grad Dip in Applied Corporate Law, a Grad Dip in Legal Practice, Applied Language Chinese Diploma, a Grad Dip in Engineering and the Company Directors Course. These studies are also in addition to a degree in Commercial Law Amanda previously completed which provided additional commercial skills in the disciplines of accounting and finance.
Amanda possesses a fluency in both Chinese and French and basic Russian language abilities. In addition, Amanda has recently completed an MBA.
Helen Hillman | Treasurer '19 - '23
Theatre Producer & Financial / Administrative Systems for Arts Organisations. Previous experience includes Shakespeare's Globe, Circa and Senior Producer (Programming) with Queensland Theatre.
Gary McDonald | Director '16 - '24
With 37 years experience in national/international markets at senior management, contract/consultancy level in marketing, media, advertising and creative fields that commenced in movie distribution including Walt Disney, Pixar, Roadshow, Buena Vista, Touchstone. Working across film, television and radio in Australia, US and UK as a qualified journalist, producer and director through the 80/90s he continues to partner and consult in those fields as well as new digital avenues.
He ran his own Event/PR/Media company for two decades during that time and continues to represent major brands, organizations and individuals with counsel and strategic thinking, expertise in innovative communications, production values, marketing/sales, creative/brand, digital/film/tv, cultivating cultural change, organizational alignment, change thinking and project development. Formerly AJA/MEAA, Board of RSA (London), AICD, holds B.Psy., and a number of additional qualifications.
Gary continues to concentrate on strategic change thinking and advising in across industries as well an in the philanthropic and fundraising space.
Megan J. Lavender | Director '16 - '23
Megan Joy Lavender is a transformational leader of organisations with a focus on stakeholder engagement. An experienced public company director and government board member, she is also peer recognised as one of the Asia Pacific's best third sector CEOs having held senior executive roles in the corporate, government and third sectors.
Megan presently serves as a State Government appointed board member of the NSW Ministry of Health Centre for Health Record Linkage and has been commissioned by the Minister for Lands and Water as Deputy Chairman of the Gosford Showground Crown Lands Trust.
Megan is an arts, education, speech and drama graduate of Macquarie University and Trinity College, London.
Joanne Lovett | Director '22 - '24
Jo is a creative and results-driven fundraising professional with over 30 years of marketing, communications and stakeholder engagement experience.
She has worked in various sectors from high tech biometrics in Silicon Valley to education and medical research, raising philanthropic funds for worthy causes. Jo understands and is able to harness a person's connection to a cause and assist them realise their vision through philanthropy. She enjoys the process and culmination of strategy and planning, and equally likes to roll up her sleevs and work at grass roots levels.
Jo has a love for the arts understanding that beyond the joy it brings, the arts is the key to unlock the heart and the mind of both participant and audience member.
Timothy Wynn | Ipswich Creative Producer '21
Since 2009 Timothy has fashioned diverse and imaginative seasons of theatrical experiences as the Artistic Director of THAT Production Company.
He has directed over 20 productions, including the Australian premier of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined by Lynn Nottage (at Studio 188, Ipswich) Saved by Edward Bond (at the Old Courthouse, Ipswich); Les Liaisons Dangereuses (at the Roundhouse Theatre, Kelvin Grove); Spring's Awakening (at Metro Arts, Brisbane). Timothy studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York, and trained at the JUTE Theatre Company's Director Development Program facilitated by Dr David Fenton. Timothy has also worked as an Assistant Director with Backbone Youth Arts, JUTE Theatre Company, Spotlight Theatre, and Fractal Theatre Company. In 2017 his production of Cosi with Beenleigh Theatre Company was nominated for seven Gold Coast theatre awards, winning Best Supporting Actress and Best Magic Moment of Theatre. In 2018 Timothy directed Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (also for Beenleigh Theatre Company) and Baal by Bertolt Brecht for Vena Cava Theatre Company. In 2019 he was a directorial observer for Death of a Salesman at Queensland Theatre, directed a staged reading of Thread by Emma Workman for La Boite's HWY Festival and directed the Queensland premiere of Kill Climate Deniers by David Finnigan
Doug Brimblecombe | Chair '11 - '19
Doug Brimblecombe’s (MIES, MLighting) career over 30 years in the live entertainment industry has taken him from his home town of Dalby in Southwest Queensland, across Australia and to many parts of the world. His specialty is performance lighting, but his involvement in performance art has seen him in many roles, from company management and design consultancy to memorable episodes such as loading 124 ton Antonov aircraft in Russia for international rock bands.
Doug was also general manager of a innovative mobile cardiac and respiratory health initiative that saves lives in rural Australia called Heart of Australia. He brought to Heart of Australia his skills in the logistics of large scale global events and management of diverse and multi-discipline staff.
Doug is a Member of the Illuminating Engineering Society of Australia and New Zealand (IESANZ) and holds a Masters in Lighting (Physics).
Heidi Gledhill | Director '23 - '24
Heidi Gledhill is an awarding-winning theatre director. She has established and run independent theatre venues; The Crypt in Sydney and The Substation in Brisbane.
Most recently, as Co-Artistic Director of The Hive Collective, Heidi produced a season of three plays and directed The Bull, The Moon & The Coronet of Stars by Van Badham in 2021 at the new Metro Arts in Brisbane. Heidi directed The Eisteddfod by Lally Katz as part of the Metro Arts’ Local season.
Heidi studied theatre at Macquarie University in Sydney and was granted a scholarship to study at La Sapienza Rome University in Italy, working alongside Nobel laureate Dario Fo. Heidi translated many of Dario Fo’s texts into English whilst teaching and translating in the performing arts department at La Sapienza, Rome University. Heidi was also a guest lecturer at Universitá 3 in Rome. As an actor, she was a core ensemble member of the theatre troupe, Stalker, touring throughout Italy.
Toni Wills | Noosa and Sunshine Coast Creative Producer '17- '22
Toni Wills was a regional Creative Producer for six Anywhere festivals. Starting in 2017, she was jointly responsible for the establishment and delivery of the inaugural festival program across Sunshine Coast and Noosa and then she stuck around.
Toni is currently the Executive Director of SCCA. She has extensive producing experience working on festivals, art programs & creative placemaking projects designed to bring regional communities to life with joy, playfulness, creativity, connection and meaning.
Tim Monley | Digital Program Director '21 Brisbane Creative Producer '19 - '20
Tim is a freelance creative producer who thrives on the challenges of bringing together diverse stakeholders to create innovative projects. Working with artists, organisations, businesses, and communities he is able to find surprising solutions, through empathy, creativity, and a mix of artistic and business processes.
Tim Monley's creative practice is focused on creating meaningful connections between people through play and storytelling. He has created real world games with thousands of players, technology driven interactive installations, and gamified theatre. Having roots in community theatre and ritual, his work continues to discover ways of building connections between people in creative ways. He sees the movement toward digital theatre as an exciting opportunity to build deeper global connections, taking back the technology that is being used to commercialise our attention and using for the creation of an open and healthy culture.
Nycole Prowse | Sunshine Coast Creative Producer '17 - '19 and Director '20 - '22
Nycole is a poet, playwright, author, producer, director, story facilitator, educator and academic scholar whom founded Peripheral Arts in 2016 upon completion of her PhD in Literature.
She has over 27 years’ experience in teaching at tertiary level and in the creation and production of creative and literary projects and festivals in urban and rural communities in Australia, Japan, China, the UK and the Middle East. Her current creative works include the one-woman immersive theatre piece, Stuff: a tale of storage and clutter, and Women’s Rooms, a cross-cultural, multimodal story crafting exhibition performance.
Nycole is the primary developer and facilitator of Peripheral Arts’ community story-crafting program and teaches into literature, theatre and performance, and creative industries programs at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Most recently Nycole was the Co-Producer of the Bunker Spoken Word Series (2016-2019), a quarterly poetry and storytelling event series and competition delivered in partnership with Horizon Festival, and Sunshine Coast Director of Anywhere Festival (2017-2019)
Helen Astbury | Director '14 - '16 & ' 19 -'20
Helen is a passionate fundraising, marketing communications and sponsorship executive with vast experience in all aspects of philanthropy, stakeholder engagement and business development.
Throughout her career, Helen has successfully worked with a number of leading state, national and international organisations to deliver strategic partnerships and outstanding engagement outcomes that raise significant revenue across a number of industries - including medical research, higher education, the arts and broader not for profit sector.
Howard Duggan | Director '15 - '21
Howard is the director of Eyeball Media which, for over 20 years, has published a range of music and lifestyle titles in Queensland and around Australia.
Today he publishes the pop culture and entertainment brand scenestr, as
• monthly print titles in Queensland and South Australia, and
• as a national website
He's previously published 'Junior' - a national magazine which remains Australia's highest CAB audited entertainment street press title at over 80,000 copies per month, easily besting both JB HiFi's in-store title and the now defunct triple J magazine.
He was initially trained in retail management at Myer and Big W before securing his first media role in advertising sales with News Ltd at Bowen Hills while gaining honours in his Diploma Of Communications at the Australian Institute Management.
Vera Ding | Director '16
Having spent over 25 years in the Australian and overseas arts communities, Vera is a strong believer that the key to a successful arts organisation is the ability to marry the goals of a non-for profit the dynamism of a start up and the accountability of private enterprise.
During her time in the Australian Arts scene Vera put together disparate partnerships that capitalised on these three factors to deliver entrepreneurial and targeted outcomes across a range of arts and community programs and projects.
Vera gets excited by the opportunity to connect people from different areas and giving them the space and opportunity to foster creativity, while managing to direct the energy and efforts of all involved into the desired outcome.
Jeremy Wicht | Treasurer '13 - '17
Advisor to hospitality, primary producers, childcare operators and property developers. Helping businesses to go from start up to take off!
Travis Clarke | Director '14 - '15
A highly proficient and dedicated Event Industry Professional with the ability to work independently as well as lead a team in a focused and driven positive atmosphere.
While Travis prefers a focused and steady strategic planning domain, he also thrive in a changing and fast-paced environment with numerous and competing deadlines. A creative problem solver and avid multitasker, Travis has a track record of being an essential part of the management team and instrumental in providing effective solutions that produce impact and contribute to the project’s success.
Working across Australia, the Gulf Region, and throughout Asia, on Major events, special events, and in the sporting and live event sectors for the past 20+ years, this experience has contributed to his versatility and has helped broaden and shape his approach to all projects.
Travis prefers inquisitiveness and the journey of innovation than settling for contentment. Our ability and the abilities of others, when challenged, can create what has not yet been envisaged. Keep hearing, keep discovering, keep learning, creating the new.
Kathie Elliot-Scott | Director '12 - '14
Seeing a gap in the NFP sector for smaller organisations to allocate time and resources to sourcing partnerships and funding, Kathie decided to form my own consultancy, Square Pegs.
She is passionate about assisting small to medium arts, disability and social justice organisations source extra funding, sustainability, diversification, and support for their programs through establishing mutually beneficial partnerships, generating revenue and raising their profiles through targeted campaigns and advocacy work.
Specialties: Relationship building, negotiation of corporate/community partnerships, grants/tender submissions and sponsorship negotiation. Strategic development planning. Creating fundraising appeals. Managing and delivering disability advocacy campaigns.
Amber Moran | Director '13 - '15
Amber Moran is a highly-skilled communication, marketing and media professional with over 18 years experience.
Throughout her accomplished career, she has worked as the general manager and creative executive for Carbon Media – developing a diverse television slate for domestic and international markets. She has worked as a journalist, producer and presenter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation; written children’s television for Southern Star Concept; and led multi-million dollar communication campaigns for federal and state governments.
Amber is currently on a sabbatical developing her own creative projects and exploring unique places.
Lynn Smart | Treasurer '11 - '13
Lynn is an experienced board chair and non-executive director with more than 12 years board experience and three current appointments across privately owned, government and non-profit organisations.
Lynn's diverse portfolio of directorships spans industries including marine ports, mining and dredging, water infrastructure, retail and franchising, health and aged care. I have also chaired several board committees including audit and risk, safety, people and culture, remuneration and nomination and governance.
Prior to this, her substantive profession was in accounting and business as a CPA. This experience over 30 years has included start-up, high growth, private and public companies across broad industry segments such as; infrastructure, mining services, web hosting, water resources, energy, heavy industry and food manufacturing, assembly, FMCG, franchise, and transport.
Lynn is a well-rounded leader with a strong understanding of what constitutes a high performing board and the role of the board to add value to shareholders whilst ensuring a positive organisational culture and safe workplace. Her board experience together with expertise in accounting, governance and risk enable an awareness of emerging risks and trends impacting organisations.
Acknowledgement of Traditional Custodians
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we present Anywhere Festival, the Kabi Kabi/Gubbi Gubbi, Jinibara, Turrbal and Yuggera Peoples. We wish to pay respect to their Elders - past, present and emerging - and acknowledge the important role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their stories continue to play.
