FIRST ROUND OF SPEAKERS ANNOUNCED FOR AFIC 2025

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 festival management personnel – returns once again to present a range of industry-leading keynotes, presentations, panel discussions, trade show and evening networking events.

This year’s keynote speaker is festival industry heavyweight, John Rostron, CEO of the United Kingdom’s Association for Independent Festivals (AIF).

The AIF is the UK’s festival industry body, representing around 150 independent music festivals. Amongst other things, John also Chair’s the LIVE Expert Group for festivals and sits on the Advisory Board for Vision for Sustainable Events, aimed at supporting a more sustainable outdoor events sector. John will discuss the current challenges being faced in the UK and how the industry body is working with government and its members to overcome these in order to keep the industry alive.

Additional speakers include:

• Greg Cavanagh, CEO, Gympie Music Muster
• Charlie Crush, CEO, Brisbane Festival
• Vicky Lowly, 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 speakers are yet to be announced, with the full program reveal planned for the coming weeks.

AFIC founder and event director, Carlina Ericson, says she is proud to present another spectacular speaker line-up representing some of Australia’s top festival management personnel.

“I’m proud to announce this year’s first round of speakers – they each represent a pocket of the industry, ranging from festival producers, to expert event marketers, to human resource specialists and more.

“We’re also exciting to be bringing AFIC to Brisbane for the very first time. This year’s program is certainly one not to be missed!” says Ms Ericson.

Early bird tickets go on sale at 9:00 (AEST), Wednesday 5 March, saving delegates a generous fifteen per cent off the full registration price. To buy, visit www.australianfestivalconference.com.au

Main image: John Rostron