Our Team

Michael is an accomplished strategist, arts producer and practitioner with over 25 years’ experience in creative strategy and place activations for Australia’s leading destinations and abroad. He is adept at collaborating with partners, community stakeholders and government to deliver world-class, creative landscapes that delight, inspire and attract global attention within budget.

As the Creative Producer, Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, Michael led the development of major cultural initiatives to revitalise Darling Harbour and The Rocks and attract over 40 million people annually. As the Creative Producer, UrbanGrowth NSW, he spearheaded placemaking and urban renewal strategies for Green Square, White Bay Power Station and Parramatta North. He also works as an artist and academic researcher.

Qualifications
// PhD (Performance Studies); University of Sydney

// Master of Art; University of Sydney

// Bachelor of Arts; Macquarie University

Kim has over 20 years’ experience in arts and cultural policy and place activations for the NSW Government, and the performing arts sector. 

At Create NSW, Kim led the team responsible for strategic arts funding programs such as: Aboriginal Arts and Cultural Strategy; Arts and Disability Partnership; Art Central; Empty Spaces program; NSW Health and Arts Framework; and Western Sydney Arts Strategy. She worked with non-arts stakeholders to deliver policy outcomes through arts and culture.

Kim also co-founded the award-winning Western Sydney company Urban Theatre Projects and held tenures at Sydney Theatre Company, The Performance Space and State Theatre Company of SA. Kim is a published author on Australian theatre and former associate at the Centre for Performance Studies at Sydney University. She continues to work as a dramaturg.

Qualifications
// Bachelor of Arts (Honours); University of Sydney

// Diploma of Librarianship; UNSW

Suhas is a trained architect with diverse experiences in interior, architecture and urban renewal projects across India and Australia. He holds expertise in conceptual design development, technical drawings, project management, community engagement and innovation. As a project manager at City People, he has coordinated strategies and programs for the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network, Liverpool Health and Academic Precinct, and John Hunter Hospital Innovation Precinct. . 

Suhas is also a practitioner of the classical Indian dance Bharatnatyam and Hindustani music (Thumri). He is a writer, visual artist and the former Managing Editor of CIRCA Journal – a student-led print journal at the University of Sydney.

Qualifications
// Master of Urban Design; University of Sydney

// Bachelor of Architecture; Indus University Ahmedabad

Stephanie Peters works across the arts, placemaking, cultural and economic development, digital design and community engagement. She is passionate about public art and place-based projects that speak to community. From New York City to Western Sydney, Stephanie has 13 years of experience delivering local and international creative projects with artists, businesses, councils, not-for-profit organisations and schools. These include: Liverpool City Council; Blacktown City Council; Lost in Books; Think and Do Tank; Outloud; Liverpool Auslan Community Group; Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation, Marsden Road Public School; and Bankstown Public School.

Stephanie is also experienced in the use of digital technologies to create arts and culture programs. She recently produced digital public artworks for Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), NAIDOC: Nandi Ngara (Look Listen) and ARt at play – an augmented reality experience in the Wollongong CBD.

Qualifications
// Certificate IV in Graphic Design; TAFE NSW

// Certificate III in Horticulture; TAFE NSW

// Certificate IV in Arts Administration, Community and Cultural Development; TAFE NSW

// Bachelor of Teaching in Secondary Education (Visual Arts); University of Technology Sydney

// Bachelor of Visual Arts, Honours (First Class); University of Sydney

// Bachelor of Fine Arts; College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales

Dylan Goh (also known as Arcai) is an award-winning arts marketer, producer and dancer with 9 years’ experience in the creative industries. Working between Seoul and Sydney on Gadigal and Bidjigal Country, he is passionate about platforming experimental dance, street dance and diasporic stories through community-driven programming.

Dylan holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing) / Design and teaches undergraduate marketing students at the UNSW Business School as a Sessional Academic. He is an Asian-Australian Leadership Award finalist and alumnus of the New Colombo Plan.

Qualifications

// Certificate III in Live Production & Technical Services, TAFE NSW

// Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing) / Design, University of New South Wales

Since moving to Sydney in 2018, Sarah has worked with City People on the North Sydney 10-year Public Art Masterplan; Liverpool Hospital Academic Precinct art program; Safer Cities: Her Way public art commissions for Blacktown City Council; and Singapore’s first 10-year Public Art Masterplan.

She rewrote public art policy for Wollongong Council, worked for Northern Beaches Council as the Cultural Strategy and Engagement Coordinator, and delivered public art procedures and projects for Blacktown Arts including Contemplate – a memorial sculpture for victims of domestic violence, which won the 2023 Leo Kelly Award. 

Previously, Sarah was the Associate Director, Asia Pacific for Lisson Gallery in Singapore and Tokyo, and founding director of a London-based non-profit arts consultancy that managed the Fourth Plinth programme in Trafalgar Square and the London 2012 Olympic Park art/architecture commission competition, won by Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond’s ArcelorMittal Orbit. In the UK, she also worked for the BBC, National Portrait Gallery, Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), and the Saatchi Gallery.

Qualifications

// Masters in Arts Administration and Curating, Goldsmith, University of London

// Bachelor of Art History (Honours), McGill University

// Postgraduate Certificate in Cultural Leadership, City, University of London

Dr Liza-Mare Syron has family ties to the Birrbay people from the Mid North Coast of NSW. 

A theatre maker and academic, Liza-Mare is an Indigenous Scientia Associate Professor in the School of Arts and Media at UNSW, and Co-Associate Dean Indigenous FADA. She is the co-founder of Moogahlin Performing Arts and a prolific author in the field of Indigenous performing arts. Liza-Mare recently published a book on the Rehearsal Practices of Indigenous Women Theatre Makers: Australia, Aotearoa, and Turtle Island (Palgrave Macmillan 2021).

Liza-Mare has served on the boards and committees of Australian Plays Transforms (2021), Australian Plays (2019-2021), The City of Sydney Aboriginal Advisory Committee (2013-2017), Performing Lines (2014-2018), and Sydney Festival Advisory (2016). She received the 2005 Phillip Parsons Prize for Performance as Research, the 2010 Marlis Thiersch Prize for research excellence in an English-language article, and a 2015 Rob Jordon award citation for a book chapter.

Qualifications
// Doctor of Arts, USYD

// Master of Creative Arts Research, UOW

// Master of Adult Education, UTS

// Diploma of Dramatic Arts, VCA

Dr Peter Watts AM is a specialist in building, landscape and garden conservation, and museology. As the Founding Director of Sydney Living Museums from 1981-2008, he developed multiple museums including: Museum of Sydney, Hyde Park Barracks, Government House, Justice and Police Museum, The Mint, Elizabeth Bay House, Vaucluse House, Rouse Hill House and Farm, and Rose Seidler House. Peter is interested in cultural infrastructure and the balance between heritage conservation and their relevance to the contemporary world.  

Peter regularly consults on historic place conservation, interpretation and management, governance, museum management and policy development, and mentors future arts leaders. He developed holistic proposals to reinvigorate Old Government House, Parramatta, and assessed the financial and human resource requirements of the Maitland Regional Art Gallery for the Maitland City Council.

Qualifications
// Bachelor of Arts, UniMelb

// Landscape Architecture, RMIT