Announcing our first speakers for APAX 2025.
Kevin du Preez
Thinker in Residence
Erica McCalman
Provocation
Andy Packer
Opening Speaker
APAX has always been a space for us to come together, to talk about what matters most to us at work. There’s something special about coming together in a place like Garramilla / Darwin – the connections and conversations always run much deeper.
And right now, it’s more important than ever to understand what is next for the performing arts in Australia. It’s clear the sector is changing, funding is not keeping up, costs to present and tour continue to rise, and the attention of our audiences is increasingly elsewhere.
Is this still a conversation about relevance? A problem that only policy and funding can fix?
Or an opportunity for some creative and radical adaptation?
During the APAX conference you will hear from speakers with big ideas about what the future of performing arts presenting could look like – from organisations of the future, to audience development that requires a complete mindset shift.
We encourage you to take the time and space at APAX to think about new models, our mindset, and, hopefully shift the mood about what’s possible, so that we can continue to serve the art and the audience.
About the speakers
Kevin du Preez, Thinker in Residence
Kevin du Preez is the Executive Director of Monkey Baa Theatre Company, Australia’s leading company dedicated to theatre for young people. He brings more than 25 years’ experience across the arts, government and creative sectors, with a focus on leadership development, systems change and organisational sustainability.
Kevin is widely recognised as a creative systems thinker—interested in how we reimagine structures, funding models and modes of leadership to better serve artists, audiences and communities. His approach embraces complexity and encourages organisations to work responsively, with purpose and care.
At Monkey Baa, he has led a transformation of the company’s touring, engagement and access strategies—launching initiatives like Theatre Unlimited to remove barriers to theatre for young audiences and embedding co-creation and social impact into the organisation’s core.
Previously, Kevin was Director of Capacity Building at the Australia Council for the Arts (now Creative Australia), where he led national sector development, digital policy, and industry-wide leadership programs. He currently serves on the Theatre & Musical Theatre Artform Board for Create NSW and has held board roles with Arts Access Australia and ASSITEJ Australia.
Kevin has delivered leadership and facilitation work nationally and internationally and co-chaired the Global Arts Leadership Program Organisers network. His career spans theatre, festivals, media, policy and philanthropy. He uses the pronouns he/him and is committed to equity, access and the creative potential of young people.
As Thinker in Residence at APAX 2025, Kevin will draw on this breadth of experience to provoke, connect and make meaning across the conference—holding space for new ideas, bold questions and the future possibilities of our sector.
Erica McCalman, Provocation
Erica McCalman (she/her) is a Creative Director, leader and thinker working at the intersection of art, climate and systems change. She is interested in regenerative economies, opening opportunities for collaboration between different lived experiences, connecting people to deeper conversations and uplifting new models and narratives in service of people and planet.
Her producing credits include Darwin Festival, Sydney Festival, Next Wave, APAM, Melbourne Fringe and Sydney WorldPride. She has mentored and facilitated for A Climate for Art (ACFA), Vitalstatistix, Hyphenated Projects, Darwin Fringe and Artback NT. For nearly ten years she was an advocate for independent artists and artsworkers and the small to medium sector through her association with Theatre Network Australia.
As a speaker she is known for balancing warmth and good humour with unflinching insight into the complexities we navigate. She has trained in building a ‘calling-in’ culture with American activist and academic Loretta J. Ross and is a graduate of Small Giants Academy’s Mastery of Business and Empathy and Climate Leadership Accelerator programs.
A Ballardong Noongar woman with Irish convict, Cornish and Scottish heritage, Erica is also neurodivergent. She lived in Darwin from 2019 to 2023. Her preferred laksa vendor is The Purple Lady, and she’s always up for a sunset beer and a yarn at the Darwin Ski Club.
Andy Packer, Slingsby, Opening Speaker
Andy is an award-winning director of theatre, music theatre and opera. He has also worked as creative producer of multidisciplinary arts programs, creative director of large-scale events and festival director. In 2007 Andy co-founded theatre company Slingsby.
Based on Kaurna Meyunna Yerta, Adelaide Plains, Slingsby is internationally renowned for emotionally powerful storytelling for audiences aged 8 and up, creating a shared experience of wonder, tailored simultaneously for young people, adults and elders. The company’s productions have toured across all states and territories of Australia alongside international touring in New Zealand, USA, Canada, Singapore, China, India, Spain, Norway, UK, Scotland and Ireland, with repeat invitations to New Victory Theatre – New York, Edinburgh International Children’s Festival, Dublin Theatre Festival, Baboró International Arts Festival for Children and Sydney Opera House.
Andy has also directed productions, concerts and events for many other organisations including Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, State Opera of South Australia, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Adelaide Festival of Arts, Adelaide Fringe, Adelaide Festival Centre, State Government of South Australia, World of Wearable Art (NZ), International Astronautical Federation, Adelaide Chamber Singers, Australian String Quartet, Windmill Theatre, Restless Dance and Tutti Ensemble.