{"id":2098587,"date":"2026-08-18T05:59:57","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T02:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2098587"},"modified":"2026-08-18T05:59:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T02:59:57","slug":"laneway-festival-director-jessie-parker-to-step-down-after-16-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2098587","title":{"rendered":"Laneway Festival Director Jessie Parker to Step Down After 16 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1204801803-e1787032688107.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tTrending on Billboard\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

Jessie Parker<\/strong>, the festival director of Australia and New Zealand\u2019s Laneway Festival,<\/strong> is stepping down after 16 years with the touring event, she announced this week.<\/p>\n

\n\tParker shared the news in a LinkedIn post on Monday (Aug. 17), saying she will leave the role at the end of the month. \u201cAfter 16 years with Laneway Festival, and six incredible years at the helm as General Manager \/ Festival Director, it is time for me to wrap up this chapter and step down at the end of this month,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

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    \n\tParker joined Laneway as an event assistant and rose through the organization over the following decade to become general manager and, in May 2025, festival director for Australia and New Zealand \u2014 one of the highest-ranking female executives in the country\u2019s live-music industry. <\/p>\n

    \n\t\u201cReflecting on where it all started as an event assistant, I never could have imagined the wild, rewarding journey ahead,\u201d she wrote. \u201cTo go from managing resident comms and running accred around the site, to leading six simultaneous touring events across Australia and New Zealand has been the privilege of a lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \n\tHer departure caps a high point for the festival. Laneway\u2019s 2025 run was its most successful, drawing 200,000 attendees across sold-out shows in Auckland, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, with a bill led by Charli XCX, Clairo, BICEP<\/strong> and Olivia Dean<\/strong>. The festival went on to win the inaugural ARIA Award for Best Festival and was named Music Event of the Year in New Zealand. <\/p>\n

    \n\tParker pointed to the industry work behind the scenes as her proudest contribution, citing her roles on the Australian Festivals Association board and the NSW Music Festivals Roundtable \u201cduring a transformative era for live music.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \n\tParker did not detail her next move, saying only that she is \u201cexcited for what comes next and fully open to new opportunities.\u201d She did not announce a successor, and Laneway \u2014 part of the TEG group, with co-founders Danny Rogers <\/strong>and Jerome Borazio <\/strong>\u2014 has not yet named a replacement.<\/p>\n

    \n\tThe exit comes at a pivotal moment for the festival. Laneway returns to Australia and New Zealand in 2027, but announced last week that it will not visit Adelaide or Perth next year, scaling back to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland, with venues, dates and lineup still to come. <\/p>\n

    \n\tThe pullback lands amid a turbulent stretch for Australia\u2019s festival sector, which has seen a wave of cancellations and closures in recent years. Laneway marked its 21st year in 2026 with a lineup headlined by Chappell Roan, alongside Wet Leg, Wolf Alice, PinkPantheress, Geese and Lucy Dacus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/pro\/laneway-festival-director-jessie-parker-to-step-down\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1204801803-e1787032688107.jpg?w=1024″] Trending on Billboard Jessie Parker, the festival director of Australia and New Zealand\u2019s Laneway Festival, is stepping down after 16 years with the touring event, she announced this week. Parker shared the news in a LinkedIn post on Monday (Aug. 17), saying she will leave the role at the end of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-2098587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2098587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2098587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2098587\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2098587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2098587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2098587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}