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\n\tSYDNEY, Australia \u2014 Lizzie Butterworth<\/strong> is appointed chief executive of the Australian Festival Association (AFA).<\/p>\n\n\tButterworth brings to the role a wealth of policy expertise, government experience and industry knowledge. Previously, she worked for six years alongside minister for the arts, music and the night-time economy John Graham<\/strong> in the New South Wales parliament and government, serving as director of policy \u2014 arts, music and night-time economy, jobs and tourism.<\/p>\n\n\tThere, Butterworth helped shape some of the most significant policy developments in NSW\u2019s contemporary music sector.<\/p>\n
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\n\tThe incoming AFA CEO\u2019s major contributions have included the formation of Sound NSW, reforms to festival regulation, protections for live music venues, and the development of new regulatory and funding frameworks that support artists, venues and festivals.<\/p>\n
\n\tAFA chair Adelle Robinson<\/strong> welcomes Butterworth to the trade body.<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cLizzie has spent her career working at the intersection of music, government and public policy. She knows how government works from the inside, she knows our industry\u2019s challenges, and she knows how to bring people together to drive change,\u201d Robinson remarks in a statement.<\/p>\n
\n\tButterworth joins the Australia\u2019s festivals industry at a time of complex regulatory, financial and operating pressures, and changing ticket-buying behaviors, and other issues, Robinson notes.<\/p>\n
\n\tLooking ahead, she continues, \u201cLizzie has built trusted relationships across government and industry and is exactly the kind of leader the Association needs as we continue advocating for a strong, sustainable and thriving festival sector.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tButterworth succeeds Olly\u00a0Arkins<\/strong>, who departs this Friday, Aug. 21 after five years with the association.<\/p>\n\n\tThe AFA publicly launched in\u00a0December 2018, representing festival organizers, suppliers and stakeholders across Australia\u2019s music festival sector. Its mission, to advocate the festival industry, promoting best-practice safety and operational standards, providing a unified voice, and facilitate policy reform and investment.<\/p>\n
\n\tToday, its members include Fuzzy, CMC Rocks, Live Nation, Hardware, Laneway, Groovin\u2019 The Moo, Lost Paradise and many others.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cFestivals are a vital part of Australia\u2019s cultural identity and music industry,\u201d comments Butterworth. \u201cThey have launched the careers of countless Australian artists, connected fans with unforgettable live experiences and created opportunities for workers, businesses and communities across the country. I\u2019m excited to work with our members, Board and industry partners to build on the AFA\u2019s strong foundations and continue advocating for a festival industry that is creative, resilient and sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/lizzie-butterworth-2026-1800.jpg?w=1024″] Trending on Billboard SYDNEY, Australia \u2014 Lizzie Butterworth is appointed chief executive of the Australian Festival Association (AFA). Butterworth brings to the role a wealth of policy expertise, government experience and industry knowledge. Previously, she worked for six years alongside minister for the arts, music and the night-time economy John Graham in […]<\/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-2100266","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\/2100266","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=2100266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2100266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2100266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2100266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2100266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}