Kate Foy
Group Deputy Secretary – Sports, Arts and Tourism
In January 2022 Kate joined the Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade, as the Group Deputy Secretary for Sports, Arts and Tourism. More recently Kate was the Deputy Secretary for Community Engagement at the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
Kate has led the policy strategy and delivery of services in Aboriginal Affairs, Arts and Culture, Employee Relations as well as NSW Heritage and State Archives and Records. Kate maintains a passion for supporting our front line to provide the best possible service and outcomes to the people of NSW.
Kate’s career spans front line service delivery in the non-government sector with children and young people. Then various government agencies including Department of Premier and Cabinet, Transport, Planning and the NSW Telco Authority.
Annette Pitman
Chief Executive, Create NSW
Annette Pitman Create NSW Chief Executive
Annette has spent much of her career advising and supporting cultural organisations in developing and delivering their plans for the future.
In December 2022, Annette was appointed Chief Executive, Create NSW, bringing together arts, screen, culture and infrastructure under her leadership. Her appointment follows a successful 10-month tenure as Interim Chief Executive Create NSW. Annette is committed to working in partnership with stakeholders to embed the arts in the everyday, grow the sector and showcase the NSW world-class, diverse and vibrant arts, screen and cultural offerings for local communities and tourists alike.
In her previous role, Annette led Create Infrastructure overseeing NSW’s portfolio of arts and culture projects including the Powerhouse Museums, Sydney Modern, Walsh Bay Arts Precinct, Regional Cultural Fund, Creative Capital and Theatre Royal, amongst many others.
Working for nearly 10 years with Arts Centre Melbourne, Annette led the transformational Hamer Hall Redevelopment and then the advisory team that developed a business case and masterplan for Arts Centre Melbourne’s further renewal.
Prior to returning to government, Annette led AECOM’s NSW & ACT Buildings & Places business, a team of 200+ consultants across three offices, and headed up AECOM’s Arts and Culture Sector for Australia & NZ. Annette is most proud of the program of cultural change that was implemented across the team under her leadership.
In 2006 Annette emigrated from the US to Melbourne. She worked for nearly 10 years at Major Projects Victoria leading a series of flagship Melbourne projects including the Melbourne Park Tennis Centre’s expansion. An advocate for design excellence, Annette managed the high-profile Flinders Street Station Design Competition, and in close partnership with the State Government Architect’s office devised mechanisms to ensure the quality of design during procurement and delivery of a suite of public projects.
Back in the US, Annette held a key role leading the planning for the Connecticut Science Center during the formation of this new cultural institution.
Kyas Hepworth
Head of Screen NSW
Kyas Hepworth is a Bundjalung woman who has spent her career working in the screen and creative arts sector. Kyas is passionate about bringing unique and diverse stories to the screen and has worked alongside and supported leading screen creatives and productions.
As Head of Screen NSW, Kyas leads the state’s film and production strategy and advances NSW’s position as one of the leading national and international screen and post-production destinations.
Kyas joined Screen NSW from NITV where she was Head of Commissioning and Programming. Her extensive creative experience in the sector also includes working across feature films, documentaries, television series and web series – across multiple organisations, including SBS, Australian Film Television and Radio School and Screen Australia.
Kyas currently sits on the Board of AusFilm , is a Board Member of the Australian International Documentary Conference and an Ambassador for the Natalie Miller Fellowship. In 2021 Kyas was an Official Competition Jury Member for the 68th Sydney Film Festival.
Karen Rodgers
Director of Arts
With over twenty-five years’ experience within the Australian arts environment, Karen is driven to develop and support the arts and cultural sector.
Providing direction to deliver on strategic outcomes and to shape policy agenda, as Manager Multiyear Investment with the Australia Council for the Arts, Karen successfully championed priorities for investment decisions that directly impacted industry engagement and outcomes.
Karen has a successful history developing, delivering and supporting Australian work with previous roles including, Executive Director at Griffin Theatre Company, Producer for the Seymour Centre at the University of Sydney, founding General Manager for the dance theatre company Force Majeure, Associate Producer for Performing Lines and Special Projects Manager for the Olympic Arts Festivals.
Mark Crees
Director Create Infrastructure
Mark’s career has demonstrated a commitment to the importance of arts and culture in building vibrant communities and contributing to the social and economic prosperity of the State as well as the common good of the nation, particularly through the provision of cultural infrastructure. He has held executive leadership roles for government and arts and cultural organisations across three states and territories and holds a PhD in critical and cultural theory. He has led significant divisions, institutions, and teams across the public and cultural sectors, with a focus across the past five years on multi-arts precincts (museums, galleries, keeping places and theatres in particular) and major cultural infrastructure development and project delivery, especially those that champion community agency and sit at the nexus between government and community.
Tony McCabe
Director Create Infrastructure
Tony’s 30-year working life has been jam-packed with the planning and delivery of infrastructure programs and leading teams on large State and National property portfolios. With extensive experience acting for both commercial and public stakeholders, Tony is committed to listening, being a considerate champion for end users, operators and the community to successfully deliver Government priorities. Holding senior leadership roles at the NSW Department of Education from 2008 to 2018, Tony was a key driver in the re-engineering how public schools are perceived, used, and delivered in NSW. By putting students, teachers and the community at the forefront of project considerations, Tony developed “world best” education facilities that are continuing to roll-out across NSW communities.
Roslyn Mayled
Director Create Infrastructure
Since joining Create infrastructure in 2018, Roslyn’s focus has been on the delivery of Sydney Modern and the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct Redevelopment. Her previous experience as a commercial and intellectual property lawyer at Holding Redlich and Banki Haddock Fiora provides solid grounding for major project delivery. Prior to her legal career, Roslyn enjoyed over 10 years at the Australia Council for the Arts primarily in literature, visual arts and international market development delivering cultural projects such as the Australian participation at the Venice Biennale and Australian focus years in Madrid and New York. Roslyn also wrote and delivered the Cultural Property, Law and Ethics course as part of the Masters of Art Administration at the University of NSW and those topics remain central to her interests and her work.
