Prior to becoming the chief executive of Community Arts Network in November 2021, Wendy Martin was the artistic director of Perth International Arts Festival, and head of performance & dance at Southbank Centre in London where her achievements include creating the acclaimed disability arts festival Unlimited. A celebration of disability arts and culture on an unprecedented scale, Unlimited had its inaugural outing during the Paralympic Games and was a highlight of the London2012 Cultural Olympiad.
She joined Sydney Opera House as a producer in 2000 and in 2006, was appointed Head of Theatre and Dance. Her programming and commissioning initiatives made an important contribution to Sydney Opera House’s reputation for programming excellence and as a producer of new Australian work. At Sydney Opera House she was the founding curator of Message Sticks Indigenous Arts Festival; she developed the international performance series Adventures in the Dark and in 2008 founded Spring Dance Australia’s only international dance festival. Prior to those roles, she was a television arts and documentary producer working for ABC & SBS Television and Film Australia.
Ms Martin has served on arts boards the Australian and New Zealand Festival of Literature and Arts (London), British Dance Edition 2012, Fuel Theatre and Shaun Parker and Company as well as serving on juries including Made in Scotland 2013 and Be Festival.
