Leadership Lab - Sydney
Description
Leadership Lab - Sydney is a free, one-day, in-person event for Sydney-based artists and arts workers.
A cross between a workshop and a conference, the Leadership Lab helps you better understand the system you’re working in, connect with peers in generative ways, and identify small but powerful actions you can test to create change.
Each event is co-created by Creative Australia and Local Curators to celebrate and platform sector-led leadership. For our Sydney Lab, we are working with Akala Newman, a Wiradjuri/Gadigal multidisciplinary performer, songwriter, educator, and cultural producer, and Paula Abood, cultural worker and educator, writer and creative producer.
At the Lab you’ll hear inspiring perspectives from featured speakers, take part in practical breakout sessions and leave with ideas you can apply in your context, organisation or community. You don’t need to be in a formal leadership role to attend – all you need is an interest in working collaboratively on shared challenges.
Morning tea and lunch is provided. Catering will be vegan and vegetarian friendly.
Registrations close on Thursday 19 November 2026.
Image: Leadership Lab - Adelaide, 2026. Credit: Sia Duff.
Accessibility
This event will have a range of access supports available including:
quiet room
visual story (guide to access features of the venue and event)
adjustable lighting
air conditioning.
If you have other access needs such as captions, notetaking or Auslan interpreting, please let us know when you register. We will work with you to support your access needs.
Parents (or those with caring responsibilities) and their children are welcome at this event. Please get in touch if you have any questions about facilities at the venue or the program.
Financial support
If you experience barriers to attending because you identify as a person with disability or who is d/Deaf, we can provide some financial support for access costs you might have so you can attend this event. For example: costs of Uber/taxi to get to the venue, support workers or childcare. You can apply for this when you register.
Local Curators
Akala Newman
Akala Newman is a Wiradjuri/Gadigal interdisciplinary artist, curator, and arts worker from South-West Sydney, creating immersive worlds through sound, language, movement and Country. Her practice moves between music, performance, cultural programming and exploring memory, identity, belonging and the spaces between worlds. Akala is First Nations Advisor at Arts & Cultural Exchange, Parramatta and an Artist Educator at the Museum of Contemporary Arts. She founded and leads Gili Gatherings, Dark House and Ripples of Memory, platforms for connection, experimentation and cultural exchange.
Paula Abood
Dr. Paula Abood has worked at the intersections of community, culture and education for over three decades. She has written, directed, produced and published across multiple platforms including performance Songs for Life: A Choral Offering from The Children’s Choir for the Biennale of Sydney (2026), fiction ‘Memory for Hunger’ in Southerly (2025), and chapters in The Cambridge History of Australian Poetry (2025) and Arab Australian Other: Stories on Race and Identity (2019). Paula received a Creative Australia Fellowship (2018) and the Ros Bower Award (2013) for her work with refugee and immigrant communities.
Host
Dr. Ananth Gopal
Dr. Ananth Gopal is a facilitator, coach, geographer, and actor with 12 years of experience helping organisations and communities navigate complexity, change, and diversity. He brings a unique blend of academic insight and creative practice, combining a PhD in Human Geography with a professional background in theatre. His work spans the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors, with a focus on adaptive leadership, inclusion, and systems thinking. Trained at Harvard Kennedy School by Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky, Ananth is a committee member of the Australian Adaptive Leadership Institute and founder of Polykala, a leadership and facilitation practice focused on the social and ecological challenges of our time. Ananth has taught at the Universities of Melbourne and Wollongong (in Geography) and designed and facilitated programs for clients including Creative Australia, Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet, Melbourne Theatre Company, City of Melbourne, Australian Museum, UTS and the Australasian College of Paramedicine. As an actor, he has performed across Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, and is an Associate Artist with Melbourne Playback Theatre Company. His approach to leadership development is experiential, reflective, and rooted in the arts—enabling organisations to shift culture and strengthen their capacity to lead with nuance, courage, and care.
Presenters - with more to be announced
Nithya Nagarajan | Keynote speaker
Nithya Nagarajan is a Tamil-Australian artist, curator and writer working across contemporary performance and visual cultures. She is Artistic Associate at Sydney Festival, co-founder of South Asian artist collective H-ME W-RK, and a Sidney Myer Creative Fellow. Previous roles include Curator and Artist Development at Parramatta Artists Studios, co-Artistic Director of Arts House, International Engagement Adviser for South and Southeast Asia at Creative Australia, and Manager of Community and Participation at NIDA. Her work has consistently focused on commissioning ambitious new work, fostering international exchange with a focus on the Global South, and driving structural change across the arts sector. Her mainstage debut, Nayika: A Dancing Girl (Belvoir St Theatre, 2024), marked a significant evolution of her artistic practice following her relocation to Sydney. She holds a PhD in Performance Studies for which she received the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Doctoral Thesis Excellence.
Shona Erskine | Speaker
Shona Erskine is registered Psychologist, coach, facilitator and dancer. Shona is dedicated to understanding the complexity inherent in creativity and innovation, and the challenges of expertise and elite performance. She coaches senior leaders in the skills of creative leadership, and leads workshops on the neuroscience of creative practice, spanning corporate, not-for-profit and creative sectors. Shona delivers psychology for performing and visual artists, as well as production and crew, through professional companies, universities, and in private practice. She has developed curriculum in areas of performance and wellbeing for performing artists, teachers, and directors using best practice models. Shona has a contemporary dance background spanning 20 years as a professional performer.
Euan Black | Breakout session facilitator
At TACSI, Euan combines three of their passions — design, networks and social justice — to unearth better ways of working together that create real change. For him, the best part of the job is connecting the deep wisdom of people with lived experience with other rich evidence, and using the insights that emerge to imagine new possibilities for people and systems. Empathetic yet strategic, Euan naturally thinks in systems and uses that ability to help other people build their own systems awareness and leadership. Euan loves leaning into the discomfort of being a beginner and strives to learn about the world through the eyes of others. A design and pop music enthusiast, Euan is passionate about good typography and perfectly produced Scandinavian pop.
Katt Osborne | Breakout session facilitator
Katt Osborne is an arts leader, company founder, creative producer and performance director and maker. As well as a currently practicing independent artist Katt has held numerous leadership positions, most recently as the Executive Director of The Blue Room Theatre (Boorloo/Perth). Previously she was the Artistic Director of Riptide Youth Performance Company (Mandjoogoordap/Mandurah) and a co-founding artist and the inaugural General Manager of The Last Great Hunt (Boorloo/Perth). In 2023, Katt was awarded a prestigious ‘40under40’ at the Business News awards – WA’s leading awards program that recognises and celebrates the state's leading entrepreneurs, innovators, and future business leaders.
Anna Powell | Breakout session facilitator
Anna Powell has extensive experience building coalitions and networks within communities, nationally and internationally, to bridge divides, address the root drivers of social cohesion and support a more active democracy. She has been CEO of Collaboration for Impact since 2022. Previously, she held leadership roles in international development and philanthropy, driving systems change across diverse contexts. Her work focuses on mobilising people, institutions and ideas to create lasting social impact.
Program schedule - with more to be announced
- 9:00 am - 9:30 am
Registration desk opens
- 9:30 am - 10:00 am
Welcome to Country
- 10:00 am - 10:15 am
Setting the scene
Hosted by Dr. Ananth Gopal, Polykala
- 10:15 am - 10:45 am
Keynote address | Nithya Nagarajan
- 10:45 am - 11:15 am
Morning Tea
- 11:15 am - 12:30 pm
Break-out session | Fuzzy Messy: How to map your system around what you care about with Katt Osborne
AFOCAL invites you to put on your 'systems thinking' glasses to gain a new perspective on the interconnected system that you’re part of. In this introductory taster to systems thinking, you’ll follow alongside our imaginary arts and community organisation while beginning to create a draft map of your own system. Together, we’ll notice patterns, make connections and develop a greater sense of the complex moving parts that influence your context.
- 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Lunch
- 1:30 pm - 2:45 pm
Break-out session | Hidden Connections: Unlocking New Possibilities Together with Anna Powell
Many of us are already part of rich networks, yet there is often untapped potential within the people around us. This experiential session helps you discover new possibilities for working together on the challenges that matter to you. Through practical activities and guided reflection, participants will explore hidden connections through the lenses of personal, organisational and contextual change, uncover new insights about the systems they are part of, and examine how belonging, influence and collective power emerge through networks. Together, we will identify opportunities to strengthen relationships, bridge perspectives and unlock new pathways for collaborative action.
- 2:45 pm - 3:00 pm
Short break
Take a short break to reset and grab a cuppa.
- 3:00 pm - 4:15 pm
Break-out session | Testing Emerging Ideas: How to Take Practical Action and Move Systems Forward with Euan Black
While other sessions explore systemic “being” and “knowing”, this lab is all about “doing”. Drawing primarily from the knowledge in the room (your voices), together we will identify a systemic opportunity for change and build out a repeatable process for taking systemic action. Testing as we build, you'll be introduced to an alternative to linear process that actually embraces complexity without overwhelming or overburdening.
- 4:15 pm - 4:30 pm
Short break
Take a short break before joining our final session for the day.
- 4:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Weaving it all together
We'll close the day with an opportunity for participants to chat in small groups and ask: “What's coming to the surface?” Hosted by Dr. Ananth Gopal, Polykala.
- 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Informal drinks
Hosted by Creative Australia
FAQs
- Who is this event for?
This event is for Sydney’s arts and culture community – we need lots of perspectives, networks and ideas in the room to help everyone make progress on the shared challenges. You might be an independent or working in an organisation, an artist or arts worker, in a formal leadership role or doing grass roots work in your community.
- Is there a cost?
No, this event is free! You do need to register to attend. Registration closes 1 week before the event.
- Is there access support available?
If you experience barriers to attending because you identify as a person with disability or who is d/Deaf, we can provide some financial support for access costs you might have so you can attend this event. For example: costs of Uber/taxi to get to the venue, support workers or childcare. You can apply for this via the registration link.
- Are there bursaries for independent artists and arts workers?
Yes, if you are an independent artist or arts worker you can apply for a bursary of $500 to support you to attend the Leadership Lab. There are 10 bursaries available to apply for when you register for the event. We will allocate bursaries on a random basis. You can apply for this via the registration link.
- Is there travel support available?
We are not able to provide travel support for this event. If you are an independent artist or arts worker you can apply for a small bursary to support you to attend the event.
- Will there be other Leadership Lab events?
We will announce our 2027 program in early next year. Stay tuned via our newsletter.
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