Ben is the former Western Australian Treasurer and has had ministerial responsibility for Finance, Energy, Aboriginal Affairs and Lands. He was the first Indigenous treasurer of any Australian parliament and has held various shadow cabinet portfolios including responsibility for Indigenous Affairs and Education. He retired from the Western Australian Parliament in March 2021.

Ben holds a master’s degree with Distinction from the London School of Economics and Bachelor of Laws from UWA. Prior to entering Parliament, Mr Wyatt practised as a lawyer in both private practice and the West Australian Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Ben serves on the Boards of the West Coast Eagles, Woodside and Rio Tinto.

Ben’s extensive parliamentary and professional experience provides him with a detailed understanding of the broad range of stakeholder issues relevant to Perth Festival’s activities. His background in treasury, finance and Indigenous affairs brings a unique dynamic to the Board.

Michelle Tremain has significant experience in the assurance, financial advisory and consulting sectors. Michelle is highly respected across the business community and has a demonstrated passion for the arts and education.

She has been proactive in her personal support for local emerging artists and academics and is currently a board member of Lotterywest, Deputy Chair of the Perth Festival and Forrest Research Foundation independent governor.

She holds a Bachelor of Commerce (double major Accounting and Asian Studies), is a CPA, has a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment and is a Graduate of the Institute of Company Directors.

Professor James Arvanitakis is the Director of the Forrest Research Foundation based at the University of Western Australia and an adjunct professor at Curtin University. He moved to Perth, Western Australia to take up the position and was formerly the Pro Vice Chancellor (Engagement and Advancement) at Western Sydney University and Executive Director of Fulbright Australia.

After a successful career in finance and human rights, he has worked with universities for more than 20 years establishing innovative education and research programs including The Academy at Western (awarded the Australian Financial Review Excellence in Education Award) and was awarded the Prime Minister’s University Teacher of the Year Award (2012).

He has a regular segment on ABC News 24, has various Board positions including the Perth Festival and is the inaugural Patron of Diversity Arts Australia. He is a Fulbright alumnus, having spent 12 months at the University of Wyoming as the Milward L Simpson Distinguished Fellow and in 2022 he founded Respectful Disagreements, a brave spaces project.

Leith is a partner in Lavan’s Restructuring, Disputes & Insolvency team. He is a highly regarded restructuring and insolvency specialist and litigator with extensive experience in complex insolvency matters, including voluntary administrations, liquidation and receivership, dispute resolution and corporate finance. Leith also advises on “Safe Harbour” implementation and compliance.

Leith has worked with some of Australia’s largest financial institutions and insolvency practitioners in a notable career that spans more than 30 years. His practice encompasses many areas of corporate finance including financial services and business structuring. Leith regularly acts in insolvency and general commercial proceedings as adviser and counsel in the Supreme Court of Western Australia and the Federal Court of Australia.

In addition to his particular focus on insolvency, Leith is an experienced corporate and commercial lawyer and litigator. He provides strategic legal advice to the banking and finance sector and litigates in corporate and commercial matters.

Amanda is a Fellow of both Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand and the Governance Institute of Australia, and an alumnus of Harvard Business School. She is an experienced executive leader with a proven track record across industries including sport, racing, arts, health, government trading enterprise, public practice and consulting. Amanda brings together deep expertise in finance, people, governance, risk management, strategy, legal, facilities and business operations. Her more recent experience has focused on leading organisations through growth, transformation, and periods of change, with a commitment to long term sustainability, and people-first leadership. Previous executive roles include CEO, General Manager, COO, CFO and CPO.

In addition to executive leadership roles, Amanda has experience as a Non-Executive Director at several organisations and running a private consulting business, providing strategic advisory services in finance, HR, and business operations to organisations navigating growth, change, or complex projects. Bringing a balanced perspective that blends commercial acumen with cultural leadership, assisting clients and organisations to achieve sustainable, high-impact results.

Delwyn Everard is a strategic thinker, lawyer and advocate. She is the founder and principal of Everard Advisory, a boutique legal firm focusing on the arts, with particular expertise in the protection of First Nations culture and traditional knowledge.

Delwyn was formerly a partner of global firm Spruson & Ferguson, where she specialised in patent and trademark litigation, and also spent a decade as the Deputy Director of the Arts Law Centre managing the delivery of its legal advice service to the creative sector.

She has served on the boards of the non-profit organisations producing Sydney’s contemporary art festival, Art Month Sydney and The Lester Prize, and is currently a director of The Farm Margaret River which offers annual residencies to artists whose practice is connected to place and environment.

Managing Director ANZ of AI company Faculty, which builds AI systems for corporations and public sector bodies worldwide.

Chair of Founders Factory Australia, having brought London’s leading tech accelerator to Australia for the first time, with $22 million of funding from Rio Tinto and the WA government to invest in clean-tech and nature-tech startups.

Rohan was previously Senior Policy Adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron and Economic Adviser to Shadow Chancellor George Osborne.

Rohan has served on several non-profit boards, including the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London Contemporary Music Festival, Entrepreneur First and Code First: Girls.

Chair of George Orwell Prize for Political Writing 2026.

Regular columnist for the Times (of London) and the Australian Financial Review.

Simon has worked in the financial services industry since 1993. In November 2000 he established and managed the Private Client division of Euroz Securities Limited before moving to a specialised role within the Institutional Sales division from 2013 until 2022 and is now in the Private Wealth division. Simon was formerly an Executive Director of Euroz Limited and Euroz Hartleys Securities Limited.

Simon holds a Bachelor of Commerce from UWA and was previously a chartered accountant.

He was on the board of the ACO for 10 years from 2014 to 2024. He was the Executive Producer of The Reef, being instrumental in conceptualising, financing and arranging logistics, when the ACO first launched the project in 2012 and also for The Reef redux undertaken in 2015 for the 2016 The Reef tour of the USA. He was previously a Director of Tura New Music.

Jason is the Chair of Chord Advisory and is a non-executive director of a number of companies in the renewable energy, critical minerals and professional services sectors. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Prior to his role at Chord Advisory, Jason was the General Counsel of The Minderoo Foundation and Tattarang group of companies. The Minderoo Foundation is Australia's largest Foundation and was established by Dr Andrew Forrest AO and Nicola Forrest AO. Tattarang is the private investment group of the Forrest family and invests across a wide variety of sectors and asset classes.

Jason was at Herbert Smith Freehills for 30 years before joining Minderoo and Tattarang, 24 of those as a partner specialising in infrastructure projects in the government, water, power, health and transport sectors. During that time, Jason was a member of the Board of Freehills and sat on the Global Executive of the merged Herbert Smith Freehills with responsibility for leading the Australian Region, and then leading the firm’s global Finance, Real Estate, Projects and Latin American business.

'We deeply grieve the passing of our colleague and friend.  Paul was everything a colleague could want, fun, wise, curious and supportive.  We loved him on our team and will miss him deeply. Ben Wyatt, Chair'