Helen Salmon - Director, British Council Australia

Helen is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and holds a Master of Performance Studies, with a long career in international theatre, festivals and public art. Helen was Artistic Director of the landmark UK / Australia Season British program in Australia, featuring 190 collaborative events in 2021-22. Currently Director of British Council in Australia, she leads a vision for mutual understanding and connection through culture. Helen was for ten years a producer and consultant to Australian cultural organisations, ranging from the National Association of Visual Arts to Sydney Festival, and spent the previous decade in London theatre, most recently at the Royal Court. She has served on the Board of Directors of Playwriting Australia, Monkey Baa ARA Darling Quarter Theatre, and the UK Council of the International Theatre Institute.

Jonathan Reekie CBE (UK) - Director, Somerset House (UK) "a cultural powerhouse without a penny from the taxpayer" The Times

Jonathan Reekie has over 30 years leadership experience across festivals, the arts and creative industries. He began his career at Glyndebourne Opera and then went to be General Manager at the Almeida Theatre, founding Almeida Opera. In 1997 he took over as Chief Executive of Aldeburgh Music where he remained until 2014, a transformational period for the organization culminating in the Britten Centenary celebrations. In 2014 he became Director of Somerset House Trust, making it the home of cultural innovators, including Somerset House Studios launched in 2016. Today Somerset House works across arts, creativity, business, and non-profit; nurturing new talent, methods and technologies.

He is currently a trustee of the Clore Leadership Programme. Until recently he was Chair of the Strand Aldwych Joint Project Board, responsible for one of the biggest pedestrianisation projects in central London in the last decade. He has an Honorary Doctorate in Music from the University of East Anglia, is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music and in 2013 was awarded a CBE for services to music.