Team AWESOME
Jenny Simpson
CEO/Artistic Director
Jenny joined AWESOME in 2007, bringing to the role extensive experience as a business manager, festival director, performer and teacher. Jenny has previously held several board positions including Treasurer of Canberra Arts Marketing, President of KULCHA, Multicultural Arts WA and board member for the Chamber of Arts and Culture. Jenny is currently the Musical Director of Mosman Park based choir, the Mighty Camelot. At AWESOME Jenny combines her passion for presenting high quality and innovative arts with community cultural development and working with regional communities.
Brianna Wotzko
Operations Manager
Brianna joined team AWESOME in 2015 and loves to explore the limitless potential of creativity! Brianna studied Professional Writing and Publishing and Literary Cultural Studies at Curtin University and has an Associate Diploma in Drama and Performance with the Australian Music Examination Board which qualifies her as a Speech and Drama Teacher. Brianna has a strong background in Arts Management and Education having worked at various schools and festivals in Perth. In her spare time she enjoys learning unusual information on the internet and watching dark and twisty TV shows and movies.
Nadia Bischof
Festival Admin and Artist Logistics Manager
Nadia started out at AWESOME as a festival volunteer before officially joining the team in 2016. Nadia graduated from Edith Cowan University with a Bachelor of Event, Sport and Recreation Management, and has worked in various event coordination and admin roles. She currently has the busy job of arranging flights and accommodation for AWESOME artists, managing the volunteer program and organising school excursions to the festival. On the weekends you can find Nadia checking out a new brunch spot or watching cheesy rom coms.
Angela Ringuet
Community Arts Officer
Angela joined team AWESOME in 2022 and is excited to be here! Angela has worked in business management and team leadership for almost 10 years. She has a strong background in client relations, scheduling, and operational administration. She is passionate about creating a positive experience for anyone collaborating with AWESOME! When she’s not in the AWESOME office you will find her studying, bingeing a podcast, or most likely thinking about what she’s going to eat next.
Tiffany Ko
Creative Learning and Education Manager
Tiffany joined AWESOME in 2024 from an arts/events management background and has worked with children within an ESL capacity. She studied English and Cultural Studies, and Chinese at the University of Western Australia, and is passionate about bringing the life-changing magic of art to children. She has returned from a year in the Pilbara and is excited to continue bringing creative programs and events to schools around WA. In her spare time, you can find her curled up on the couch with a book and Millie the cat on her lap.
Jess Gately
Marketing Coordinator
Jess joined AWESOME part-time in 2023 from a freelance publishing background. She has worked in various publishing and arts administration roles, as well as marketing and event coordination roles. She is passionate about local arts and literature and the power of words to understand our present and shape our future. On her days off, if she hasn’t got her nose in a book, you’ll find her watching anime or playing games.
Bonnie Davies
Producer
Bonnie did work experience at AWESOME when she was 15, and was hired as Office Manager when she graduated high school. Since then she’s worked for a variety of festivals, councils, arts organisations and businesses across WA and the UK. She’s come back on board as Producer over 20 years after her first role.
Josh Haines
Marketing & Communications Coordinator
Josh joined AWESOME in 2024, with a background in the arts and culture sector spanning 10 years. After honing their skills in film, television, fashion, theatre, ballet, and literature, he graduated Arts Management at WAAPA in 2021. They are a strong advocate for arts access to communities, and the impact of arts wellbeing on LGBTQIA+ youth, having spoken to regional communities in NSW in 2022 on these topics. In their spare time, he enjoys writing poetry and lyrics, singing badly to showtunes, renaissance art history, and orange chocolate.
Celine Fitzpatrick
Finance Manager
Celine joined AWESOME in 2024 as the Finance Manager after supporting many not-for-profit and small businesses with their accounting needs. She studied International Business in France before settling in Australia permanently and subsequently completing a master of professional accounting and becoming a CPA. She loves using languages, sport, culture and the arts to connect with people across all ages. When not at work, you’ll find her swimming at the beach or walking with friends.
Board
Professor Jonathan Carapetis
Patron of AWESOME Arts Australia Ltd. & Director of the Telethon Kids Institute
Jonathan is a paediatrician, researcher and Director of Telethon Kids Institute. He has been a patron of AWESOME Arts since 2015. This combination of skill and experience allows him to blend his passion for improving the health and wellbeing amongst disadvantaged kids with his interests in the arts.
During university, Jonathan was a frequent visitor to Africa where his father lived. It was in Tanzania where he saw first-hand the challenges facing many local families. Their struggle with poverty and major health crises such as HIV, malaria, pneumonia and malnutrition fuelled him through his studies and had a major influence on his future career path.
In his dim dark past, he miss-spent many years as an amateur thespian, and wonders to this day whether he should have followed his mates into professional acting. He watched them go on to become famous with Working Dog Productions, while he continued with intensive study to become a doctor… Sigh… Jonathan and his family continue to be strong supporters of the arts as well as health focused organisations who advocate for social justice and equity.
Dr Emma Jayakumar
Chair
Emma Jayakumar is an award winning Australian composer and academic with significant research experience utilising child-centred research methodologies. This work includes the 2018 ECU WAAPA Research Medal winning practice-led PhD research project focusing on the creation of more engaging classical music drama models for audiences of children, and also the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child Research Translation award for her work on the ECU LEGO digital safety and citizenship roundtables project. In addition to the LEGO project, Emma has worked within the ethnographic Communications and Media research field with children, young mothers, and first time parents investigating families and their digital engagements.
Emma is a sought-after composer and fierce advocate of engaging and accessible works for young audiences, as well as new music celebrating diverse Australian voices. Recent major commissioned works for orchestra and ensemble have included Swim With Me (2024) for Perth Symphony Orchestra and WA Museum Boola Bardip Whale Room, Our Little Inventor (2022) for West Australian Opera, setting of the Sarah Holland Batt poem Circles and Centres (2023) Darlington Piano Quintet and mezzo soprano Caitlin Hulcup, the orchestral song cycle Four Lost Songs (2022) for the Darwin Symphony Orchestra with soprano Rachelle Durkin, Little Red (2023) and the Lost Little Llama (2022) for AWESOME Festival and LINK Dance, Bell Birds Suite for String Quartet (2020) for the ABC recorded by the Darlington Quartet, The Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (2020) for West Australian Ballet, and opera Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge (2021) for MusicBook Stories and the City of Perth Winter Arts Festival.
Our Little Inventor received outstanding reviews for its innovative score, libretto and performances, including a five star review from national arts publication Limelight. Emma was awarded the Performing Arts WA award for Outstanding Composition for OLI, the show also receiving an impressive 12 nominations in a total of 11 categories in both the overall and the Musicals and Opera section of the 2023 awards (including Outstanding New Work, and Best Production). Emma was also nominated for an outstanding score award at the 2021 PAWAs for the ballet score The Adventures of Snugglepot & Cuddlepie (WA Ballet).
In 2023 Emma produced a re-staging of Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge to warm and emotional reviews at the State Theatre Centre for State of Play and Perth Fringe and is currently working on further creative development of the Australia Council funded play The Big Sea with director Frances Barbe, the Darlington Quartet and soprano Emma Matthews. In 2024 Emma also creates a new choral work for the Australian Vocal Ensemble (AVE) to a text by Tim Winton.
Andries Weidemann
Deputy Chair and Acting Secretary
Andries Weidemann is a South African-born principal ballet dancer, educator and choreographer. Before moving to Perth to teach at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), he delivered ballet classes to hundreds of children from diverse communities in South Africa. His most recent choreographies for children have been Peter and the Wolf and The Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie for West Australian Ballet, and The Lost Little Llama and Little Red Riding Hood for the AWESOME Festival.
He has served as a member of the project working group for the Skills for Australia Culture and Related Industries national review into vocational education and training in dance and is currently completing a Masters by Research in Education. Andries is also a member of the board of Barking Gecko Theatre Company and serves on the WAAPA Advisory Board.
Guy Boyce
Treasurer
Guy Boyce is the General Manager of Marrugeku based in Perth. He is currently on the board of Barking Gecko Theatre and Awesome Arts.
Guy previous roles include as General Manager of Sensorium Theatre from August 2020 to April 2022, Artistic Director/CEO of the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre from June 2010 to March 2020, and Chair of CircuitWest from 2011 to 2020.
Guy trained as an actor at the NZ Drama School from 1982 – 83 and then spent the next ten years as a freelance actor/director throughout New Zealand. He moved into arts management as Theatre Manager for BATS Theatre, 1993 – 94; Program Manager for Downstage Theatre, 1994 – 98; and Director for Playmarket, New Zealand’s script development and playwright’s agency, 1999 – 2000; all in Wellington. He became Director of the Christchurch Arts Festival in 2000 and presented 5 biennial multi art form festivals up to 2009.
On shifting to WA in June 2010 for the role in Mandurah, he joined CircuitWest and became Chair of CircuitWest, the performing arts presenter association of WA from 2011 to 2020.
Ryan Taaffe
Ryan is the Executive Producer and CEO at Barking Gecko Theatre. He was previously Executive Director at CircuitWest, the West Australian Presenters Association. Circuit West represents producers, artists and service organisations and has a strong focus on programming, audience development and community engagement, alongside building the capacity of the performing arts sector in WA. Ryan was the General Manager of the Koorliny Arts Centre in Kwinana, WA, an outer-metro centre servicing a population of approximately 100,000 people. During his tenure, Ryan was responsible for turning the Centre to a programming focus and ensuring that the Centre actively participated in the sector.
Ryan studied Musical Theatre and Theatre at university and has previously worked as a Policy Advisor for Minister’s at a state level and the social services sector at a federal level.
Dane O’Callaghan
As an accomplished professional in the Property Industry, Dane brings a wealth of expertise to AWESOME, spanning strategy development, risk management, change management, project management, and day-to-day operations.
A values-driven leader committed to serving others, Dane strives to constructively contribute to board discussion fusing an entrepreneurial spirit with unwavering integrity to foster decisive decision-making and value creation.
Dane’s early exposure to the arts in a household rich in visual and performing arts influenced his initial career as an Architect and is a passion he relishes sharing with his children present day.
In terms of education, Dane holds Master’s qualifications in finance and business, supported by studies in design, architecture, property development, and project management. Recognised as a Fellow at the Australian Institute of Management, he is also a Graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
