Short Bio

Iain Grandage recently completed a five year tenure (2020-2024)  as Artistic Director of the Perth Festival where he was celebrated for bringing a sweeping sense of place to the Festivals he curated, with a strong commitment to Noongar artists and stories standing alongside events of scale like Highway to Hell.  Previously, he has been Artistic Director of the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, curated the fine music program for the Adelaide Festival (Chamber Landscapes) and been Composer-in-Residence with the WA Symphony Orchestra. He has received the prestigious Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award, been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from UWA and is the 2023 West Australian of the Year for Culture & the Arts.

Over his 30 year career in the performing arts, he has become one of Australia’s most highly regarded collaborative artists. He has been music director for large scale events for Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide Festivals, and has an extensive track record of collaboration with Indigenous artists across the country. He has won Helpmann Awards for his compositions for Theatre (Cloudstreet, Secret River), for Dance (When Time Stops), for Opera – with Kate Miller-Heidke (The Rabbits), for silent film – with Rahayu Suppangah (Satan Jawa) and as a music director for Meow Meow’s Little Match Girl and Secret River.