Our Council
Creative Workplaces Council supports and informs the operation of Creative Workplaces. The Council reports to the governing Board for Creative Australia. Council members meet 4 times a year (minimum).
Our Chair — Kate Jenkins AO
Kate Jenkins AO is a renowned lawyer, leader and change maker. She is a former human rights and sex discrimination commissioner and is recognised for spearheading some of Australia’s leading reviews, reports and reforms for fairness, safety and equality. Kate is Australia’s foremost authority on respect and equality in the workplace.
Kate has recently taken the position of Chair of the Australian Sports Commission. Prior to this, Kate completed her 7-year term as the Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner. Highlights of Kate’s term are leading the landmark Respect@Work: National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces Report, as well as her independent reviews of Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces, Gymnastics in Australia and Australian Universities. Kate chaired the Respect@Work Council leading regulators, employers, worker representatives and civil society to implement changes in sexual harassment laws and practices.
Kate holds a Bachelor of Arts (with Honours in Fine Arts) and Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Melbourne. Kate has previously served as the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner and on the Boards of Heide Museum of Modern Art, Play by the Rules, Berry Street Victoria and Carlton Football Club. For 20 years Kate was an employment lawyer with Herbert Smith Freehills.
Simon Abrahams
Simon Abrahams is recognised as one of Australia's arts and cultural leaders, with a practice that explores the intersection of art and civic participation. Since 2015, Simon has served as Creative Director & CEO of Melbourne Fringe. Simon is currently also Co-Curator for Theater Der Welt Chemnitz 2026, a significant international theatre festival based in Germany. Simon is a current Ministerial appointment to the Creative Workplaces Council, and he is also Trustee for the Betty Amsden Foundation and a member of the International Society for the Performing Arts Board Programming Committee (New York). Simon is a life member of Theatre Network Australia, an organisation he co-founded then Chaired from 2010–2017. In 2024, Simon (together with Sue Giles AM) co-wrote a strategic advice report for Creative Australia exploring children, young people and the arts.
Simon has previously served as Head of Programming at the Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing & Ideas (2013–14) and as Executive Producer and Co-CEO at Polyglot Theatre (2007–12). Simon regularly works as a facilitator, host, peer assessor, mentor, judge and arts consultant, known for his expertise in inclusive leadership, advocacy, dramaturgy, work for children, and art in public space.
Fiona Donovan
Fiona Donovan is an award-winning production designer and art director who has worked extensively across film and television. She completed her first degree in Architecture at Canberra University, before taking up a place in the Set and Costume Design Course at National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). Since graduating from the NIDA in 1992, Fiona has worked in many genres of film, television and theatre. Fiona has art directed in both television and film in Australia as well as on international film productions. She is currently the vice president of the APDG and is active on both the screen and awards committees, as well as a professional member of AACTA.
Fiona has been nominated four times for the AACTA Award for Best Production Design in Television for her work on the internationally successful period drama, A Place to Call Home. In 2017, she was awarded the AACTA for Series 5, Episode 2 and in 2019, Fiona also won the APDG Award for Production Design on a Television Drama for Series 6 of A Place to Call Home. Fiona has also been nominated for an APDG award in 2023 for The Twelve and 2022 for Frayed Series 2. Most recently, Fiona was the production designer on the upcoming Feature Film The Correspondent and designed the Logie and AACTA award winning miniseries The Twelve (Warner Bros/Easy Tiger), released in 2022.
Ruth Hazleton
Ruth Hazleton is a multi-award-winning performer and recording artist, she has toured nationally and internationally in the folk and roots music sector for over twenty-five years. Throughout this time, she has also gained extensive experience in music, tour and event management (including Sydney Road Street Party, Brunswick Music Festival (VIC) & Across the Borders Agency). Ruth holds a Graduate Diploma in Australian Folklife Studies (Curtin University), and currently works professionally as an independent researcher, author, folklorist and oral historian contracted to the National Library of Australia.
Ruth is a dedicated advocate for Australian independent music and musicians, women in music and culturally and linguistically diverse artforms. She is a passionate supporter of the arts as a core foundation of cultural heritage, identity, and community expression. She is a mother, a keen gardener, songwriter, plays banjo, sings traditional songs, dabbles in electronica, and was awarded ‘Artist of the Year’ (Solo) at the 2021 Australian Folk Music Awards.
Michel Hryce
Michel Hryce is an employment lawyer and an experienced Senior Executive with 35 years’ experience in the Arts. Michel joined Michael Cassel Group as the Director of People and Culture in January 2020, having previously served as In-house Counsel, People and Culture at the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, a position she held since 2012.
Bringing to the role extensive experience in theatre, entertainment and labour relations, Michel served, for eleven years, as National Director of Theatre, Lawyer and NSW Secretary for the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) negotiating collective bargaining agreements on behalf of the union’s members with SBS, the Sydney Opera House, Opera Australia, the Australian Ballet, the Sydney Dance Company, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and national theatre companies in both the subsidised and commercial sector. Following her time at MEAA, Michel was General Manager, Human Resources and Industrial Relations at the Sydney Ferries Corporation from 2004 until 2009.
Tina Lavranos
Tina Lavranos is an executive with 20 years of legal, consulting and general management experience. She has performed senior legal and human resources roles across Asia and Australia in the creative, professional services and finance sectors.
Tina is currently the Chief People Officer of Affinda Group - an Australian AI company. Most recently, she led the people and culture function at founder-led Moorilla Group, which includes MONA - Museum of Old and New Art, a globally recognised cultural destination. Tina was the Executive Director of DarkLab; operator of the annual Dark Mofo festival in Hobart. Prior to this, she was as a member of the MONA executive team. Tina is an experienced NFP board member and was the past Chair of Women’s Legal Service Victoria.
Bjorn Stewart
Bjorn Stewart is a Sydney-based freelance writer, director and actor in the Australian entertainment industry. He has consistently worked in the creative sector for over 15 years. Through his work, Bjorn understands the demands required within television, screen and stage, as well as the potential risks that can arise for arts practitioners and workers due to the industry’s ever-changing nature.
As a Wemba-Wemba and Western Yalanji man raised in Western Sydney, Bjorn has seen firsthand the issues that affect culturally diverse artists. This lived experience, along with his work on the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance’s Board (MEAA), helps Bjorn continue advocating for culturally safe workplaces, cultural competency, and workers’ rights.
Our Director
Kate Schaffner
Kate Schaffner began as Director, Creative Workplaces in January 2024. She has built a small, dedicated team to support the work of Creative Workplaces.
Kate has considerable experience in workplace relations and in leadership roles in the public sector. She has a deep understanding of workplace culture and employment issues. Her knowledge of issues relating to pay, safety, and wellbeing will be instrumental in delivering Creative Workplace’s mandate
Our co-investors
Creative Workplaces works closely with state and territory government arts organisations, taking a collaborative national approach to creating fairer and safer creative workplaces.
We thank the following state and territory governments for co-investing in Creative Workplaces.
