MusicNSW announces the departure of Managing Director Emily Collins after a highly successful 8 years of leadership. Emily will leave MusicNSW in mid-June to take up the position of Acting Head of Sound NSW, where she will be responsible for establishing and driving the strategic direction of this important new music agency that will play a critical role in the strategic development of contemporary music in the state.
MusicNSW chair, Professor Julian Knowles said, “We will be sorry to lose such an outstanding leader but are equally excited for this next step in Emily’s career. We look forward to working with her in this important new role. Emily has a huge list of achievements from her time at MusicNSW including securing $24M in live music venue funding during COVID, the Vote Music campaign which resulted in a $103M commitment from the incoming state government to music in NSW, the I Lost My Gig survey and advocacy project, as well as the Music Industry Review and the Raising their Voices report. She has worked tirelessly on access initiatives including the Regional Music Officer program, the Regional Touring Network, the Live Music Accessibility project, and the Women in Electronic Music program. Emily’s unique ability to seek support from all corners of the industry and government has resulted in a period of unprecedented impact and growth for the organisation. On behalf of the board and all MusicNSW stakeholders I want to express my deep thanks to Emily for her outstanding work as General Manager and we wish her every success in her new role.”
While the recruitment process for the Managing Director is underway MusicNSW’s Laura Murdoch will step in as Acting General Manager, and board member Jane Slingo will be Acting Government Relations and Policy Lead to ensure continuity of leadership.