Our Team

Heather Croall

Director and CEO

Heather first worked at the Fringe in the Star Club in the early 1990’s and also ran the film event, Shoot The Fringe from 1992 to 2002. After a decade away from Adelaide running a festival in the UK, Heather returned to take up the role of Director and CEO in 2015. She has a passion for rollerskating.

Belinda Redman

Deputy Director

Belinda joined Fringe in May 2010. After overseeing the departments of Media, Marketing and Business Development, Belinda became Deputy Director in 2016. Belinda loves nothing more than a new, creative and exciting idea that can be explored, fine-tuned and unleashed, then when it all comes together, glass of wine in hand and hitting the Fringe Club dance floor.

Jo O'Callaghan

Head of Artists, Venues & Events

Jo likes to throw a party, it’s true, she also likes dogs. She has returned home to SA to throw the biggest party to date in her career, and joined the Adelaide Fringe team in 2017. Her first encounter with Adelaide Fringe was producing and performing on busses across Adelaide, with the cult hit Op Shop Tours. You may also know her from various management roles at festivals such as Melbourne Fringe, Melbourne International Film Festival, Short + Sweet Melbourne, and Melbourne International Comedy Festival.  If you can’t see her, listen for her laugh. 

Aggy Szelesta

Head of People and Culture

Aggy completed years of work in corporate environments of the private, not for profit and government sectors and she is also an interpreter. Aggy's HR interest include employee wellbeing, work-life balance, and workplace culture. In her spare time, Aggy can be found sampling some almond latte and an occasional pu-erh or matcha tea. She's into cinematography, film review writing, and photography.

Emma Bedford

Head of Production

Emma Bedford is committed to the diverse, eclectic world of live entertainment and large scale events. In recent years, Emma has been a key player in delivering some of Australia’s large scale events, including Sydney Festival, WOMADelaide and Adelaide Fringe. Emma has also been a leader in Australian theatre organisations including Erth Visual and Physical, Performance Space Sydney and Vitalstatistix.

Ella Huisman

Head of Ticketing and Digital Operations

Ella started her ticketing career as a BOB at Pleasance Theatre in Edinburgh and has made her way across several arts festivals to be at Adelaide Fringe as Head of Ticketing and Digital Operations. She is a lover of comedy, ticketing stats, riding her bike to work and good spelling. 

Isobel Huisman

Office Manager

Izzy started working at Adelaide Fringe in 2014 as the Administration Coordinator and Receptionist. She is the happy voice you hear when you call, and the funny response you get when you email. She loves her dog Luna, a laugh, and a good coffee.

Andy Beecroft

Marketplace Manager

Andy caught the festival bug back in 2007 and has worked many international festivals over the last 11 years, working within marketplaces and industry from Sheffield Doc/Fest to Edinburgh Fringe. He made the leap over to Adelaide Fringe in 2016. He manages the Honey Pot, working year round to bring out the best presenters and organisations from around the world to see shows within the Honey Pot program during Fringe. Andy’s perfect weekend would include a few cellar doors in Mclaren Vale followed by a beach walk and swim at Port Willunga with friends.

Katherine Peach

Business Development Manager

Undeterred by London’s grey skies and over-exposure to X-Factor winners (and losers), Katherine spent eight years living in the UK, where she headed-up global partnerships & events for international advertising publication and networking platform LBBonline. After three months driving through Europe’s lesser known parts and living like a local, she left the EU around the same time the UK did and returned to sunny South Australia for the wine, footy and pie floaters. When not Fringe-ing, Kat enjoys cooking, glitter and sparkles.

Bella Caruso

Membership Manager

Bella joined the Fringe family in 2016 and is the brains behind the Fringe Membership program. In 2011 she completed her Bachelor of Communication and Media Management at UniSA then spent a year living in London before discovering a newfound passion for how great our stunning State is. If you want to track her down you can usually find her at The Cranker, spritzing herself with face-mist somewhere or eating vietnamese food.

Kieran Kellett

Digital Project Manager

Kieran has recently joined the legendary Ticketing and Digital department as the Digital Project Manager. For the past few festivals he has worked as a ticketing superstar in the box office and most recently as ‘one of the best Volunteer Coordinators of the past 8 Fringe’s.’ He is enjoying the challenge of steering our AVR platform forward to make the lives easier for our artists and venues, pioneering the Fringes Cheryl’s on the beach volleyball court and learning more about the wonderful mind of Matt as they navigate our digital landscape together. 

Matthew Croall

Lead Developer

Matt is the lead developer on our AVR platform as well as other in-house software. He works alongside Kieran and the many stakeholders in delivering an easy and seamless artist / venue registration experience. Matt is part of the Cheryl’s vollyball team and enjoys gaming, kayaking, taking care of his tropical fish and his amazing dog Monte!

Dave Cations

Digital Developer

Dave joined to round out the digital team and assist Kieran and Matt as the second in-house Ruby on Rails developer for various projects throughout the organisation, including the AVR platform. Coming from a strong technical and ticketing background, he is relishing the challenge of refining the artist/venue registration experience. In his spare time, he loves anything tech related, film, travel and a sneaky wine.

Amanda Hillgrove

Ticketing Manager

Amanda joined the Adelaide Fringe team as a box office staff member in 2016, then moved into a Ticketing Coordinator role for the 2017 season, and has more recently taken up the role as Assistant Ticketing Manager, sitting a high-five’s distance away from Ella. Amanda’s favourite things include napping, travelling, alcoholic ginger beer, SNL, times shared around a bonfire, Fringe time, and her boys. 

Liz Glenn

Business Development Coordinator

Liz studied at the University of South Australia in Bachelor of Communications and Media Management. She joined the Adelaide Fringe in 2013 soon after completing her degree. In summer you will find her down at the beach and when the cooler weather sets in, she will be cheering her team on at the football. 

Chelsea Martin

Marketing Coordinator - Community Engagement

Chelsea, who began at Adelaide Fringe in 2016, is an arts worker who can be spotted around the office wearing her reading glasses on a neck strap. She graduated media and marketing a few years ago and has been in festivals ever since. She loves coffee, snacks, travelling, podcasts, the contrast between her ute and vespa, and of course, seeing Fringe shows with a glass of sparkling red.

Kate Cooper

Program Coordinator

Kate started working for the Fringe in 2017, she’s our Program Coordinator with an added twist of zest. When she’s not chatting or organising every bodies calendar of events you can usually find her sipping a large glass of wine with a serious cheese platter. Her side hustle is the Handpicked Festival which is held in Kate's backyard. Imagine barefoot dancing, picnics on the lawn, amazing wine, world class music, laidback vibes and a dash of surprise…sounds like something Kate would create…right?!  

Bryce Lawrence

Producer

Stepping into the world of Fringe for the first time in 2017 as Program Coordinator, Bryce has made the migration over from Melbourne to re-join the AF team again in 2018 as Producer. Having cut his event-management-teeth somewhere between the thralls of dingy nightclubs and an undergrad in project management, Bryce eventually co-founded Victorian music festival, Inner Varnika, which he still manages. In his spare time he’s most likely searching for new music or hanging out with his little doggo, Bluetac.

Jason Marsiglia

Artists and Venues Coordinator

Jason joined the Fringe team in 2016, after bouncing around festivals across Australia, including Sydney Film Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival and more. Born and raised in Adelaide, he fell in love with Adelaide Fringe at an early age. He went on to produce, write and perform in Fringe shows, as well as work across a variety of Adelaide Fringe venues. Apart from festivals, Jason’s other passion is spoken word poetry, and his current life highlight was performing his work on the Sydney Opera House stage. 

Karina Bryce

Artists and Venues Coordinator

A self-confessed cat lady, Karina joined Adelaide Fringe in 2015, dancing between seasonal roles in Adelaide and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society for three years. A proud Adelaideian, Karina has been a lover of all things Fringe since forever. She enjoys laughing 'till you cry, getting up at 4am for the live Eurovision final, RuPaul's Drag Race memes and a hot mug of Milo.

Lisa Waite

Artists and Venues Coordinator

Lisa has dabbled in all areas of Artists and Venues with experience as a theatre maker, producer and venue manager. With many years as a local participating in the Adelaide Fringe she has finally made her way to the other side! Lisa is like that awkward cousin who can make silent pauses really uncomfortable but then has an outburst that everyone is confused by. You won’t find someone more passionate about getting the arts in your face and will go above and beyond for her Fringe fam; artist, venues and all.

April Wanganeen

FringeTIX and Box Office Assistant

April started with the Adelaide Fringe in 2016 as the Artist, Venues & Events Assistant, then joined the Ticketing team as the FringeTIX and Box Office assistant for the 2017 season. She enjoys spending time with family and friends and exploring S.A.

Lauren Finch

Executive Assistant to Heather Croall

Lauren started with the Adelaide Fringe in 2014 after working at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe while traveling. She has worked as a superstar supervisor in the box offices, in the Ticketing department as a Coordinator, and has now made the move to Executive Assistant to the Director and CEO, Heather Croall.

Lauren has a cleaning problem, only wears black and is a single mother to her little French bulldog, Ponyo. Lauren likes to have a lol, a white wine with ice and bloody loves Fringe fun times. 

Nick Philips

Graphic Artist

Nick studied Fine Art Sculpture in the UK and was a founding partner in the UK design company The Designers Republic. He was the Lead Artist at the Sony Leeds studio and worked on the Bafta winning Wip3out for the Play Station. Now living and working in Adelaide on everything Fringe and also performing his own show Werewolves in Adelaide and ast Edinburgh Fringe. In his spare time painting murals around town and sculpting.

Chloe Elizabeth

Graphic Artist

Riding her bike straight in from university, Chloe joined the Adelaide Fringe family in 2015. Chloe’s a true believer of clear communication and logical problem solving through design, but always with a healthy dose of fun and Fringe stars! If not at their desks you’ll often find the design team making cups of tea in the kitchen, dancing around, or both. Always appreciates a good IPA, good music (see: BBC Radio 6), and a good boogie at the Fringe Club!