David Malacari

David Malacari has had an extensive career in the Arts and in Arts Festivals and has been director of nine arts festivals, executive producer of four and held senior positions in a further six.  He was Artistic Director of the Auckland Arts Festival between 2004 and 2011 and returned to Australia as Executive Producer of the Commonwealth Festival in Perth for CHOGM in late 2011. He was Artistic Director of Parramasala Festival 2013,  and Artistic Director of Tasmania’s Arts Festival, Ten Days on the Island, for its 2015 and 2017 programs.   

David directed the multi-arts festival  Australia India: New Horizons, for an Australian trade and cultural exhibition presented simultaneously in New Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai and Bangalore in 1996, and was  Artistic Director of Heads UP – Australian Arts Come to London, a showcase of Australian arts and culture in London presented in 2000 as part of Australia’s Centenary of Federation celebrations. He was awarded the Centenary of Federation medal.

He was previously founding General Manager of the internationally acclaimed Australian children’s and family theatre company, Windmill Performing Arts and before that worked in various arts roles in Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide, -  including twelve years as Program Manager at the Adelaide Festival of Arts. 

David is a strong supporter for the work of local artists, of indigenous artists, and for the development of programming that celebrates the newer cultural communities in contemporary Australian society.

In New Zealand he introduced the first White Night in Australasia, to increase the profile of visual arts in the program, and introduced an Asia-Pacific focus to its performing arts program. At Parramatta’s Parramasala Festival he broadened the remit beyond South Asian programming to embrace Western Sydney’s other new communities, and at Ten Days on the Island, commissioned significant new Australian work, most notably The Season by emerging indigenous writer Nathan Maynard, and expanded the program to introduce work from China and the Asia-Pacific to complement the festival’s founding principle of celebrating island cultures.

 David has been invited to forums and festivals in many parts of the world, speaking on topics relating to arts, culture and cultural policy.