Kate Ben-Tovim

Associate Director Asia TOPA

Kate is a curator and producer specialising in engagement with the Asia-Pacific. During her 20+ years in the arts, Kate has worked with artists, cultural institutions and governments in Indonesia, India, China, PNG and throughout Australia.

Kate is Associate Director of Asia TOPA, a large-scale festival of contemporary Asian performance and new work commissioner. She is also Director/Founder of creative agency Turning World.

Kate was based at the Australian High Commission New Delhi for 20 months as Co-Creative Director of Australia’s largest cultural diplomacy initiative in India, Oz Fest 2012 and lived in Jogjakarta for a year in 2009 on an Asialink Arts Management Residency. She has curated Asia- Pacific focussed programming for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, 2015 White Night and the 2012 London Cultural Olympiad. She has also worked in producing / senior management roles for numerous Australian festivals and arts organisations including Melbourne Festival, Arts House, Melbourne International Jazz Festival and Adelaide Festival .

Kate has an ongoing commitment to working with Indigenous artists, she was the first producer of The Black Arm Band and has produced indigenous festivals and events in central and northern Australia.

Kate’s awards include a Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship, DFAT Secretary’s Citation (Oz Fest), Greenroom Award (Curatorial Contribution- Asia TOPA) and an Asialink Residency. She has produced numerous Helpmann Award winning productions and is a regular public speaker nationally and internationally.