Targeting:
Females, People with Disabilities, Seniors/Retired People, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander, English as an additional language or dialect, LGBTQI

La Mama is seeking a well-connected leader with deep roots in Australian theatre and the arts to chair its Board of Management. The incoming Chair will guide one of Australia’s most significant independent theatres through its sixtieth anniversary in 2027, supported by a structured handover from the current Chair.

About La Mama

Since 1967, La Mama has been where Australian theatre begins. Under its Artist-First Model, La Mama carries the financial risk while independent artists receive free use of its stages, the full backing of its team and at least 80 per cent of the box office. It has presented more than 2,500 productions, and work first staged in Carlton has travelled to London’s Royal Court, Off-Broadway and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Today La Mama is governed by a nine-member Board of Management and run by eleven core staff, supported by casual employees and volunteers.

Towards Sixty

La Mama has reached an inflection point, having paused its public program in 2025 to review every part of how it works before reopening in February 2026 under Strategy 2026-2030, with a sole focus on new Australian work. The priority now is long-term financial independence, built on growing support from major donors, trusts and foundations and gifts in wills, without compromising the Artist-First Model. The Board has formed a Fundraising Subcommittee to drive this work ahead of the sixtieth anniversary.

The Role

La Mama is an artist-led organisation, committed to artistic freedom and to questioning social conventions through art. As a custodian of that ethos, the Chair leads La Mama’s Board of Management and works closely with CEO and Artistic Director Caitlin Dullard, leaving management to the executive. The Chair will also serve as a co-director, alongside the CEO, of La Mama Holdings, the entity that owns the land and building at Faraday Street. In effect, the role carries custodianship of La Mama’s home and its long-term future.

Given the central place of fundraising in the Strategy, the Chair will be the Board’s lead champion, opening doors and advocating for La Mama with prospective supporters. The work will be shared across the Board, with a fellow Board member chairing the Fundraising Subcommittee and acting as a second point of contact.

A Structured Handover

The incoming Chair will spend around six months working alongside their predecessor before taking office. The handover includes a thorough induction to La Mama’s people, programs, finances and governance, attendance at Board and Fundraising Subcommittee meetings [as an observer], and introductions to La Mama’s principal funders, partners and donors.

Key Responsibilities

• Chair Board meetings and the Annual General Meeting, ensuring sound decision-making and oversight of risk, compliance and financial sustainability.
• Act as the primary governance contact and sounding board for the CEO and Artistic Director, and oversee their annual performance review.
• Serve as a co-director of La Mama Holdings alongside the CEO, sharing responsibility for the stewardship of the land and building at Faraday Street, and with it the long-term security of La Mama.
• Lead the Board’s contribution to fundraising through introductions, hosting and advocacy, in partnership with the Board member who chairs the Fundraising Subcommittee.
• Use personal networks to open doors to major donors, philanthropic families, business leaders, trusts and foundations, and join the executive in cultivating these relationships.
• Guide Board recruitment, succession and culture, informed by the Skills and Diversity Matrix and the requirement that more than 50 per cent of Board members have deep engagement with, understanding of and practical artistic alignment to La Mama’s ethos and history.
• Serve as a public face and advocate for La Mama with government, funders, the sector and the Carlton community.

Who We Are Looking For

We hope to find a Chair who loves La Mama’s work and understands the life of an independent artist, whether they come from artistic practice, arts leadership, philanthropy or the wider professional world.

True to La Mama’s open-door culture, we encourage expressions of interest from First Nations, Deaf and disabled, LGBTQIA+ and regional candidates, and from people of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Essential

• A deep connection to the arts and to La Mama’s mission and Artist-First Model.
• Strong familiarity with the Australian arts sector, particularly theatre and independent performance.
• Experience as a Chair or in senior not-for-profit board roles.
• Demonstrated experience in fundraising or philanthropy.
• A well-established personal network beyond the arts, particularly in philanthropy, business and government, and a readiness to put it to work for La Mama.
• Sound judgement, integrity and a warm, collaborative leadership style.

Desirable

• Board experience with small to medium arts organisations.
• Experience steering an organisation through a period of renewal or growth.
• Experience in arts advocacy or government relations.

Commitment and Appointment

The Board formally meets four times a year on Tuesday evenings, in person in Carlton with an online option, and subcommittee meetings are held throughout the year. Board members may serve a maximum of ten years under La Mama’s Rules. Candidates must be eligible to act as a responsible person of a registered charity.

A selection panel of the Board will review all expressions of interest after applications close, and shortlisted candidates will receive La Mama’s Strategy 2026-2030 and Case for Support before meeting the panel in December 2026. The preferred candidate will begin the handover in February 2027 and take office in July 2027.

How to Apply

Please send a current CV with either a covering letter of up to two pages or a short video or audio recording. Your letter or recording should outline your connection to La Mama and the arts, your governance and fundraising experience, and the networks you would bring.

Applications close: Tuesday 1st December 2026

Submit to: Helen Hopkins, Chair, chair@lamama.com.au

Email subject: La Mama Board Chair Expression of Interest

Confidential enquiries and requests for adjustments may be directed to Helen Hopkins, Chair, at chair@lamama.com.au.

La Mama Theatre acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Victoria and Australia and pays respects to their Elders past and present.