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On the move: latest arts sector appointments

This week's Australian arts sector appointments include the departure of Susan Provan AO from Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and new staff at Alter State.

27 Apr 2026 11:08

Richard Watts

Susan Provan will step down as Festival Director and CEO of Melbourne International Comedy Festival later this year. An older woman with fair skin, shoulder length brown hair and dark-framed glasses smiles at the camera. arts sector appointments

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Susan Provan AO will step down as Festival Director and CEO of Melbourne International Comedy Festival later this year. Photo: MICF.

After an extraordinary, three-decade tenure shaping one of the world’s most celebrated comedy events, Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) has announced Susan Provan will step down as Festival Director.

Since taking on the role in 1995, Provan has led the organisation with passion, championing Australian comedy and nurturing the next generation of artists, while transforming MICF into the world’s largest dedicated comedy festival, and a globally recognised platform for developing comedy audiences and careers.

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Richard Watts

Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the 2019 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in early 2020. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association in 2021, and a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Photo: Fiona Hamilton. Follow Richard on Bluesky @richardthewatts.bsky.social and Instagram @richard.l.watts