Exit interview: Chris Bendall, Critical Stages Touring

Chris Bendall reflects on nine years at Critical Stages as he shifts his focus from national to local, with a new role at Bondi Pavilion.

27 Feb 2023

Richard Watts

Performing Arts

Chris Bendall is moving from Critical Stages Touring to the Bondi Pavillion. Photo: Supplied.

After nine years of focusing on the national arts ecology and the logistics of touring performers around the country, Chris Bendall has stepped down as Director and CEO of Critical Stages Touring.

Bendall, whose last day with the company was Friday 24 February, says, ‘It’s been a big nine years, and the last three years have been particularly challenging, but it’s also been a good nine years.’

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Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts