SiMON ABRAHAMS
creative director and ceo
Photo by Tom Noble
Simon Abrahams is a festival director, curator, arts executive and cultural strategist whose work explores what becomes possible when we approach the world with the radical curiosity of childhood.
His work asks what we imagine, what we discover, and who we might become when we remain open, curious fearless and playful.
Since 2015, Simon has served as Creative Director and CEO of Melbourne Fringe, transforming the organisation into one of Australia's most ambitious platforms for independent artists, championing open access, artistic risk and greater representation across the cultural sector.
He is currently Co-Curator of Theater der Welt Chemnitz 2026, Germany's most significant international theatre festival.
Simon is also a current member of the National Cultural Policy Advisory Group, Creative Workplaces Council and a Trustee for the Betty Amsden Foundation. He is a life member of Theatre Network Australia, an organisation he co-founded then Chaired from 2010-2017. In 2024, together with Sue Giles AM, Simon authored a major strategic report for Creative Australia on the future of children, young people and the arts.
Simon is a respected cultural strategist, facilitator and advisor. He regularly works with governments, artists and cultural organisations to advise on leadership, organisational change, partnerships, arts participation, work for children and young people, art in public space and cultural strategy.
Across his career, Simon has conceived, commissioned and championed work that brings artists and communities together in unexpected ways. Recent creative projects include co-curating The Rest Is Up To You for State Library Victoria with Kate Rhodes, and conceiving and co-producing the feature film Multiply with Stephanie Lake and Rhys Graham (MIFF 2022, SBS 2023). His curatorial practice creates participatory experiences that reclaim the radical curiosity of childhood as a way of imagining new possibilities for ourselves, our communities and society.
Under Simon's leadership, Melbourne Fringe has undergone extraordinary growth in scale, ambition and impact. He has commissioned and presented landmark works by artists including Robin Fox, Stephanie Lake, Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey, Field Theory, Ian Pidd, Joel Bray, Na Djinang Circus, The Rabble, Papermoon Puppet Theatre, Matthias Schack-Arnott, Lucy Guerin and many others.
His leadership has centred on expanding opportunity, increasing representation and removing barriers to participation through initiatives including the First Nations commissioning and producer development program Deadly Fringe, the experimental arts for children program XS, the Radical Access initiative for Deaf and Disabled artists and audiences, the establishment of the year-round venue Common Rooms, and the creation of the $1 million Fringe Fund to directly support artists in creating new work.
Previously, Simon was Head of Programming at the Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas (2013-14), where he curated more than 250 events annually and created projects including The Show of the Year and 20 Questions.
Simon's much-lauded work as Executive Producer and co-CEO of Polyglot Theatre (2007-12), saw him transform the company in partnership with Artistic Director Sue Giles into one of the world's leading creators of immersive theatre for children, producing seven major works and seventeen international tours across Asia, Europe and North America.
Simon has served on the International Society for the Performing Arts programming committee (New York), the City of Melbourne's Night Time Economy Activation Taskforce, the Victorian Government's Ministerial Council for Volunteering, the Helpmann Awards’ Theatre and Children’s Panels and the Green Room Awards’ Contemporary and Experimental Arts Panel.
Simon has undertaken research into theatre for young people across Europe, is an alumnus of the Australia Council's Emerging Leaders' Development Program and Arts Leaders Program, the European Festivals Association's Atelier for Festival Managers, and the Senior Managers' Program at Melbourne Business School.
His work has received numerous awards, including a special Green Room Award for "Making the Impossible Possible" (Melbourne Fringe), a Melbourne Award (Melbourne Frninge), the Governor of Victoria Export Award for Arts and Entertainment (Polyglot), three AbaF Awards and the CHASS Future Leaders Award. In 2019 he was named one of F+P Magazine's Movers and Shakers in Arts Philanthropy, and in 2010 ArtsHub recognised Simon and Sue Giles among Australia's Top Ten Arts Leaders.
Simon is a proud father to a baby daughter and is also a foster carer for vulnerable and at-risk children, experiences that continue to shape his thinking about creativity, childhood, care, community and the future.