ABOUT SIMA
Staff and committee
Our Staff
Zoe Hauptmann
Program Director
Zoe Hauptmann is one of Australia’s most in-demand bassists, composer, musical director and artistic curator. Passionate about addressing the gender imbalance in the music industry, Zoe has actively sought to bring change for the last 17 years in her role. In 2018 she was awarded the Creative Leadership Award for ‘Excellence in Creative Programming’ at the inaugural Australian Women In Music Awards.
Our board
Alex Masso
President
Alex is a freelance drummer and co-leader of The Vampires, which has toured more than 20 times, released six albums including one shortlisted for an ARIA Award and the Australian Music Prize. He has been involved in committees for Jazzgroove Association, The NOW now, SIMA, the City of Sydney Live Music Taskforce, and worked as a music educator, advocate and event coordinator including at Wollongong Conservatorium of Music and Music Australia.
Marion Benjamin
Vice President
Principal of her own law firm in Wollongong, Marion’s background includes working in documentary film; teaching in Arts and Humanities at Universities in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney and running a regional not-for-profit community environmental organisation managing over $1.3m in sustainable agriculture and biodiversity projects. A member of SIMA since the mid 1990s, back in the Side On Café days, Marion was also a member of the NSW Jazz Co-ordination Association committee.
Kirstin Fischer
Secretary
A corporate lawyer, with a practising certificate and AICD qualifications and membership, Kirstin has led a consultancy group at Ernst & Young, with a strong focus on the arts. Now with NSW Transport, she manages a $2.5 billion regional transport program. She is Secretary also on the Board of Stalker Productions, a multi-arts physical theatre for all ages, operating on a global scale, with a leading edge in the use of immersive and interactive digital arts.
Andrew Collins
Treasurer
Andrew is a tuba player with an economics problem. He has mainly worked in public policy and government finance. His most recent role was with NSW Treasury where he worked as the Principal Economist responsible for the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Andrew’s financial modelling and work to support the NSW submission to the 2020 review of the GST, led to a $900 million boost in GST to NSW in 2020-21.
Cara Anderson
Cara is currently the CEO of Limelight Magazine with a background in advocacy, engagement and strategic management in both corporate and not for profit roles, within global and regional organisations in New York, London and Australia. She has previously worked for Music Australia, Opera Australia, Version 1.0, Business Events Sydney and Thomson Reuters. She is passionate about making the arts accessible to everyone.
Carla Hoorweg
Prior to joining ANCAP in December 2020, Carla held various strategy, legal, product development and government relations roles across the financial sector. Carla’s qualifications include a Masters of Law (Hons) and Juris Doctor (UTS), Executive MBA (AGSM), Bachelor and Grad Dip in Applied Psychology (Canberra). Carla has served on a number of boards and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Ellen Kirkwood
Ellen Kirkwood is a composer, trumpeter, bandleader and educator, who has received awards and accolades for her work. She has a Bachelor of Jazz Performance from Sydney Conservatorium, completed an Honours at UNSW in 2020, and is currently doing a PhD in composition and performance at the ANU. Ellen is passionate about gender equity in jazz, and has been director of Spectra Jazz Orchestra, an ensemble for young women and gender diverse musicians, since it began in August 2016. She was a member of the Jazzgroove Association, and is currently a co-ordinator and curator of the Jetsets series.
Drew Bourgeois
Drew is an arts professional with experience from across the sector. He is the Head of Development at Sydney Writers’ Festival, where he leads fundraising across philanthropic, corporate and government sources. Prior to this Drew has held philanthropy and finance roles at the Australian Museum, Carriageworks and the Australia Council for the Arts. Drew also founded and for many years ran a gig booking business called Illawarra Music Solutions. Drew studied jazz drums for around 15 years playing gigs around Australia in a number of bands and projects. He has also been on organising committees for Jazzgroove and theNOWnow.