Richard is General Manager of Dirty Clean Food, the world’s leading sales platform for planet positive, regeneratively farmed WA produce. Prior to this he was People and Culture Manager for Wide Open Agriculture. Focused on strategic, human-centered leadership, Richard enjoyed an extensive career in the creative sector in Australia and internationally, beginning as a dancer with the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Richard was General Manager of Tasdance (TAS) and Executive Director of Co3 Contemporary Dance (WA), and has held multiple roles in the community and education sector at WA Ballet, Co3, and Dancenorth (QLD).

Joined the CircusWA board: October 2022

Jake is a physical and visual artist with experience in a range of disciplines and fields. Known for his unique acrobatic style of movement, that combines elements of dance, theatre and circus. Jake has toured with the internationally successful CIRCA, Casus Circus, Dislocate, Company 2, Circus OZ and Lingua Franca. Jake founded Poncho Circus in 2012, an independent circus company that toured circus shows throughout Canberra and the surrounding areas until 2017.

Jake is passionate about physical movement, acrobatics and circus in theatre, to tell stories and create settings that inspire audiences. With the aim to push acrobatics within his own training to utilise these skills in a variety of settings. Jake’s circus specialties include floor tumbling/acrobatic movement, group acrobatics and cyr wheel, but really, he calls himself a generalist and loves to do a little bit of everything.

Joined the CircusWA board: October 2023

Vanessa is a Senior Manager in the RSM Perth Assurance and Advisory team. Vanessa has previously worked with RSM Singapore, where she worked on SGX listed public companies and private sector clients. She has over eight years of audit experience in Australia ranging from ASX listed public companies, unlisted public companies to private sector, state government entities and local government. Vanessa has extensive experience and has in-depth knowledge of the International Standards on Auditing (ISAs), International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and Corporations Act 2001.  Vanessa works across several key industry sectors, including producing miners, mining and resources, aged care and hospitality.

Joined the CircusWA board: December 2024

Scott is a Perth-based marketing and communications manager with a decade of experience in a variety of industries including arts and culture, not-for-profit, education and land development. With expertise in advertising and digital content strategy, Scott is currently Senior Manager Marketing & Community Engagement at the National Trust of WA. Previously, he was a Senior Consultant at the Department of Education, and spent five years leading West Australian Ballet’s public relations and digital content initiatives. 

As an advisor and consultant, Scott’s work has included brand and digital strategies for; Ausdance National, the West Australian International Stone Symposium’s inaugural festival and WA Premier Events concert series, and has further experience at The Brand Agency, Lotterywest and Yelp Perth. In 2021, Scott’s work received recognition as West Australian Ballet’s marketing team won Campaign Brief’s prestigious ‘Advertiser of the Year’. 

Specialty areas: PR and crisis communications, digital and content strategy, advertising, project management.

Joined the CircusWA board: October 2023

Joel is a father, poet, actor, community-focused arts programmer, teacher, and creative producer, and holds a Master’s of Education from Melbourne University. He’s been a Teaching Artist for Western Edge Youth Theatre and an Education Assistant at The Malthouse Theatre, as well as the Outreach Coordinator at Arts Centre Melbourne, where he worked on Access & Inclusion initiatives, Community Engagement projects, and coordinated a statewide education program. He was the first Senior Arts Programmer at Bunjil Place, a new arts centre in south-eastern Melbourne, experimenting with different types of collaborative community producing and co-design programming. At the City of Fremantle, Joel was the Community Programs Officer, he is currently the Program & Engagement Manager at The Blue Room Theatre. 

Joined the CircusWA Board: December 2024

Jo Smith is an Arts Manager with 20+ years of experience and has worked for CircusWA since 2017. Throughout the 90’s and early 2000’s she studied and worked in sociology and linguistics while developing a practice as a performance installation artist. As an arts leader she has produced and directed festivals, always maintaining a focus on community arts. In Australia she has worked in WA and the NT, and overseas in China and the UAE.

Jo joined the CircusWA board in 2017 before taking on the role of Artistic Director in the same year.

Charlotte is an operations manager, joining CircusWA after a move from Melbourne where she worked in the visual and performing arts industries, including not-for-profit spaces.

She previously spent six years at a theatre consultancy, overseeing the cohesive operation of its global studios and administrative and employee-support processes.

Sarah has worked with nonprofit organisations for two decades, raising millions of dollars for some amazing causes. Her broad skillset has been cultivated through a diverse background in philanthropy, grant writing, public relations, community engagement and impact measurement.

Sarah joined the CircusWA team in 2021 and has been pivotal in developing our giving campaigns and funding reach.

We are honoured to have Dr. Brad Pettitt MLC as our inaugural Patron of Circus and cherish the past support he has extended to us during his time as Mayor of Fremantle.