Louise Bezzina is a nationally recognised arts leader with 25 years’ experience delivering transformative cultural programs. She is the CEO/Artistic Director of Brisbane Powerhouse, where she is leading a bold new chapter of artistic ambition, community connection and future-focused cultural innovation.

Before joining Brisbane Powerhouse in 2025, Louise served as Artistic Director of Brisbane Festival, transforming it into Australia’s largest-attended international arts event and doubling box office revenue while increasing philanthropic support fivefold. Her programming highlights included the acclaimed Salamander by Maxine Doyle and Es Devlin.

Louise is known for courageous leadership, particularly in 2020 when she delivered one of the only live arts festivals in the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, commissioning 28 new works across all 190 Brisbane suburbs.

She is the founder of Bleach* Festival – Australia’s largest regional arts festival – and served as Creative Lead for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Cultural Festival.

In 2024, she received an Honorary Doctorate from Griffith University for her contribution to the arts in Queensland.

At Brisbane Powerhouse, Louise continues to champion creative excellence, cultural inclusion and a vibrant, deeply local artistic vision.

Serena Zipf is an award-winning businesswoman in aquaculture with a remarkable back story of Aussie comeback success.

She started her career diversifying a sugar cane farm into aquaculture and founded Rocky Point Aquaculture on the Gold Coast in 2017 building a thriving prawn farm on the Logan River. Disaster struck in 2016 with the outbreak of a deadly crustacean disease that wiped out the business.

After two years working closely with scientists at CSIRO, University of Queensland and Bribie Island Research Centre, Serena was back with a fully sustainable aquaculture system to farm black kingfish and Queensland giant Grouper. Her brave move won her business the Producer of the Year award, the Australia’s most prestigious awards program for fresh produce.

This year, Serena has expanded into Singapore with Bangkok and Italy planned for a 2026 launch. She is on seafood industry boards and has been a guest lecturer at Macquarie University and the Mt Eliza School of Business (Monash University).