David Berthold is Artistic Director in Residence at NIDA, where he leads artistic planning and programming. He is one of Australia’s most prominent theatre directors and cultural leaders.
As a theatre director, he has directed for most of Australia’s major theatres companies, as well as in London and Berlin. As an Artistic Director, he has led transformational change at several significant arts organisations. He was Artistic Director of the $22m multidisciplinary international arts festival Brisbane Festival (2015-19) – Queensland’s highest attended event – Artistic Director and CEO of La Boite Theatre Company; Artistic Director and CEO of Griffin Theatre Company; Artistic Director and CEO of Australian Theatre for Young People; and Associate Director of Sydney Theatre Company. He is a member of the Judging Panel of the Sydney Theatre Awards, a Trustee of the Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award, sits on the Board of Directors of Australian Plays Transform (APT) – the national play development and publication body – and on the Board of Directors of HotHouse Theatre.
In the last few years, he has been a member of the NSW Government’s Theatre and Musical Theatre Arts Advisory Board and chaired the Judging Panel of the Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting (NSW Premier’s Literary Awards). He has also served on many government and industry panels and committees as an advisor, including for the Australia Council, Arts Queensland, Create NSW, Opera Queensland, and the QUT Creative Industries Faculty Advisory Committee.