Bryce Ives / Artlands 2023 Facilitator

With a deep commitment to advancing rural and regional Australia, Bryce Ives has been instrumental in spearheading game-changing projects and initiatives to advance communities' creative potential and impact.

One of Bryce's notable accomplishments was his role as Executive Producer of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Heywire Regional Youth Initiative from 2007 to 2010. During this time, he successfully brought Heywire online and amplified the voices and stories of young people on ABC Radio and TV. He also served as the Chief Facilitator of the annual Heywire Regional Youth Summit in Canberra from 2008 to 2020, working closely with hundreds of young individuals and community projects from all across Australia. This initiative remains a flagship example of youth engagement and storytelling.

In 2010, he took on the role of Chief Facilitator for the AgriFutures Horizon Scholarship, a program designed to develop and empower the future leaders of Australian agriculture. Bryce has since designed yearly leadership and development experiences for each cohort of Horizon Scholars, broadening their perspectives and challenging their notions of agriculture and rural industries. He has collaborated with global agriculture and rural industry leaders through this work.

Additionally, Bryce has made significant contributions to the agricultural and regional sectors through his involvement in various events and programs. He has served as the Master of Ceremonies for the Evoke Ag Summits, a groundbreaking agrifood innovation event in Asia. He also played a pivotal role as Chief Facilitator of the Talking 2030 Roadshow, a co-design process involving industry, community, and government stakeholders to develop a roadmap for Australian agriculture to achieve $100 billion at the farm gate by 2030. Bryce has facilitated workshops on topics such as Data Stewardship in Australian Agriculture and the European Union Free Trade Agreement. More recently, he has collaborated with the Regional Australia Institute on the Rebalance the Nation Regionalisation frameworks.

With a willingness to radically investigate how his creative practice can work in different contexts, Bryce took a detour into the private and for-purpose sector in the past five years; as Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications at Torrens Global Education, Bryce is the chief storyteller of Australia’s only B Corporation University. During this time, Bryce also took on a significant global role with the NASDAQ-listed company Strategic Education Inc, leading initiatives with over 5000 staff and 100,000 students globally. .

In addition to his professional endeavours, Bryce has played an active role in Australian arts practice and creative industries. He co-founded the Present Tense Ensemble, an award-winning performance-based ensemble that created immersive and highly sonic contemporary music theatre experiences. He has held directorial positions at the Ballarat Arts Academy and Gippsland Centre of Art and Design. He has served as the Associate Creative Producer and Artistic Director of Theatre Works St. Kilda. He has curated the Fairfax Youth Arts Festival in Swan Hill in 2018, and 2019 and will again direct the festival in October 2023. He served as an international curator for the Buffer Fringe Festival in Cyprus in 2020 and 2022.

Always (and inevitably) a boy from Ballarat, Bryce continues to drive positive change in rural and regional Australia and has left an indelible mark on various industries and communities, empowering young people and fostering ingenuity, growth and prosperity.