DR CHRIS MEAD was appointed inaugural artistic director of the new national playwriting advocacy body, Playwriting Australia, following the Australia Council's decision in 2006 to fund an integrated body to foster new writing from first draft to full production. He also received an inaugural Australia Council Dramaturgy Fellowship which enabled him to research playwrights' career pathways. Prior to this he was twice the curator of the Australian National Playwrights' Conference and twice the festival director of World Interplay, the international festival for young playwrights. He has also been Literary Manager of Company B Belvoir St Theatre, and Literary Manager of the Sydney Theatre Company and producer of its Wharf 2LOUD developmental program.
