Next Wave is a leading not-for-profit arts organisation dedicated to supporting early-career artists working across multiple art forms. Next Wave plays a defining role in the Australian arts landscape by empowering and advocating for early-career and experimental artistic practice in Australia.
Through mentorships, creative developments, public programs, events, live performances and partnerships, Next Wave creates spaces for gathering and exchange, ambition and experimentation, and meaningful community connections.
Established in 1984 as a biennial Festival, Next Wave now runs a year-long program from our home at Brunswick Mechanics Institute, in Naarm/Melbourne. As Next Wave continues to evolve in response to the changing nature of artist and sector needs, its commitment to investing in and nurturing artists at the most critical stage of their career remains constant. Next Wave’s program enables artists and audiences to test ideas and push boundaries that embrace new perspectives, challenge our thinking and platform the next generation of cultural leaders.
See what we’ve been up to lately.
Check out our upcoming events.
View our festival archive, 2002–2020.
Read our Strategic Plan 2026-29.
From the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Eastern Kulin Nations, Next Wave is privileged to traverse the land and waterways of this continent of many nations – to share in the act of art making and culture building – grounded on justice, friendship and care. This always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.
Elyse Goldfinch is a curator and writer living and working in Naarm/Melbourne with a career focus on advocacy, collaboration, exchange and support for artists across generations. She is currently CEO at Next Wave, where she oversees a program of mentorship, creative development, events and partnerships, supporting early-career artists working across multiple art forms.
Most recently Elyse was Curator at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art where her curatorial projects included Tina Stefanou: You Can’t See Speed (2025), Tennant Creek Brio: Juparnta Ngattu Minjinypa Iconocrisis (2024), From the other side (2023-24), and Lucy Guerin: NEWRETRO (2023).Previously, Elyse was co-Chair, Firstdraft; Associate Curator, Artspace Sydney; part of the Curatorial Team, Australian Pavilion at the 59th La Biennale di Venezia; and Coordinator for Contemporary Arts Organisations Australia.
Elyse has published widely on contemporary art for Ocula, Art & Australia, un Magazine and Art Collector, as well as written and edited print publications for institutions including National Gallery of Australia, Artspace, ACCA, Monash University Museum of Art and Manly Art Gallery & Museum.
claudia@nextwave.org.au
Claudia is an arts and events producer who loves bringing ambitious ideas to life and creating spaces where artists and communities can genuinely connect. Over the past decade, she’s worked across local and state government, major cultural institutions and the creative industries, delivering festivals, public art commissions, exhibitions, civic events and community-led creative programs.
Most recently, Claudia helped deliver the public art program for the New Footscray Hospital, working alongside internationally recognised and emerging artists to realise permanent commissions that celebrate the stories, cultures and communities of Melbourne’s west. Throughout her career, she’s collaborated with artists, producers, government partners and local communities across Australia and internationally, always with a focus on creating meaningful, accessible and community-led creative experiences.
Claudia is firmly convinced that almost any problem can be solved with good coffee, a thorough risk assessment or the right power tool (ideally in that order).
ulia Croft (she/her) is a creative producer, curator and performance-maker from Aotearoa, now based in Melbourne. She works across contemporary performance and interdisciplinary practice, producing ambitious projects, festivals, and artist development programs with a commitment to supporting bold artistic ideas, emerging practitioners and collaborative ways of working.
Julia has held producing and leadership roles across Aotearoa’s arts sector, including as Producer for Foster Group Dance, Director of Auckland Pride, and Co-Director of F.O.L.A. [AKL], Tāmaki Makaurau’s Festival of Live Art, leading the acclaimed 2023 and 2025 festivals editions and presenting Still Lives: Auckland by Luke George and Daniel Kok
Alongside her producing practice, Julia is an internationally recognised performance-maker whose work has toured throughout Aotearoa and internationally, including the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Singapore, Hong Kong, Belgium, Portugal and Germany. Her work has been developed through residencies with organisations including CAMPO (Belgium), Something Great (Germany), Mala Voadora (Portugal), Performance Space and Bundanon (Australia), West Kowloon Cultural District (Hong Kong), Battersea Arts Centre (UK) and Arts House’s Time Place Space residency (Melbourne). Her acclaimed solo work Working On My Night Moves received the 2019 Total Theatre Award for Visual and Physical Theatre at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and an Auckland Theatre Award for Excellence.
Julia is also an experienced director, dramaturg and teaching artist, having taught and mentored artists across a wide range of institutions including Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School, UNITEC, The Actors Program, Auckland Theatre Company, Footnote New Zealand Dance and LungA School in Iceland.
Maddie Lakos (they/them) is Next Wave’s ‘comms human’, which means they help manage our website, social media, ticketing, media and audience evaluation (among other things). Maddie has a background in publishing and editing as well as digital communications strategy for public and non-governmental organisations. They joined Next Wave in 2023, and this is their first arts sector role and they are thrilled to be ‘behind the scenes’ in an industry that they adore and value. When they’re not hanging out at Next Wave, they help run a pub football team, try to nurture their writing practice and spend a lot of time riding bicycles.
For all general enquiries, contact nextwave@nextwave.org.au