Collette Brennan is the CEO of Abbotsford Covent in Melbourne, Australia’s largest multi-arts precinct, Chair of the Sunshine Coast Arts Advisory Board and a member of the ISPA Board. Previously she was: Director of International Development, Acting Executive Director of Arts Development, and Director of Market Development at the Australia Council for the Arts; Executive Director of Brisbane’s internationally acclaimed contemporary circus Circa; the founding Creative Director of The Edge, State Library of Queensland’s program for children and young people; General Manager of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s Out of the Box Festival for 3 to 8 year olds, and; Executive Officer of Youth Arts Queensland, the state’s peak body for youth arts and cultural development.

Steinunn is born in Reykjavik and earned her Master’s degree in Piano Performance from NEC, Boston in 1987. She has received various awards for her performances and appeared in concerts in Europe and in the USA. Vigorous performer of solo and chamber music she has also recorded several CD-s. Her solo performances as a pianist with the Iceland Symphony have been issued on CD´s, including an album that earned her the 1998 Icelandic Music Award for the year’s best classical CD. She is the founder of the Reykholt Music Festival and was the Artistic Director until she took on the position of the Music Director of Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavík in 2011. Steinunn has been the CEO of the Icelandic Opera since 2015. Steinunn recently graduated from the three-year program at the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland. She currently sits on the Board of ISPA and appears frequently as a lecturer and member of panels in various International conferences.