From Performance Space to Asia TOPA with Jeff Khan

A younger Jeff Khan would have never imagined he might helm the breadth and scale of arts festivals he does today. ArtsHub spoke to Khan about what he’s anticipating as a new career chapter begins.

‘When I started my career – as a casual front of house person at PICA in Perth – I would never have dreamed I’d be leading organisations and developing their artistic visions,’ reflected Jeff Khan, who is about to start a new chapter as Creative Director of Melbourne’s Asia TOPA after nearly 12 years as Artistic Director and CEO of Performance Space in Sydney.

‘As my career developed and I became more and more enmeshed in conversations with artists about their practices, my connection with the artistic process deepened and I realised I wanted to create platforms that met and honoured artists’ ambitions and ingenuity,’ he said.

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Celina Lei is the Diversity and Inclusion Editor at ArtsHub. She acquired her M.A in Art, Law and Business in New York with a B.A. in Art History and Philosophy from the University of Melbourne. She has previously worked across global art hubs in Beijing, Hong Kong and New York in both the commercial art sector and art criticism. She took part in drafting NAVA’s revised Code of Practice - Art Fairs and was the project manager of ArtsHub’s diverse writers initiative, Amplify Collective. Most recently, Celina was one of three Australian participants in DFAT’s the Future of Leadership program. Celina is based in Naarm/Melbourne. Instagram @lleizy_