Power 50 - #35: Maria Amato

BACKGROUND CHECK

After AIR CEO Dan Nevin relocated to the UK, Maria Amato – who already had more than ten years' experience with AIR at the time – was appointed General Manager in July 2016. Prior to AIR, Amato held the role of CEO/CFO at Melbourne International Film Festival (2010-2014) and was also a Music Victoria board member (2012-2014). 

THE YEAR THAT WAS

2018 saw AIR partnering with Creative Victoria for the pilot program of the Fast Track Fellowship. AIR also partnered with APRA AMCOS to hold Indie 101 sessions in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, with more Indie 101 info sessions taking place in Adelaide thanks to support from the Music Development Office. Amato held a roadmap to the USA info session for labels at CHANGES in July and led a delegation of labels to Indie Week in New York with Sounds Australia. Amato was made anchor board member for Reeperbahn, heading over to Hamburg for the festival, and was also invited to speak at the MEI independent music festival in Faenza, Italy. The AIR Awards and Indie-Con Australia conference in Adelaide were highly praised events again last year. Capping off 2018, Amato was appointed to the board of directors for the Australian Institute of Music in September.  

2018'S CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT?

"Delivered great results for AIR together with a great team and strong board support, and I loved every minute of it."