Chrissy Sharp, one of Australia’s most experienced and respected arts administrators, who held major positions in Australia and the UK, has died at the age of 70.

She left her most recent role as Chief Executive of Sydney Writers’ Festival in July this year due to ill health, and passed away in Sydney on 2 November.

Chrissy Sharp. Photo © Prudence Upton

Described by friends and colleagues as passionate, fiercely intelligent and formidable yet warm and caring, Sharp and her husband of more than three decades, leading arts manager Michael Lynch, were an internationally renowned arts power-couple.

Sharp was raised in Canberra. Early in her career she worked in broadcasting as a researcher on Chequerboard for ABC TV and later, in the 1990s, as Head of Policy at SBS. She also worked for a while as an agent.

In 2001, she became General Manager of Sydney Festival where she stayed until 2003 when Lynch was appointed Chief Executive of London’s Southbank Centre. Accompanying him to London, she became General Manager of Sadler’s Wells Theatre, a position she held from 2004 – 2009.

Returning to Australia in 2009, she became Founding Director and Chief...