Ben Wyatt has addressed allegations of a ‘declining’ workplace culture at Perth Festival, with the chair of the major arts organisation chalking the claims up to a restructure ruffling feathers.
Following one-star reviews on job advertisement website Seek and conversations with industry sources, Business News put questions to the Perth Festival chair and former Western Australian treasurer on Tuesday.
Mr Wyatt told Business News the board has been making some big changes to ensure financial sustainability for the festival, with the organisation undergoing a restructure process for the past six months that was now complete.
He also said the board did not take notice of anonymous reviews on Seek.
“You'd be surprised [or] maybe not surprised to learn that the board of the Perth Festival doesn't take its governance responsibilities from Seek.com,” Mr Wyatt said.
“And after 10 years of growth, both revenue and responsibility, it has been well past time for a structure to ensure that we have the financial sustainability going forward, and there's been a restructure in place or going on now for some six months.”
He acknowledged the restructure could be hard for some staff to process, but said the board would ultimately continue to make decisions to keep the festival sustainable.
“Obviously during a restructure, which the festival hasn't had to experience for well over a decade, some people disagree with those decisions, and they can be very disconcerting for some,” Mr Wyatt said.
“It's something the board's aware of, but I can tell you now, if we want to continue providing a successful festival into the future, sometimes organisations need to make decisions for the future, and some people don't like that, and the board doesn't shy away from those decisions.”
Mr Wyatt said there were support options available to staff who needed it during the restructure.
“We've had support in place throughout this entire process for people who want to seek it,” he said.
Since last year, Mr Wyatt said there had been a reduction in staff of around 15 per cent from both redundancies and voluntary resignations.
According to Business News’ Data & Insights, Perth Festival had 582 staff in June 2025.
A reduction of 15 per cent of that number would be equal to around 87 staff leaving.
When asked if the board would pursue any internal investigations following the allegations, Mr Wyatt said "no".
“The process of restructure is complete,” he said.
“I'm not going to pursue anonymous Seek comments and some form of internal investigation.
“However, as a board we are always focused on the internal culture of our organisation.
“Sometimes these are difficult areas; they inevitably are, but it's a much better alternative, I think.
“Most people want less work, more pay, and no change [and] that's just not a sustainable way forward.”
Mr Wyatt said funders and partners of Perth Festival were on board with the restructuring
“Funders are supportive [of the restructure], partners are supportive because they understand,” he said.
“In an environment where it's tougher to pursue philanthropic donations, you need to ensure that you're an organisation that can respond to those changes.”
The numbers
For the year to June 2025 (not including the restructure), the company reported a loss of $848,000, as a big jump in performance costs outweighed growth in revenue.
The 2025 result included a big jump in direct performance costs, up 18 per cent to $15 million.
On the revenue side, performance income rose a modest six per cent to $3.2 million.
Ms Braye said the 2025 festival was the first year of an ambitious artistic program, establishing the backbone of a four-year vision.
“Healthy reserves have allowed the festival to proudly invest in groundbreaking non-traditional venues that necessitated upfront infrastructure costs,” she said.
Perth Festival’s most recent impact report showed the not-for-profit increased box office sales by 34 per cent but recorded a drop of $2 million in direct economic impact.
The arts organisation is fourth on Business News’ list of the state’s largest arts and cultural organisations by revenue, running a 24-day multi-arts festival and the Lotterywest Films season.
Data released last month in Culture Count's 2026 impact report on Perth Festival recorded box office sales totalled $4.3 million, a 6 per cent increase from its sales target and 34 per cent rise from 2025.
The reviews
From June 2025 and before, Perth Festival’s Seek profile only showed five-star reviews from employees.
However, in July 2026, there were four one-star reviews posted on Perth Festival’s Seek profile.
The anonymous reviews were posted by three employees with less than one year experience at the festival and one reviewer had six to seven years experience at the company, according to the Seek website.
Passionate staff were noted as a common positive of working at Perth Festival, but all of the July reviews suggested a decline in workplace culture.
The review by a former employee with at least six years’ experience at Perth Festival said, “Met some excellent people, who all left”, according to the Seek website.
“Perth Festival has undergone a very steep decline,” the review published in July said.
“It is a miserable place, damaged possibly permanently by cronyism, smug leadership and lack of oversight.
“It wastes vast amounts of money and talent and should be investigated.
“The good people leave.”
New boss
Perth Festival announced it was appointing a new chief executive from Canada at the end of last year, who would be taking charge of the restructure.
That resulted in the appointment of Marah Braye to the top job.
Mr Wyatt said Ms Braye was doing her job, which was to manage the recent restructure.
“The CEO was given the job with the clear mandate from the board that we were not in a sustainable position, and she needed to ensure that the organisation was,” Mr Wyatt said.
“As a board, we're very pleased that she has taken this on very quickly since her appointment.”
Mr Wyatt said he had not heard of any of the concerns prior to Business News’ questions, and that none of the other board members had raised the points.
