Heather Croall

Heather Ann Croall AM (born 1967) is an international arts CEO, artistic director and documentary producer, best known for leading Sheffield Doc/Fest which she grew to be one of the best documentary festivals in the world and Adelaide Fringe where she has taken ticket sales from 500,000 a year to a million each year and won many awards for the festival.

She is also known for her work on live music / archive films including The Big Melt, From the Sea to the Land Beyond, Girt By Sea, From Scotland With Love, Atomic, Living in Dread and Promise In 2024 Heather Croall AM was awarded an Order of Australia for her services to the arts and film.

[2] In February 2015 she left Sheffield Doc/Fest to take up the position of CEO and artistic director of the Adelaide Fringe, with her contract there extended until 2026.

[4] She continued her career at the South Australian Film Corporation, and also produced digital and documentary strands at the Adelaide Fringe.

[4] In 2001, she developed Crossover, an organisation which works with technologists, coders, artists, performers, filmmakers, writers and more to create new interdisciplinary projects.

From 2003, Croall worked for the Australian International Documentary Conference, where she became CEO and Festival Director and developed the MeetMarket pitching event.

[6] She found new funding which tripled the budget in two years,[7] and changed the date of the festival from November to June.

She has spearheaded the philanthropic arm at Adelaide Fringe, setting up the Donor Circle and other donation avenues and fundraising which has led to $1million per year in grants being dispersed to artists.

[14] Croall has co-produced a number of films, in which directors edit together archive footage on a particular theme, soundtracked by original music.