Biography

Heather Ann Croall (born 1967) is an international arts festival CEO and artistic director and documentary producer, best known for leading Sheffield Doc/Fest and Adelaide Fringe, and 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. In 2022 Heather Croall won the Festival Management CEO of the Year 2022 (Australia) as voted by CEO Monthly magazine. Heather Croall won the Leadership Award at the 2020 SA Woman Awards and in 2021, Croall was nominated as Leader of the Year in the South Australian Woman of the Year Awards. In 2011 Croall was named one of Realscreen's annual trailblazers, and in 2013 the Alliance of Women Film Journalists named Croall Ambassador of Women's Films for the year, for her work "to boost documentary film and open opportunities for women filmmakers". In 2015 she received Sheffield Doc/Fest's Inspiration Award. In 2021 Croall was awarded the Superhero Award at the DocEdge Festival in New Zealand. In 2023, Croall was listed in Top 10 Most Admired Women Leaders.

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.