Erin Shepherd

Erin assists and consults in all aspects of theatre design.

As a Director, I provide visionary leadership and drive organisational success for the Charcoalblue Australasian region. I have over 20 years experience in the theatre industry. In my work at Charcoalblue, I recognise the growing demand for flexible spaces that can meet multiple needs. In my consulting work, I expertly balances the competing considerations of: flexibility, operational overlay, and project budget constraints. By knowing how each design decision directly relates to an operational outcome, I hope to be able to create spaces that are beautiful and functional

A Problem You Love Solving

a venue always has competing needs, as soon as you need to put in heating/cooling, structure or sprinklers it always seems to be at odd with the open spaces we want to create for artistic people. Having a good relationship with the external design team is therefore key, they might not suspect the theatre consultant is going to be deeply interested in route the sprinkler pipe takes around a building…but we are! because if that infrastructure creeps into the technical systems zone, it can compromise the functionality of the space. Resulting in a headache for the end user

Coffee, Travel, or Creative Ritual

My brain does not work on a morning without coffee! Plus coming from NZ and now living in aus, coffee is taken very seriously….teh best ones are always the one that someone else makes for you!

Cultural Value That Guides Engagement with Others

We talk a lot about how we collaborate with our teams both internal and external. But CBL is full of amazing humans, who are deeply interesting. Giving our team a platform and freedom to speak from their own experiences in venues adds a huge amount of value to a design process and is something our clients and design partners really value as well. We are lucky to a company full of creative problem solvers.