Manager of ABC Classic and Jazz Kat McGuffie to depart the ABC ...

Manager of ABC Classic and Jazz, Kat McGuffie, has announced she will leave the ABC later this month after more than a decade working at the networks.

Kat joined the ABC in 2013 as Live Music Producer for ABC Classic, first in Adelaide and then Melbourne. She held roles at ABC Classic as Content Director and Executive Producer before taking on the Manager role of ABC Classic and Jazz in 2022.

During her time with the ABC, Kat has led content initiatives aimed at finding new audiences for classical music including producing Clarke’s Classics which won an ARIA Award for Best Comedy release and The Classic Road Trip which took listeners on a 5000km journey from Darwin across regional Australia, concluding at the childhood home of Sir Don Bradman co-hosted by Greta Bradman and Russell Torrance.  

Kat conceived some of ABC Classic’s longstanding specialist programs including Duet, Passenger, Legends, Game Show and the popular Mindful Music.

In 2022, she led the station’s most successful Classic 100 and the network’s unique collaboration with Gardening Australia for the Classic Choir campaign. In 2023 Kat worked with ABC TV on the first Classic 100 in Concert.  

Kat’s advocacy for gender equity in music drove her to launch the Women of Jazz Fest and expand ABC Classic’s Festival of Female Composers. Kat’s commitment to broadening representation in music has driven the station’s evolution in programming and presentation, work for which she was awarded the CollArts Creative Leadership Award at the 2024 Australian Women in Music Awards last month.

Outside the ABC, Kat is an accomplished composer and arts manager and serves as Director on the Board of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival.

Kat said: “It has been an absolute privilege working with the talented teams at ABC Classic and Jazz to serve listeners and represent the distinctive Australian classical and jazz industries. I’ll miss the ABC greatly, but after a decade, it’s time to further my work in engaging and developing audiences beyond the ABC.”  

Director of Audio Ben Latimer said: “I’d like to thank Kat for her contributions to the ABC and the classical and jazz music industry. 

“In her time with the ABC, Kat has consistently been a passionate advocate for classical music in Australia and has supported the industry to grow and develop new talent to continue to drive quality and innovation.”

The ABC will shortly begin recruitment for a Head of ABC Classic and Jazz and Content Director ABC Classic and Jazz.

Media contact

Laura Todd, ABC Communicationstodd.laura@abc.net.au