Since 2005 he has toured and recorded regularly with his 14-piece Mace Francis Orchestra, receiving an APRA Professional Development Award, the Italian "Scrivere in Jazz" composition prize, the 2015 APRA/AMCOS Jazz Work of the Year and a finalist in the Freedman Jazz Fellowship (2010) for his compositions. Mace is the artistic director of WA Youth Jazz Orchestra and works as a guest composer/conductor in France, Japan and Austria. Mace’s PhD research into site-specific composition was awarded the 2015 Faculty Research Medal at Edith Cowan University.