Demeysa Ahmed, Marnie Badham, Rachella Birch-Samios, Jaclyn Booton, Rob Bundle,

Bella Capezio, Lachlann Carter, Ez Eldin Deng, Lydia Fairhall, Isabel FitzGerald,

Madeline Flynn, Duncan Foster, Alia Gabres, Genevieve Grieves, Paul Gurney,

Richie Hallal, Margie Harvey, Donita Hulme, Tim Humphrey, Fotis Kapetopoulos,

Kate Larsen, David Nguyen, Karrina Nolan, Rani Pramesti, Yvette Pratt, Tara Prowse,

Mary Quinsacara, Bong Ramilo, Daniela Rodriguez, Sukhdeep Singh, Kim Sullivan,

Joe Toohey, Jennifer Tran, Toltu Tufa, Christie Widiarto, Marline Zaibek, Nikki Zerella,

Information + Cultural Exchange, Darwin Community Arts, Parade College,

Federation Square, National Gallery of Victoria, 100 Story Building

SUPPORTERSEmerging Cultural Leaders has been supported by Australia Council for the Arts and Learn Local. Participant projects have been supported by the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, Youth in Philanthropy program.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

EMERGING CULTURAL LEADERS 2014

WELCOMEIt is with great pleasure that I am able to introduce the Footscray Community Arts Centre 2014 Emerging Cultural Leaders. The Emerging Cultural Leaders (ECL) Program is not only a mentoring and development program, but also a celebration of the next generation of community engaged practitioners in our industry.

The only program of its kind in Australia, 2014 has seen the growth of the Emerging Cultural Leaders program from Melbourne only to a national pilot reaching western Sydney and Darwin. It has been a fantastic experience working with our interstate partners, Information + Cultural Exchange in Sydney’s west and Darwin Community Arts in the Northern Territory. We look forward to further developing and expanding the program. With the ECL program receiving a Learn Local Outstanding Pathways award this year, the importance of creating local learning opportunities for members within or emerging into the arts and culture sectors, is apparent.

The 2014 cohort of leaders were selected from more than 45 applications, the depth and breadth of their projects reflecting a diverse range of interests, concerns and communities. Through the program, FCAC was able to connect the participants with a

mentor, access to FCAC staff and resources, ongoing connection to our programs and activities, guest speakers from the industry and immersive experiences through weekend intensives, project development and, through the generous support of the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation and Australia Council for the Arts, a small project budget.

We have the responsibility and the honour of supporting and nurturing the next generation of Australian practitioners and cultural leaders. The Emerging Cultural Leaders Showcase is an opportunity to meet these emerging practitioners and get behind their projects and careers at an early stage.

Of course, we always want to hear from people who are interested in being a mentor, an industry guest speaker or providing an immersive in-organisation experience for the group or an individual. And as we continue to develop the program nationally, connect with organisations and partners with a similar vision. Please be in touch if you are interested in being a part of the ECL experience or collaborating with us in some way.

I welcome and encourage you all to introduce yourselves to this exceptional group of emerging cultural leaders, artists and community practitioners.

And congratulations to this wonderful crew of passionate, talented and insightful Emerging Cultural Leaders!

Thank you for your support and encouragement.

Jade Lillie

Director & CEO

Jade Lillie

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INDUSTRY REFLECTIONSRachella Birch-Samios, Guest SpeakerEventKitThe ECL program is a brilliant opportunity for emerging practitioners as it provides them with a broad snapshot of key elements, issues and considerations they will face in their work and career. No doubt the ECL program is creating thoughtful, motivated and aware future cultural leaders.

Kate Larson, MentorDirector, Writers VictoriaECL is a landmark program that should be used as an example of best practice across the arts sector. It empowers, it invigorates, and it provides genuine engagement and skills development for a new generation of Australian artists and artsworkers.

Sukhdeep Singh, Mentor (L-FRESH The LION) Musician, community engaged practitionerThe ECL program is a great opportunity to share, learn and build together with like-minded individuals. It’s such an enriching experience.

Marnie Badham, Guest SpeakerResearch Fellow, Centre for Cultural Partnerships, Victoria College of the Arts and Melbourne Conservatorium of MusicPeer learning and mentoring as pedagogy offers a unique space where powerful new and creative ideas can emerge. FCAC offers a network and visibility for ECL participants – who will be leading the arts and cultural development sector of tomorrow. The Centre for Cultural Partnerships at the VCA is thrilled to be connected to this program.

ECL participants. Image by Bella Capizio.

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Joe Toohey, MentorGeneral Manager, Regional Arts Victoria Programs like the ECL play a critical role in ensuring the next generation of leaders in our field are more reflective of the Australian community.

Richie Hallal, TutorCreative Director, Outback Theatre for Young PeopleThe ECL program plays a critical role in providing few key pointers to shape the our emerging leaders’ philosophy, practice and ethics. Giving them the space they need to prioritise their values whilst delivering a project that has ample support around it.

Duncan Foster, MentorMusicianIt gives emerging practitioners a degree of access to knowledge formed and networks forged over a long period of time by established practitioners.

ECL participants. Image by Bella Capezio.

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Through this program, participants gain skills and strategies to develop and produce community-led, contemporary and innovative arts based programs and projects. The program assists participants to develop knowledge and skills in contemporary arts and community cultural development practice so they can go on to lead successful and sustainable community engaged arts careers.

ECL program consists of weekly forums and workshop sessions

with leading community-based arts practitioners and industry professionals. During the program, participants cover a range of topics, develop, plan and deliver their own projects, engage in networking opportunities and mentoring to build their knowledge, capacity and skills in arts and community engaged practice back to their own communities.

In 2014, Footscray Community Arts Centre piloted the program nationally with our partner

organisations Information + Cultural Exchange in Sydney’s west and Darwin Community Arts in the Northern Territory. Through these exciting partnerships, we were able to engage two emerging practitioners from Sydney’s west and one from the Northern Territory. These participants connected into workshops via Google Hangouts, while being mentored by experienced community development practitioners in their local area.

Event management workshop with Rachella Birch-Samios.

EMERGING CULTURAL LEADERS

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THE EMERGING CULTURAL LEADERS is a five-month skills development and mentoring program for emerging artists and cultural facilitators. Past graduates have gone on to forge their own careers in community cultural development as artists and practitioners.

The program of activities included:• Forumsandworkshopsbyarts

industry practitioners on topics such as Risk and Meaning-making, Arts and Community Cultural Development in Context, Diversifying Audiences, Community Engagement, Financing and Funding, the Ego, Event Management, Marketing, Networking and Partnerships

• Individualartspracticementoringby professional practitioners

• Socialeventsforparticipants,mentors, tutors, ECL alumni, FCAC staff and board members

• Individualmentoringwithplanning, managing and delivering arts events/projects within your own communities.

The ECL program provided participants with a unique and engaging opportunity to establish new skills, knowledge and networks, work on and connect with exciting arts projects, develop a sustainable career, be part of a supportive, safe, nurturing and creative environment and to support each person to expand their arts practice and be confident to be the leaders they are recognised to be.

2013 ECL alumni share their experiences with the 2014 participants.

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BIOGRAPHYAna Rita has lived her life between Portugal and Australia. This sharing of territory has been a catalyst in the development of her work as a visual artist and project coordinator. Her work questions themes such as migration, identity and place. Her projects have involved working with culturally diverse youth groups, artists’ residencies in West Africa and the ongoing exhibition of her drawings and paintings. Ana Rita completed her formal education in 2007 graduating with a degree in Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon, Portugal.

She currently works and lives in Melbourne`s west with her partner and collaborator, Mito Elias, and their daughter Tamira.

PROJECTFrom Footscray with Love is an itinerant project presented through mural installations of written letters from community members of each place presented at - in this case Footscray.

This project aims to represent Footscray and its people, through community participation. Footscray is an inner western suburb of Melbourne, rapidly transitioning from old Anglo /industrial to a multicultural /migrant suburb that is now undergoing rapid gentrification.

The idea of exploring a physical territory through another person’s letter writing to a loved one is a powerful and intimate experience offering the possibility to project many hitherto unheard voices and stories.

The intent is to collect and provide a generous number of representations of Footscray which will hopefully witness this project offer a sense of ownership over Footscray and link a present time and place with a previous one.

From Footscray with Love also strongly represents my personal position as a new migrant and my search for ownership and connection to this new place.

An exercise to link myself with others, others with each other, all of us with place.

Full circle.

ANA RITA PIRESrita.anap@gmail.com

To work with community for me, means to create a platform or channel, where people can  share and be proud of their stories  (aka who they are). 

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BIOGRAPHYAzlan Petra is an emerging cultural facilitator; community support worker and an advocate for anti-racism and human rights.

He hopes to engage with people on race and racism by exploring all the issues related and relevant to race, racism and racial awareness.

He would also like to examine, explore and experiment the narratives on race and racism and hopes to find different and creative ways to talk about these complicated and contentious issues that will inspire empathy, understanding and solidarity. 

Azlan may also have an unhealthy obsession with cats and finds ways to stash chocolates all over the place to fulfil his choco fix.

PROJECTAzlan Petra is using his opportunity in the ECL program to explore and experiment different, creative and unconventional ways to engage with people on the issues of race and racism. He hopes exposure to the arts will provide the ideas, skills and tools to create the ways and space to address race and racism in Australia.

AZLAN PETRA

During the ECL program I discovered that I could tap into my other skills, knowledge, experience and creativity while working out my project. In my previous efforts to advocate for anti-racism and human rights, the ways to engage and educate have been somewhat limited and didactic.

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BIOGRAPHYBundit Puangthong is a contemporary Thai artist based in Melbourne. His art, emerging from in-between’ cultures, fuses his training in traditional Thai art with a modern western-based art practice. Bundit utilises a range of techniques from stencils to detailed brushwork to create large, texturally layered paintings that highlight his interest in the contemporary practices of graffiti and pop art. Mixing new meaning from sources like religious iconography, contemporary corporate advertising and the personal, internal dialogue that accompanies studio work, Bundit encourages us to discover and enjoy the multiplicity of meanings and commonalities that weave together to create our cultural fabric.

PROJECTI am developing a network of Asian artists to raise the profile of Asian art in Victoria. The network will be a place to make connections with other artist, share ideas and resources and develop support structures that would help Asian artists access mainstream opportunities.

It was really important to me that my ECL presentation symbolised the strength and pride of Asian cultures. I think it is particularly relevant to the Footscray community. I wanted a visual representation of this for all of the community to see. The mythological character, Hanuman (Monkey Magic) symbolizes this in many Asian cultures.

BUNDIT PUANGTHONGwww.bundit.com.au | bunditpuangthong@gmail.com

Feeling part of a community requires participation with that community. As soon as you engage with it, you feel part of it. Being an artist doesn’t have to be the lonely, solo road most of us travel. There is a lot of support and opportunities available within the community arts sector. We just need to engage with it.

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BIOGRAPHYCeline Yap, also known as ‘Little Foot’, is a folk singer/songwriter hailing from Melbourne. Due to the political and social content of her song writing, she has become known as a public advocate for social and environmental justice, performing regularly at rallies in support of refugee rights, workers’ rights, and the environment. Her first album Pockets Full of Change was released in November 2013, followed by Be Brave 2014 highlighting the plight of refugees and asylum seekers. Since then she has performed at events such as Apollo Bay Music Festival 2014, March in March, World Refugee Day and The Basin Music Festival 2014. She began a project ‘Musicians for Detainees’ in May 2014, bringing together musicians to perform monthly at detention centres. The project has been running extremely well due to the great support and interest from Melbourne musicians.

PROJECTThe Activist Arts Festival is an initiative to bring together activist groups throughout Melbourne and to enable access to these groups by local communities in a non-protest environment. 

The event also exhibits different forms of activism through art: photography, music, spoken word, paintings and film. 

CELINE YAPhttps://www.facebook.com/littlefootfolk | littlefootmanagement@gmail.com

Working with ‘community’ to me, means trying to find where I fit in within my community, and therefore in some way humbly contribute to society. 

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BIOGRAPHYGabriela Georges is a soulful singer-songwriter and spoken-word poet from Melbourne’s west who is interested in authentic self-expression through the arts. This year, she has performed in the Sydney Fringe Festival, won her first poetry slam as part of the Melbourne Writer’s Festival and had her work published in Victoria University’s Offset Arts Journal. Gabriela has also supported and facilitated performing arts programs with young people and adults with/without disabilities through the Melton City Council and the City of Port Phillip’s FOG Theatre. In addition to this, she was a regular broadcaster and producer for the Arabic youth radio program at 3ZZZ and has recently finished translating a prose poetry book from Arabic to English.

PROJECTI’m creating an online multi-arts space to allow people who are or have experienced grief and loss to share and view each other’s art. I’m also performing a poem that was written during my own process of grief at the Showcase.

GABRIELA GEORGESwww.soularts.com.au | gabgeorges.art@gmail.com

For me, working with ‘community’ merely means connecting with people, developing relationships and building upon the foundations that already exist. I believe every person belongs to a community, whether online or in the physical world, and strengthening the sense of belonging is something that will hopefully spring out of ‘community’ work.

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BIOGRAPHY‘Everything in my life is art and cultural diversity is the centre of my practice.’

Ignacio was born in Chile in 1978 and moved to Australia in 2001. He has a double background in fine arts and sociology and is currently undertaking a multidisciplinary PhD in Australian studies (history & visual arts) at The University of Melbourne.

Ignacio lives and works in Melbourne and has exhibited in more than thirty solo and group exhibitions as well as being finalist in numerous competitions. He has worked as an art teacher in different socially inclusive programs and in different universities as research assistant and project officer such as in RMIT University, Victoria University and The University of Melbourne.

PROJECT1. Deliver an exhibition disseminating

my research on national identity and cultural representation. My multi-layered paintings unfold as the viewer moves and collectively portray strong unapologetic images celebrating cultural diversity in Australia.

2. To spend time working at FCAC developing a body of work that brings together visitors/community members, the Centre and the artist through painting and drawing. This second project consists in the relationship between me the artist, the canvas, the sitter and a shared 20 minute conversation. The goal of this project is to not only produce a large number or small paintings but to establish and deepen the relationship between people, their stories, the artist and FCAC. Small paintings will then be displayed with a quote from our conversations and anyone is invited to pose for me.

3. Intensive painting workshop celebrating the vibrant ethnic and cultural diversity that Melbourne represents. The main project consists on putting together a series of figurative painting workshops centred on four different approaches to figurative painting while providing the exciting opportunity to paint four models of different ethnicities. In this workshop I will use figurative painting as a form of cross cultural communication as special emphasis will be put on getting to know the sitters, their migrant stories and cultural backgrounds.

IGNACIO ROJASignaciorojas.art@gmail.com

During the ECL program I have discovered that the arts sector is as diverse as the people that work in it, its participants and the funding organisations that make it happen

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BIOGRAPHYJoseph Chetty is a Fiji born multidisciplinary artist living in Melbourne, where singing and songwriting and theatrical performance feature strongly in his practice. His accolades include performing for the opening ceremony for the Asia Pacific Out Games in Melbourne 2008, The Immigration Museum 2009, and recently in the award winning theatre production, The Sovereign Wife at the Melbourne Theatre Company in 2013. He has also co-written, and performed in the short film Pearl, which was screened this year at Colourfest and at the Melbourne Queer Film Festivals. Joseph also wrote and performed I’m Loving Tonight remixed by the Grammy award winning producers Eric Kupper and the late Mr. Frankie Knuckles (Director’s Cut Mix) and he is awaiting its international release.

Joseph Chetty is currently writing and recording music with local and international music labels, such as Razor Recordings (AU), Coteen (UK), Soundmen on Wax (USA).

PROJECTCurrently I am in discussions with the administrative team for the Contemporary Pacific Arts festival in securing a role as an artist liaison for the festival. This would include sourcing appropriate contemporary acts for the festival.

JOSEPH CHETTY facebook.com/thejosephchetty | thejosephchetty@gmail.com

For me working with community means working within a trusted space to celebrate a representation of a group of people who are marginalized by the mainstream Australian society and to facilitate a voice which is heard in the majority centre. It ultimately aims at celebrating ‘humanity’.

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BIOGRAPHYLina is a Communications and Multicultural Project Manager, originally from Italy. She provides Cultural Awareness sessions specifically to the Aged Care sector and works closely with Seniors from culturally and linguistic diverse backgrounds across the Northern Territory. She is Deputy Chair of Darwin Community of Arts and has been working with COTA NT since the beginning of 2013.

Lina is passionate about migration stories and is currently working with CDU Film students in developing 6 minute videos. The first migration story will be launched at Darwin Community of Art’s Multicultural Film Festival 2014 in October. Lina is also part of the Tarantella Darwin Group and on the Italian Festival Association Committee. At the last Darwin Italian Festival in 2013 she curated the Historical Photo exhibition.

PROJECTLina is developing a rich and amazing entertainment program for the 2015 Darwin Italian Festival 2015. The Festival will provide greater Darwin with a cultural festival that celebrates Italian culture by showcasing Italian food and beverages, art, music, language, performances, history, theatre, dancing and entertainment.

LINA PASELLI

During the ECL program I have discovered that art is a very powerful tool to use to really effectively communicate a message in the community and learning how to communicate that message in a culturally and appropriate way considering the context you are in is even more powerful.

I have discovered about myself that building on the knowledge I have collaborating and establishing stronger relationships with the CALD communities in Darwin will enable me to really help community leaders in keeping their culture alive and share it in the most effective and creative way possible.

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BIOGRAPHYLima LISTIC Peni is a Music Producer, MC & Hip-Hop artist based in South Sydney. Despite being visually impaired, Lima has never let his disability hold him back from pursuing his dreams in music. Lima writes and produces his own beats, plays multiple instruments, as well as delivering raw original rhymes. Currently, Lima is involved as a facilitator at Information & Cultural Exchange (ICE), as part of their Street2Street music program. Lima is also a guest artist with Beyond Square’s inclusive arts program. Lima believes in the potential of all human kind, no matter what their background or perceived ability is.

PROJECTMy project is working with youths off the street. This is a 10 week workshop that will be teaching youths how to work together, how to write and structure songs, the basics of programing and electronic music, studio recording and mixing as well as performing live and learning all about marketing and digital media.

LIMA PENIlisticpro493@gmail.com  

To work with the community means to help each other and others in need of guidance despite the differences each may have.

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BIOGRAPHYMarion Fallah was born in Sierra leone, West Africa and migrated to Australia in 2004. After graduating from high school in 2012 she undertook a technical production course at Swinburne University of Technology. Since completing her diploma last year she centred her attention on community work and engagement through volunteering with Multicultural Arts Victoria(MAV), Brimbank City council, Western Chances and Footscray Community Arts Centre. She’s also worked with CoHealth and the Wheeler Centre. With her technical background she’s been given opportunities to work as lighting and sound operator for a couple of theatre shows, including Billy Possible and Zamunda. She’s decided to further study technical production next year in hopes of gaining knowledge and skills as an all round technician and that she may use and develop those skills through and for community events.

PROJECTThe project will be a theatre production centred on Sierra Leonean (West African) women that share their stories and experiences about their life in Sierra leone and Australia. There will be a possible sharing/showcasing of Sierra Leonean food given on the day of show.

MARION FALLAH

To work with a community is to avoid being a gatekeeper, it means taking time talking to people in order to understand their needs and views, involving them in making decisions, developing their skills, abilities and confidence. Also providing opportunities for them to get involved.

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BIOGRAPHYIn 2012 Mayssam graduated from RMIT University with a Masters of Art. Her dissertation research explored The Space In-Between, conceptualizing the function and structure of urban Interiority. This research resulted in a series of public art works and her first solo exhibition as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival program. Mayssam’s other areas of interest have centred on building the connections and sense of place for marginalised community groups with a particular specialisation in refugee and at-risk youth sectors, acting both as a mentor and an art practitioner. Mayssam has successfully initiated and produced art projects for Youth Week, Refugee Week and International Women’s day three years running since 2010.

In 2011 Mayssam founded the community project ReProject, an initiative that brings local artists and the general community together to re-conceptualise, re-cycle and re-vitalise our usually-disposable items and culminating in a multi-day sustainable and creative event. In 2013 Mayssam was the Communications and Community Development Coordinator at Kultour, a national organisation committed to advancing cultural diversity in the arts, and has recently left to pursue a second course of study. 

PROJECTReProject is an artistic initiative that seeks to re-think the way communities approach their pre-loved goods. 

MAYSSAM LATIFwww.reproject.com.au | mayssam.latif@gmail.com

During my time at ECL I have been able to explore reasons by which; government bodies engage in the arts for economic and quantifying/qualifying social equity; artists and NGO’s struggle to be innovative and experiment at their own disposition with full financial freedom; how this may be hindered by government stipulations as well as the artists adaptation.  It is a complex notion, one I am still exploring. 

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BIOGRAPHYMichelle currently works with school communities supporting young people to explore educational opportunities available after secondary school. Her background is in education, working alongside communities and organisations to support access to education and lifelong learning. Michelle is currently undertaking a Master in Regional Education and Community Development and is participating in the Emerging Cultural Leaders program as the first Emerging Researcher. Michelle seeks to incorporate the knowledge and experience gained through participating in ECL into her work with young people in her community.

PROJECTAs part of my upcoming ECL project and under the guidance of ECL mentor Jade Lillie, I seek to undertake collaborative and participatory research that aims to explore the value of informal (non-accredited) community programs (such as ELC) in peoples’ lives. This research project acknowledges the challenges around researching ‘value’ and will utilise creative research approaches to present peoples’ views and ideas.

MICHELLE GRAHAMmichjgraham@gmail.com

To me, working with ‘community’ has many contexts. Broadly, I think it means to be invited to engage with the community and to work in a way that supports that community to be the drivers of their own change.

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BIOGRAPHYRosie Kilvert is a practicing visual artist with a preferred medium of paint, she is currently working on a community project ‘Footscray Animated Wall Mural’ as a co-designer and painter. From a background of Indigenous, Wemba Wemba, Gunditjmarra and Italian decent, she was brought onto the mural project to represent the Indigenous creation story of the land of the Kulin nation.

Rosie has worked along side artist Brooke Andrew, assisting him on the filming for his film installation ‘De Anima’ exhibited at Bendigo art gallery in early 2014 as well as artist Maree Clarke assisting the installation of her Clay Cap photographic exhibition held at Bunjilaka, Melbourne Museum in 2013. Rosie wants to further pursue a career in the arts and has a keen interest in working in community to share and exchange culture through art to explore questions of identity and culture.

PROJECTAs I want to develop a sense of identity in my community, my idea for the project is to interview a range of people from Footscray and develop a series of stories of their own identity, struggles and their thoughts of Footscray and whether or not they feel they belong with the changes and development happening at the moment. I will extract quotes from their interviews and using a projector, project the quotes directly onto the walls and spaces of Footscray. I will document the process by filming and photographing the process and later exhibit the photos of the projections.

ROSIE KILVERT

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BIOGRAPHYSajeewa was born in Sri Lanka and has had a great passion for music since he was a child, learning music and keyboards from 5 years old. He studied Indian classical music and developed his skills as a guitarist and a drummer at the Nugegoda Music Academy in 2000.

In 2008 Sajeewa studied sound engineering in Australia, graduating in 2009 with an Advanced Diploma in Sound Engineering. He also have knowledge and experience about light controlling and laser show programming.

Currently Sajeewa is a member of Asylum Seekers Resource Centre (ASRC) Music Group through which he has performed at events for the Medical Association for the Prevention of War, Victorian Red Cross Sports4Change Football Festival, 2014 Federation Square Light-in Winter Festival, Refugee Week at the Royal Dental Hospital, Wyndham Multicultural Arts Festival and Spring Fling in North Melbourne.

Sajeewa’s ambition is to bring entertainment to people who have come from different parts of the world and connect different cultures.

PROJECTMy project involves asylum seekers from different back grounds showing their musical talents to this nation. The project aims to demonstrate that by different cultures coming together we can share our culture and learn from each other and show respect to other cultures. Building up relationships between different nationalities via music is one of my main aim of the project because, I believe music is a universal language and also it speaks a lot to peoples heart. 

Working with communities is an amazing experience.  I can share my experience and my culture to others and I can learn a lot about other cultures. Because, I believe I am in a journey of discovering and experiencing cultures and communities. 

SAJEEWA GAYAN AMARASEELA,ANTHIGNGNA MARAKKALA (A.K.A SAJ)sajeewa.gayan@gmail.com

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BIOGRAPHYMelbourne-based photographer Sudeep Lingamneni lets his Indian heritage, American upbringing and international ‘citizenship’ inform his work. Part Indian, part American and part Australian, Sudeep Lingamneni is the perfect example of the sort of 21st Century international citizen we are all rapidly becoming, effortlessly bridging dramatically different cultures as he seeks a greater truth through creativity.   Now a gifted and self-taught photographer, visual designer and music producer, Sudeep spent most of his adult life struggling to find a place to call home. It has been a long road to acceptance of his art and status for Sudeep, one he travelled harder than most.  

PROJECTI intend to address the following question: ‘How can Indian-Australian cultural heritage be explored and expressed through current sound art and music techniques?’ The purpose of this project will be to gain new knowledge, partly through practice, for the creation of sound art and experimental music, using on-site recordings and found sound from India and Australia.  

SUDEEP LINGAMNENIwww.sudeeplingamneni.com

A great arts career isn’t something I find - it’s something I earn when I’ve got rare and valuable skills to offer in return.

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BIOGRAPHYSuzanne Nguyen (based in Western Sydney) is a story collector and artist; she founded The Two Chairs, an online platform that cultivates an open creative conversation to openly discuss race and racism. The Two Chairs has participated in various workshops and art festivals such as Big West Festival. Currently, she is compelled to explore the intersection of art, community engagement and digital media to create positive social change and diversity.

PROJECTMy online community openly enjoys talking about race politics in Australia. The project that I’m developing with them is to amplify their online voice and bring it out their issues in real life.

SUZANNE NGUYENwww.thetwochairs.com | facebook.com/TheTwoChairs

To work with community (and let me emphasise the ‘with’) is to help mobilise and empower them to create their own projects.

Christie WidiartoAnimation - Footscray Animated Wall projectChristie developed an ‘Animated Wall Project’ telling the history and story of Footscray through animation on a large public wall in the area. She has received funding and huge amounts of support from local council, local businesses and community members. The project will be complete at the end of 2014. The final outcome of the project will screen at Footscray Community Arts Centre in early 2015.https://www.facebook.com/footscraywall

Daniela RodriguezPhotography - Silent MemoriesDaniela developed a documentary and photography project working with older people with dementia with English as a second language. Daniela has gained support from Alzheimer’s Australia to develop the final outcome and to continue the project long term. She has also been involved in a public art project creating a

large scale photography paste up in Footscray for the City of Maribyrnong StreetWorks urban arts initiative.www.danielarodriguez.com.auwww.facebook.com/DanielaRodriguezPhotography

Demeysa AhmedMusic and youth workDemeysa has gone on to study Youth Work and is currently working as a tutor on the FCAC ArtLife program. He is using music as a creative way of engaging people in his work.

Jennifer TranCommunity Cultural Design – The Foodscray Race Jen produced a community engagement event to connect communities through food. The event ran like a mini ‘The Amazing Race’ but participants visited local businesses to complete a food activity and eventually needed to cook a traditional soup from the local cuisines present in Footscray. The event was successfully programmed as part of The Melbourne Food and

Wine Festival 2014.  Jen is now finishing her studies in interior design looking at using spacial aesthetics to engage communities through targeted events.

Michael Adonai HaileVisual Art – Exhibition: I did not choose to be a refugeeMichael has continued to build a body of work and exhibited his first solo show in Australia at Altona’s Louis Joel Arts and Community Centre in July 2014. He also went on to exhibit as part of Multicultural Arts Victoria’s ‘Emerge’ Festival in October 2014. Michael is currently working on building up a new range of works for exhibition. Michael was recently awarded the 2014 African Australian Excellence of the Year award which honours, recognizes and celebrates the contributions of distinguished, highly influential and outstanding African Australians to all spheres of the Australian society.www.celebrateafricanaustralians.orgwww.michaeladonai.net

Rani PramestiTheatre/Performance –  Chinese WhispersRani developed a contemporary performance piece ‘Chinese Whispers’ with her mentor, Chi Vu. The work investigated the question: “How does racial violence happen?”, taking a close look at the May Riots of 1998, in Indonesia. Rani presented Chinese Whispers in the 2014 Melbourne Fringe Festival where it won Best Live Art Award and Kultour’s Innovation in Culturally Diverse Practice Award. Chinese Whispers will be a part of FCAC’s Collaborate Asia program: FCACheartsJogja in 2015. Next year Rani will also be producing FCAC’s International Women’s Day Symposium and developing the strategic and business plan for the People of Colour Performing Arts Company (POCPAC). She is also developing the inaugural performance for POCPAC as part of the Lotus Asian-Australian Playwriting Australia program.www.ranip.com.au

2013 ALUMNI

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