Arts House and Dancehouse appoints four independent arts practitioners
Arts House and Dancehouse have appointed four independent arts practitioners, Mariaa Randall, Luke George, Priya Srinivasan and Tam Nguyen, to lead a community co-design, to explore the potential of a dedicated contemporary dance festival in Melbourne.
Over the coming weeks they will share more information about how the sector – independents, companies and presenters – will engage in the co-design process, which is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.
Mariaa Randall is a Gidabul, Gulibul and Yaegl dance maker from the Far North Coast of New South Wales (NSW). She is a NAISDA Dance College graduate and more recently a Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) graduate. In 2019, Randall premiered Same But Different at Dance Massive, presented Footwork/Technique at the Performance Space New York City and performed Painting the Dance at the inaugural Matriarchs Uprising Festival in Vancouver. At present, she is developing her new work, SiStem, which features the Indigenous female warrior, the way in which Randall sees First Nations women.
Luke George was born in lutruwita-Tasmania and now creates and performs work in in Naarm-Melbourne. For his experimental works he collaborates with artists and the public across Australia, Asia, Europe and North America. In 2019, Luke George received an Australia Council for the Arts Fellowship, his works, Bunny and Still Lives, which he co-created with Daniel Kok, were presented in the Venice Biennale, and Public Actions premiered at Arts House for Dance Massive. In 2020 Luke was appointed Artistic Associate of Temperance Hall.
Dr Priya Srinivasan is the co-artistic director of Sangam: Performing Arts Festival of South Asia and Diaspora, a single platform for classical, contemporary and experimental forms. She is also the co-director of the South Asian Arts Pathways Program commissioned by Bunjil Place and Drum Theatre. She lives and works in the lands of the Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung people in Narrm, working towards social justice issues through art. Currently she is developing a full length violence against women work called S3. Her award winning book, Sweating Saris: Indian Dance as Transnational Labour, is read and taught internationally in dance studies.
Tam Nguyen has over twenty years of experience in large-scale festival management, documentary film, and the performing arts sectors in the UK, US and Australia. Most recently, she was creative producer of the Asia Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts (Asia TOPA). In Melbourne, Ngyuyen has been executive producer of the Australian Art Orchestra, executive producer of late-night programming for MONA FOMA and producer of the 98th International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) World Congress. She has also held programming roles with the Australian International Documentary Conference, Adelaide Festival of Arts, and the Department of Premier and Cabinet’s Thinkers in Residence program.
- CANDIDE MCDONALD