Speaking & Convening

I was asked by The Womens Club to give the vote of thanks for this special event as part of the Salon Series with distinguished TV producer Anita Jacoby AM in conversation with Nicole Sheffield.

 Anita Jacoby AM is one of Australia's most distinguished television producers - working across 60 Minutes, Sunday, Witness and Today. She is also an advocate for women in media and leadership - currently chair of the ABC Advisory Council, an associate member of the Australian Communications and Media Authority and sits on the board of Chief Executive Women, Documentary Australia and Women in Media.

It was such an honour to be asked to provide the vote of thanks for her recent talk - where she shared some of her experiences working in the Australian media and her quest to uncover the story of her own family.

April 2023

The Womens Club, Sydney

 WestWords and Cumberland Woman's Health celebrated Women's Week by asking Western Sydney women to share their experiences and personal understanding of Being Differently in a landscape of competing and intersecting identities.

I hosted a discussion on the works of debut writers Zaheda Ghani (Pomegranate & Fig) and Alex Sarkis (Something Blue); two contrasting books, but where mutual themes of family, homes and spirituality were discovered.

March 2023

WestWords, Parramatta

 I was invited to launch Peter Shmigel's book ‘Contours’, a collection of short stories, providing an opening address at Business Western Sydney.

Special Guests: 

• David Borger, Business Western Sydne
• Augusta Supple, international producer, director, writer and arts leade
•  His Excellency Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Australia & NZ 
• Michael Campbell, Executive Director, WestWords

February 2023

Business Western Sydney, Parramatta

Speaking on a panel with some of the leading Women in the Performing Arts in Western Sydney to discuss creative practice and advocacy for safety, equality, diversity and growth of our dynamic sectors.

Speaking alongside Mary Anne Butler, Shy Magsalin, Randa Sayed, Nicki Morton (Gillis) in conversation facilitated by Lisa Finn Powell at The Joan Theatre  Penrith Performing & Visual Arts).

November 2022

The Joan Sutherland Theatre, Penrith

 The Rose Scott Women Writers’ Festival was established in 2013 as an annual flagship event for The Women’s Club, Sydney.  Named after Rose Scott, one of the founders of The Women’s Club, it seeks to honour the memory of this influential woman who used her own writing – speeches, pamphlets and letters – to influence social policy and improve the living conditions of women and children.

For The Rose Scott Women Writers’ Festival in 2022, Festival Director Kathryn Millard asked me to 

host a conversation with Nardi Simpson (Song of the Crocodile) and Kath Kenny (Staging a Revolution) for a panel exploring "Voicing Narratives."

An exchange of ideas and experiences with novelist Felicity Castagna about place-based writing practice for the Society of Women Writers NSW, based at The State Library of NSW.

In conversation about my practice as a theatre director and producer working with playwrights in situ, most recently The Twin Cities, Minnesota, but also previously in Parramatta, Sydney and  Marrickville.

Felicity spoke about the places that have inspired her multi-award winning novels The Incredible Here and Now, No More Boats and her recent Queensland Literary Award Winning  Girls in Boys Cars.

TWC Meets the Artist program, produced for The Women's Club, Sydney was created in Sydney's 2021 lockdown as an opportunity for members and the broader community to connect with some of Australia's leading and up-and-coming artists, producers and creators.

The program featured 30-minute live interviews with 40 artists with creative practices/careers in first nations intellectual cultural property and practice, film, theatre, dance, music, festivals, comedy, memoir and advocacy. 

I hosted/produced 38 of the 40 artists over the 4-month program through an "in conversation" format, exploring themes of background, inspiration, adversity and advocacy.  Artists included: Stephanie McCallum; Brenda Gifford; Nadje Noordhuis; Emily Parsons-Lord; Dagmar Cyrulla; Louise Allerton; Josipa Draisma; Valerie Berry; Belinda Giblin; Meryl Tankard; Charmene Yap; Katina Olsen; Heather Mitchell; Maggie Blinco; Maria Tran; Danielle O’Keefe; Keyna Wilkins; Chloe Kim; Kerri Glasscock; Ayeesha Ash; Madeleine Stewart; Bibi Barba; Terri Janke; Trish Adjei; Francesca Emerson; Jenevieve Chang; Kate Fitzpatrick; Olivia Ansell; Joanne Kee; Vicki Gordon; Sally Davis; Bernice Tesara; Jana Lombart;

Sara Mansour; Vyvienne Alba; Cloe Fournier; Sheila Pham; Caitlin Sandiford; Sarah Qiu; Karen Cortez;

In March 2022 I was invited to join a panel of alumni from the University of Sydney to launch /provide a response to the second Currency House New Platform Paper: Arts, Culture and Country written by cultural policy luminary Dr Jo Caust.

The panel included Dr Liza Mare Syron, Dominic Mercer and Izabella Nantsou, chaired by Dr Ian Maxwell.

The paper's abstract explains:  

"The past two years have been a particularly dark time for the arts in Australia... For years the arts sector has provided evidence of its economic benefits, as well as its intrinsic value to society. Yet politicians remain impervious to these arguments... The pandemic has made people realise the seminal importance of the arts and culture to our national well-being, but politicians do not see them as a central part of policymaking. Arts and culture are intertwined. We need to change how we view the relationship between the two within the political framework. This monograph presents some ideas on how to do it. "

My contribution to the discussion sought to reinforce the need for a universal basic income, affordable housing for artists, and to consider broader tax offsets, tax incentives for individual artists and arts & cultural businesses, and a call for artists to remember their power, impact and influence.

 Conceived, co-produced and co-convened with fellow Womens Club Board member and vice President Prof. Julia Horne, the TWC Women in Music series was a strategic initiative to support local women musicians and composers.

Developed in collaboration with the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, The Women's Club hosted a series of 6 evening recitals from April to June 2021, showcasing and spotlighting local women artists.

At the heart of this project was a focus on employment opportunities for women musicians and composers to perform to live audiences.

Even before COVID restrictions, women had few opportunities for paid performances in the Australian music industry ("Skipping a beat", Report, Sydney, 2017). This series aims to recognise the creative enterprise of women performers by giving them space to perform publicly, foster their performance skills, expand their professional networks, and become leaders in the music industry.