Anitah Kumar – Facilitator

Anitah is a Meanjin (Brisbane) based cellist, creative producer, educator and law graduate, who is all about pushing the boundaries of performance, art and music. Anitah stepped into the Brisbane arts scene joining DeepBlue Orchestra as a performer and producer, and later bringing together the four members of contemporary classical outfit, Luminescence. As a performer she has continued to experiment with blurring the lines of genre, taking to the stage with the likes of Fascinator, The Jensens and Bcharre, while also sticking to her classical roots in the Brisbane Philharmonic Orchestra. Anitah’s projects centre around creating innovative and immersive audience experiences while providing space and performance opportunities for emerging artists, women and people of colour. In 2022, Anitah launched the multi-arts project, Platform, to do just that.

Aleja Hine – Visual Artist

Aleja is a visual/street artist, creative director, and curator based in Meanjin. In her studio she is primarily an oil painter, however uses mixed media such as acrylic and aerosol on canvas. Her style involves a form of realistic composite art with enhanced and abstracted colours, drawing from the ideas and style of surrealism. She plays between the boundaries of traditional and digital art. Using traditional realism juxtaposed against bold block imagery in thought provoking ways to depict modern ideals of beauty aesthetics, sexual freedom and fluidity. Her work largely focuses on depicting women in unique ways to tell stories about the world.

Artdosis – Visual Artist

I am a dreamer, visual artist and designer from Venezuelan origin. Due to the social, political and civil war in my country I was forced to leave home from a very young age. After a long time stuck in survival mode, I decided to live my life and become an artist. This was how Artdosis was born. Art saved me and healed me. It will always be my own way of self-expression. In my hometown I was recognised as an artist by The Venezuelan association of plastic artists Unesco.

Desirai – Visual Artist

A Meanjin (Brisbane) based, Gunggari, illustration & digital artist. Art helps me to express myself as I often can’t find the words to do so. I like to incorporate culture into my artworks as naturally as it lies within my life. Always there, deep rooted and causing a constant current within. Emotion is what heavily inspires my artworks. A lot of strength can be channelled and learnt from emotions of pain, anger and disappointment. So much emotion can be portrayed without the need for words. My artworks are like fragmented pieces of my own emotional & mental states. Apart of me hopes my creations will empower those (especially Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander women) who can see a small part of themselves reflecting back through the artworks.

George Goodnow – Visual Artist

George Goodnow is a multidisciplinary artist currently living in Naarm (Melbourne). Their practice incorporates painting, sculpture, and the use of salvaged materials to produce site-specific installations. By fabricating fictional architectures and objects, or adjusting existing architectures, George considers how spaces reflect, orientate, and hold bodies. Recent work explores feelings of disorientation, binaries, and queerness within suburban and urban landscapes. George has exhibited and produced public art installations around Australia and overseas, and has collaborated on projects with Platform Arts Geelong, AMBUSH Gallery, Science Gallery Melbourne, the City of Melbourne, and City of Ballarat councils. They were also the curator of ‘Intermission Project’ at the Collingwood Yards in 2018.

George Levi – Visual Artist

George Levi is a queer, nonbinary artist living and learning on Turrbal & Jagerra land in Meanjin [Brisbane]. They pivot between photography, illustration and design with most pieces they create being a hearty blend of all three – usually made for and with other creatives. They watch Jurassic Park once a month.

Wellborn – Facilitator & Visual Artist

I am an indigenous Ngarabal man. My culture and my expression are an integral part of who I am.
I am self-taught and have been developing my craft all my life, however I have only been pursuing visual arts professionally for 2 years. My goal is to connect people to their inner dialogue and to provoke discourse on these thoughts we hide from.

I strive to convey who we are as a society, and the effects of colonialism on my country and my culture.
Art creates a space where I can scream without making any sound, and unlike my music this allows me to target a very unique internal energy which otherwise would be left dormant. I am inspired by street art, abstract works and traditional art of my aboriginal culture. Whether you see tragedy or beauty in my work is all about the individual.

DancingWater – Musician

Meanjin based musician DancingWater bringing a new wave of neo soul and punk.

Inspired by societal injustices and the drive for global equity DancingWater tells stories through spoken word & antiquated melodies. 

Desirai – Visual Artist

A Meanjin (Brisbane) based, Gunggari, illustration & digital artist. Art helps me to express myself as I often can’t find the words to do so. I like to incorporate culture into my artworks as naturally as it lies within my life. Always there, deep rooted and causing a constant current within. Emotion is what heavily inspires my artworks. A lot of strength can be channelled and learnt from emotions of pain, anger and disappointment. So much emotion can be portrayed without the need for words. My artworks are like fragmented pieces of my own emotional & mental states. Apart of me hopes my creations will empower those (especially Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander women) who can see a small part of themselves reflecting back through the artworks.

Lincoln Savage – Facilitator

Lincoln is a Creative Director with a strong interest in emerging arts and engaging with new technology. He obtained a Bachelor of Technology Innovation from QUT in 2014 and has since worked on many arts, technology and music based projects with a focus on emerging practice. His stand out projects include establishing the annual music and arts event Yonder Festival, the city-wide Brisbane Street Art Festival, the experiential creative agency Vast Yonder and launching the ephemeral arts project in the Brisbane CBD, Superordinary.

Fivust – Indonesia

Integrating his signature style of explosive colour tone and mood, Fivust has developed a distinct style that carries a fun element of surprise everywhere. Whether on the streets, in galleries, and many more. Fivust admires the spectrum of possibility and flexibility of a human alter ego in creating his works. For him, it is fascinating that each of them has their own alter ego that can be expressed in so many ways. Growing up enjoying comics, manga, pop culture, and other Japanese references, Fivust’s works — in graffiti, paintings, tattoos, and others — are heavily influenced by those.

Tori-Jay Mordey – Visual Artist

Tori-Jay Mordey is an established Indigenous Australian illustrator and artist based in Brisbane. Growing up she openly shared both her Torres Strait Islander and English heritage, which is often reflected in her contemporary Indigenous art practice – producing work based around her family and siblings as a way of understanding herself, her appearance and racial identity. Tori-Jay also produces a lot of illustrative work that conceptually explore deeper human emotions – these works are often drawn as longingly expressive, exaggerated cartoon characters. Over the years Tori-Jay has hone her skills in digital illustration, drawing, painting, printmaking and film while also expanding her skills as a mural artist. 

Eliza Heath – Facilitator

Eliza entered the music scene as a teenager performing in and managing a variety bands throughout the completion of her undergraduate Bachelor of Music at QUT. Continuing on to complete her Masters in Creative Industries (Creative Production and Arts Management) with a focus on networking in the arts, Eliza built a passion for creating events that aid in the formation of sustainable careers and performance opportunities for artists. This passion led her to work with a range of peak organisations including QMusic and QPAC – developing events, festivals, and opportunities for emerging and established artists alike across a range of artforms. Eliza now works with Vast Yonder as the Creative Producer for the Brisbane Street Art Festival, Yonder Festival, and Superordinary.

Jason Dembski & Maria Wong – HKwalls

Jason is an American designer, maker and curator based in Hong Kong. With a background in architecture and a fascination with street art and graffiti, Jason’s interests revolve around the ever-evolving built environment, and its relationships with those who occupy and modify it.

As one of the founders, Jason is a major driving force behind HKwalls, overseeing all aspects of artistic production, shaping strategy and festival framework, while sharing the curation with partners Stan and Maria.

Maria is a curator and art producer. Her career trajectory has taken her from working in the Hong Kong film industry to leading non-profit charitable arts organisations, curating, and producing various arts festivals, events, outreach programs, exhibitions, and theatre productions. She was invited to join HKwalls as the Managing Director in 2014, overseeing the business operations and ensuring the organisation achieves its financial vision, mission, and long-term goals.

Jason and Maria co-founded Current Projects in 2016, a creative agency that provides bespoke design and art consultancy to companies worldwide. Their work includes curation, creation, direction, design, build and more.

Lincoln Savage – Brisbane Street Art Festival

Lincoln is a Creative Director with a strong interest in emerging arts and engaging with new technology. He obtained a Bachelor of Technology Innovation from QUT in 2014 and has since worked on many arts, technology and music based projects with a focus on emerging practice. His stand out projects include establishing the annual music and arts event Yonder Festival, the city-wide Brisbane Street Art Festival, the experiential creative agency Vast Yonder and launching the ephemeral arts project in the Brisbane CBD, Superordinary.

Maia Cavendish – Deicke Richards

A member of Deicke Richards’ urban design team, Maia works on a range of urban design projects, including character studies, guidelines for local government, design review and expert witness work. She has local and international experience in urban design and planning, having studied and gained work experience in Sweden, Denmark and Colombia. 

She completed her planning and urban design studies at QUT (Bachelors) and KTH in Stockholm, Sweden (Masters). Her thesis studies investigated ‘informal’ and ‘formal’ public art in residual urban spaces of Brisbane, and later Stockholm.

In addition to her work at Deicke Richards and tutoring in urban design and urban studies at QUT, she has exhibited collage and print works in exhibitions in Meanjin (Brisbane), and self publishes a zine called Day Job.

Scott Hutchinson – Hutchinson Builders

Hutchies’ Chairman Scott Hutchinson holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) which he completed in 1981 at the University of Queensland. He subsequently completed a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in 1986 at the same university after travelling extensively across Europe, North Africa and the UK. Scott attributes his MBA learnings to the success of Hutchies’ flat organisational structure and culture built on empowerment.

Scott entered the family business full time as the fourth generation Hutchinson in 1986 when the company’s turnover was just $6M. He has been Chairman of Hutchinson Builders since 2001, a role he moved into after Greg Quinn was selected as Hutchies’ first non-family Managing Director. Scott was previously Managing Director from 1991 for ten years. Under their direction, Hutchies’ turnover has since grown to $2.8B.

Scott’s personal interest is in preserving Brisbane’s live music scene and this is where Hutchies’ philanthropic contribution has been substantial and significant for the region.