Midsumma Futures - Inaugural (2017 - 2018)

Adolfo Aranjuez is the editor of Metro, Australia’s oldest film and media periodical. He is also the subeditor of Screen Education and a freelance writer, speaker and dancer. Adolfo previously edited for Voiceworks and Melbourne Books, and his nonfiction and poetry have been published in Right Now, The Lifted Brow, The Manila Review, Eureka Street, Peril and Scum, among others. He has performed and done arts work for the Melbourne Writers Festival, the Emerging Writers’ Festival, the National Young Writers’ Festival, Next Wave, Midsumma, Express Media, Scribe, Liminal, Ascension, Small Press Network, The Channel, National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasters’ Council, and various schools and city councils. He is one of the Melbourne Writers Festival’s 30 Under 30. www.adolfoaranjuez.com  

Alisha Abate is an emerging artist living and working in Melbourne. She is a recent graduate student from Sculpture and Spatial Practice at the Victorian College of the Arts, and has recently begun exhibiting her work outside of the educational institution.
 
Alisha's primary sculptural concern is how the living body inhabits space, alongside the reciprocal relationship of how space is constructed. alishaabate.com

Archie Barry is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Melbourne. Their artwork takes form primarily in live body-centred performance and video, and is concerned with presenting the gendered and politicised aspects of embodiment by creating imaginative and often uncanny encounters with gender ambiguous bodies. In a society that sanctions two discreet, consistent gender identities and often fails to comprehend, acknowledge or represent people with fluid or nonconforming genders, Barry’s work suggests the possibilities that exist between what is and what could be. Embedded in their philosophy is an honouring of fiction as a generative and emancipatory tool that can allow other ways of living to be experienced and shared. Vimeo: Archie Barry

Based in Melbourne, Christopher is an emerging dramaturg and drag artist, whose practice is interested in shorter forms of theatre – vaudeville, drag, burlesque, circus, dance, lyrical theatre and nightclub performance – evoking female, feminist, camp and queer sensibilities. Specialising in text composition and research, he has most recently helped develop and tour Justin Nott’s Can’t Be Tamed, appearing at the Melbourne Fringe Hub in 2016 and at The Bakehouse Theatre for Adelaide Fringe 2017. He is creator and performer of singing cabaret queen Ms CeCe Rockefeller, who made her debut in fantastically tragic melodrama Estate of Affairs at The Butterfly Club in April 2016, and whose work is made to open a space for sincerity and sentimentality on the contemporary drag scene. Vimeo: Christopher Fieldus

"Jack's love of video stems from both the desire to stimulate and entertain, as well as an unhealthy desire to control and 'edit' life into a logical, meaningful sequence." – Unsolicited insight, armchair psychiatrist Jack Fitzgerald.
An awakening, less binary approach to gender was natural after grappling with the difficult questions of human plurality: Do I wanna be a starving artist, or buy a new phone every 18 months? Would I rather create something artful or entertaining? Is my opinion of this wine void because I’ll order a bacon and cheese Whopper Value Meal later?
Jack (he/him/his) is of-all-trades, but loves producing video maybe most. His next project is webseries Into the Void, a drag queen space opera like no other.

Justin Nott is a Melbourne-based queer theatremaker, director and performance artist whose work explores experientialism, subversion and formal play. He hopes through his work to change the world for the better - even if just a smidge.
His work is always challenging, occasionally enjoyable, and always pretty. www.justinnott.com/work

Kate Lefoe graduated with a Masters of Film and Television from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2016. Supported by an Ian Potter Cultural Trust Grant, her graduate film Somersault Pike has started on the festival circuit. Awarded a place in the International Filmmaking Academy Master class in Italy in 2016, Kate spent 3 weeks learning from award-winning directors Danis Tanovic and Claudia Llosa alongside film graduates from all over the world. Kate’s queer short film Plunge screened at 45 international festivals and scooped up a handful of awards. Made on a scholarship to China, Kate’s award-winning documentary short Age, Height, Education about the Shanghai marriage markets resonated with international audiences. Kate is interested in creating content with strong female protagonists that explore themes of identity and loss. katelefoe.com

Mick Klepner Roe is a performance maker who completed their Masters of Directing for Performance at the VCA in 2016. Mick directed Our Lady of the Flowers by Embittered Swish which premiered at La Mama Courthouse in October 2016 to a sold out season. Mick loves being a part of Embittered Swish who had an exhibition at firstdraft gallery in February this year and is part of the Next Wave Kickstart Helix program for 2017/2018. Mick has worked with: Scratch and Sniff, Tammy Anderson, Patrick McCarthy, The DIG Collective, Alicia Frankovich, Amos Gebhardt, KAGE, Transgenre, Myriad and Union House Theatre among others. Mick is obsessed with the in-between.

Parisa is an aspiring film maker. In her past life Parisa worked in the fashion industry but her curiosity for the art of story-telling resulted in a change in career in 2014. Since then she has been working on a number of productions which have given her a great overview of the ins and outs of the film and TV industry. Parisa takes inspiration from themes that challenge the status quo and has a love for exploring characters living in the cracks of societies. Nothing rises Parisa’s blood pressure faster than social injustice. In an attempt to mitigate her fury she utilises her amateur knowledge in silversmithing, and a hammer to bring a stubborn piece of metal into submission.

Raina Peterson is a multidisciplinary artist who's work spans theatre, comedy, dance, cabaret, and the written and spoken word. They are one of Australia's very few professional practitioners of mohiniyattam (classical Indian dance of Kerala), and are co-director of Karma Dance Inc., teaching staff at Studio J Dance, board member of Asian-Australian literary magazine Peril, and one-third of anti-racist cabaret act the Ladies of Colour Agency. One of their latest works is the sell-out, critically acclaimed contemporary Indian dance production In Plain Sanskrit, which premiered at Footscray Community Arts Centre in 2015 and toured to Auckland in 2016. They have performed at the Melaka Arts and Performance Festival (Malaysia), Q Theatre (New Zealand), The Famous Spiegeltent (Melbourne), the Victorian Arts Centre, and Woodford Folk Festival (Queensland), and their work has been published on Peril Magazine and ArtsHub. 

Yvette Turnbull is a set and costume designer for contemporary live performance, theatre and events. A graduate of the Bachelor of Production (Design), from the Victorian College of the Arts (2013). Her more recent credits include; site design for Arts Centre Melbourne for their ASIA TOPA 2017 Program. Designer for Blind Spot, directed by Daniel Santangeli for Melbourne Fringe 2016 (Winner of Best Performance). Co-designer with Jonathon Oxlade for Picasso and His Dog, by Lemony S Puppet Theatre, directed by Sarah Kreigler. Set & Costume Designer for The Theory of Everything directed by Thomas Quirk for Theatre Republic, Brisbane Festival 2015. Co-Designer for Virgins and Cowboys, by Morgan Rose Aldrich and directed by Dave Sleswick (Motherboard Productions), FLIGHT Festival, Theatreworks 2015 and site design for Dance Massive at Artshouse 2015.  www.yvetteturnbull.com

Zoe Brinnand is a Melbourne based emerging theatre maker, with a special interest in queer stories. Her first two plays, The Ultimate Lesbian Double Feature and The Adventures of Yoni 1 & Yoni 2, have been very well received across Australia, being staged at Midsumma, Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, and Brisbane Powerhouse's LGBTI festival, MELT. Zoe’s short play Queerachy was recently part of Short + Sweet Sydney and Short + Sweet Queer 2017, and the first scene of her next play, My Big Fat Lesbian Greek Wedding was selected as the winner of Gaswork's 2017 Midsumma Playtime Staged Readings. "Brinnand’s voice as a playwright is a disarming combination of light-hearted on the one hand and political and bold on the other" - Time Out Sydney. www.zoebrinnand.com | Vimeo: Zoe Brinnand

Adi Goodrich is a Los Angeles based artist and designer best known for her colorful, iconic set designs. Her work encourages the viewer to look further into commercial imagery to see the craftsmanship and hand that is prevalent throughout. Attending The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and La Sorbonne in Paris, Goodrich's work is inspired by the history of art, architecture and design. Goodrich's portfolio is a range of multi-media work including large-scale set design for advertising and film, site specific murals, tour visuals for musical performances, photography, furniture design, sculptures and homewares. Alongside her commercial work, Goodrich finds importance in education and has exhibited and lectured in cities worldwide including, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Paris, Barcelona, Cincinnati, Minneapolis and Sydney.

Anahita Ghazvinizadeh got her BFA in film from Tehran University of Art and her MFA in studio arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. "When the Kid was a Kid" (2011, Iran), "Needle" (2013, US) and "In the Trees" (2015, US) forms her trilogy of short films with children as main characters; Childhood and parenthood, family theatre, and exploring notions of growth and gender identity are the main themes of these works. Her other short film "What Remains" (2016, US) is part of a collective international project, Break the Silence, aiming to increase knowledge and action against abuse of women and youth. Anahita is the winner of the First Cinéfondation Award at Cannes Film Festival and the Silver Hugo at Chicago International Film Festival among other awards, and has showed her films in numerous festivals and shows. She was selected as one of the 25 New Faces of Independent filmmaking in 2013 by the Filmmaker Magazine, and was in the list of 20 rising female filmmakers by IndieWire in 2017. She was a writing fellow at the Sundance Screenwriters' Lab in January 2013, artist-in-residence at Museum of Fine Art Houston's Core Program 2013-2015, and has been mentored by filmmakers such as Jane Campion and Abbas Kiarostami. Doha Film Institute Grant, Tribeca Film Institute's IWC Filmmakers' Award, Sarah Jacobson Annual Film Grant and Sundance Institute/ Doris Duke Foundation Grant are among her professional accomplishments. Anahita's feature debut THEY premiered in the official selection of Cannes Film Festival 2017.

Emma is a freelance director, dramaturg and lighting designer. She is the Co Artistic director and Co CEO of feminist theatre company THE RABBLE.
 
Emma’s recent directing credits include: Joan (TheatreWorks/ Wuzhen Festival), Cain and Abel (The Substation), In The Bleak Midwinter (Malthouse Theatre), Sappho: In 9 fragments (Aspen Island Theatre Company), Deathly/ Death/ Dead (Director/ Curator – Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne Writers’ Festival), Cain and Abel (Belvoir Theatre/ The Substation), Frankenstein (Malthouse Theatre), Room of Regret (Melbourne Festival, Theatre Works), Story of O (Neon Festival, Melbourne Theatre Company, THE RABBLE), Orlando (Melbourne Festival, Helium Program - Tower Theatre Malthouse – Brisbane Festival, DARK MOFO), Special (Carlton Courthouse), The Bedroom Project (Linden Gallery), Cageling (CarriageWorks – 45 downstairs ), Salome: In Cogito Volume III (CarriageWorks). For THE RABBLE she is currently working on Ulysses, Unwoman and Candy House.
 
Recently Emma has been the dramaturg for Squash! (Meg Wilson), Moral Panic (Rachel Perks), I sat and waited for too long (PWA, Oliva Satchell), Schmaltz (Daniel Schlusser/ Malthouse Theatre), Calamity! (Zoey Dawson/ MTCNEON), Welcome to Nowhere (Daniel Keene/ Angus Cerini/ Fleur Kilpatrick/ Morgan Rose/ Zoey Dawson - Monash University/ Tower Theatre), Podium Dances (Arts House/ FOLA) and Bright World (Arthur, Theatre Works).
 
Emma teaches Dramaturgy and Performance Making at Monash University, is artist in residence at MTC and teaches devising at the Victorian College of the Arts.

Glendyn Ivin is one of Australia’s leading directors in television, film and commercials. He was recently listed in The Sydney Morning Herald as one of Australian televisions "Most Powerful and Influential".
 
Glendyn came to attention with the short film CRACKER BAG, winning the Palme d’Or in 2003 at the Cannes Film Festival. Glendyn’s first feature film, LAST RIDE, starred Hugo Weaving, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and won Best New Director at The Abu Dhabi Film Festival and the Jury Prize at the Rome International Film Festival.
 
For television, Glendyn’s credits include the tele-movie BEACONSFIELD, PUBERTY BLUES Series 1 and 2 for which Glendyn was set up director, winning the 2012 AACTA award for Best TV Drama Series. In 2014 Glendyn directed the 7-part World War I drama GALLIPOLI and in 2015 THE BEAUTIFUL LIE, nominated for the 2016 Logie Award for Most Outstanding Drama and Nine AACTA Awards, including Best Mini Series.
In 2016 Glendyn directed THE SEVEN TYPES OF AMBIGUITY (Episodes 1 and 2) starring Alex Dimetriades and Hugo Weaving.
 
Glendyn is currently in post production on SAFE HARBOUR, a 4 x 1 hour mini series.

Gordon Hall is an artist based in New York. Hall has exhibited and performed at SculptureCenter, Brooklyn Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Whitney Museum of American Art, Movement Research, EMPAC, Art in General, Temple Contemporary, Night Club Chicago, Kent Fine Art, Foxy Production, Hessel Museum at Bard College, White Columns, Wysing Arts Centre, Abrons Arts Center, and Chapter NY, among others. Hall's first institutional solo show will take place at the MIT List Center for Visual Arts in the spring of 2018, and Hall will be in residence at the Brodsky Center for Books and Editions at Rutgers University in the fall of 2017. As the organiser of the Center for Experimental Lectures, Gordon Hall has launched lecture and performance programs at MoMA PS1, Recess, Interstate Projects, The Shandaken Project at Storm King Art Center, and at the Whitney Museum of American Art, producing a series of lectures and seminars in conjunction with the 2014 Whitney Biennial. Hall's writings and interviews have been featured in a variety of publications including V Magazine, Randy, Bomb, Title Magazine, Walker Art Center's Artist Op-Ed Series, What About Power? Inquiries Into Contemporary Sculpture (published by SculptureCenter, 2015), Documents of Contemporary Art: Queer (published by Whitechapel and MIT Press, 2016), and Theorizing Visual Studies (Routledge, 2012). Hall was awarded a LMCC Process Space Residency, a Triangle Arts Foundation Residency, the LMCC Workspace Residency, and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, ACRE, and the Fire Island Artist Residency. Hall holds an MFA and an MA in Visual and Critical Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Jack began dancing at the age of 13 where his interests in freestyling created a number of opportunities for him to represent the ACT at national dance competitions. He moved to Melbourne in 2010 to pursue a career in the performing arts and has since then started what he hopes to one day become and empire. 2015 saw Jack accomplish a life long dream – the opening of Momentum Arts Studios his very own dance school. His passion for teaching and love for dance have fused to create a place where others can learn and develop their skills alongside this highly sort after Melbourne based Choreographer.
 
Jack has had a immense performing career that has seen him work on a number of large scale events such as the Footy Show Grand Finale Players Review, Australian Hip Hop Champs, Grounded, Short and Sweet Dance Festival, amongst many more. His choreographic achievements have seen him co-choreograph a number of productions for contemporary company Collaboration the Project. He was hand picked to teach at Victorian Dance Festival in 2016/14, he was assistant to world-renowned choreographer Erica Sobol on her teaching tour in Guam, and has taught workshops around Australia and most recently at a number of Studios in Japan. Jack believes his capacity to connect with students is his greatest strength, he loves working with all ages and abilities and strives to create a classroom environment where everyone feels comfortable to step outside their box and discover what they are truly capable of.

Julie Kalceff is an award-winning writer, director and producer. A graduate of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School with a Masters Degree in Scriptwriting, Julie is the creator, writer, director and a producer of the international hit multi-platform drama Starting From Now. Attracting both critical and popular acclaim, the series is one of Australia's most successful multi-platform projects. It has amassed over 53 million views, been watched in over 230 countries, and was sold to and screened on broadcast television in Australia.
Starting From Now has played on the global festival circuit, winning a number of awards including the Outstanding Diversity Award at Melbourne WebFest, 2017; the International Academy of Web Television Award of Recognition at Hollyweb Fest, 2017; and the Audience Award at the Mardi Gras Film Festival, 2016. Julie also won the award for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series at LA WebFest, 2016 and was nominated for Best Writing (Drama) at the International Academy of Web Television Awards, 2017; and Best Director at the Asia Web Awards, 2017. Starting From Now was a finalist at the Screen Producer Awards (Australia) in 2015 and 2017.
Julie recently received development funding through Screen Australia's Gender Matters initiative and is currently in development on her half-hour drama series Torn. She was also commissioned by the ABC to write and direct First Day, a stand-alone television episode about a 12 year-old transgender girl starting high school. First Day screened on ABC ME in October, 2017.

Justin Shoulder is an artist working in performance, sculpture, video and nightlife/community events production. His main body of work the 'Fantastic Creatures' are invented alter-personas based on queered ancestral mythologies. These creatures are embodied through hand crafted costumes and prosthesis and animated by their own gestural languages. Shoulder uses his body and craft to forge connections between queer, migrant, spiritual and intercultural experiences. He is a founding member of queer artist collective The Glitter Militia and Club Ate, a gang of Asia-pacific sissies. He has performed and exhibited internationally, recent highlights in 2017 include: the video body of work Ex Nilalang for AsiaTOPA by Club Ate, First Sight at Museum Macan, Jakarta and the premiere of his feature length theatre work Carrion for Liveworks, Performance Space Sydney.

Kate Sulan is the founding Artistic Director of Rawcus, an award winning theatre company of performers with and without disability. Her work draws on dance, theatre and visual art disciplines and has been described as "a moving assertion of humanity with a wicked sense of humour". Kate is a long-term collaborator with Back to Back Theatre. She was a co-devisor for GANESH VERSUS THE THIRD REICH, and has toured with the work as the show director to over 15 cities worldwide. She was the dramaturge for Back to Back's LADY EATS APPLE (Melbourne International Arts Festival 2017) and SUPER DISCOUNT (STC, Malthouse). Kate is one of the artists working on the five year REFUGE project for Artshouse. Refuge explores the role of artists and cultural institutions in times of climate catastrophe, bringing together emergency management, artists, the community and local, regional and international partners. Between 2010-2013 Kate directed and facilitated Malthouse Theatre's Suitcase Series working with writers Maryanne Lynch (HAPPINESS) and Declan Greene (TAME). She has worked as a director and dramaturge with companies such as Malthouse Theatre, Restless Dance Theatre, Melbourne Theatre Company, Stuck Pigs Squealing, The Women’s Circus and Theatre of Speed. In 2009, Kate created a work in Ahmedabad, India as part of an Asialink Performing Arts Residency. Kate was a board member of Next Wave Festival between 2006-2014 and was part of MTC's Women Directors Program 2014 and The Director's Lab – Melbourne International Arts Festival 2015.

Millie Cattlin, Melbourne-based architect, is co-director of These Are The Projects We Do Together, an organisation committed to developing experimental ideas in the fields of art, architecture and education through the design and operation of three key projects – Testing Grounds, Siteworks and The Quarry. Their team has a hands-on approach with a generous and caring attitude towards community, infrastructure and the public realm.

Stomping Ground Brewing Co is a neighbourhood brewery​ ​in Collingwood bringing people together over a great beer.​ In the summer of 2018, they released a special beer to raise essential funds for the Midsumma Futures program.
This program is made possible with their generous support.