Creative Weekender

You should apply to the Dance stream if you are curious about dancing and making choreography; whether you have a background in dance or not, you are very welcome.

About Sofie: 

Sofie embodies many roles, including dancer, choreographer, live performance curator and co-director of Western Australia’s choreographic centre, STRUT Dance. Sofie as worked across Australia and abroad, including choreographic work presented by Movement Research at the Judson Church (US), The Place (UK), Tasdance (AU) and Junction Festival (AU), performing with choreographers Miguel Pereira (PT), Eszter Salamon (HU), Thomas ES Kelly and Theo Clinkard (UK), collaborated as a choreographer and / or performer with visual artists and galleries, Joan Jonas, Seaborg (JP), Pope Alice and MONA and for theatre companies Frantic Assembly (UK), Erth Visual and Physical Inc., Terrapin Puppet Theatre and for the Channel 3 (UK) television series, HUMANS. 

Sofie is part of Perth Moves for the 2023 Festival. 

You should apply to the Performance Art steam if you want to understand how artists from different cultures work, or if you want to want to explore how to interpret your ideas and concept with your body or daily found objects. 

About Tami: 

Tami Xiang is a Perth-based Chinese-Australian artist and academic scholar. She has achieved the Master of Fine Arts from the University of Western Australia (UWA) and she is currently undertaking a Ph.D. by research at UWA. Tami’s work has been exhibited in Australia, Mainland China, France, Taiwan, and the U.S. Her work has been published in the New York Times and the Eye of Photography in France and Artlink in Australia. 

Tami is part of Beijing Realism for the 2023 Festival.  

About Flewnt, Tani and Optamus: 

Joshua “Flewnt MC” Eggington is an award winning, Proud Nyoongar Wongi rapper from Boorloo (Perth). Flewnt burst onto the scene with his breakthrough single “Kya Kyana“ (WAM Song of the year 2018) a roaring Noongar anthem and tribute to the strong history of his family, culture, and people. 2022 has been massive so far for Flewnt MC, with the release of “Summertime Flow” being selected for rotation on MTV HITS, he was invited to play at the First Nations Media Showcase for the NIMA awards in Darwin and developed and headlined the wildly successful Perth Festival concept show - “Flewnts Boorloo Block Party”, receiving rave reviews and critical acclaim. 

Tani Walker’s unique voice is a mixture of soul, funk, blending blues, and raw powerhouse vocals, she has an irresistible & commending glow. Through her coyly powerful song writing and musical expertise, her unmistakable soul offering is the essence of her journey as a Papua New Guinean born, Australian. Some of her recent performances being the Perth international Jazz Festival, Fairbridge Festival, Pride After Party, performing with the Perth Symphony orchestra at the Kambarang festival, The Darwin NIMA Awards and Flewnts Boorloo Block Party. 

Scott (Optamus) Griffiths is a 20-year veteran of the music industry and is credited as being one of key players in establishing hiphop in Australia. He is a vocalist, producer, facilitator, and youth worker who is passionate about beat making, song design and lyric writing. Scott is part of W. A’s most successful hiphop group Downsyde also establishing their crew Syllabolix which includes Drapht, Layla, Bitter Belief and many more. They have played a laundry list of festivals, pubs and clubs plus taken their music overseas as well. The resume of artists they have produced, played and mentored reads like a who's who of Australian Hiphop Artists including Flewnt, Hilltops Hoods, ABorginals, Drapht, Funkoars and many more. 

You should apply to the Creative Writing stream if you want experiment with writing that can equally inspire the practice of fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, and writing for performance; and engage with and get excited by not just your own writing practice but the writers in the room around you. 

About Andrew: 

Andrew Sutherland (he/they) is a Queer Poz writer and performance-maker on Whadjuk Noongar land. His poetry collection Paradise (point of transmission) was published by Fremantle Press in 2022, and his poetry, fiction and non-fiction are widely published, including Australian Poetry Journal, Overland, Westerly, Cordite, Island, Margaret River Press, and Math Paper Press’ EXHALE: Queer voices from Singapore. Andrew’s theatre and performance-making credits between Boorloo and Singapore are extensive. He holds a BA (First Class Hons.) Acting from LASALLE College of Arts, and is currently employed as a teaching artist and mentor across a number of performing arts and literary organisations.