Agal Dance Company is a cutting-edge dance group, exploring the style of Bharathanatyam (South Indian Classical Dance) through contemporary and modern world techniques. Agal Dance are the only company in Australia using a South Asian vocabulary to critically think about the world and the issues affecting the Australian South Asian diaspora.

Agal has presented for MCA ARTBAR, Radha’s House Party, curator Shahmen. Vivid 2019, Critical Path (SPACE Program 2020) and Force Majeure (INCITE, 2020).

Augusto Garcia was born in San Juan, Argentina at the foot of the mighty Cordillera de los Andes. His life got a plot twist when his family moved to Australia where he found his passion to tell stories at 24. The lingering roots of his Argentineans origins feed his creative world, and his romantic and passionate sensibility always push his stories towards the challenges of understanding the human heart.

Augusto is a Writer / Director and current member of the ADG (Australian Director’s Guild). Augusto is alumni of the Queensland School of Film and Television, Griffith Film School and the Sydney Film School. He also keeps himself updated by assisting to AFTRS short courses programs.

Claudia Chidiac is a cultural arts worker and creative producer. For twenty years, she has worked with diverse communities creating intimate and large-scale experiences. From 2010 to 2014 she was the Creative Producer of Performance and Music and Theatre Producer/Curator at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre (CPAC).

She created and produced the award-winning Way Out West Festival for Children (2011 to 2013 and 2017 to 2020). From 2005 to 2010 she was the Artistic Director and Executive Officer of PYT Fairfield, where she was responsible for directing, and producing the company’s artistic program and developing training.

Daisy Montalvo is a Mount Druitt filmmaker and Creative Producer – Community & Engagement at PYT Fairfield. She is also the Director of Funpark, a sustained arts engagement program that culminates into a bi-annual community festival celebrating the talent and lived experiences of the people of Mount Druitt.

Daisy’s work on the web-series Las Rosas speaks briefly about her experience growing up in social housing in Mount Druitt as a first generation migrant. It honed her skills in creating content for multicultural and bilingual audiences within genres that play to that specific audience. Daisy’s work on Prone to the Drone, From All Sides, Funpark and PYT have given her extensive skills in event management and coordination.

Emie Roy is a writer, speaker, documentary film maker, and above all, a passionate storyteller. She has been creating socially and culturally relevant audio, visual and print stories for the last 10 years in the form of articles, essays, life writing (on people, places and things), storyboards and scripts.

Emie was awarded ‘Woman of the year 2023’ by Blacktown City Council for curating pandemic time stories of 50 people across Sydney, through the book The Light at the end of the Tunnel, and for writing and directing the documentary series called Unlocked in the same theme.

Emily Johnson is a 29 year-old Barkindji, Latjilatji, Wakka Wakka and Biri Gubba woman originally from Broken Hill, living and working in Sydney on Gadigal Country. Emily was previously the program coordinator for Solid Ground – an initiative that provides Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education and employment opportunities in the arts through Carriageworks and Blacktown Arts.

Emily continues her own visual arts practice, with a focus on equal representation and agency for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, intersectional feminism, and body positivity.

Esky Escandor is a multifaceted artist as a writer, stand-up comedian, community organiser, and youth worker. Born and raised in western Sydney, Esky’s writings reflect his Filipino heritage and experiences within his communities. His passion for building stronger communities is reflected in his works and collaborations.

His filmmaking productions have garnered acclaim, with his short film/music video Good As Gold earning multiple nominations and winning Best Music Video of the Year at the Made In The West Film Festival. Beyond his creative endeavors, Esky actively contributes to society as a youth worker at Street University Mt Druitt and as the director of Opn.Src, an arts collective based in western Sydney.

Mark Mariano is a Filipino writer, performer and content producer from Doonside, on Darug land. Proudly queer, Mark’s work spans across SBS, BuzzFeed, Fruit Box Theatre, Kweens Of Comedy, Queerstories, United Nations NSW, ABC, and NetflixAU.

He is also part of Sweatshop Western Sydney Literacy Movement, through which he contributed to their 2021 anthology, Racism, and their 2023 queer ACON anthology, Stories Out West. Mark was an artist at the Nation Young Writers Festival (2020, 2022), panelled at the Sydney Writers Festival (2021, 2022), and at the EnQueer Writers Festival (2021, 2022).

He was a highly commended shortlistee for the 2021 Deakin University Non-Fiction Prize, and appeared in FA(C)TS, a body positive docu-film produced by Demon Derriere and Dr. Naomi Koh Belic in 2022. For Sydney WorldPride 2023, Mark appeared as a lead in ACON’s With Love campaign, headlined for Big Thick Energy, and was featured in SBS’ The Swiping Game.

NOAH Films was established in 2019 by Actors Sangeetha Gowda & Marshall-Weishuai Yuan, in order to create more opportunities for themselves and other BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) creatives in Australia.

They have since created multiple projects which have received international success on the festival circuit, most notably being Social Murderer, an 8 part web-series which received ‘Best Directors’, ‘Best Web series’ and ‘Best Ensemble’, having worked with over 90 cast and crew from diverse backgrounds.

Aside from their film work , they are the creators of Diversity Australia Magazine, an independent online magazine which further provides spaces for diverse Australian stories.

Reg Azwar is a talented filmmaker based on Gadigal land, who brings a unique perspective to the film industry through her experimental short films, music videos, and documentaries that explore themes of nostalgia, belonging, and the everyday mundanes of life.

She has worked on several projects as an editor, including short films and music videos, showcasing her ability to bring visual stories to life. Her achievements include working as an attachment assistant editor with Netflix, as director with Pretty Films, and has received a fbiSMAC Award Best Video Nomination for her work on the Same Shit music video and the Home Documentary with Apple and Street University. Her passion for filmmaking and outstanding abilities make her a force to be reckoned with in the industry.

Rizcel Gagawanan is a Filipina-Australian actor, writer and producer originally from Turrbal but now lives and works on Gadigal Land. She has performed on stage and screen and has worked in TV writers’ rooms.

Rizcel currently works as a production manager/producer for BuzzFeed Australia. Rizcel’s video series for Filipino Week garnered over 2 million views across all BuzzFeed platforms. Rizcel is the co-founder and co-producer of Kallective, a Sydney-based collective of Asian Australian creatives from multiple disciplines.

Their new theatre work Salt Baby has been supported by Australia Council for the Arts, Create NSW, PACT and Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre. Rizcel was part of the 2022 AFTRS NSW Talent Camp to help develop her web series ‘Double Debut’. Rizcel is also a proud member of SWEATSHOP, a literacy movement in Western Sydney. Rizcel’s short story, Act Like a Filipino, is featured in Racism: Stories on Fear, Hate & Bigotry (Sweatshop, 2021).

Shannon Smith is a Gomeroi man, an Indigenous hip-hop artist and digital illustrator who has been active in the greater Sydney community for over ten years. As a performer, he has been involved in events and festivals including ChangeFest, SpeakUP Urban Poetry, and Say No to Ice Day, Mount Druitt. As a workshop director, his clients include Westfield, The Song Room, City of Parramatta, Sydney Olympic Park Authority, Noffs Foundation, and Blacktown City Council. He has performanced at various venues in the Sydney music scene, including Venue 505, Foundry 616 and Qudos Bank Arena.

Vonne Patiag is a multiple AACTA, AWGIE, Logie and SPA Award-nominated writer, director, producer and Actor based in western Sydney. His recent credits include writing and producing the 4-part series The Unusual Suspects for SBS, the feature anthology film Here Out West, released theatrically in early 2022, and writing on Significant Others, a 6-part drama for ABC.

Most recently, his short film Too Many Ethnics had its World Premiere at Flickerfest 2023 and his one-man show The Life Cycle of Blanco made its mainstage debut with a Creative First Look season in March 2023 with Riverside’s National Theatre of Parramatta.