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.

Image: Claudia Chidiac, supplied by the artist

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.

Image: Emily Johnson, supplied by the artist

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.

Image: Mark Mariano, supplied by the artist

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).

Image: Rizcel Gagawanan, supplied by the artist

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.

Image: Shannon Smith, supplied by the artist

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.

Image: Vonne Patiag, supplied by the artist