MAV Annual Report 2025 by Multicultural Arts Victoria

Annual Report 2025

With the deepest respect MAV acknowledges that we live, work and celebrate on unceded Aboriginal land. We thank all Elders, past and present, for their care, knowledge and generosity, as custodians of the world’s oldest continuing culture. We pledge our support towards truth telling, reparation and decolonisation. We open our hearts and minds to deep listening, learning, sharing and connecting — in solidarity with First Peoples here in Australia and around the world.

About Multicultural Arts Victoria

MAV is a dynamic organisation advocating for multiculturalism and multicultural arts. Initiated as The Festival of All Nations in 1973, MAV is rooted in organising community to celebrate the diversity of cultures, stories, and traditions through creative arts. 50 years on, MAV has become a stalwart of resources, support and agency in the arts sector.

We recognise that we stand on mighty shoulders; the shoulders of MAV’s past leaders, contributors, funders and stakeholders, as well as a long list of exceptional multicultural artists and creatives who have contributed to writing history and 65,000 years of storytelling on these lands.

We’re committed to providing the conditions for diverse creatives to thrive through culturally responsive programming, services and advocacy, designed for and with communities.

We work to:

• Change the creative landscape by training tomorrow’s arts and cultural leaders.

• Support artists to make exceptional, meaningful work that fights against intolerance and injustice.

• Champion connection through genuine community engagement.

• Pursue a world where creatives are equitably valued, resourced and have agency.

• We achieve this in partnership with organisations equally committed to cultural responsibility across the creative sector and arts eco-systems.

Newprint 4, Alma and Groove

Stepping into an organisation with a 50+ year legacy is no small responsibility. MAV has spent decades shifting narratives, carving pathways, and ensuring that diverse artists are not only included but centred. Being a small part of that big journey has been an honour. My time as Acting CEO has taught me the importance of staying grounded in purpose, the sheer amount of unseen work (systems and structure) that goes into building an organisation that stands the test of time and how powerful the arts is as a vehicle for change.

MAV is an organisation with deep roots in the community, built on decades of consistently showing up for artists and holding a pivotal place in the arts sector. I was reminded again and again of why MAV matters so much. Sitting with artists who rarely see themselves represented on mainstream stages, listening to the barriers they face, and creating space for them working alongside institutions and partners.

(Jul.—Nov. 2025) From the Acting CEO

Often, it’s the work that no one sees, that makes all the difference. It’s not always glamorous, but it’s what helps us scale our impact in the years to come. By doing this work now, we give those who come after us the foundations to build a bigger impact and the freedom to focus on what really matters: imagining and creating the world future generations deserve.

We are seeing a strong and growing sense of cultural pride, especially among younger and second-generation diaspora, who are actively reclaiming and celebrating their identities. They are not interested in tokenistic representation, they’re interested in spaces that reﬂ ect and value who they are. At the same time, there has been a rise in blatant racism, especially in online spaces. The world feels more divisive. However it is our responsibility to make sure diverse artists and artists of colour are seen, heard and included in Victoria. And in doing so make Victoria a place that feels like home, for everyone.

What does it take to build an organisation that lasts over 50 years? People, relationships and commitment. The volunteer board, the staff, the artists and producers we work with, and the audiences who show up again and again for MAV’s programs. I walk away with immense respect for everyone who ﬁ ghts for cultural equity through the arts. It’s been an honour and privilege to serve as Acting CEO, I’d like to acknowledge our outgoing CEO Lauren Mullings’ immense contribution to MAV and congratulate our incoming CEO Kristi Monfries. I look forward to continuing my service on the board and contributing to our vision of “arts as diverse as its people”.

Daizy Maan Board Member Acting CEO

Incoming CEO

I am honoured to have joined MAV (Multicultural Arts Victoria) as Chief Executive Offi cer in December 2025, and to contribute my ﬁ rst message to this Annual Report. I would like to warmly thank Daizy Maan for her leadership and care during the transition period and I come to MAV in a spirit of deep listening, and that remains my orientation as I move into 2026.

MAV has been a cornerstone of Australia’s cultural life since 1983, evolving from the grassroots energy of Fitzroy’s Festival of All Nations into one of this country’s most important and courageous organisations for the dis covery, development and promotion of culturally and linguistically diverse contemporary art, heritage and cultural expression.

Over more than four decades, MAV has worked with migrant communities, asylum seekers, refugees and intercultural artists across every art form, building pathways, advocating ﬁ ercely, and holding space for the stories that deﬁ ne who we are as a multicultural nation. That legacy is both humbling and galvanising.

My own background is IndonesianAustralian. I was born to a mother from Yogyakarta and grew up across Southeast Asia and Australia, an experience that has profoundly shaped my understanding of culture, identity and creative practice.

Much of my professional life has been devoted to building meaningful cultural exchange and work grounded in long-term relationships, artist development and the building of sustainable creative ecosystems rather than isolated project outcomes.

I bring to MAV a positionality shaped by Southeast Asian arts practice, collective leadership and cross-cultural exchange and I offer that background not merely as biography, but as methodology and creative approach. MAV’s vision of an arts life as diverse as the people of this country resonates deeply with everything I have worked toward.

The artists and communities at the heart of this organisation are not at the margins of Australian culture they are its contemporary centre.

I look forward to listening, learning and working alongside our artists, communities, board and team to honour MAV’s remarkable legacy and to shape, together, what comes next.

Kristi Monfries CEO (Dec. 2025)

In a time marked by social division, economic pressure and increasing uncertainty across the arts sector, MAV continues to play a vital role in championing artists, cultural expression and creative voices that might otherwise go unseen or unsupported.

For more than ﬁ ve decades, MAV has contributed signiﬁ cantly to Victoria’s cultural ecology through the development and presentation of artistic work, advocacy for a more equitable arts landscape, and the creation of pathways for culturally diverse artists to lead, experiment and thrive within contemporary arts and live performance.

Throughout 2025, MAV continued to deliver programs that centre culturally diverse artists, foster meaningful public engagement and invest in the next generation of creative leadership.

NEWPRINT and the launch of Powered By reﬂ ect MAV’s long-term commitment to supporting artists and producers to develop ambitious work, build sustainable creative practices and shape the future of the sector on their own terms. Projects such as Ballarat Empty Plinth demonstrate MAV’s ability to extend its impact beyond metropolitan Melbourne, creating meaningful dialogue between artists, place and community across Victoria.

This work has taken place against a backdrop of considerable challenge and change across the arts sector and within communities here in Victoria and globally. Rising costs of living, ongoing sector instability and increasingly polarised public discourse continue to affect the conditions in which artists live and create.

In this environment, organisations such as MAV play an essential role, not only advocating for representation and cultural equity, but also ensuring artists have tangible opportunities to develop work, reach audiences and sustain long term creative careers.

This year marked a signiﬁ cant period of organisational and leadership transition for MAV. We farewell former CEO Lauren Mullings and acknowledge her contribution to the organisation during her tenure.

We thank Daizy Maan for her thoughtful stewardship as Acting CEO during a period of change and are pleased to welcome Kristi Monfries as MAV’s new CEO as the organisation enters its next chapter.

As Chair, I want to acknowledge the many artists, staff, leaders, board members and communities who have contributed to MAV during this important period of transition and renewal. Arts organisations do not endure for over 50 years by accident. They endure because people continue to invest their creativity, labour and belief into the cultural life of the community.

On behalf of the Board, I thank MAV’s artists, partners, funders, members and audiences for their ongoing support and trust. We remain committed to building a future in which the arts genuinely reﬂect the diversity, complexity and humanity of the communities they serve, and where culturally diverse artists are recognised not at the margins of the sector, but as central to its future.

Linda Catalano Chair MAV (Multicultural Arts Victoria)

Our Digital Reach

This year, MAV connected with audiences across multiple digital platforms, growing our presence and deepening engagement with communities near and far. Digital Platform

unique visitors

2025 At a Glance

Key statistics from MAV’s 2025 program activity.

30+

Events & Projects delivered or supported in 2025

97+

Artists platformed through NEWPRINT 3 alone

$466,961

Events & Projects delivered or supported in 2025

51 Creative workers engaged through NEWPRINT 3

Program Expenditure incl. artist fees, venues, production $19,000+

Events & Projects delivered or supported in 2025

Touring performers The Heart Whispers and Whirls

Events & Projects delivered or supported in 2025

Grant applications auspiced 14 successful in 20255

62,000+

Digital Audience website, social media & EDM combined

Retrospection

Retrospection is a project that reﬂects on the histories, experiences and contributions of culturally diverse artists and communities across Victoria. At its core, it is about recognition — acknowledging and celebrating the legacy of creative practitioners whose work has shaped the cultural landscape we share, while creating space to consider how these histories continue to inform contemporary practice.

Many of these stories have long been underrepresented or overlooked within mainstream narratives. By listening, documenting and sharing them, Retrospection contributes to a richer, more honest understanding of multicultural arts practice and its signiﬁcance within Australia’s cultural ecology.

Ultimately, Retrospection is about reﬂection, recognition and connection. It brings together artists, communities and audiences to engage with the past while opening dialogue about the present and future of multicultural arts in this country.

Through this work, MAV continues its commitment to supporting culturally and linguistically diverse artists, amplifying diverse voices, and fostering a more inclusive and equitable arts sector — one where creatives are genuinely valued, resourced and have agency.

Programs that Shaped Retrospection

BEYOND TOKENISM

(Community Consultation and Sector Report)

A landmark outcome of Retrospection , Beyond Tokenism emerged from a statewide process of genuine listening with culturally diverse artists and creatives. Authored by Dr. Gilbert Caluya, the report surfaces long-held truths about cultural equity, leadership and systemic change, and feeds directly into Creative Victoria’s Creative State Strategy.

As part of Retrospection , it stands as both reflection and provocation — shaping how MAV and the wider sector can move beyond symbolic inclusion toward resourcing self-determined, community-led futures.

Culturally Responsive Guide to Theatre Reviews

PODCAST

Hosted by Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson, this podcast series brings together artists and cultural workers from the MAV community to speak candidly about navigating intersecting cultural identities, cultural labour and institutional life.

Across the episodes, guests including Matisse Laida, Banda, Nickila D’Silva, Leah Manaema Avene, Theresa Angela and Lauren Mullings explore power and hierarchy in the arts, queer disconnection from culture, food and friendship as community practice, cultural safety, creative pace, and the histories shaping arts ecologies today.

MAV’S BLOCK PARTEE

22 Feb. 2025, at Melbourne Polytechnic Preston

BLOCK PARTEE brought together artists including Public Opinion Afro Orchestra, Vida Sunshyne & Solidarity Sound System, J Verse, Soju Gang and MzRizk in a joyful celebration of multicultural creativity. The event combined live music with an exhibition, film screenings, food trucks and creative speed dating, filling a carpark with colour, sound and genuine connection.

More than a party, it became a space where artforms and communities met, where stories and rhythms intertwined, and where audiences could feel the energy of MAV’s next chapter together. The event also launched Retrospection, an exhibition showcasing five years of MAV-commissioned work.

Wokeshop

Conceptualisation

Digital Platform and eCommerce Space

Reclaiming the meaning of ‘woke’, this project transforms it into wearable and shareable art that celebrates the creativity of culturally diverse and marginalised artists. Guided by Retrospection’s provocations, MAV worked with typography students from RMIT’s School of Design to respond through visual design.

Their experimental typefaces, alphabets and merchandise concepts move beyond surface-level multiculturalism, embrace codeswitching, and hold joy as a radical act — carrying stories of memory, migration and exchange.

Community Engagement

OUT OF THE BOX

Regional

Podcast Series

Out of the Box is a podcast series spotlighting artists and cultural workers of colour from Shepparton, Bendigo and beyond. Each episode dives into the personal stories, creative practices and cultural roots that shape regional Victoria’s vibrant arts scene. Produced in collaboration with young digital content creators, this series shares diverse voices and a collective vision for a more inclusive creative future.

The 2025 series featured artists including Aryo Hall, Arti Shah, Gracia Musaﬁri, Jediah Shue, Jemima Lokita, Nickel Mundabi and Zane Howell.

NEWPRINT 3

Emerging Producers Program Dec. 2024 to Jul. 2025

NEWPRINT 3 supported six emerging producers from culturally diverse backgrounds, each curating two original live music events across Naarm/Melbourne. Through mentorship and hands-on training, these producers brought fresh energy to the city’s music scene — connecting communities, championing underrepresented voices and pushing creative boundaries in contemporary music production.

Across 10 live music events, NEWPRINT 3 platformed 97 artists, engaged 51 creative workers, and reached audiences of more than 1,177 people, generating over 19,000$ in ticket sales.

AKWAL MAGEK

Akwal Magek (Ak-uo-wal) is a producer and multidisciplinary artist whose poetry and spoken word explore identity and self-love. With NEWPRINT 3 support, Akwal expanded her Radical Series — curating live music experiences that celebrated storytelling and selfexpression. With roots as a creative facilitator in Melbourne’s west, Akwal brings authenticity and community focus to her work, particularly with young people.

Events: Radical Choice at Bittersweet Studios (3 May) — 99 attendees; Radical Care at Northcote Uniting Church (20 Jul.) — 39 attendees.

HAJA KAMARA

Hajaratu Kamara produced MOTION SOUNDS, her debut event series celebrating music and dance. Drawing on experience with major events like RIDDIM and the Amari Gala, she has worked alongside international artists including Buju, King Promise, Omah Lay and Rema.

Events: Motion Sounds

Collective Launch at The Moser Room, Chasers

Nightclub (12 Apr.) — 110 attendees; Motion Sounds 2nd Edition (14 Jun.) — 119 attendees.

JUAN PABLO SALEBE

Juan launched EPRY, his own booking company and event series showcasing diverse live music. Colombian-born and Melbourne-based, Juan is trained in music production, contemporary music and entertainment management, and is co-creator of the Latin pop band Pal Mar.

Events: Al Otro Lado del Mundo at Wax Music Lounge (13 Feb.) — 38 attendees; Cultural

Exchange Showcase at Collingwood Yards (28 Jun.) — 53 attendees.

MOSES ‘MOZ’ NDISA

Moses “Moz” Ndisa made his artistic debut with EPTM (Epitome), a collaborative project with Urlik Mageza that bridges dance and music. Known for high-energy Afro dance performances at venues including Festival Hall and Margaret Court Arena.

Events: See Epitome below.

SRIRACHI

Returning from NEWPRINT 2, Srirachi is known for her bold presence as a rapper, singer and songwriter. Through her FEMMOIR event series, Srirachi champions women and gender-diverse artists in hip hop and R&B, creating spaces that celebrate authenticity and amplify underrepresented voices.

Events: SIRENS at The Toff in Town (9 Mar.) — 131 attendees; Planet Her at The Toff in Town (5 Jul.) — 105 attendees.

URLIK MAGEZA

Urlik Mageza is one half of EPTM (Epitome) alongside Moz Ndisa. A versatile singer-songwriter, dancer, actor and model, Urlik has performed at major Melbourne venues including the NGV, Federation Square and The Evelyn Hotel.

Events: Epitome Presents FALL at Kindred Ballroom (10 May) — 119 attendees; Epitome Presents Stolen Gold EP Launch at Kindred Ballroom (21 Jun.) — 92 attendees.

Emerging Producers Program (Launched Oct. 2025)

Building on the success of three previous cohorts, NEWPRINT 4 commenced in late 2025 with the selection of ﬁve new producers who will deliver live music events between December 2025 and June 2026. The program received a signiﬁcant funding boost — 200,000$ from the Victorian Government’s 10,000 Gigs: The Victorian Gig Fund — enabling MAV to continue nurturing the next wave of culturally diverse music producers.

The 2025 selection panel comprised celebrated artists and cultural leaders Neda Rahmani, N’fa Jones and Srirachi. Onboarding commenced in October 2025, with producers undertaking marketing, tools and industry development workshops ahead of their event delivery from December 2025.

Empty Plinth (Ballarat)

The Ballarat Empty Plinth project is an exciting new multi-year partnership between MAV and the City of Ballarat. The program provides a vital platform for commissioning contemporary sculptural works that interpret, interrupt and involve Ballarat’s communities — weaving new narratives into the city’s rich cultural and historical fabric.

As part of the City of Ballarat’s Temporary Public Art Program, works are commissioned annually and remain on the plinth for approximately one year. The program is open to artists nationwide.

MAV engaged with key stakeholder groups throughout the development process including the Koorie Engagement Action Group Unit, the Intercultural Gardens Committee, Council staff from Public Art and Intercultural Partnerships, and Intercultural Ambassador Yilin Liu. Considerable care was taken to ensure cultural safety at every stage.

After a rigorous selection process, Kathy Holowko was announced as the commissioned artist. Her work explores environmental and ecological themes that resonated deeply with the community and the site.

“The site of the Intercultural Gardens honours Ballarat’s multicultural society but I also wanted to include our multi-species community within this. It’s beyond hedonism or material success — a deep sense of fulﬁlment by living in harmony with one’s own ethics. I almost named the sculpture after this idea but went with the more easily relatable name ‘Nesting’.”

Kathy Holowko, Ballarat Empty Plinth Commissioned Artist

The launch of Nesting by Mayor Cr Tracey Hargreaves was warmly received and covered by the Ballarat Times.

Empty Plinth, City of Ballarat and MAV

Auspicing

MAV’s auspicing service remains in high demand from our communities. The individualised support we offer — grounded in a genuine understanding of the barriers, code-switching and cultural misalignments that shape the funding landscape (as documented in our Beyond Tokenism report, 2024) —means many artists ﬁnd us through referrals from fellow artists, or return to us after previous auspiced projects.

In 2025, MAV auspiced 30 grant applications. Of 14 successful applications, 7 have been acquitted in 2025, with a further 7 continuing into 2026.

2025 Auspiced Projects

FOOD AS RESISTANCE

Preserving Palestine

(We Eatin’ Good)

Funded through a YACVic HEY grant and developed in collaboration with CMY Ballarat, this project continues into 2026. In 2025, the ﬁlm Preserving Palestine was screened alongside a panel discussion and community catering at CMY Ballarat.

OUR

STORY

A Change in Perspective (Cultivate)

Supported by a City of Casey Creative & Cultural Development grant, this was year two of a three-year development. A new community-devised theatre work, A Change in Perspective, was created over ﬁve months and presented to an audience of 150 community members. The work was created by 30 Year 6 students exploring the experience of transitioning to secondary school in Hampton Park.

QPOC

FOOD ARTS

(We Eatin’ Good)

Funded by VicHealth, this project continues in 2026. In 2025, WEG ran two activities for QPOC young people centred on sourcing and making food: Gays Who Garden, held at Carlton Community Garden and Fenton Farmhouse; and Queer Baiting, on a boat in the bay and at Shop Bao Ngoc.

EAST@WEST

Cutting Through Time with Love and Blessing (Jenny Zhe Chang)

Supported by a City of Melbourne grant, this nine-panel, site-speciﬁc papercutting installation was created for the City Library to celebrate the Lunar New Year. The work combined traditional Chinese paper-cutting techniques with visual forms inspired by Henri Matisse, accompanied by six free public workshops. Over the 25-day exhibition, 29,394 people came through to experience the work.

TEXTILES (RE)MEMBER?

(Michaelewa Amberber)

Funded by City of Moonee Valley, this project brought together 12 participants from diverse communities for a weaving workshop and group exhibition. Local textile artist Olive and community development worker Mikaelewa supported participants to learn weaving skills and explore how stories and memories can be conveyed through textile practice.

THE HEART WHISPERS

AND WHIRLS (The Resonant Heart)

Supported by a Creative Australia Contemporary Music Touring grant, this east coast tour included six performances at Melbourne Recital Centre, Riverside Parramatta, Brisbane Multicultural Centre, The National Folk Festival, Federation Uni Ballarat and Dark Mofo. Seven performers shared the work with audiences of around 30,000 across all festivals and events.

KWABO SPOKEN WORD

Incubator Program (Kwabo Events)

Supported through a Study Melbourne Inclusion Program grant, this initiative supported one element of Kwabo Festival’s annual artist development workshop program, with a particular focus on engaging international students.

WE LIVE BY INTERFERENCE (Saluhan)

Funded by a City of Merribek Flourish Arts grant, Saluhan created video work in collaboration with Next Wave, featuring Filipino community members as amateur performers. Inspired by the community’s love of karaoke and the work of Cebuano singer-comedian Yoyoy Villame, the video showcases up to 15 participants performing Villame’s 1972 song Magellan, which critiques the European dis covery myth of the Philippines.

RECYCLED RHYTHMS

Persian Patterns Reborn (Maryam Ebtekar)

Funded by City of Kingston, this project offered two public workshops connected to Maryam’s solo exhibition at Kingston Arts Centre. 200 people attended across the two August workshop dates.

MEMORY

MATRIX (Debasish Mukherjee)

Supported by City of Ballarat, this project facilitated the engagement of international artist Debasish Mukherjee in a collaborative work with Jody Haines at the Ballarat International Foto Biennale, which attracted 26,000 visitors.

Powered By is MAV’s multi-year program honouring the leadership, imagination and care of artists of colour. In its ﬁrst year of delivery, the program created culturally grounded spaces for tenderness and boldness where culture shaped new ways of seeing and belonging, and where artists were supported to work on their own terms.

Delivered through exhibitions, performances and conversations, Powered By is more than a program. It operates as a living practice of cultural equity, offering an alternative to increasingly impersonal systems driven by optimisation, algorithms and automation. Each project invites audiences to listen, reﬂect and imagine futures rooted in care and creativity.

In 2026, Powered By expands this foundation through projects that engage memory, displacement, language and intergenerational knowledge as central creative frameworks.

2025 Powered By Events

BENEATH THE MASK

Arts Centre Melbourne,

The Show Room, 25 Oct. 2025.

A vibrant night of fashion, performance and cultural spectacle, attended by 119 people.

A WORLD TO INHERIT

No Vacancy Gallery, 15–29 Oct. 2025.

A two-week visual arts exhibition and facilitated forum.

THE COMMUNITY IS THE ARTIST

No Vacancy Gallery, 18 Oct. 2025. Public talk attended by 40 people.

IBPOC x IDPwD ORATION

Arts Centre Melbourne, 4 Dec. 2025

Access-led oration delivered in partnership with Arts Centre Melbourne, attended by 56 people.

SUMMER IN THE GLADES

Brokerage

MAV’s Brokerage service connects culturally diverse artists and performers to events and organisations across Victoria, supporting greater representation of diverse creative work in mainstream and community settings.

2025 Brokerage Events

MAV Edition — Gasworks Arts Park, Albert Park, 7 Mar. 2025.

BELONGING FEST

Epping Campus (Melbourne Polytechnic) 9 Sept. 2025. Artists: Qiqi. A celebration of diversity across cultures, identities and abilities.

BELONGING FEST

Fairﬁeld Campus (Melbourne Polytechnic) 10 Sept. 2025. Artist: Vina.

KINGSTON ARTS COMMUNITY WORKSHOP & EXHIBITION FOR REFUGEE WEEK Westall Community Hub, Clayton South, 14 May 2025.

2025 C OMMUNITY LANGUAGE SCHOOLS CONFERENCE

RMIT Storey Hall, Melbourne, 5 Oct. 2025.

FECCA Conference 2025 Melbourne Showgrounds, 11 Nov. 2025. Focused on health, wellbeing and inclusion for CALD communities.

2025 Programs at a Glance

A full list of programs and events delivered, supported or brokered by MAV across 2025.

MAV Events

BLOCK PARTEE — Festival, Melbourne Polytechnic Preston, 22 Feb. 2025

NP3: Al Otro Lado del Mundo (EPRY Entertainment) — Performance, Wax Music Lounge, 13 Feb. 2025 — 38 attendees

NP3: SIRENS (Femmoir) — Performance, The Toff in Town, 9 Mar. 2025 — 131 attendees

NP3: RADICAL CHOICE (Akwal) — Performance, Bittersweet Studios, 3 May 2025 — 99 attendees

NP3: MOTION SOUNDS COLLECTIVE Launch (Haja Kamara) — Performance, The Moser Room Chasers Nightclub, 12 Apr. 2025 — 110 attendees

NP3: Epitome Presents FALL — Performance, Kindred Ballroom, 10 May 2025 — 119 attendees

NP3: MOTION SOUNDS COLLECTIVE 2nd Edition (Haja Kamara) — Performance, The Moser Room Chasers Nightclub, 14 Jun. 2025 — 119 attendees

NP3: Epitome Presents Stolen Gold EP Launch — Performance, Kindred Ballroom, 21 Jun. 2025 — 92 attendees

NP3: CULTURAL EXCHANGE — Performance, Collingwood Yards, 28 Jun. 2025 — 53 attendees

NP3: PLANET HER (Femmoir) — Performance, The Toff in Town, 5 Jul. 2025 — 105 attendees

NP3: RADICAL CARE (Akwal) — Performance, Northcote Uniting Church, 20 Jul. 2025 — 39 attendees

NP4: Marketing Workshop — Seminar, Oct. 2025

NP4: Onboarding Session 1 — Workshop, 8 Oct. 2025

NP4: Onboarding Session 2: Tools and Processes — Workshop, 13 Oct. 2025

The Resonant Heart Collective Tour

THE HEART WHISPERS AND WHIRLS. Performance (touring), multiple venues, (30,000 attendees)

TEXTILE ARCHIVE

Community Workshop and Exhibition, Moonee Valley, Jul. 2024– Mar. 2025 (12 participants)

Auspice

EAST@WEST — Sharing in Melbourne: Bloom Exhibition, City Library, Jun. 2024–May 2025 (29,394 attendees)

KWABO ARTS INCUBATOR

International Students Spoken Word Program Workshop, Jul–Sept. 2025

OUR STORY OUR SOCIETY 2025 . A Change in Perspective . Performance, Hampton Park (150 attendees)

Brokerage

MEMORY MATRIX

Ballarat International Foto Biennale . Exhibition, Ballarat, Jun.–Oct. 2025 (26,000 visitors)

SUMMER IN THE GLADES

MAV Edition . Performance, Gasworks Arts Park, 7 Mar. 2025

BELONGING FEST — Melbourne Polytechnic Epping Campus, 9 Sept. 2025

BELONGING FEST

Melbourne Polytechnic Fairﬁeld Campus, 10 Sept. 2025

Kingston Arts Community Workshop and Exhibition for Refugee Week Westall Community Hub, 14 May 2025

2025 C OMMUNITY

LANGUAGE SCHOOLS CONFERENCE

RMIT Storey Hall, 5 Oct. 2025

FECCA Conference 2025

Melbourne Showgrounds, 11 Nov. 2025

StaffKristi Monfries , CEO

Daizy Maan, Interim CEO

Lauren Mullins , CEO

Miriam Abud , Artist Services Manager

Theresa Angela, Commns and Development Manager

Ane Fotu , Regional Coordinator

Damon Paraha, Cultural Agency Coordinator

Noah daCosta, Marketing Assistant

Oscar Jimenez , Newprint Coordinator

Yasbelle Kerkow , Creative Lead

Diletta Legowo , Assoc. Producer

Rachael Peri , Operations & Systems Administrator

Bookkeeping and BusinessShadi Habash, Managing Partner

Adriana Garcia, Financial Assistant

(from Dec. 2025) (Jul. to Nov. 2025) (until Jun. 2025)

(until Nov. 2025) (until Nov. 2025)

Board Previous

Linda Catalano , Chairperson

Neda Rahmani , Dep. Chairperson

Daizy Maan , Vice Deputy Chairperson

Sandeep Agrawal, Treasurer

Tienyi Long , Secretary

Emiliano Zucchi , Director

Effie Nkrumah, Director

Patrizia Fimiani, Vice Dep. Chairperson

Hiten Bawa , Director

Mariana Papaioannou, Director

Sabina Ahmad, Board Observer

Alaa Karrar, Board Observer

Sneha Varma , Secretary

Siu Chan, Director

Ursula Dyer Lepporoli, Vice Deputy Chairperson

Valia Gianinska

(appt. May 2025) (appt. May 2024) (appt. May 2024, Vice Deputy Chairperson May–Jul. 2025) (appt. May 2025) (appt. Aug. 2025) (appt. May 2023) (appt. May 2024) (appt. May 2024, Vice Deputy Chairperson Jul. 2025) (appt. May 2025) (appt. May 2025) (appt. Feb. 2025)

(appt. Feb.–Dec. 2025) (until 16 Feb. 2025) (term ended May 2025) (term ended May 2025) (term ended May 2025) (term May ended July 2025)