What’s the role of the producer in creating change? It’s a job title that remains wide open for interpretation, and can vary enormously across industries. But more and more we are seeing producers employ activism in their practices to change what is on our stages, streets and screen.

This Makeshift Gathering sees a group of producers with experience across artforms and cultural contexts dissect the impacts, boundaries and potential of this practice when activism, social progress and the arts collide. With Alex Kelly, Naomi Velaphi and Luke Emery, hosted by Arts House Producer Tara Prowse.

This event includes a free light dinner courtesy of Sorghum Sisters.

About the speakers

Alex Kelly is a settler Australian filmmaker and artist committed to social and climate justice. Alex has worked in film, theatre, communications strategy and troublemaking in many forms. This includes taking part in blockade camps from Jabiluka, Kakadu to la zad, France and working on creative projects such as Ngapartji Ngapartji, Island of the Hungry Ghosts, Queen of the Desert & This Changes Everything.

Naomi Velaphi is an arts producer and programmer interested in interdisciplinary arts practice with a commitment to working with diverse artists. She has held producing roles both independently and for a number of arts institutions including Arts Centre Melbourne, Arts House, Koorie Heritage Trust and the Abbotsford Convent. Her current interests focus on working with artists from the African diaspora. More broadly she is interested in how new work is created and presented by diverse artists through interrogating the current art platforms which exist.

Luke Emery is the producer for UK theatremaker Javaad Alipoor, and also an independent creative producer who works with artists and organisations that challenge and excite their audiences and who aren’t afraid to ask difficult questions. He works on stages, streets and screens, wherever art can happen. Luke has produced a host of award-winning shows, most recently The Believers Are But Brothers which comes to Arts House in May. He is the producer of Connected Futures, a showcase of 5G technology in the West of England. He has lectured on producing, sustainable working practices and project management, is a resident of the Pervasive Media Studio and a member of the Creative Producers International cohort.

Tara Prowse is an experienced producer and arts programmer with a particular interest in public realm, experimental practice and opportunities to foster interdisciplinary partnerships. Currently a Producer at Arts House and previously a Creative Producer at Fed Square, Tara has experience covering large scale festivals and events, cross-sectoral partnership development, funding paradigms and financial management of broad-spectrum multi-year projects and public programming. Tara’s key curatorial interests lie in the artistic and cultural response to our collective futures and how transdisciplinary knowledge can nurture and develop possibilities of exchange and adaptation. She is currently a peer with the Australia Council for the Arts.