Behind the Scenes 14th July 2025

InSite’s Elena Vereker is here for her regular Adelaide round up AND to introduce her local guest artists, Windmill Theatre’s Artistic Director Clare Watson… Then, St Martins Youth Arts Centre’s Artistic Director Nadja Kostich isn’t in Melbourne – she’s in Darwin with St Martin’s beautiful, award-winning show Gene Tree: Listen. Now. Again. which has headed north for the Darwin Fringe Festival… Meanwhile, at Arts Centre Melbourne, they’re gearing up for the opening of Monkey Baa’s production of Yong, a tale of Chinese Australians on the Victorian Goldfields and we’ll meet writer Jenevieve Chang… And speaking of Monkey Baa’s (a bit of a tortured segue) we’ll finish the show out at The Incinerator Gallery for a walk and talk (and a climb on the monkey bars) at the fabulous, interactive Playground Project with visiting Curator Gabriela Burkhalter and City of Moonee Valley’s Head of Visual and Public Art, Jade Niklai… They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Given it’s NAIDOC Week, it makes sense that Yuhui Ng-Rodriguez from Theatre Network Australia has selected First Nations circus performer, trainer with Flipside Circus, producer and creator of the Waterways project - Lara Croydon as the TNA member of the Month for July.   Then, sticking with the NAIDOC Week theme and as a follow up to last month’s visit with Jacob, Alisha and Timothy at Confined16, we’ll be talking about another powerful exhibition of works by First Nations artists who’ve experienced incarceration presented by the Torch, this time in partnership with Heide Museum of Modern Art – it’s called Blak In Justice and its curator Kent Morris is on the line to talk about it.   After that there’s more from Darebin Speakeasy – this time it’s award-winning visual artist, installation artist, spoken word poet, and storyteller wani toaishara who’s about to present his solo show Garçon.   And finally, Marc Gracie is back for a bit of a catch up on what we’ve seen on our Screens & Streams…   They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.   If you’d like to hear the artists Jacob, Alisha and Timothy talking about the Torch’s other project – Confined 16 it was on the June 9 edition of the show and you’ll find it on our podcast page- just put Vision Australia Radio Behind the Scenes into your favourite podcast search engine and you’ll find this and all our other episodes and bonus chats… plus if you subscribe, you’ll never have to search for an episode or our bonus material again… talk with you next week… bye!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To mark this year’s NAIDOC Week, Behind the Scenes presents this extended conversation between Chris Thompson and Kent Morris (proud Barkindji man) Creative Director of The Torch, who worked with Heide Museum of Modern Art to curate Blak In-Justice, a powerful and eclectic exhibition of works examining the issues of deaths in custody, the over representation of First Nations people in our prisons and the long history of injustice to our First Peoples all from the perspective of First Nations artists who have experienced incarceration. The exhibition runs until July 20 and Kent will be hosting a special artist talk at Heide on Saturday July 12 at 10am. (photo by James Morgan)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this Behind the Scenes NAIDOC Week special, Presenter Chris Thompson chats with Allara Briggs Pattison, a Yorta Yorta, musician, composer, storyteller, language learner, soundscape designer, curator and, as of late last year, community farmer. She plays double bass and uses a loop station to create works inspired by ancient oral traditions. Her spoken word stories reflect cultural, spiritual and environmental empowerment. In this conversation she speaks about how her work on the land and her work in music feed each other and talks about her collaborative music making ahead of her upcoming gig at Monash Performing Arts Centres as part of Blakout, the fantastic festival of works and performances by First Nations artists which began in Reconciliation Week and will end during NAIDOC Week.   Allara’s performance in the David Li Sound Gallery is on July 6 which is also the start of NAIDOC WEEK 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ever heard of the Folk Architects? Me neither. At least I hadn’t until I met Tim Wilson who’s first up on tonight’s show. Then it’s music all the way for the rest of the show… First up is Alex Watts who’s just released a very cool EP – Permission… …then it’s welcome back Allara Briggs Pattison whose gig at Monash Performing Arts Centres next weekend will simultaneously round out the Blakout Festival AND see in the start of NAIDOC Week… They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio. If you’d like to hear a longer version of my conversation with Tim Wilson about Folk Architects you’ll find it on our podcast page- just put Vision Australia Radio Behind the Scenes into your favourite podcast search engine and you’ll find this and all our other episodes and bonus chats… plus if you subscribe, you’ll never have to search for an episode or our bonus material again… See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tim Wilson is co-founder and co-director of Folk Architects, an award-winning architecture practice with a vision to create inclusive and equitable spaces that engage with the community. They activate spaces by integrating art, design, science, and technology in a collaborative user-generated way. In this conversation, Tim talks about how his practice aims to make better built world, not just for the disability community, but for the community as a whole and how becoming the parent of a child living with disability sharpened his focus on the company’s vision.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re in Darwin with Brown’s Mart Artistic Director Yvette Walker for the start of this week’s show and she’ll introduce us to Balla Neeba and Aunty Christine Fejo-King talking about the Aboriginal Science Fair On Country as well as Darwin Fringe Festival Director Hannah Illingsworth. Then we catch up with Sarah Hopkins who’s the CEO of Your Library – at least it’s your library if you live in the Knox, Maroondah or Yarra Ranges local council areas – confused? Well, Sarah clears it up when she tells us about LIBBY the ebook and audio book app that’s had more than one million borrowings already… After that, we’ll chat with photographer and video artist Laki Sideris who’s part of the ngurrak-al marram-u / body of the mountain exhibition at Burrinja Gallery in Upwey. And finally, Moira Finucane is best known for her work in burlesque, but she’s also knows a lot about Antarctica, and she’ll be sharing that knowledge with children when her kids show The Rockstar and the Krill opens at Monash Performing Arts Centres as part of Family Fiesta. They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Helen Simonson from WA Museum Boola Bardip gets us going this week with her monthly round up of all this Perth… Then, we drop in on rehearsals for the remount of the smash hit Happy Go Wrong and find out what it’s like to revisit such a personal show after seven years when we chat with creator/performer Andi Snelling… Meanwhile, the stage adaptation of the popular novel about the youngest soldier at Gallipoli – Soldier Boy – is about to open at Theatre Works and writer/adaptor Anthony Hill is here to talk about the difference between being the novelist and being the playwright… And finally, yet another new play has just opened, this time at Red Stitch and poet, essayist and playwright Emilie Collyer will tell us about Super… They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If it’s the second Monday of the month, then it must be time to drop in on Elena Vereker from InSite Arts for our regular Adelaide catch up AND to meet her local guest artist, prolific actor about to appear in Kimberly Akimbo, Nathan O’Keefe… Then, even though the Comedy Festival is well over, there’s still funny stuff happening, and to prove it, we’ll meet comedian Chris Ryan and find out why she’s an Extreme Tennant… Meanwhile, Polyglot’s Artistic Director Cat Sewell is playing in the Cubbyhood and if you’re wondering what that means, then you’re sure to find out from Cat… And finally, it’s our annual visit to Confined, the exhibition of remarkable work by First Nations’ artists who’ve experienced incarceration…  usually, we’d be talking to curator Kent Morris but this year we’re mixing it up a bit by talking to three of the artists in the exhibition – Jacob, Alisha and Timothy… They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yuhui Ng Rodriguez is here to do our Theatre Network Australia spot this moth AND to introduce the TNA Member of the Month for June – Joel Bray whose new show Monolith is about to open at Arts House in North Melbourne… And speaking of shows opening, Belle Hansen’s production of Caryl Churchill’s Love and Information has just opened at Theatre Works and for a change of pace, we’ll chat with that show’s composer and sound designer Jack Burmeister… Then, LOTS to talk about on Screens&Streams…  first up we’ll meet Finnish/Australian filmmaker Saara Lamberg who’s having their own film festival – Winter Warmers – at Henkel Street Cinema… then Richard Sowada is back to talk about this year’s St Kilda Film Festival…  AND we’ll look at one of the festival’s films screens as part of the festival’s Pride Without Prejudice event – a new short film – Found – written and directed by our very own Luka Gracie… and if that’s not enough screen culture for you, Marc Gracie is here as usual to chat about a couple of new movies we’ve seen… They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.