Hi all,

The hills are alive! It’s that time of year where picnics, flowers in bloom, and sunny walks are all the rage – and let's be real, they can also be a much needed antidote to the news and to personal and collective pain. While we welcome the Spring and brighter days ahead, let's take a few moments to reflect on the past few busy months.

It’s been full steam ahead for our HOLDING SPACE – Rituals of Welcome artists. From Kumari Abeydeera’s Clay Rituals workshops to Juan Guillermo Robayo Gómez’s upcoming Dancing With The Roots sessions, it’s been special to see these talented artists lead their works with such care and intention, and meaningfully connect with community members through creativity. All of their projects will culminate in a celebratory showing later this year at the Sydney Opera House. Watch this space!

We’ve also wrapped our last workshop of Everything Is Writing: We’re Still Here! The program was led by our Creative Producer, Miranda Aguilar along with guests like Claudia Roosen, Esky Escandor, San May, Alyssa Dimarucut, Saarah Hanif & Sivani Yaddanapudi. From queer icons to keepsake boxes, it’s been a gorgeous semester of fun and writing. This world can be cruel – we know it’s been tough with news stories erasing and silencing queer, especially trans people. This is why it’s been really special to connect with you all over these past few months – celebrating the fact that we’ve been here, we’re still here & we always will be here. Check out this special zine which is a last gift from the program. Designed by Ishani Dhiman, the zine features writing prompts from the past semester and more!

Curious about what else we’ve been up to? Read on…

CuriousWorks & Milk Crate Theatre present Fetch Quest!

⚔️🎨 CuriousWorks and Milk Crate Theatre have teamed up together to deliver a fabulous workshop series called Fetch Quest! The free workshops are open to people with and without disability, to adults young and old, and require no previous experience.

✍️ Wanting to improve your creative writing?

👯 Interested in movement, dance or drama?

🙌 Or just love getting to know cool people in your area? Then Fetch Quest is for YOU!

Created as an excuse to ditch the daily grind in search of something fun, Fetch Quest is the creative outlet you need! You’ll be armed with awesome local artists, Bedelia Lowrenčev & Miranda Aguilar to help you on your quest as you choose your own creative adventure. All completely free, you’ll leave these workshops excited, refreshed and reimagining your local area. So, give yourself a break from the hostile hustle, turn off survival mode and get ready for FUN!

📍Location: Fairfield City HQ – Vic Winton Community Room at 17 Kenyon St, Fairfield NSW
🗓️ Date: Every Tuesday, from October 7th - December 9th
⏰ Time: 4:30 - 6:30PM

CuriousWorks has a new website

It's been a long time coming... Over the past few months, our team has worked together to bring our new, beautiful website to the world! Working closely with Graphics and Web Designer Huy Nguyen, and referring to website resources from Accessible Arts Australia to ensure accessibility, our collective focus has resulted in:

🎨 a cleaner aesthetic

👥 a smoother user flow

🌐 easier navigation as a whole!

It's time to refresh!

Say hello to our new Management Committee members

It’s an exciting time here at CuriousWorks! Three new members recently joined our Management Committee (pictured from left to right): Janice Rodrigues, Michelle Huynh & Olivia Xegas.

The terrific trio bring valuable youth perspectives, great energy, lived experience, passion for the arts as well as strong and deep connections to the South West Sydney community.

We’re so excited to have them on board! Please join us in giving them a warm welcome.

Learn more about our new members and why they have joined our Management Committee!

CuriousWorks – more news

Here’s a snapshot of everything else we’ve been up to since our last update. Make sure that you follow us on our social media (LinkedIn, Instagram & Facebook) to keep up to date with all things CuriousWorks!

• On the 18th of June 2025, we wrapped up our first-ever iteration of Future Culture – our pipeline program that embedded two early-career artists (Cassandra Li & Emma Pham) as well as two arts worker interns (Kirsten Maglalang & Kobra Sayyadi) into CuriousWorks’ operations. You can read Emma’s reflections here & Kirsten and Kobra’s thoughts here.
• Curiously West Film Club is back for Semester 2! From pitching to special horror-themed prompts, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. You can view the full schedule and register for free here.
• Earlier this month, we hosted a special, one-off workshop at Fairfield City HQ in collaboration with Soft Centre. This workshop was led by the Junior Major team who covered a range of topics from live visuals to navigating imposter syndrome as artists. You can view some snaps here.

We’re celebrating 20 years and counting of nurturing future art makers and cultural leaders in South West Sydney. In 2024, we employed 103 artists and supported 18 early-career creatives through paid work and mentorships. Help us build this vibrant and equitable creative future.

Alt text are embedded within the images and image descriptions can be found below:
1) A spring-themed e-newsletter header that promotes CuriousWorks’ Spring Newsletter of 2025. The background is a creamy white colour featuring decorative, spring-related drawings such as the sun, flowers, and a picnic basket scattered around. On the left-hand side of the header is the CuriousWorks logo in its colourful, horizontal format and underneath that are the words ‘Spring Newsletter 2025’ in cap-locks. On the right-hand side of the text is a polaroid graphic held by yellow washi tape that has pink tulips printed on it. The polaroid contains a photo of the CuriousWorks team. The CuriousWorks team (from left to right: Miranda Aguilar, Jenny Trinh, Elias Nohra, Vandana Ram, Andrea Lim, Kiriaki Zakinthinos, Samantha Barahona, Andrea Nealy, Kirsten Maglalang, Cassandra Li & Emma Pham) are all standing next to each other. They are all smiling and directly facing the camera.

2) A social graphic that promotes Milk Crate Theatre and CuriousWorks' workshop series called Fetch Quest. The graphic is inspired by pixelated gaming worlds. Its background consists of a blue sky and white clouds, and the foreground consists of green hills, red-capped mushrooms, flowers, and brown dirt. In the top left corner of the graphic are monochrome buildings with a winding path coming out from it. On this winding path are human sprites including a businessman holding briefcases, a man with arms outstretched upwards, a woman with glasses, and a person with headphones on. To the right of all of these human sprites is a big alien character with a sword in its hand. The alien is positioned in a manner where it looks like it is leading the human sprites. The alien is also flying above the green hills. In the top right corner is a white scroll with the following cap-locks text in pixelated font: 'FETCH QUEST'. At the middle-bottom of the graphic is the CuriousWorks & Milk Crate Theatre logos.

3) A gif that celebrates the launch of the new CuriousWorks website. The graphic’s background is cream-coloured and has decorative, colourful confetti elements on the top-left and top-right hand corners. In the centre of the graphic is a laptop showcasing a gif of Homelands artists, Shiva Dadvar & Emmanuel Asante individually closing a clapperboard with huge smiles on their faces. On the top-right hand side of the laptop is a phone element that shows a mobile view of the new CuriousWorks homepage. The top half of the mobile view has an olive green background with the following text in black font: ‘CuriousWorks exists at the intersection of contemporary multi-arts practice and community arts and cultural development. We work across art forms and disciplines, focusing on screen works, digital media, and emerging art forms.’ The bottom half of the mobile view has a white background with the following text in black font: ‘Purpose.

We nurture the ideas and the potential of art makers and future cultural leaders. We believe in ethical and self-determined storytelling, and the integrity of process; engaging deeply and meaningfully with artists, audiences, communities, and collaborators to produce and present new Australian work and cultural experiences that speak to the hyper-local of our home grounds in South West Sydney, and resonate far beyond.’

4) A cream-coloured social graphic that welcomes CuriousWorks' new Management Committee members. The graphic's background has colourful confetti elements as well as three polaroid elements with the members' headshots side-by-side featuring the new members, from left to right: Janice Rodrigues, Michelle Huynh & Olivia Xegas. The polaroids are adorned with star stickers and smiley face washi tape. Underneath all these elements is the CuriousWorks logo in its colourful, horizontal format.

5) A vibrant green-coloured social graphic that celebrates the Future Culture 2024-25 cohort. On the top-left and bottom-right hand corners are swirling, futuristic elements. In the centre of the graphic are two polaroid elements. The first polaroid contains a photo of the Future Culture cohort (from left to right: Kobra Sayyadi, Emma Pham, Kirsten Maglalang & Cassandra Li) cutting up a cake to celebrate their last session. The second polaroid contains a group photo of the Future Culture cohort and core CuriousWorks staff (from left to right: Miranda Aguilar, Kobra Sayyadi, Kirsten Maglalang, Emma Pham, Cassandra Li, Andrea Nealy, Samantha Barahona, Vandana Ram, Jenny Trinh & Kiriaki Zakinthinos. They are all standing in front of a mural of a sun outside of Fairfield City HQ.