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. This is to benefit the artists, arts workers, and the organisation symbiotically; and in turn to nurture sector development and foster sustainability for the community arts and cultural development sector.

As we mentioned in our wrap-up blog post, we are in awe of the entire Future Culture cohort and we thank them for their incredible energy, knowledge-sharing, and generative conversations.

Here, we hand the microphone to Future Culture Artist-in-residence, Emma Pham, who shares her experience of being in the program, her work in progress as well as what's to come.

Tell us the story of your time with the program.

I came to the Future Culture artist residency with a bundle of vague ideas for an artistic work. I was really hoping to use the nine months or so worth of time to properly tease these out and give myself the opportunity to lay the foundations for my dream project. When I began the residency, I was in a period where I was not making as much work as I would have hoped to. The residency gave me the time I needed to focus, to explore different facets of being an artist/ arts worker and ultimately, renewed my commitment to art making. I enjoyed working away on my project slowly and thoughtfully, without the pressure to have something completely resolved by the end. Once we reached the end, I felt really proud of how far I’ve come with my baby seed of an idea. It’s been so special making memories with the team and sharing each other’s work throughout it. I came away with a deep appreciation and gratitude for the work that CuriousWorks does for the community.

How has your arts practice been impacted by the Future Culture program?

The Future Culture program enabled me to dive deeper into my practice. As someone who did not attend art school, it was a really rare opportunity to refine my ideas with the support of arts leaders and producers on the team. My practice will forever be a work in progress, but through the program, I was inspired to hone in on areas I had shied away from exploring previously. It gave me the courage to be more vulnerable with the personal experiences I wanted to pour into the work. With CuriousWorks being based in South-West Sydney, where I’ve grown up all my life, it felt really natural and safe to make work related to my upbringing. And so, all these factors allowed me to eventually tie my practice in more with a sense of place, shared cultural experiences, nostalgia and memory. I came away not only with the courage to express my personal experiences, but with a better grasp of how those experiences have shaped my entire being and worldview — which has been invaluable!

Future Culture has taught me really practical, real-life skills that I will be putting into practice, such as understanding CACD practice through a human rights framework, setting my terms of engagement as an artist, what goes into an Equity Action Plan, marketing myself in ways that feel good and not soul draining, and being equipped with mental health first aid training. As both an artist and arts worker, all these sessions we were lucky enough to receive will be invaluable in thinking about how I approach my individual work, my work on a collective level, and how these two can shape and inform one another.

Share what you worked on over the past nine months.

During my Future Culture residency, I began work developing a visual novel inspired game, drawing on pixel art and feminine-coded game aesthetics. The work follows a protagonist who embarks on a whimsical trip through time, space and nostalgia, set against Cabramatta’s ever-changing facade. With the help of a friend, the protagonist sifts through discarded memories of girlhood, and comes to terms not only with the personal but also cultural memory that lingers within Cabramatta itself.

I always knew the work would be set in Cabramatta, it being an area myself and my family frequently visited. At first, I wasn’t sure of the scale the work could take on. I had my own memories of Cabra I wanted to explore, but I also sat with the idea of including other people’s memories as well. I also thought about including a little bit about the lives of the workers who made up Cabra. I envisioned potentially interviewing them, and creating individual characters and backdrops for them. However the more I delved into my own experiences and feelings of nostalgia around Cabra, I realised how much was coming up for me and how much I already had to work with. It ultimately shaped up to be a more personal piece. The inclusion of others’ stories didn’t quite fit.

With pixel art being closely linked with the world of games, I began the residency with the tentative ambition to do something in this field. The goal was to make the work accessible to non-art audiences, who can access the story from their own devices. While I considered going down the path of RPGs or even some type of horizontal scroll game, I eventually arrived at the visual novel format. I thought it best suited the girlish-manga-narrative-style I wanted the project to take on – it being an aesthetic and genre I have a lot of nostalgia for. Once I was settled on the idea and format, the project began to take shape slowly but surely.

Last but not least, what did you learn during your time with us?

I learnt what it means to be the change you want to see on a smaller scale. Seeing the team do such amazing work, be so supportive of one another and really prioritise things at the human-level is so inspiring. It reminded me of the importance of doing what we can in our own small communities, and how fulfilling that can be. Even though it's not the work that often gets the mainstream attention, I am reminded not to overlook the more intimate acts such as how we treat each other on an interpersonal level. Future Culture and CuriousWorks taught me depth and slowness rather than scale and hastiness. 

Make sure that you check out Emma's website here and follow her Instagram art account here.