STAFF

Samantha Barahona

Bio

Vanessa is an Arts Manager and Creative Producer with extensive experience working in arts and cultural environments and has an ongoing commitment to community cultural development, artistic practice and collaboration. She has a proven track record of producing high quality work and managing organisations, artists and projects to achieve extraordinary outcomes. With a strong commitment to community empowerment through the arts and a deep believer in the power of story, Vanessa is a skilled, passionate and professional leader in the arts and community development sector in Sydney.

Bio

Caitlin is a creative producer with an ongoing commitment to community cultural development, artistic adventure and access to the arts for everyone. She has worked across Australia, Europe and Asia supporting artwork that innovates in the public realm. She has worked for Blast Theory (UK), PACT, Urban Theatre Projects, Belvoir – Company B and Performance Space (AUS). She has an ongoing interest in innovative arts in education programs, including UK and Australian models. From 2011 to 2014 she was Co-Artistic Director at Shopfront Contemporary Arts, an arts co-operative owned by young people in suburban Sydney. Caitlin supports local artists to tell stories of western Sydney through film, performance, installation and writing and also holds responsibility to develop our grassroots program and Curious Classroom.

Bio

Curtis is the lead West Australian artist in The Stories Project, and directed the short film "Mamu", which has been broadcast nationally on SBS and NITV and shown at a Canadian film festival. Curtis hails from Parnngurr Community, located 400 km east of Newman in north Western Australia. Curtis is an actor, emerging film writer/director and a young Martu leader. He is an undergrad at Murdoch University, completing a Bachelor of Culture, Communications and Media. After finishing school in 2008, Curtis worked as Community Coordinator and Youth Development Officer at Martu Media (a division of Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa), where he also worked on Yiwarra Kuju as a filmmaker and youth ambassador. Curtis was the recipient of 2011 Western Australian Youth Art Award and Westfarmers Youth Scholarship.

Bio

Elias Nohra is a digital artist with over 12 years of experience using old, new and emerging technologies to tell stories in innovative ways. Primarily a filmmaker with experience directing, editing and shooting in both corporate and non-profit contexts, Elias has also utilized his skills in digital media and storytelling to produce works in theatre, art installations, web & interactivity development, and videogames. Formerly the Community Director and Head Educator at CuriousWorks, Elias has worked with hundreds of young and old people from culturally diverse backgrounds from all across Australia, building their capacity for sustainable self-expression through diverse digital media forms. He brings a passion for a more diverse and representative media and arts landscape to all of his work. Elias is an accomplished digital artist and his most recent works include; Repatriate (2015), a multi-screen installation and collaboration with performance maker Latai Taumoepeau, commissioned by Carriageworks for their 24 Frames Per Second exhibition which has toured internationally, and BirdFoxMonster (2016) a performance work with Erth and Studio A including multi-screen film projections and projection-mapped animations on a dining table, which premiered at Carriageworks last year and is continuing development. Elias is currently editing a feature film, Laka, in collaboration with S. Shakthidharan and CuriousWorks, and is preparing for the launch this year of his first public videogame, Snowflake Moon: A Paperville Mystery, which he developed and produced.

Bio

Andrea grew up in Western Sydney and has a Bachelor of Communications & Media from the University of Notre Dame. She majored in film and screen production, and joined CuriousWorks in 2012 to pursue her ambitions of being a filmmaker. You can read more about her artistic practice on her artist’s page here.

Bio

Miranda Aguilar is a queer Filipina artist, living and working in Western Sydney. While completing her Masters in Public Relations and Advertising at UNSW, Miranda pursued her artistic practice primarily through the Curious Creators program. You can read more about her artistic practice on her artist page here.

Bio

Huy is a designer with a background in architecture, visual marketing. Since the completion of his Architecture Degree at UNSW in 2016, Huy has been working as a photographer (specialising in event, product, architectural and interior photography) and graphic designer for several companies including CuriousWorks. Huy combines knowledge from his architecture degree with a passion for cinema and minimalism and to forge a distinctive aesthetic that is bold yet subtle and contemplative. While working on graphic design for CuriousWorks’ communications and social media channels, Huy is undertaking a postgraduate degree in Design at UNSW Arts and Design, specialising in graphic design and branding to further his skills as a visual communicator.

Bio

Daisy joined CuriousWorks in 2016 as an assistant facilitator for workshops in her community, Bidwill. From there she has worked closely with us by facilitating film and photography workshops within her own community and the Fairfield/Liverpool community. Daisy is passionate about telling the stories of her culture and her community. You can read more about her artistic practice on her artist’s page here.

Bio

Melinda is an experienced Management Educator and Facilitator who specialises in personal and team effectiveness, principally with senior executives and leadership teams. She combines her practical and academic experience to help people and companies innovate, solve problems and develop leadership capability. Melinda is also an experienced company director and currently also serves on the board of HCA Philanthropy.

Bio

Easha has more than 18 years experience in accounting and auditing in Australia, The Cook Islands, New Zealand, Botswana & Sri Lanka. Over this time she has worked as Finance Manager for some of the largest and well respected companies in the world – AON, Lloyds International, Westpac, Ernst and Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Easha brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in governance and financial management to CuriousWorks.

Bio

Andrew Maiden is an accomplished leader in public policy, advocacy and communications. After completing degrees in law and economics, Andrew served as an adviser, press secretary and chief-of-staff to senior Australian political figures including the federal Minister for Finance. In 2000 he joined Telstra, leading the company’s international regulatory team as the telco expanded in the region and acquired media assets. He later headed group communications, leading a team of 100 responsible for public affairs, media relations, employee communications, corporate responsibility and reputation. In 2013 Andrew continued his media sector career as chief executive of ASTRA, the peak body representing subscription television in Australia. He worked closely with the CEOs of large media companies, senior political figures, regulators and journalists, achieving significant regulatory reform. Andrew now offers strategic counsel to boards, chief executives and senior executives, helping them manage regulatory, reputation and political risks. He has provided trusted advice to clients in media, technology, infrastructure, professional services, the arts, transport, resources, sport and healthcare. He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Bio

Josh is a multi-award winning producer of television, commercials, comedy and audio. In June 2017 Josh began as Head of Program Formats and Development at The Story Lab focusing on bringing global and local television formats to Australian Networks and brands. Formerly, Josh was head of production at Mediacom Advertising (MBA), leading production of brand funded TV (Air Rescue, Firies, Storm Season), TVCs and commercial films for major brands including Westpac, Duracell, Foxtel, Transport NSW, Mars and others. He previously worked at ABC, Fairfax, Triple M, taught 2nd year Film Producing, regularly performs voiceovers and spent four years as a stand up/sketch comic. Josh studied at the Victorian College of the Arts and Monash University and is a judge of the Cast Away Podcast awards.

Bio

Erandi is a sustainability strategy and governance expert with a career spanning government, consulting and publicly listed corporations. As Macquarie Group’s global lead for Social and Environmental Risk in Corporate Operations, her role adresses pressing social issues such as human rights, climate change, and ethical sourcing. Building on education and an early career in design, she helps organisations find creative solutions to deliver a positive impact on society.

Bio

Miranda Aguilar is a queer Filipinx artist, living and working in Western Sydney. While completing her Masters in Public Relations and Advertising at UNSW, Miranda pursued her artistic practice primarily through the Curious Creators program. You can read more about her artistic practice on her artist page here.

Bio

Tiffany Lee-Shoy is a cultural planner who specialises in community cultural development, policy and strategy, and thrives on interdisciplinary projects where an arts and cultural approach arouses new ways of thinking in land use planning, economic development and community services provision. For almost 20 years, she has lived and worked in western Sydney, primarily in local government, and is currently at City of Parramatta developing the Cultural Infrastructure Strategy and driving delivery of the cultural plan. While with WSROC (Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils) Tiffany wrote the first Regional Cultural Strategy for Greater Western Sydney. She has sat on the Boards and Committees of various not-for-profit organisations and State and Federal government agencies, including Information and Cultural Exchange (2002-09) and Australia Council for the Arts (2005-09); and from 2009-11 was a Trustee of the Powerhouse Museum and Sydney Observatory.

Bio

Julie Kalceff is an award-winning writer, director, and producer. She specializes in telling character-driven, female-centric stories that appeal to a wide audience. Julie is passionate about authentic representation and inclusion, both on screen and behind the camera. She is best known as the creator, writer, director, and producer of the international hit online drama series Starting From Now and writer, director and co-producer of children’s television series First Day.

Bio

Amy Noble is Fremantle Australia’s Director of Business Affairs and Legal. Amy has a Masters of Law from the Queensland University of Technology and began her legal career in 2004 at Phillips Fox, now DLA Piper practising in Intellectual Property and Litigation. Amy went on to work as a contracts executive for Thomson Reuters in London and as a Senior Solicitor at Clayton Utz as a member of the Technology and Intellectual Property Team. Amy shifted her focus to the television and film industry and in 2010 began work in-house as a lawyer for Screen Australia. During this time responsible for managing the legal and commercial aspects of Screen Australia’s investment in feature films, television, documentary and multi-platform projects. Projects included The Sapphires, Strangerland, Last Cab to Darwin, Predestination, The Rover, The Dressmake; Top of the Lake, Rake and Jack Irish. Since 2014, Amy has been a senior member of the business affairs and legal team at Fremantle Australia one of Australia’s largest independent producers of television programs including Wentworth, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Neighbours, Australia’s Got Talent, Farmer Wants a Wife and Grand Designs Australia. In 2017, Amy joined the Fremantle Australia leadership team and is company secretary for the Fremantle Australia Group of Companies (including Easy Tiger Productions). Amy is Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Bio

Katy Tyrrell is a senior executive with over 18 years experience working across the philanthropic, not for profit and for purpose sectors. Katy currently works for the National Justice Project and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. She volunteers as a primary ethics teacher at Elanora Primary School, is a Board Member of Regional Opportunities Australia and an Advisory Committee Member for Sydney Improvised Music Association (SIMA). Katy has previously worked for The Balnaves Foundation, Philanthropy Australia, Australia Council for the Arts, Milk Crate Theatre, Darlinghurst Theatre and Sculpture by the Sea. She is passionate about social justice, arts and culture, and ensuring that opportunities to flourish are accessible to all.