Congratulations to all of the graduating interns from our Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Internship program!

Led by Accessible Arts and Diversity Arts Australia and in partnership with a range of arts, cultural and screen organisations across NSW and the ACT, these exciting internships provided people with disability from underrepresented culturally diverse backgrounds with specialised industry training and work experience in the arts sector. 

The legacy of this program will be a network of cultural access consultants who will help improve access to arts, culture and community events for people with disability from underrepresented culturally diverse backgrounds. 

Karime Baylis – Internship at Lismore Gallery

Byron Bay based DJ and Producer Karime aka K-Hz is Australia’s pioneering music machine and is an icon of the bass music scene between the Byron Bay and Brisbane circuits. Renowned for his diverse, high energy and hard-hitting selections, K-Hz is racing his way to the top faster than the BMPs of his sets! 

Gum Guo – Internship at Shopfront Arts

Gum is a queer Chinese-“Australian” living on Wangal land. She writes, performs and edits poetry. Her work has been published in the Westwords LGBTQ+ Writers anthology. She is currently studying politics and environmental humanities at UNSW. She has a keen interest in critical social theory, ethnic studies and social justice. 

Jessica Kejun Xu – Internship at APRA AMCOS

Jessica is a researcher, music educator and emerging artist learning to listen deeply and find community in diaspora through a synergy of creative and research practices. She grew up on Gadigal and Wangal Country, a child to Chinese migrant settlers, with an interest in what it means to make home on someone else’s land. Jess uses a mix of creative channels to move through condensed chronic pains and feel out decompressing desires. 

Geirthana Nandakumaran – Internship at Screen Australia

Geirthana works on unceded Wallumdegal land; figuratively caught between the shores of Tamil Eelam and (so called) Sydney. Her artistic practice investigates liminal identity, relating her environments through spatial and cultural investigations of selfhood, and her Sri Lankan Tamil-Australian cultures. She wrangles conceptual ideas to create documentary type works rooted in photography and performance.  

Marisa Pasicznik Ross – Internship at Story Factory

Marisa was born in Brazil and studied graphical arts, business administration and environmental technologies. She has completed a Diploma and a Bachelor of Visual Arts. Finding her inspiration and healing in nature, her artworks give a voice to our global environment. She is interested in sharing her life experience to help others to express through nature and art. 

Aleyn Silva – Internship at the Museum of Australian Democracy

Aleyn was born in Singapore and was raised primarily in Yass. She was confronted with racism, ableism, homophobia, and for the greater part of her life, was unaware that she is neurodivergent. Her lived experiences have galvanised her to advocate for greater representation and amplification of BIPOC and neurodivergent voices. Her creative practice includes writing articles, creative writing, art and singing.  

Shona Thomas – Internship at the National Portrait Gallery

Shona is passionate about social justice and inclusion and wishes to use visual art to connect people and help inform a larger audience about marginalised lives. She has a BA in Development Studies from the Australian National University and has worked with NGOs in the pursuit of equality. She practices charcoal drawing, watercolour and oil painting.  

Eugenie Lee – Accessible Arts (Program Coordinator)

Eugenie is a Korean-Australian interdisciplinary artist with a conceptual focus on persistent pain. She creates embodiments of holistic experiences that encompass psycho-social pain related perceptions through interactive participatory performance installations. These works are generated from collaborations with pain researchers and technologists. Eugenie has exhibited at museums and galleries throughout Australia and received numerous grants from OZCO, Create NSW, ANAT, and AARTS. She graduated with 1st class Honours from Sydney College of the Arts in 2012.

This program was supported by the Commonwealth Government Department of Social Services.

ENDS

Image description: A group photo of 14 people at the 2022 Disability and Culturally Diverse Internship Graduation Ceremony, featuring graduating interns, staff from Accessible Arts and Diversity Arts Australia and the ceremony keynote speaker. Photo by Dieter Knierim.