CALD, CARM and collected: fostering the future artists of Australia
Leaders of Australia’s foremost arts companies run by and with culturally and linguistically diverse young people, speak about their role in the arts ecology.
Sweatshop is a Western Sydney-based literary movement founded by award-winning writer Michael Mohammed Ahmad. Photo: Supplied.
There are several arts companies across Australian cities working with young people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and culturally and racially marginalised (CARM) backgrounds – Sweatshop, CuriousWorks, Outer Urban Projects to name just a few. Each of these companies work largely with young people from CALD backgrounds, and are often situated within culturally-rich suburbs.
Today, the company is run by a team of mostly local people. Zakinthinos tells ArtsHub, ‘Internally we don’t talk about diversity. We are just co-workers. It’s the norm.
Dr Görkem Acaroğlu is a theatre director, writer and dramaturg, an interdisciplinary artist, educator and diversity consultant. She has over 25 years experience making all forms of theatre, privileging marginalised and lesser heard perspectives and artists. She has worked as Arts Participation Manager at City of Melbourne, Program Producer at Fed Square, Art and Performance Lecturer at Deakin University and Artistic Director and Programmer of The Mechanics Institute in Brunswick from 2013-2017 when her theatre company, Metanoia Theatre, won a tender to convert the then hall-for-hire into a contemporary arts space.
