Behind the Scenes - Vision Australia Radio

Elena Vereker from InsiteArts is here for our final Adelaide round up of the year… plus, of course, her final local guest artist for the year – prolific and eclectic playwright Verity Laughton…

Then, Australia’s first and only environmental festival – the Mountain Festival - is about to kick off near Mt Macedon and its founder and Director Sonia Orchard will tell us what’s in the programme…

Meanwhile, La Mama Theatre is about to launch its Festival of Mother Tongues – a celebration of the diversity of languages spoken in our communities and we’ll drop in to LaMama HQ to chat about it with Dora Abraham and Deakin Uni Interns Dustin Waters and Jonas Saw…

And finally, two great Australian singer-songwriters have new singles out ahead of new albums in the not too distant future. Both Ella Haber and Cinta create compelling songs delivered in soulful mesmerising voices so how exciting to find out they’re touring together… so that’s a good excuse to meet them both and hear their new music,,,

They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.

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Yuhui Ng Rodriguez is here for our November Theatre Network Australia segment. She’ll catch us up on the This Is How We Do It report into the working trends of the independent performing arts sector – before introducing us to the TNA member of the Month – dancer, choreographer and founder of Bonnie Curtis Projects – Bonnie Curtis.

Then a bit of music from Oscar nominated, BAFTA Award winning composer David Hirschfelder who’s collaborating with renowned Chinese Harp artist, Mindy Meng Wang, to performing compositions inspired by ancient Chinese poems at Darebin Arts Centre.

Then it’s time for Screens & Streams…

…and first up, we’ll meet Luke Rynderman who, with Adam Kamien has co-written and co-directed the fascinating true crime documentary The Speedway Murders…

…after which, Marc Gracie will be along for our regular look at what we’ve seen on our big and small screens…

They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.

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We’re back at the Koorie Heritage Trust for the start of this week’s show, walking and talking once again with Curatorial Manager Gail Harradine, this time through the Spirit of the Animals exhibition…

After that, we’ll meet Communications Manager and Performer Madeleine Magee-Carr from WIT Theatre who are soon to open their new play First Love is the Revolution…

Meanwhile, it’s Melbourne Queer Film Festival time again and we’ll meet David Cook - writer, director and performer from Heart of the Man which is one of the 42 feature films in this year’s line up…

Then, the Wangaratta Jazz and Blues Festival is back with a terrific line up of artists and we catch up with just one of them - the fabulous Hetty Kate and her band Bass to the Power of Two…

And finally, it’s that time of the year when everyone’s telling us what they got planned for next year. Last week it was the MSO and this week it’s MPAC and Executive Director of Monash Performing Arts Centres, Paul Grabowsky will tell us what to expect…

They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.

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Helen Simondson from WA Museum Boola Bardip gets us going tonight with her wrap up of what’s been happening in Perth before she introduces her local guest artist… writer, director, designer, producer and actor Sreekanth Gopalakrishnan from the Great Indian Theatre Company who are soon to open his new play Crimson Gully…

Then, if you were listening to Melbourne Fringe Creative Director Simon Abrahams a few weeks ago you’d know that even though the Naarm/Melbourne programme is done and dusted, there still a bit to go in Djilang/Geelong, so here are two more artists for our final week of Fast Fringe…

First up we meet Tash York from Tash York’s Happy Hour…  and then Kyle Page from Wayfinder…

After that, we’ll meet the relatively new Director of Programming for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Moore to talk about the 2025 Programme AND the imminent Beethoven Festival…

And finally, composer Edwin Montgomery will introduce us to his live score for the 1922 version of Nosferatu to be played for Hallowe’en along with a screening of the classic film…

They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.

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Elena Vereker from InSite Arts is back this week with her round up of what’s been happening in Adelaide…  and, of course, a local guest artist for us to meet – this month it’s record producer, musician, installation artist and DJ, Moutaiz Al-Obaidi better known to his fans as Motez…

Then, another four Melbourne Fringe artists are here for our third week of Fast Fringe… this week we meet…

Acclaimed writer, Van Badham whose political thriller Werewolf is at Arts Centre Melbourne…

Dominic Weintraub from PonyCam who promise to both feed and entertain us with Feast…

Fringe Living Legend Moira Finucane who’s celebrating 20 years since The Burlesque Hour with Global Smash Club…

And Harley Mann from Na Djinang Circus and Circa Cairns who are ‘In Place’ at the Footscray Community Arts Amphitheatre…

And finally…  ANOTHER festival is about to kick off and Christian Serrao from Untitled Group is here to tell us about the line up for this year’s AbilityFest…

They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.

PLUS - If you’d like to hear more of the conversation about AbilityFest with Christian Serrao, you can catch it on the Behind the Scenes Podcast page - just put Vision Australia Radio Behind the Scenes into your favourite podcast search engine… and if you subscribe, you’ll never have to search for an episode or our bonus material again…

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In this episode of Behind the Scenes, host Chris Thompson chats with Christian Serrao, one of Untitled Group's managing partners, to explore the magic behind Ability Fest—Australia's fully accessible music festival.

Proudly supported by Vision Australia Radio, Ability Fest is designed to ensure everyone can experience live music, regardless of ability. With tickets priced at $60 (plus booking fees), fans can enjoy an incredible lineup featuring Ocean Alley, Kita Alexander, Cub Sport, ONEFOUR, Bag Raiders, King Stingray, Asha Jefferies, and more. The festival kicks off on October 19 at Alexandra Gardens, Melbourne (ages 16+), with a second show in Brisbane's Victorian Park on October 26.

Chris and Christian discuss the behind-the-scenes efforts to make festivals like Ability Fest more inclusive for people with disabilities.

100% of ticket sales from Ability Fest go to the Dylan Alcott Foundation, helping young Australians with disabilities pursue their dreams.

For more details, visit AbilityFest.com.au.

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It’s still festival time in Naarm/Melbourne, so let’s start tonight with Melbourne Fringe and week two of Fast Fringe where we’ll meet:

Luke Hockley who’ll invite us to the Big Sing Your Heart Out…

Sarah Kriegler from Lemony S Puppets whose been working with Deniz Aslan to create Ada Asmin and the Analytical Engine based on the life of Ada Lovelace (and if you don’t know who she is, you should)

And Patricia Cornelius who has a new play Bad Boy directed by Susie Dee and performed by Nicci Wilkes…

Then it’s on to the AlterState festival and we’ll drop in on Transmit Futures for a chat with ensemble members Linnie Jane Marsh, Mark Smith, Ann Hantzolos, Support Artist Lily Primmer, and Director Andi Snelling while they’re rehearsing The Manifesto…

And we’ll carry AlterState over into this month’s Screens & Streams so we can catch up with The Other Film Festival’s Artistic Director Fiona Tuomy before Marc Gracie comes along talk about what we’ve seen on our big and small screens during September…

They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! If you’d like to hear more of the conversations with Andi Snelling and Transmit Futures OR Fiona Tuomy from The Other Film Festival they’re both on the Behind the Scenes Podcast Page - just put Vision Australia Radio Behind the Scenes into your favourite podcast search engine… and if you subscribe, you’ll never have to search for an episode or our bonus material again…

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For twenty years, The Other Film Festival has been a global leader in disability screen advocacy – championing Deaf and Disabled-led and authored work, uncovering untold stories and ways of being in the world, and developing a screen culture where Deaf and Disabled people are at the centre of storytelling. In a special Behind the Scenes Podcast, Presenter Chris Thompson chats with Festival Artistic Director Fiona Tuomy about why TOFF is so important, what its relationship is with the St Kilda Film Festival and with AlterState and what’ll be on screen and online from October 3 to October 16 for this year’s festival.

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We’re wall to wall festivals this week…  starting off with an early visit from Theatre Network Australia’s Yuhui Ng-Rodriguez who’s giving up her usual spot so that we can have TWO TNA Members of the Month… on from AlterState and the other from Melbourne Fringe…

First up is Joshua Pether, relatively new CEO of Arts Access Victoria PLUS director of Phases for the AlterState festival (and Josh is joined by VCA student performer Lexi Smith)…

And while we’re on AlterState we’ll catch up with Kath Duncan to talk about Specials!  her show at Arts House…

Our second TNA Member of the Month is Clair Korobacz from One Step at a Time Like This who are producing Transmission: Into the Dark, a spooky secret performance radio based Fringe performance…

And speaking of Melbourne Fringe, we’re doing Fast Fringe again this year – quick chats with a whole bunch of artists who are part of the festival… this week it’s Jeremy Moses who’s performing Hear/See No Evil with Emilie Biggar – then Patrick Livesey, writer and performer of I Hope This Means Something – James Howard who’s performing in Gikilangangu Wergaia for Deadly Fringe – Ben Noble, writer of The Dilly Dally of Death & Dying – and Rebecca Jensen, one of four choreographers for Four Sites at the Abbostford Convent…

They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.

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Transmit Futures is a new performance ensemble supported by Arts Access Victoria and made up of emerging Deaf and Disabled artists. The ensemble has worked with Andi Snelling over the past three months to devise a performance manifesto. The Manifesto is presented at Arts Centre Melbourne as part of the AlterState Festival and is centred on the lived experience of the ensemble and on ideas for Deaf and Disabled futures. During their rehearsal, Behind the Scenes presenter Chris Thompson visited the group to record this special Behind the Scenes Podcast.

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