Staff of Brand X

JAMES WINTER – Director

James graduated from the Centre for the Performing Arts (Adelaide) in 1993. As a Theatre Director, James has worked for the State Opera Company of South Australia, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Restless Dance Company, D Faces of Youth Arts, Urban Myth Theatre of Youth, AIT Arts, Shopfront, Ashfield Youth Theatre, Belvoir Youth Express and The Studio at the Sydney Opera House. James co-founded Brand X in 2005 and since then has worked on 18 re-purpose projects with the company and consulted for the private and public sectors on cultural infrastructure. He currently sits on the City of Sydney Cultural and Creative Sector Advisory Panel.

SAM JOHNSON – Operations Manager

Sam is an experienced operations lead with an active interest in arts and performance. He is a participant in NIDA’s 2023 Actors Studio and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government and International Relations from the University of Sydney. Sam comes to Brand X from a consulting background and most recently worked with Deloitte for over four years in the firm’s specialist operations practice. Prior to Deloitte, Sam worked for several years in various roles within financial services, non-profit, government, and start-up organisations. When he’s not working you’ll find Sam at a gig or his inner west local.

TARA MORELOS – Executive Administrator 

Tara is an artist, curator and cultural producer with a Master of Visual Arts from Sydney College of the Arts. In her 10 years at dLux MediaArts, as Program Manager and later, Director she was responsible for the design and delivery of a national touring program of exhibitions and socially-engaged art and technology workshops with young people in regional and remote Australia. Also the Creative Director of Sculpture in the Vineyards, an outdoor sculpture exhibition and community cultural event in Hunter Valley for 13 years, she currently curates an eco-art prize celebrating the GreenWay, an inner west, sustainable transport corridor.  

DOUG WALKER – Facilities Manager

Doug graduated from the Australian Institute of Music during which time he became involved with BalconyTV Sydney as Audio Recording Engineer from 2013–2019. During his time with this team he helped local musicians from all over Australia in reaching a wider audience for their music via social media platforms. After BalconyTV, Doug continued recording live music in many of Sydney’s most well known venues including Manning Bar, Crowbar, and The Vanguard, for local and international acts such as We Lost The Sea, Phantogram, Stick To Your Guns, and Dee Snider.

AESHA HENDERSON – Program Manager

Aesha is a visual artist, freelance theatre designer, and project manager. She holds an honours degree in Visual Arts from Sydney College of the Arts and has spent over 10 years working extensively in theatre and events as a lead artist, installer, project manager, creative director, and community artists. Her speciality has become making large-scale puppets, puppeteering and installation-making for performers. Aesha has created work for Force Majeure, ERTH, Studio A, Tropfest, Cementa, MCA, Sydney Mardi Gras, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney Opera House, National Theatre of Parramatta and Redline Productions. Her passion is in creating and facilitating creative projects that enrich community experiences and support artists practice and ability to experiment.

FIONA BOIDI – Marketing Manager

Fiona holds a BA Communication Studies from the University of Wollongong, has studied Event Management at University of Sydney Continued Education and holds a Diploma of Acting from Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, New York.  Fiona has a wealth of experience in marketing, media, theatre producing and event management, with over 15 years experience working in the theatre and arts industry. Fiona has worked for some of Australia’s leading arts companies such as Sydney Theatre Company, Carriageworks and NIDA. She also has a passion for humanitarian work having volunteered on the ground with various charity organisations in Cambodia and Africa.

JAMIE EXWORTH – Senior Technician

Jamie has been kicking around theatre and live events for a good part of two decades.  He fell into the tech side of events while studying Theatre Studies and English Literature at UNE, Armidale. In addition to working on countless student and community productions in Armidale, Jamie also gained a Diploma in Film and Media from the Armidale Film School. From there it was a blur jumping into the Sydney Community Theatre scene working a range of productions from Short n Sweet to Technical Managing the Tamarama Rock Surfers Theatre company and their venues at The Old Fitzroy and Bondi Pavilion. Since then he has worked just about every role across a range of theatre and live events from theatre, festivals, exhibitions and TV Award shows. Jamie is a qualified rigger, lighting technician, mech, and Technical/Production manager.                

JOHANNES MULJANA – IT Technician

Johannes Muljana graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Hon) from Sydney College of the Arts in 2010, majoring in Electronic Arts. He has worked as a visual and installation artist producing media, transmission, sculptural and interactive works over the past 15 years. He has also been working as an educator, mentor and lecturer in the fields of programming, app and web development, and project management. 

IAN SINCLAIR – Program Coordinator

Ian Sinclair is an experimental artist, playwright and curator. Spanning immersive and participatory installations, antidisciplinary collaborations and large-scale, worldbuilding artworks. His projects consider queerness, kinship and the ethical quandaries of cultural spectacle. Sinclair’s Live Art partnership Pony Express, lampoons soft and hard power structures, to create immersive alternate realities in which audiences explore post-sustainability and ecological futures. Sinclair has exhibited and toured, nationally and internationally, from major contemporary art institutions to non-traditional venues. His most recent live artwork presentations include The Queer Woodchop (MONA FOMA, 2023); Extreme Forces (The Art Gallery of NSW, 2023) and Ecosexual Bathhouse (The Overkill Festival, Netherlands, 2022).

SOPHIE DAVIS – Marketing Coordinator

Sophie Davis is a Northern Rivers bred, Sydney based stage and screen writer. She has a bachelor’s degree from QUT in stage and screen production and a Masters degree from the National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Writing for Performance. Since graduating, she has written and produced new works with NIDA, Old 505, NORPA, FruitBox Theatre & Sydney Fringe. She is currently in development for a new Australian queer netball musical Nails Must Be Kept Short. Her masters thesis Silly to Think and never question the Absurd: integrating the female heroine in Absurdist Playwriting is published in Etudes journal for theatre practitioners and emerging scholars. 

 ADITYA RAINA – Digital Marketing Coordinator

Raina is a dynamic professional with dual master's degrees in Marketing and Business Analytics from the University of Wollongong, achieved in 2023. His academic and professional journey showcases a deep-rooted passion for understanding and leveraging the digital marketing landscape through a keen analytical lens. In parallel, Raina has nurtured a separate, equally profound passion for spoken word poetry since 2015, demonstrating versatility and creativity. This blend of rigorous data analysis and emotive storytelling defines Raina's unique profile, distinguishing him as a marketer with a rich, multidimensional approach to communication and strategy.

IRIS HIGGINBOTHAM – Venue Technician

Graduating from the University of Sydney (BA) with a double major in Film, and Theatre and Performance studies, she has a special interest in modern cinema and the intersection between art, film and performance. Iris is, at her heart, a creative. A writer, crafter, experimental filmmaker, photographer and stage/event technician working on Gadigal land, Iris likes to give everything a go before committing - like a new Messina flavour or a relationship. Iris has produced and acted for the Sydney Fringe Festival, interned for Sydney Film Festival, and volunteered with AFI/AACTA. She is currently coordinating production for Bankstown Art Centre’s ‘Arts Alive’ festival as part of the Create NSW Culture Up Late program. She is also an avid hiker and swimmer having recently completed the El Camino de Santiago, walking over 300 kilometres in 10 days.

JESS SMALLWOOD – Audio Technician

Jess graduated with a Bachelor of music from the Academy of Music and Performing Arts as a singing major in 2015 and then with a diploma in sound production from St Leonards Tafe in 2019. She's been involved in numerous musical projects including the neo/indie soul band ‘Sunset Place’ who have released 2 EPs and have been performing on Gadigal land for 5 years. Jess has also spent this time composing for strings, woodwind and brass in multiple DIY spaces across Sydney. Alongside this, she has been producing for her other project, 'HAMS', which released its debut single 'Don't Be Long’ in 2021 with fellow musician and beat boxer Rex Mai Le. Jess has spent the last 6 months of 2023 travelling the world where she performed solo in the UK, Europe and Asia and has returned excited to get stuck into the next creative project.

JOHN PALMERI – Facilities Coordinator

John is a creative/dramatic individual. Having graduated with a Bachelor of Performance from AIM Dramatic Arts, he developed a rounded education of theatre-making, both on and off stage, then going on to both work with and take various short courses at other schools and companies around Sydney. With a background in live events, design, improv, stage, screen, film, tech, crewing, theatre, performance, customer service and sales… He has a strong work ethic. A passion for the arts all while making himself and others laugh or smile. When he’s not working you’ll find John dancing to the beat of his own drum or laughing extremely loud to some kinda film or show.

CHRIS DAVIS – ESCAC Coordinator

Since graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts ([dis]Honours) they have worked in, on, and around many projects across stage and screen including The Old 505, ABCTV and Open Air. Suffering a fear of wasps, Chris is one of the many people in the world. Born in the wrong century, Chris would have been perfectly suited as a court jester or other professional fool, alas that was never to be. After spending 2 months as Technician at CoSCS by Brand X, Chris was promoted to Majordomo of ESCAC where you'll find them bending over backwards (occasionally from demonic possession) for hirers and programmed artists making work in our Darlinghurst space.

CHRISTINA MISHELL – Marketing Coordinator (Maternity Leave)

Christina has an interest in photography, film, and set building. Having studied art and completed her Masters in film, she'll talk your ear off about films. On the side, she runs an open mic short film night called Kino Sydney, which showcases a diverse range of films in a non-competitive setting, building on film community and inclusivity. When she gets the chance she enjoys creating short film claymations to screen, combining her interest in set building and still life photography. 

CHARLOTTE OTTON – Program Administrator

Charlotte is a Gadigal based theatre maker, actor and producer. Since graduating WAAPA in 2017, she spent five years creating work in Boorloo. Her solo work Feminah garnered five major Fringe awards and eight nominations, allowing her to tour the work internationally. She wrote and co-devised award-winning works Let me finish. and a 30-Day Free Trial. As an actor, she's worked for Black Swan State Theatre Company, The Last Great Hunt, Barking Gecko Theatre Company, SPPT, KUNST Productions & Belvoir 25a to name a few. She is currently developing a new experimental comedy work called I Watched Someone Die on Tik Tok (previously developed through Performance Space Live Dreams and now with Flying Nun Season 8).