Staff of Brand X Read the profiles of our staff at Brand X. Expand James Winter | Director(He/Him) 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(He/Him) 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(She/Her) 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(He/Him) 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(She/Her) 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(She/Her) 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(He/Him) 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 | Senior Program Coordinator(He/Him) 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(She/Her) 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(He/Him) 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(She/Her) 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(She/Her) 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. Chris Davis | ESCAC Coordinator(They/Them) 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. Charlotte Otton | Program Coordinator(She/Her) 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). Dean Nash | Access Coordinator (He/Him) Dean is an Actor, Singer-Songwriter and Screenwriter working on Gadigal Land (Sydney). Dean has studied a bachelor of music at WSU, Musical theatre at NIDA Open, has studied with acting coaches such as Anthony Meindl, Mitchell Butel and Nicholas Brown, and has worked extensively in the mediums of film, TV, theatre and cabaret. Over the last couple of years due to the pandemic Dean has focused mostly on writing endeavours, and currently has a feature film in early development with Screen Australia. In 2021 Dean co wrote a Musical called The breaths in Between with Melbourne theatre company 11 O'Clock Theatre. A concept musical about love, connection, and identity in diverse, under-represented and intersectional Australians, and released a debut EP In the Autumn available on all streaming services. Most recently Dean was one of 16 artists across NSW picked to be a part of the AFTRS Talent Camp for emerging writers.
Board of Brand X Read the profiles of our Board of Management. Expand DALE HOLLINGSWORTH – Chair Dale has worked in the arts sector for over 15 years, having held senior management positions with some of Australia’s leading arts companies; including Director of Corporate Services for Carriageworks, General Manager for the Australian Centre for Photography, Performance Space and Australian Design Centre Object. Prior to the roles as Financial Administrator for Barking Gecko Theatre Company and Management Accountant for the British Film Institute. He founded ARTANDBUSINESS in 2017 to provide arts organisations with financial and business services and to share his experience of the unique financial and management requirements of the Arts and Not-For-Profit sector. JOHN HUGHES – Treasurer John Hughes is the Chief Executive Officer of Luna Park Sydney, the iconic heritage-listed amusement park that has been an integral part of Sydney’s cultural and social fabric for over 88 years. The Sydney Harbour icon is one of the most intact art-deco amusement parks in the world and presently welcomes over 1.2 million visitors per year. Prior to Luna Park, John was the Head of Fox Studios Australia, the region’s largest integrated film and television production facility and industry hub. In the 3.5 years that John ran the Disney-owned business, the Studio attracted almost $1bn of international production to Sydney, consolidating Fox Studios as a leader and centre of excellence in the NSW creative industries sector. John holds an Executive Master of Business Administration from UTS and a Bachelor of Business & Commerce (Property) from UWS. He is a board member & Treasurer of not-for-profit arts organisation, Brand X, the former Deputy Chair of the City of Sydney’s Sustainable Destination Partnership and a former board member of Ausfilm and Screen Producers Australia. JODIE WAINWRIGHT - Member Jodie is a seasoned arts management professional with a proven track record in cultivating purpose-driven organizations. She is a passionate believer in the transformative power of stories and their ability to bring communities together, bridge divides, and most importantly, resonate with audiences to drive positive change. In addition to her position on the Brand X board, she is currently the CEO of Milk Crate Theatre, a leading Australian arts organisation working at the intersection of arts, homelessness, mental health, and disability. Before joining Milk Crate Theatre, Jodie's career encompassed diverse roles in marketing, development, and leadership for organisations including the Cancer Council, Sydney Opera House, and the Red Cross. Jodie holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney, and she has continued to advance her career in the social impact arena. She was recognized as a Fellow in the prestigious Social Impact Hub 2023 Fellowship. Furthermore, she was recently honoured with the Business NSW regional prize for Outstanding Community Leadership in the Sydney Metropolitan area.
Access Panel of Brand X Read the profiles of our Access Panel members. Expand Amy Claire Mills (she/her) Amy is a Sydney-based emerging artist living and working on unceded Gadigal and Wangal land. Her art practice explores identity and self-preservation through immersive textile installations and performance, by which becomes both the artist and subject. Amy's practice critiques and examines the politics surrounding the disabled body. Using distinctive, colourful and bold mediums her work encourages the observer to challenge their own paradigms and internalised preconceived bias, with the intention of deconstructing ableism. With a broad range of skills, Amy has worked with community and art organisations, local councils and fellow artists to curate accessible and representative exhibitions and community events. Dan Graham (he/him) Dan is a theatre director and disability rights and LGBTQ+ activist. His directing credits include Sam I Am, an autobiographical solo show co-created with deaf actor/performer Sam Martin, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Hilary Bell’s Wolf Lullaby. He is on the Board of Arts Access Australia and Co-Chair of Artists With A Disability Committee for the Media and Entertainment Alliance (MEAA). His particular passion is access to employment opportunities for artists with a disability. Dan is the Chair of the Access Panel. Gayle Kennedy (she/her) Gayle Kennedy is a proud member of the Wongaibon Clan of the Ngiayampaa speaking nation of South West NSW. She is an award-winning writer and has published work in newspapers, magazines, literature journals, and for radio. She was the Indigenous issues writer and researcher for Streetwize comics from 1995-1998. Her book of poetry, Koori Girl Goes Shoppin’, was shortlisted for the David Unaipon Award in 2005 and her prose work, Me, Antman & Fleabag was the winning entry in 2006. She wrote eleven books for the Yarning Strong series, which won the 2011 Australian Publishers Association award for Excellence in Educational publishing. Gayle is a disability advocate and has spoken widely in Australia and overseas on disability and the arts. Eugenie Lee (she/her) Eugenie Lee is a Sydney-based, Korean-Australian interdisciplinary artist with a conceptual focus on the lived experiences with persistent pain. Experimentation and collaboration with pain scientists and researchers, who investigate ways in which technologies can assist in pain research, have become an important conceptual underpinning for her interdisciplinary art practice which includes participatory performances using technologies, installations, sculptures and paintings. Danni Wright (she/her) Danni identifies as a deaf queer vegan woman of Anglosaxon Australian descent, who is passionate and actively involved in her communities, particularly the deaf community. She works within the film, television and theatre industry as a director, actor and language, cultural and accessibility consultant across diverse projects. She has studied internationally, enriching her skills as a versatile theatre practitioner and performer. Danni is passionate about creativity and accessibility being entwined from the work’s inception rather than as an add-on or afterthought. Incorporating accessibility as part of performances normalises the experience for everyone.