Caroline Farmer has worked in the contemporary visual arts, film and new media sectors for over 13 years as an artist, curator and arts manager. She has been the Executive Director of Experimenta Media Arts, a Melbourne based organization that delivers an ambitious program of commissions and exhibitions of new media and digital art. Farmer was based with Arts Network Asia, a diverse collective of people and organisations throughout the region with a commitment to collaboration across culture and across artistic practices. She assisted with the development of a transcultural, inter-disciplinary, long-term research and development program consisting of performances, screenings, conversations, laboratories, workshops, talks and engagement with local communities that focused on Cambodia.

Supported by the Australia Council.

At the time of the residency, Alan Cruickshank was Director of the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia and Editor of Contemporary Visual Art+ Broadsheet magazine.  Cruickshank undertook a residency at Asia Contemporary in Singapore where he worked as media partner to the inaugural 2006 Singapore Biennale. Broadsheet magazine, edited by Cruickshank, was presented to South East Asian cultural associations and funding authorities as a model for a regional multi-lingual publication that embraces and engages regional cultures and current contemporary arts issues. This project took him to Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City, and culminated in his participation in the Comparative Contemporaries Conference at The Substation arts centre, Singapore.

Funded by the Australia Council and Arts SA.

Jacinta Thompson was Program Executive of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival when selected for a residency.  Prior to this she had worked in the areas of programming, project management and presentation of festivals, special projects and youth programs.  Thompson’s four-month residency was spent in the programming department at The Esplanade in Singapore where she worked on the Malay (Pesta Raya) and Indian (Kalaa Utsayam) Festival.  Working at the Esplanade gave Thompson insight into the Singapore arts industry, the opportunity to view works not necessarily accessible in Australia and to explore further the notion of cross-cultural presentations.  As part of her residency she travelled to Hong Kong and to Shanghai, where she participated in the Shanghai Arts Fair/Festival.

Funded by Arts SA and the Australia Council.

Andrew Ross was the Marketing and Development Manager of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra at the time of his residency.  Hosted by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Ross used his time in Singapore to examine the rapid development of arts activity in Singapore, with particular emphasis on audience development. He was also able to develop links between the Australian orchestral network and others in the Asia Pacific region.

Funded by Arts Tasmania and the Australia Council.

Tanya Cawthorne has worked as a film dubber, radio journalist, theatre director and as an arts manager with a variety of Melbourne arts organisations including Performing Arts Projects, St Martins Youth Arts Centre, Multicultural Arts Victoria and most recently with the Melbourne Festival. During her residency Cawthorne was hosted by the National Arts Council of Singapore to work on the Singapore Festival.

Funded by the Australia Council and Arts Victoria.

Bernadette McNamara is a graduate of the Diploma in Music Education, NSW Conservatorium of Music, Graduate Diploma in Arts management, University of Technology, Sydney and at the time of her residency was National Manager, Musica Viva In Schools, Musica Viva.  Her residency with the National Institute of Education in Singapore facilitated the implementation of the Musica Viva in Schools education program in schools throughout Singapore.  She was able to observe teacher professional training and learn more about the needs of Singaporean schools so that the Musica Viva In Schools program could be refined to complement some of these requirements.

Funded by the Australia Council and the NSW Ministry for the Arts.

At the time of her residency, Cheryle Yin-Lo was Multicultural Audience Development Specialist with the Museum and Galleries Foundation of NSW. Yin-Lo has lived in Peru and in Bangladesh from 1989-1992 where she co-founded Drik Picture Library for Third World photographers. In 1994 she founded the Asian Womens Artists Group and organised the exhibition, Fragments of Origin.  During her residency Yin-Lo went to Singapore to work with Theatreworks.

Funded by the Australia Council and the NSW Ministry for the Arts.

At the time of his residency Fotis Kapetopoulos was the Executive Officer of Multicultural Arts Victoria.  He has a Graduate Diploma in Tourism from Monash University National Centre for Australia Studies and was a Research Fellow at the center of Folklife Programs & Cultural Studies, Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.  Kapetopoulos’ residency in Singapore with the National Arts Council and the Festival of Asian Performing Arts was as much a ‘mission’ as a residency due to the heat felt in the region by Pauline Hanson’s reported comments in the region’s press.  A major outcome of his residency was that Kapetopoulos spearheaded a historic Memorandum of Understanding between Arts Victoria and the National Arts Council of Singapore.

Funded by the Australia Council and Arts Victoria.

Paul Spillane was already an internationally experienced technician, working as a Technical Director in stage operations at the Victorian Arts Centre Trust, when he undertook his residency in Singapore and Malaysia.  As an arts manager in residence, Spillane assisted with a range of productions for Theatreworks in Singapore and was able to share practical ideas, such as how to polish a production so the audience can enjoy a performance without any technical distractions. In Malaysia, Paul gave a number of hands-on workshops to technical students at the National Arts Academy (Akademi Seni Kebangsaan) and was heavily involved in their first public performance of Oedipus Rex at Experimental Theatre in Kuala Lumpur.

Funded by the Australia Council, Arts Victoria and the Malaysia Australia Foundation with further assistance from the Australian High Commission, Kuala Lumpur.