Fair Play Symposium

Deborah Williams is CEO of the Creative Diversity Network (CDN) – which promotes diversity and inclusion in the Broadcasting industry. As CEO of Creative Diversity Network, Deborah developed and delivered their Diamond diversity monitoring scheme, as well as data bases and online resources for the major broadcasters in the UK who are all members of the network.

Prior to her work with CDN, Deborah undertook ground-breaking work as Diversity Manager at the British Film Institute (BFI). This included opening a lottery fund to promote diversity and designing the diversity standards for film and contributing to the strategic and business plan of the BFI. She was responsible for leading on equity analysis and the introduction of the Creative Case for Diversity in the Arts Council England.

Outside of the UK, Deborah Williams has been an advisor to the Swedish Film Institute and Arts Council, the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences, the Danish Film Institute, the Cannes Film Festival, the European Disability Forum and spoke at Australia’s Screen Diversity Inclusion Network in 2018.

In addition to her advocacy work, Deborah has over 3 decades of experience in the performing and screen arts in the UK including running her own theatre companies, acting with the Graeae Theatre Company,and teaching stage management at the Webber Douglas Drama School.

Genevieve Grieves is a Worimi woman from southeast Australia based in Narrm (Melbourne). She is an award-winning artist, curator and content creator committed to sharing First Peoples histories and cultures and interrogating colonising frameworks and practices.  Her recent projects include the Awaken exhibition at the University of Melbourne; Barangaroo Ngangamay, a place-based Augmented Reality app that shares and celebrates the cultures of Sydney Aboriginal women; and, she was Lead Curator of the internationally celebrated permanent exhibition, First Peoples, at the Melbourne Museum.  She is a passionate advocator of decolonising and community-engaged practice and teaches these methodologies in university and community contexts. Her current projects include a PhD in art, colonial violence and memorialisation; a new role at Museums Victoria as Head of the First Peoples Department; and, the very important role of mum to a new baby.

After 16 years living and working in the U.K. Caroline Bowditch has recently returned to Australia to take up the role as Executive Director at Arts Access Victoria. She is best known as a performer, maker, teacher, speaker and mosquito buzzing in the ears of the arts industry in the UK and further afield.

She held the role as Scottish Dance Theatre’s Dance Agent for Change (2008-2012). Caroline was awarded an Unlimited commission to create Leaving Limbo Landing (2012) for the Cultural Olympiad and in 2014 created Falling in Love with Frida, which was awarded a prestigious Herald Angel award. In 2016, she collaborated with Laura Hook, to create two works for young audiences, The Adventures of Snigel (3-8 years) and Snigel and Friends (under 1’s).

Caroline has been an Associate Artist with Paragon Music (Glasgow), Dance4 (Nottingham) and Imaginate (Scotland) and was Visiting Professor at Coventry University. She has been a regular consultant on accessibility and inclusivity to Skånes Dansteater, Sweden and British Council. She has led international residencies in Italy, Switzerland and Germany is regularly invited to be mentor local, national and international artists at all levels of their artistic development.

Artistic Director/ Editor/Facilitator/Trainer Paula Abood is a writer, community cultural development practitioner, creative producer and educator. She was the 2013 recipient of the Australia Council’s Ros Bower Award for lifetime achievement in community arts and cultural development practice and is a director of the newly-established organisation The Third Space. She has worked with diverse communities in capacity building projects for 30 years. Her productions include The Cartographer’s  Curse (2016), Auburn Cartographies of Diversity (2016),  Sacred Women’s Voices (2013 / 2011), Parenting Stories (2010), Hurriya and her Sisters (2009), The Book of African Australian Stories (2006), Poetry on Rooftops (2006), and Of Middle Eastern Appearance (2001). Paula was awarded the 2007 Western Sydney Artists’ Fellowship for the blogging project Race and the City and was the 2013 recipient of the Australia Council’s Ros Bower Award for lifetime achievement in community cultural development practice.  She has developed resources and taught widely on subjects including cultural diversity, advocacy, and community development at TAFE and in community education settings. Paula co-developed the Certificate IV in Community Arts and Cultural Development that runs out of St George TAFE in Sydney, and is a leading trainer and educator on human rights approaches across the community, arts and education sectors. Paula was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy from UNSW in 2007 in the area of cultural studies.