Dr Celeste Rodríguez Louro is Chair of the Linguistics Discipline and Director of Language Lab at The University of Western Australia. Trained in Argentina, the USA, and Australia, her award-winning research tracks language change across time. Celeste is also interested in decolonisation, standardisation, and multilingualism. Her publications have appeared in top international outlets, and she has raised over four million dollars in funding. Celeste has taught Linguistics to more than 1,500 students – winning two Teaching Excellence Awards in the space of three years. She presents the weekly segment Language Lab which has featured on RTR FM 92.1 radio since early 2022. Celeste works with the Heart Foundation to decolonise the production of medical media for First Nations communities. She has also recently partnered with Google on a significant project which will ensure inclusive AI-operated technology for First Nations people in Australia. 

Glenys Collard is a Nyungar woman who has been working for and with the Nyungar people for over 35 years. She is an Honorary Research Fellow and a member of Language Lab at The University of Western Australia. Glenys has contributed extensively to understanding history, language, and culture in Nyungar country and beyond. She was the first to record the Nyungar language with elders Mr Humphries and Mr Bennell and has chaired multiple state-level and national committees. She is a published author and has taught workshops to thousands of teachers and university students across Australia. Glenys works closely with the Heart Foundation to decolonise the production of medical media for First Nations communities. She is also working with Google on a project that will ensure inclusive technologies for First Nations people in Australia.

About the Talk
Hearing the voices: Embracing diversity in the study of language in society
Celeste Rodríguez Louro & Glenys Collard
*The University of Western Australia / Mallee Aboriginal Corporation

We have all heard or read about “embracing diversity” in our professions, but what does this look like in practice? In this presentation, we will take you on a journey through our First Nations-led collaboration to study Australian Aboriginal English, an Indigenised variety of English spoken by approximately 80% of First Nations people in Australia (Rodríguez Louro & Collard, 2020,2021a,b). Our sociolinguistic research into Aboriginal English as spoken in Nyungar country, Southwest Western Australia allowed us to record and analyse the way that people use language in everyday contexts. Our use of “yarning” as a method of data collection made it possible to engage with community in a culturally safe fashion (Rodríguez Louro & Collard, 2021c). We also applied a diversity lens when we worked with the Heart Foundation to decolonise medical media for First Nations communities (Collard & Rodríguez Louro, Submitted; Rodríguez Louro & Collard, 2021d). In this presentation, we demonstrate how working together can ensure that we “hear the voices” of those at the margins of mainstream practice and how, with every minute decision in the right direction, we can make the world a better place.

Daz Chandler is a creative producer and interdisciplinary storyteller with a background in documentary filmmaking, broadcast journalism and media and human rights advocacy. Their work explores the intersections of philosophy, ethics, history, technology and parallel worlding frameworks. They are known for founding media and creative learning platforms in refugee camps in the occupied Palestinian Territories, making human rights advocacy films and producing unique, large-scale experiences incorporating emergent technology in unexpected ways. They have presented and produced radio, television and AIMIA award winning multi-platform projects for a variety of media organisations and broadcasters.

Daz is passionate about interdisciplinary approaches to curation and is committed to reaching across borders of all kinds to engage in holistic and intersectional conversations that empower and spark debate on local and global issues of our times.  They are currently steering their practice into immersive, experiential spaces using quantum mechanics and ‘parallel futuring’ frameworks. Daz is the instigator and creative lead of The Parallel Effect – a project which was the recipient of the Graham F Smith Peace Award for excellence and innovation in rights-based storytelling

About the Talk
Voice: Power, Pathways and Parametres
Daz Chandler

Voice is powerful and what it means to each of us is complex. A voice can physically take us places, unlock memories, sensations and inform perspectives. Like an interdimensional vortex, a voice can open pathways to the past and make us rethink the present and future. A voice can transform our psyches and physiologies. It may help us to achieve greatness, slow down our breathing – to feel calm, or push us to the brink of madness.

When we think about voice, we might conjure the sound of someone now deceased.  We might think about music – perhaps a specific song or certain lyrics that have become deeply entwined with lived experiences.

We often think about the authentic voice: uncovering the truth and empowering those around us to feel culturally safe enough to share and articulate their experiences.  

In recent times, the landscape of human voices has expanded to include cloned and synthesised voices. In a reality where the parameters of voice are changing so rapidly, how do we continue to navigate these complexities alongside our hard-wired psychological and physiological responses? 

Currently based on Gunditjmara country in Victoria, Nazaree Dickerson, or Naz, as she prefers is a Wardandi/Bibbulman Noongar and Burmese person from Boorloo (Perth), Western Australia. Naz is an Actor/Writer/Director and Associate Lecturer in Theatre at the University of Melbourne’s Victorian College of the Arts. ‘CRUMBS’ and Ngarngk; Giver of Life, which debuted at Yirramboi Festival 2021, were Naz’s first two plays and confirmed her versatility in theatre work.

Themes of experiencing the world as a neuro-divergent, queer, First Nations woman are intrinsically woven through her stories. Naz has done extensive work in theatre education workshops with young people. She has witnessed the benefits of drawing on First nations story telling traditions and combining them with modern theatre techniques to empower First nations youth and believes it is vital to improving community and social outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

About the Talk
Seed to Stage; A Voice for the Future
Nazaree Dickerson

Unpack the complexities of ‘Voice’ through a First Nations perspective. Naz will share some moments in time where ‘Voice’ has played a pivotal role in affecting change for individuals and community.

Explore the intersections of culture, voice and accessibility. What might this look like? And where to begin?

Workshop

Yung Philly is an MC who began his professional career in 2004, volunteering to Rap from a call-out from the then known Anti-Racism Action Band (now known as Outer Urban Projects) who were performing at his school, Moreland City College. The impromptu Rap performance rendered him part of the performing arts organisation, gigging in a community circuit, building further networks and performing opportunities – in Rap, Rap workshops and hosting, spanning 20-years of experience. He has also competed in Battle Rap competitions and participated in Open Mic’s within Melbourne’s Rap scene.

Professional MC and freestyle rap artist Philip-Michael Pandongan, aka Yung Philly, brings his stagecraft, wit and panache off the stage and into community spaces in his Rap workshops. Informed by his work with various community arts practitioners, as well as his mentoring of young people from Melbourne’s outer north, Yung Philly has developed Rap workshops that help undergraduate Theatre students connect to heightened language.

In this workshop, Yung Philly will share some of the games and exercises he uses with VCA undergraduate cohorts to awaken students’ sensitivity to language and bring energy and dynamics to their voices (and bodies!). You’ll explore using rap to organically stimulate the articulators, exercise wit and wordplay, and take a deep dive into mood and feeling. Yung Philly’s workshops offer an engaging, contemporary approach to exploring rhythm, flow, sense and meaning. He is a true inspiration to many artists across the Hip-Hop form and is excited to work with VASTA members in this special workshop that’ll have you bopping and popping sounds and language. 

Opening Night Artists

Pony Cam is an award-winning experimental collective of theatre makers made up of Claire Bird, Ava Campbell, William Strom, Dominic Weintraub and Hugo Williams. They make formally inventive work, subverting well-known forms and activating unexpected spaces. They often collaborate with community members, devising work with seniors, young people, and other practicing artists. Most recently they presented Grand Theft Theatre at Adelaide Festival 2024, and will be presenting Burnout Paradise as part of RISING festival in 2024.