About

Vision

Our vision is of an inclusive, connected and creatively innovative culture in the Illawarra, a culture promoting the health, well-being, social inclusion and participation of all.

Regional artists and First Nations and culturally diverse communities are playing a leading role as cultural and creative collaborators in achieving this vision.

FICAA and its partners across the community, youth, health, education and cultural sectors are supporting regional artists and communities in playing this dynamic cultural and creative role.

Practice

Our programs and initiatives bring together regional artists and First Nations and culturally diverse communities in dynamic collaborative processes of cultural development and creative co-production.  Together we are building skills as community cultural leaders and developing new and innovative multi-disciplinary creative engagement practices.  These practices are:

  • giving voice to untold stories;
  • fostering inter-cultural, inter-generational exchange and connection within and across neighbourhoods and communities;
  • promoting the places and spaces where people live, play and meet as vibrant cultural centres;
  • leading to the co-production and presentation by artists and communities of new multi-disciplinary creative works celebrating our region’s rich cultural and linguistic diversity, promoting inter-cultural, inter-generational dialogue, and drawing new and diverse audiences.

Through these practices a new cultural context for the arts, artists and communities in our region is being created. This context is diverse, participatory, and dynamic, promoting creative innovation and excellence while also promoting the health, well-being and belonging of all members of our community.

History

FICAA brings together a coalition of community leaders from the First Nations and culturally diverse communities; partners from the community, welfare, health, education and youth sectors; and a  multi-disciplinary team of artists with a breadth and depth of experience in working in culturally and linguistically diverse community contexts.

This coalition has a collaborative history spanning over forty years of planning and delivering innovative community cultural development programs and initiatives engaging First Nations and culturally diverse communities in the Illawarra.  Led by multi-disciplinary artist and CACD practitioner, Therese Quinn, these initiatives have been supported by various arts and non-arts based organisations, including Russell Vale Community Arts Association, Port Kembla Youth Project, Illawarra Migrant Resource Centre, Multicultural Health Service, Cringila Community Cooperative, and Wollongong Women’s Information Service.

Responding to a range of historic and contemporary concerns, in 2021 members of the coalition began a strategic planning process to review their past CACD achievements. They explored Regional Context, the arts and culture in the Illawarra more broadly. Set against the backdrop of the Covid pandemic, this process highlighted the enormous potential of the multi-arts, place-based participatory CACD practice developed by FICAA’s multi-disciplinary team of artists. At the same, the review underscored the past challenges and constraints of operating within a community services context. From this planning process a compelling case emerged that a dedicated arts organisation was needed in the Illawarra to ensure the long-term sustainability of the practice and promote its value for communities, the arts and culture in the region. The outcome was the establishment of Five Islands Community Arts Association.

Artists

Therese Quinn is a multi-disciplinary artist and community arts and cultural development (CACD) practitioner who has extensive experience in creatively engaging culturally and linguistically diverse groups and regional communities in the ACT, Eden Monaro, and Illawarra. With tertiary arts training in visual arts, theatre, and community cultural development (Canberra School of Art; BCA Hons Theatre, UOW; Cultural Leadership Program, VCA), Therese has played a leadership role in the Illawarra as both a CACD practitioner and creative producer.  As a CACD practitioner, she has built sustained collaborative partnerships across the community, youth, health, education and cultural sectors in the region to plan, deliver and evaluate CACD projects and programs engaging First Nations and culturally diverse communities; as a creative producer, Therese has mentored and collaborated with multi-disciplinary teams of artists to co-produce and present with community participants many new creative works giving voice to untold stories, showcasing the region’s cultural and linguistic diversity, and resonating with diverse regional audiences.

In this context Therese has a long collaborative history with artists and CACD practitioners, Lucia Parrella and Denise Thomas.  Establishing and coordinating the Gathering Ground cultural development program engaging Aboriginal and culturally diverse groups of women, girls and children as part of Wollongong Women’s Information Service from 2012 to 2019, Therese collaborated with Lucia and Denise to develop a unique multi-disciplinary, place-based, participatory CACD practice leading to the co-production and presentation by artists and participants of numerous multi-disciplinary installations and performances.  These included The Cup and the Canary (Wollonggng Town Hall 2012), Landwritten (Wollongong Botanic Gardens, 2011), Steel Gardens (Wollongong City Gallery 2014), Stories From our Place (Wollongong Town Hall, 2019), and Wiyanga Nanga Mai (Aboriginal Cultural Centre, 2020).  Together they are now playing a leading role in establishing Five Islands Community Arts Association.

Lucia Parrella is a visual artist and CACD practitioner with extensive experience engaging with diverse communities, and a background in coordinating community and cultural programs and services.  Lucia holds a BA (English and Italian) from the University of Sydney and a BCA (Drawing and Printmaking) from the University of Wollongong. A recipient of the Frederick May Foundation Scholarship for Italian studies (Sydney University) Lucia undertook a 9-month artist’s residency and study tour in Italy in 1997 specializing in artist’s books and letterpress printing. Lucia gained further technical training at the Illawarra Institute of TAFE (Post Technician Printmaking Certificate) and subsequently taught printmaking in the TAFE Aboriginal Education Unit from 1998-1999. In 2000 Lucia initiated Art Incontro, an annual program of visual art workshops in Italy developed in collaboration with Italian artists and artisans, and culminating in a number of exchange exhibitions between Australia and Italy. Lucia has exhibited regularly over a 25-year period and is a member of numerous artists’ groups and collectives.  Lucia’s prints and artist’s books are held in public collections in Australia and Italy, including the Art Gallery of NSW, the Queensland State Library, the Museum of Graphic Arts (Città di Castello) and the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica (Venice).

Denise Thomas is a multi-disciplinary artist and CACD practitioner who has been working with young people and culturally diverse regional communities for the past forty years. With tertiary arts training in theatre (BCA Theatre, UOW) and music (Associate Diploma, Charles Sturt University), Denise initially working as a CACD practitioner, performer and musician with Mustard Seed Community Arts Association based in Goulburn and regulaly touring regional NSW.  She moved to Wollongong in the early 1990’s where she gained further professional theatre training at the University of Wollongong while also mentoring young people in song-writing, musicianship and music industry skills.  During this time Denise also established a strong profile as a musician, song-writer, and performer, appearing as a solo performer, as well as with a number of contemporary folk and rock bands.  She has collaborated as songwriter, arranger and co-producer of a number of independent album releases, gaining experience and knowledge in recording and production techniques.

Suzi Tsangaris is a Kamilaroi woman living in the Illawarra and a practicing visual artist with her work exhibited at Shoalhaven and Huskisson regional art galleries.  Developing her artistic practice in the context of exploring her own cultural history, learning more about the language of her people, and connecting with the Aboriginal community in the Illawarra, Suzi completed her Certificate IV in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander cultural arts at Nowra TAFE with Warrick Keen in 2019 and, in 2020, received an Indigenous scholarship to undertake training in Indigenous Adult Education.

In 2019 Suzi joined the Gathering Ground creative team as a CACD mentee for the Stories from Our Place project, collaborating with Aboriginal women Elders and girls as part of the co-production and presentation by artists and participants of a multi-arts storytelling installation and performance, Stories From Our Place, staged at Wollongong Town Hall in March 2020.  In 2021 Suzi continued her collaboration with Aboriginal women Elders and the Gathering Ground team to devise and present Wiyanga Nanga Mai storytelling installation at the Aboriginal Cultural Centre in central Wollongong.  At the same time, she was commissioned by TAFE Wollongong to produce a series of paintings, Connecting to Country.

In 2023 Suzi was employed as an Aboriginal Education Officer at Oak Flats High School where her role as a cultural mentor for Aboriginal students involved teaching cultural studies and traditional arts, including painting and weaving.  Suzi is currently part of the FICAA creative team, planning and delivering the Story Seeds project engaging Aboriginal and culturally diverse communities in greater Wollongong and Shellharbour.

Jasmine Langton is a trained dancer, performer, choreographer and teacher with over 20 years of teaching, performance and choreographic experience.  Her interest in dance, performance and community was first sparked as a youth arts participant and later mentee artsworker in CACD projects and initiatives led by Therese Quinn in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  She was later drawn to a deep study of middle eastern dance styles, regularly attending master classes with teachers from all over the world.  In 2006 Jasmine established her own dance school ‘Spirits of Serpentine’ where she trained and led her students in performances at local festivals, as well as regularly hosted events, for the next 7 years.  Moving to the Gold Coast to train with Lakita Lynnes at her studio in Byron Bay in 2014, Jasmine became principal teacher at the studio.  During this time she also trained with Kelli Grauer, expanding her knowledge of pilates, barre fitness and strength training.

In 2022, Jasmine returned to Wollongong and has recently joined the FICAA creative team as part of collaborative planning and engagement processes with culturally diverse groups.  In this context Jasmine is sharing her passion for dance and empowering others to connect with their bodies, engage with their creativity and tell their story, while also contributing to larger multi-disciplinary collaborative planning and community engagement processes with diverse community groups.

Committee

Aunty Beverly Pittman-Armer is a proud Eora Gadigal Yuin woman with strong community ties to Dharawal country. Following in the footsteps of her mother and respected Elder and community leader, Aunty Eileen Pittman, Aunty Bev has been a respected Elder and community leader in the Illawarra region for over 15 years.  During that time she has advocated for and supported many initiatives on behalf of her community, including processes of reconciliation. Aunty Bev is deeply committed to the role of the arts in promoting inter-cultural, inter-generational connection, learning and understanding, both within her own community, and within the broader multicultural community of the Illawarra. Awarded Elder of the Year in 2013 and 2017, Aunty Bev is currently playing a key role in Five Islands Community Arts Association as inaugural Chair.

Aunty Vicky Lawrence is a proud Kamilaroi woman with strong community ties to Dharawal country where she has been playing a community cultural leadership role at Mount Warrigal Public School as Aboriginal Education Officer for over 10 years. Vicky is a practicing visual artist and sees the arts as playing a vital role in connecting Aboriginal children and young people to their culture and its history, as well as in reconciliation processes with the broader multicultural community of the Illawarra.  Aunty Vicky is currently playing a key role in Five Islands Community Arts Association as inaugural Vice-Chair.

Zoraida Hazel is a multi-lingual Filipino Australian, born in the Phillipines and migrating to Australia in 1991. Making Wollongong her home, Zoraida has been an active member of the Filipino community over many years, playing a leadership role in the Australian Philippine Association Illawarra and the Illawarra Filipino and Multicultural Women’s Group. Zoraida has also played an active volunteer role in the community welfare sector in the region over many years, holding executive committee positions at Unanderra Community Centre from 1997 to 2004. Zoraida brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise in community management and a passion for advocating for the role of the arts in fostering inter-cultural, inter-generational connection in our community and promoting a more inclusive and diverse culture in our region. As a long-standing member of the Illawarra Multicultural Women’s Performing Group/Company of Women, Zoraida has honed her skills as a community cultural leader, storyteller, and performer.

Fiorina Mastroianni brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the areas governance, service planning, evaluation and policy development built on her more than 30 years’ experience working in the public health sector. The daughter of Italian immigrants, Fiorina grew up in a bi-lingual household in Port Kembla and has a long history of engagement with multicultural communities. Her commitment to social justice and promoting an inclusive and diverse culture in our region has seen her take up leadership roles on many community-based committees, including the Illawarra Migrant Resource Centre and Italian Social Welfare. Fiorina is also an accomplished cook and cooking teacher and is training to become and accredited judge of olive oil. She believes that food is an intrinsic part of a community’s identity and is particularly enthusiastic about sharing the rich culinary traditions of her Calabrian culture.

Marie Brajak has grown up in the Illawarra and comes from a CALD background. She plays a leadership role in the youth sector in the region and has been the Manager of Port Kembla Youth Project for over thirty-five years where she has mentored many young people in the sector and developed dynamic youth development programs promoting the health, well-being, skills development and leadership of disadvantaged young people in the region. Holding a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) from UOW, Marie brings extensive knowledge and expertise in community management and partnerships, as well as a deep understanding of the role of the arts in promoting the health, well-being and inclusion of marginalised young people in our region.

Persa Atkins is a bi-lingual Macedonian Australian who was born in Australia and grew up in the Cringila area. Persa has a background in human resources and marketing, holding a Bachelor of Commerce (Human Resources & Marketing) and Graduate Certificate in Public Health from UOW. Since 2018 Persa has worked as Community Development Worker at Cringila Community Centre. She brings a deep connection to and knowledge of the culturally and linguistically diverse communities currently living in Cringila and surrounding industrial suburbs, including a significant aging immigrant community, as well as a more recently arrived immigrant and refugee community. Witnessing the value and benefits to members of this community of the inter-cultural, inter-generational creative projects and activities facilitated by the FICAA creative team, Persa is a passionate promoter and advocate of these initiatives, as well as a creative collaborator.

Sofia Lema has over 22 years of work experience implementing programs and projects with priority groups in Peru and Australia in the areas of health, social and emotional wellbeing, drug and alcohol and mental health. Born in Columbia, Sofia migrated to Australia in the mid 1990’s where she undertook tertiary studies, gaining a Bachelor of Social Science (Political Science) and a Masters in Social Development from the University of New South Wales. Sofia’s extensive experience in project management, program design and implementation has been underpinned by person-centred, strength-based and community development principles. With her interest in promoting mental health and well-being programs, Sofia is an enthusiastic supporter of the creative projects conducted by the FICAA team. In her current position within Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District (Multicultural Health Service), she works alongside refugee and CALD communities to support them in navigating the health system. This role has enabled her to witness the profound health benefits, enhanced wellbeing and increased social connectedness for aging immigrant communities who participate in the art-based activities offered by FICAA.