MAV has a profound commitment to arts and artists shaping the narratives that define who we are as a multicultural nation.
Meet the artists and communities
Singaporean-Australian Artist, Curator, Dramaturg, and Facilitator
Based on Wurundjeri Country in Melbourne, Jamie Lewis is a Singaporean-Australian artist, curator, dramaturg, and facilitator. She creates and curates site-responsive performances that engage audiences as participants, and communities as artists; and often works with autobiographical stories, conversation and food. Committed to diversifying practice, Jamie seeks alternative models in her work and a re-imagining of leadership, governance, and structures. Jamie is currently CEO / Executive Director at Next Wave. She has previously been the Program Manager at TNA (Theatre Network Australia), on the Board of MAV (Multicultural Arts Victoria), and was in the 2018 cohort of Australia Council for the Arts’ Future Leaders program.
Samoan Cultural Leader
Meet Mellisa Silaga, Community Engagement Facilitator for Shepparton Culture Kitchen, Samoan cultural leader, Director of Know Your Roots and Pasifika Festival and Co Founder of Point of Difference Studio.
Shepparton Culture Kitchen
Eman and her young children endured great hardships to reach the safety of Australia when war made living conditions unbearable in Iraq, in 2002.
Shepparton Culture Kitchen
Le’aisa immigrated to Australia in 2004, seeking better opportunities for her family and young children. On visiting Shepparton one Easter, Le’aisa was drawn to the calming presence of Victoria Lake and soon settled in the area.
Shepparton Culture Kitchen
Shakilla arrived in Australia in 2017 after a difficult journey to escape the dangers of war in Afghanistan, where some of her family remain today.
Shepparton Culture Kitchen
Yusniza immigrated to Australia over seven years ago to work on a dairy farm, choosing to live in Shepparton for the English language support it offered for her young children when they first arrived.
Explore the works
Le’aisa Pele
Food means a great deal in our family and plays a very important part in our culture and community. In Samoa, no one eats alone. We do not cook small meals, we cook for everyone and we all eat together.
Shakilla Naveed
Since moving to Australia, the way we cook and eat has changed a lot. In Australia. I have tried very hard to involve my husband and my children in cooking meals but back in my country, the mother or wife only would cook.
Yusniza Yusoff
“I love to cook. I love sharing my food with my friends and neighbours, my community because I feel happy when people enjoy my food."
Ane Fotu
Fakamaloía he polokalama Shepparton Culture Kitchen, he ngaahi faingamalie kuo ne ómai kia te au mo hoku famili óu lava ai ke vahevahe hoku úlungaanga faka-fonua
Ree Peric
Ree is a young Fijian-Croatian woman who was exposed to a wide variety of different cultures from a young age through her mother’s missionary work in Brisbane. Ree also lived in Uganda for some time, where she learned to cook things like nsenene (grasshopper) and fufu with her grandparents.
Khalid Farah
FlatMates was collated as a response to the 9-tower lockdown of 2020 in North Melbourne and Flemington.
We make art as a visceral response to the forces of bigotry and intolerance, which seek to undermine the hard-fought battle for pluralism.
We make art to understand who we are as migrants on Indigenous land.
We make art to draw attention to the work that is still needed to future proof our identity as a society that deeply values its diversity.
Arts as diverse as our people.
We champion culturally diverse artists and communities to create systems of cultural production and participation that uphold equity and self-determination.
We champion culturally diverse artists and communities
We privilege non-western ways of doing, knowing and being, to tell stories that illuminate our humanity and improve intercultural understanding;
We strive for cultural democracy, sharing our knowledge and skills with partners across the arts and cultural sector to build platforms for engagement and visibility;
Diverse communities see themselves represented in and by us, in work that resonates with their truths, underpinned by shared values and dreams of new futures; and
We are outspoken in our support of cultural participation as a human right, from which we derive social, cultural and economic benefits for the development of individuals and society.