Adhocracy in outfits

Vitalstatistix has always held a special place in my heart, and Adhocracy especially. Where else do you get to share ideas, share process, share failures? To relish in experimenting and making and being? To drink wine and eat toasties and watch and talk and dance and meaningfully connect with other art loving humans? 

In 2012 I was 24, had been out of Drama School for three years and was really struggling to understand how I fit into the commercial and the mainstream. Adhocracy taught me that I didn’t have to. I could be an actor and an artist and a maker. I could have my own voice and initiate my own projects. As an audience member, I soaked up every single moment of the long weekend. I’d found my home. 

In 2014, I was one of the local artists chosen to be part of Rosie Dennis’ Future Present Residency. This experience was consuming and challenging and wonderful, but the very best part was the connections I made. That was the residency where I started to talk and make art with Meg Wilson and Josephine Were (who I adore and still collaborate with).

I’d found my people. 

In 2015, this little Adhocracy fan girl was absolutely stoked to be asked to MC. I was already talking to anyone who would listen about the wonders of Adhocracy, so to be given a microphone and the chance to share this in an official capacity was pretty much a dream come true. Some of the artists I had the pleasure of interviewing for panels that year, I still keep in touch with and see at festivals all over Australia. 

2018 was pretty special as Meg, Josie and I came back to the birthplace of our trio to collaborate again- this time on SQUASH! An endurance performance work that explored competition, misogyny, and women in sport. This work went on to be performed at FOLA and win a Green Room Award for Innovation in Durational Performance. 

And now, it’s 2019. I’m 31. An *almost* full-time actor and theatremaker. And a *sometimes* illustrator, drawing reflections of Adhocracy for this brilliant project. I’ve changed a lot since I first started coming here, but Adhocracy is absolutely still my favourite festival. It taught me about the value of process, the importance of ideas (the good ones and the really shit ones), and the beauty of collaboration. And it continues to inspire me to take up space- as an artist, and as a woman.