First Nations Capacity Building Panel

Ben Graetz, also known as Miss Ellaneous, is a powerhouse in Australia’s creative sector, with over 26 years of experience. Raised in Darwin with deep cultural ties to Malak Malak, Kungarakan, Muran Clan, and Badu Island, Ben has shaped the arts sector nationally and internationally. He is the Founder of BRG Productions and Co-Director of Party Passport, known for their celebration of diversity and inclusion. As Creative Director of major events like Sydney WorldPride 2023 and the Garrmalang Festival, Ben’s influence extends across communities, showcasing First Nations talent, LGBTQIA+SB advocacy, and cultural innovation.

Stephen Page is descended from the Nunukul people and Munaldjali clan of the Yugambeh Nation. He retired from Bangarra Dance Theatre in 2022 after serving as Artistic Director for 32 years. During his tenure, he created a signature body of works that have become milestones in Australian performing arts, including the Helpmann Award-winning works Skin (2001), Mathinna (2009), Bennelong (2017) and Dark Emu (co-choreographed with former Bangarra dancers Daniel Riley and Yolande Brown) (2018), as well as co-productions with Sydney Theatre Company Bloodland (2011) and Wudjang: Not the Past (2022). Stephen directed the Indigenous sections for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as well as a significantdance work for this father’s Munaldjali people for the Opening Ceremony of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. His first full-length film, Spear, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival before screening at various arts festivals around Australia in early 2016. He also co-directed and choreographed the documentary Freeman (2020), directed the chapter Sand in the feature film The Turning (2013), and choreographed the feature films Bran Nue Dae (2009) and The Sapphires (2011). In 2015, Stephen was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Creative Arts by the University of Technology Sydney. In 2016, he received both the NAIDOC Lifetime Achievement Award and JC Williamson Award. In 2017, Stephen was honoured with the Australia Council Dance Award for significant contributions to the cultural and artistic fabric of the nation, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).

As a teen dancer, Katina Olsen (Wakka Wakka Kombumerri) was told she was “too tan” and endured her skin being patted down with light makeup to fit a more desirable classical aesthetic. Twenty-four years on, we see that same brown skinned Murri, Katina, proudly gracing national and international stages and co-founding dance companies. Using her platform to disrupt the stagnated Western canon, performance and academy, she brings focus to elevating First Nations dance methodologies as a vehicle for climate justice.

Her trajectory as a maker and cultural activator has seen her forge her way through an often unassailable industry as an independent, especially a blak independent, to create work for over ten years consecutively including Mother’s Cry for Sydney Dance Company’s New Breed 2018, movement direction for the play Sunshine Super Girl (Sydney Festival 2021), the ABC series Cleverman 2 and Walking into the Bigness (Malthouse Theatre). Katina presented her Independent solo work namu nunar (mother, mountain, sky) at numerous festivals: Supercell, Yonder, Horizon, Festival 2018 and March Dance 2019. Katina is founding member of Dance Makers Collective and collaborated and performed with them on Australian Dance Award nominated DADS and 2020 sold-out Sydney Festival show The Rivoli. She choreographed Instar for Big-Dance-in-Small-Chunks (Parramatta Riverside), and solo work beneath for In Situ (Sydney Festival 2021).

Katina is currently developing her most significant contemporary dance work to date, Preparing Ground, with co-directors Marilyn Miller and Jasmin Sheppard. Initiated in 2019, the lifelong endeavour has been developing in the Country with elders and community since 2020. Produced by BlakDance, Preparing Ground is supported through the Major Festivals Initiative as a work of scale and is considered to be pushing the edges of what is possible as an Independent First Nations dance artist.

As well as regularly collaborating with major companies, small to medium organisations and Independent artists, Katina is also an alumni of the 2015 Dana Waranara and 2020 BlakForm by BlakDance and 2022/23 Future Leader programs. In 2010 she completed Birrang delivered by Bangarra over three years, which supported the development of skills in market, business, choreography and industry networks. She takes pride in informally mentoring a number of First Nations dance artists transitioning to the independent dance community and in doing so, sharing her knowledge with the next generation.