Leah Manaema Avene is a Tuvaluan-Irish mother, researcher, musician, therapist, broadcaster and artist.

Theresa ‘Tea’ Angela is a Filipino-Australian artist, storyteller and wellbeing facilitator and the communications manager at MAV.

Lauren Mullings is an Afro-Caribbean artist, writer and the CEO of MAV.

We interviewed Leah, Tea and Lauren, as part of Multicultural Arts Victoria’s Block Partee.

We chat about:

• Everything being relationships
• Cultural safety
• How productivity can destroy the creative process
• The arts ecology
• Stretching and settling time
• Retracing the history of MAV
• Land-based practice
• Unpacking the violence of assimilation
• Closing your voice
• The larger than life characters that make up our lives
• Art threading all of life together
• Having the space to speak our truths

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guests: Leah Manaema Avene, Theresa Angela and Lauren Mullings

Music by: The Green Twins

Edited by: Kate Robinson

Special thanks: Multicultural Arts Victoria, City of Darebin, Creative Victoria, Creative Australia, Melbourne Polytechnic, Victoria Government and VicHealth’s Future Reset Program.

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the eastern Kulin Nations.

You can find us on Instagram @beingbiracialpodcast or send us an email at beingbiracialpodcast@gmail.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matisse Laida is an artist whose practice is based around community and food. They are the founder of We Eatin’ Good, a platform for queer people of colour to come together.

Anthony 'Banda' Bandalan is a producer who cares deeply about community cultivation and uplifting his creative counterparts.

Nickila De Silva is an artist who creates across video, music and writing. Her work explores collaboration and how it can exist alongside hierarchy and power.

We interviewed Matisse, Banda and Nickila, as part of Multicultural Arts Victoria’s Block Partee.

We chat about:

• Hierarchy and power in the arts
• Networking being a white concept
• Performative leadership
• When gatekeeping is good
• Queer people becoming removed from our cultures
• Connecting people through food
• Art is archival and friendship
• Code switching your practice
• Reflections on creating art together and apart
• How sharehouses shape us
• The challenges of working within institutions
• Food that makes us feel the most

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guests: Matisse Laida, Anthony Bandalan and Nickila De Silva

Music by: The Green Twins

Edited by: Kate Robinson

Special thanks: Multicultural Arts Victoria, City of Darebin, Creative Victoria, Creative Australia, Melbourne Polytechnic, Victoria Government and VicHealth’s Future Reset Program.

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the eastern Kulin Nations.

You can find us on Instagram @beingbiracialpodcast or send us an email at beingbiracialpodcast@gmail.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vijay is an audio-visual and laser artist of Sri Lankan Tamil and Cornish descent, born in Naarm. His practice fuses analogue sound synthesis with cutting-edge creative technologies. Vijay is known for creating immersive environments under the moniker Xenosine.

We chat about:

• A Glastonbury love story
• Family attempts to break up his parents
• A Hell’s Angel member ends racism
• Leaning into music as an identity
• Exploration and play in creative practice
• The Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio
• Bringing Oblation to life
• Working with Pirashanna Thevarajah & Hari Sivanesan
• Dislocation and taking up space

Hosted by: Maria Birch-Morunga and Kate Robinson

Guest: Vijay Thillaimuthu

Music by: the Green Twins

Edited by: Maria Birch-Morunga

Special thanks: The Substation

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the eastern Kulin Nations.

You can find us on Instagram @beingbiracialpodcast or send us an email at beingbiracialpodcast@gmail.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.